So after nearly 4 years of sitting. I have decided to get this thing back up and running. Replacing all motors and electronics, along with various structural pieces. I’ll probably engineer some 3D printed parts to help with aligning the rods as that was the problem when I first built this machine. I also forgot how heavy that gantry was when I rolled it off the table. This is the machine from BuildyourCNC.
All MDF? How is it holding up after all this time?
I have absolutely nooo idea! ha ha
I started building a CNC machine similar to this a few years ago - your picture reminds me I should do something with mine: either finish it or toss it. Let us know how it goes as you make some progress on this.
@George_Brienza-Larse check my page, I have “mostly” got the gantry done. I will start on the z-axis tomorrow night.
I just disassembled and threw away by PHD book build router. It lasted for a few years, but had a few problems that I decided weren’t worth fixing.
I’d change the Z and Y bearings to groove using aluminum angle when I first built. They were still working fine. The X used the angled skate bearings and most were frozen when I pulled apart. I suspect due to angled loading and dust. If you can change out any to groove bearings it will help.
The other issue related to the angled bearings is that it put a lot of force on the gantry uprights to hold the bearing onto the table race. In my initial plan to keep the router, I was going to replace the angle on each side of the table with a T section or flat bar and groove bearings.
The table had sagged early on and I replaced with plywood backed with uni-strut. That was still flat when I demo’d it.
The other mod I had planned was to remake the gantry uprights so that the center of the router was over the last bearing. The way mine was the router hung out 4-5 inches from the gantry.
Have fun!