Very nice demonstration George. Are you using the steel v wheels or the delrin ones?

 

I am using the steel V wheels that came with the Black Foot CNC kit.
They are larger than the V wheels I received with my Kickstarter rewards package.

Cheers.
GHB

 

Hay Folks,

Here are some pictures showing my Black Foot CNC with the drive chains mounted
to the X and Y axis. Click on the images to see a larger picture.

Next thing to do will be wiring up the motors and electronics.
I'll be posting again in a few days. If anyone has questions, post them,
and I'll do my best to answer them.

Cheers.
GHB Attached files

 

I don't know what the backlash will be until I power the machine up.
I locked the the X-Axis shaft and tried to move the gantry.
The gantry did not move at all. The chain is under tension and seems
to keep the gantry in position. I do like rack and pinion systems better,
they seem to be more solid. I'll let you now how it goes when I get it
up and running.

Cheers.
GHB

 

My 2 X 4 doesn't seem to have any backlash with the chain drive

 

Very nice, great job...

 

Thanks for the information. I also locked the shaft on the Y-Axis today and
got the same result as I got with my X-Axis. No movement. The chains hold solid.
Can't wait to get this bad boy powered up and running.

Thanks again for the input.
GHB

 

Thunder hawk,
Have you noticed any issues moving the gantry with a reasonable amount of side load on the bearings, much like forces you might encounter when cutting?

 

I can chime in here if i may, there isn't any real side loading on the bearings as they are "V" bearings riding on the end of the openrail, I will most likely be adopting mine in the near future to openrail.
The only true loading they should get is on the rotational axis for which the bearings are designed for.

 

I tried to rack the gantry to see how it would react to torsional stress.
I used a fair amount of twisting force, and the gantry did not twist.
Pushing against left and right sides of the gantry with the V-wheels
locked to the upper and lower rails, I could still roll it along the X-Axis without a problem.

Although I have no real experience with this type of machine, I think that the only problem
I may have to deal with is cutting speed, missing steps or overheating the material or cutting tool.
As I've learned with the pp cutting acrylic, you have to figure out what the machine can
handle with the router and cutting tools you have. It's going to be a little bit of a learning
curve for me to get up to speed with this machine, but I think it will be a rewarding experience.

Hope this helps.
GHB

 

That about sums it up for me perfectly, thank you. Can't wait to see it run!

 

It seems to me that the backlash on a setup like that would be minimal as long as the proper amount of tension is kept on the roller chain. The only thing that would concern me with a setup like that would be chain stretching over time and use.

 

The thing about that is that it is very easy to adjust the chain even though I have over 100 hours easily on mine and haven't needed to adjust them yet

 

Hi folks,

Here is a picture of some of the items that will make up the electronics of my CNC machine.

I'm waiting for the Output Board I ordered from Andrej at Planet CNC to arrive.
That way I can control the spindle via software using the S word.

The Altoids (Alpo engineer food) is for motivation, and an energy boost.

If you have questions please feel free to post them.

Cheers.
GHB Attached files

 

I see a water pump in there) very nice setup

 

The spindle is water cooled.

Hope this helps.
GHB. Attached files

 

Just got my Output Board from Planet CNC today.
Here is the picture.


ERROR NOTE
In the picture, two posts back that shows all of the electronics. The SD Card Reader
is plugged into the input connector. It should be plugged in to the EXT connector.

Cheers.
GHB Attached files

 

Hi Folks,

I have not worked on my machine build. I've been busy working on an art project for a customer.
I will be back out here posting an update soon.

Cheers.
GHB

 

Hi folks,

I finally got a break to get back to my CNC build.
Here are some pictures of my electronics cabinet, and parts layout.








I have to cut holes in the box for all of the cooling fans.
My USB-CNC controller and other machine controls will be mounted to the inside of the box lid.

More info coming shortly.
Cheers.
GHB Attached files