4x8ft Table/ Laminate Trimmer
Posted by
engravingdave
on 2004-08-10 17:24:38 UTC
Hi Guys
On the subject of larger router tables.. I've designed and built a
reasonable sized cnc router from very inexpensive parts, which has
been going strong for over a year without any problems whatsoever.
And it stays pretty clean considering the huge amount of chips these
things can make :) You could easily use THK rails if you can get them
cheap and it would simplify things no end.
http://cnczone.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1399
All up it was under $US500 to make in materials (although the
controller was almost half of that again). Machining of parts was
very simple and straightforward,and I'm definately not an expert
machinist by any means.
The only change I would make would be to have ballscrews on both
sides of the y-axis. Any unsquareness/slop in the gantry could be
removed this way. It's fine as it is though and still holds end-end
tolerances to ~.015mm which is enough as I usually only work in wood
and plastics.
It's using a 750W Laminate trimmer made by GMC (Global Machinery
Company). Well over 5000hrs of use on it so far. Porter Cables are
much the same thing I think (but they are hard to obtain in Oz) I
made a few collets to handle smaller 1/8",2mm and 3mm shank mills and
router bits for smaller jobs. Have to plug discount-tools.com as
their service is great and range of tools is awesome.
Just thought I'd post this for a bit of encouragement and ideas for
those thinking of going bigger.
Dave
PS These are fairly old pics.. it now (finally) has dust extraction
(very handy considering it's sitting in the spare room!)
On the subject of larger router tables.. I've designed and built a
reasonable sized cnc router from very inexpensive parts, which has
been going strong for over a year without any problems whatsoever.
And it stays pretty clean considering the huge amount of chips these
things can make :) You could easily use THK rails if you can get them
cheap and it would simplify things no end.
http://cnczone.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1399
All up it was under $US500 to make in materials (although the
controller was almost half of that again). Machining of parts was
very simple and straightforward,and I'm definately not an expert
machinist by any means.
The only change I would make would be to have ballscrews on both
sides of the y-axis. Any unsquareness/slop in the gantry could be
removed this way. It's fine as it is though and still holds end-end
tolerances to ~.015mm which is enough as I usually only work in wood
and plastics.
It's using a 750W Laminate trimmer made by GMC (Global Machinery
Company). Well over 5000hrs of use on it so far. Porter Cables are
much the same thing I think (but they are hard to obtain in Oz) I
made a few collets to handle smaller 1/8",2mm and 3mm shank mills and
router bits for smaller jobs. Have to plug discount-tools.com as
their service is great and range of tools is awesome.
Just thought I'd post this for a bit of encouragement and ideas for
those thinking of going bigger.
Dave
PS These are fairly old pics.. it now (finally) has dust extraction
(very handy considering it's sitting in the spare room!)