To prevent X-axis sagging, would adding a piece of 1/8 or 1/4" steel along the back work? I don't know how it would affect weight or movement.

 

Great Work.

Can you provide the part number and source for the stepper motors?
Also, what is the maximum weight of the Z Axis payload?
Thanks

 

Thanks for the plans i m finishing building my charging ox i was wondering if it would handle the Electrically oscillating tangential knife EOT-3 ( damencnc.com - Tangential Knife )
they said its about 5.5 pounds and has little vibation. i want to cut foam cases with it.

 

I know this is an old post, but though I might have something to add here. I built a machine very similar to this Charging Ox. It has been in use now for about 12 months. I went with a set of NEMA 24 motors on my machine. They provide more high speed torque but have the same mounting dimensions as the Nema 23. They are a bit tighter around the bolt area due to the 1 mm larger size. These have low inductance as well which accounts for the high speed torque.

I didn't want to risk any missed steps when changing directions at high speed. I cut at 400 ipm through foam and use rapids up to 1200 ipm. My build is 1500mm on the Y and 1000mm on the X. I get a cutting surface of about 50 inches by 31 inches. I use the off brand Leadshine drivers running at about 47 volts. It's interesting that one of my drivers is authentic Leadshine and the motor it drives runs much quieter than the ones on the knock offs. Other than that they both perform the same.

Here are the motors that I used. Search Results : StepperOnline

I am very impressed with these motors. They are fast and strong. With shipping it ended up costing me about $50 each. Looks like they are out of stock right now as well.

 

After much review, I chose to build this router. I like the way it mounts to any table/floor and it really cost effective

I changed a few things:
1500x1500x250mm x,y,z rails (would like to upgrade to 3000x1500x250mm for 4x8' sheets later on)
9mm wide GT2 Belt, 3mm pitch (little bit more robust than 6mm for not much cost add - it still fits in the vslot rail nicely)
3Nm 2.8A Steppers (8 wire, 32$$ each)

Total BoM cost of 1110.00 (w/o shipping)
*does not include router mount or router
*includes the drag chain and all optional quality goodies

Used a DeWalt 610 I had laying around - mounted it with hose clamps and machined my router mounts as the first job...it took a while

BoM is attached for anyone doing research - this is 95% original, all I did was update the links and prices as well as the mods listed above

I cannot thank the original builder enough for his explanation and documentation as it helped me finally take the first step and get into the CNC world.

 

What I did was have the X axis at 1500mm (actually trimmed a bit to make 'certain' the length of V slot were 'identical' - there can be a variance of a few mm between lengths), but currently kept the Y with 750mm since I didn't plan on cutting full length 4'x8' on a regular basis. This gives ~50+" (X) but only 20" for Y. I then segment anything needing more than 20", include a machined marker to slide work piece down and mill the next 20".

20" is kind of shy of a lot of things as I find myself needing 24-30" more often than initially thought. Upgrading the Y to either 1000mm or 1500mm will fix that and keep the number of segments to a minimum as well for the day I need to go beyond 50" (X) x 48" (Y).

The machine takes less room than making a 1500mm x 3000mm, as you are planning.

It will depend on how often you plan on working full sheets ... But the beauty of the OX base design comes from how easy and inexpensive it can be to modify as needs surface.

Have fun ...

 

I should be starting on my Charging Ox variant soon. Everything has been delivered, I think... Need to do a inventory.

I really like the idea of using the aluminum angle. It seems like it would end up being more rigid than just running a length of 20x80 down each side. I bought 6"x6"x 1/4" angle and had it cut into 10 - 4" pieces, 5 on each side of the CNC router. I am using 5 because I am planning a 1m x 1m size.

 

After running my 1500mmx1500mm setup for a while I can tell you that the y rails have enough stiffness. I had to add a third 20x60mm cross brace to handle the span on the x. The ox plates have holes already drilled.

Even with the added brace I found that a superPID router speed control helped tune out the mill chatter.

It's a fun machine

 

Hi,

Good to know its stiff ! Besides the angle, I also purchased some 20mm X 80mm X 1000mm X 1/4" aluminum plate. I am going to use this for the X in order to stop any twisting caused by the weight of the DW611 and the other hardware associated with the Z.

I too bought a Super-PID ! I am going to modify my DW611 in the next couple days. I am going to do some other mods to it as well... One thing is to see if the motor fan located just above the collet inside of the housing can be turned over so that instead of drawing air up from the bottom, it blows down. I also have a 110v fan that I am mounting on the top of the DW611. I am going to cut out the top where the "grill looking" plastic is circle shaped. When the router comes on, so will the fan.

Do you have any pics of your build ?

 

Sure, not pretty to look at but tough. I crash it all the time. Lol

I built it on a 5x8 table so i would have space for laptop, tools, kids toys...

The kids love to watch the "robot" cut

 

Thanks ! What kind of router do you have ? I notice your PID sensor is on the top. On my DW611 the access is on the side.

 

Is an older dewalt 610 model, found it for 5$ at a garage sale. I chucked c3 clearance bearings in it and some new brushes and it runs like a top.

You should be able to top mount yours if you want? I just painted 50% of the end of the shaft white. I then tuned the distance and position of the optical by watching the signal on the superpid LCD. When signal was strongest I glued it in place.

Other than requiring a separate 5v power source I am extremely happy with superPID. Noise is greatly reduced.

 

I am not sure I can go through the top... check the picture...

 

Yea, it's a lot different than my setup. I think to install superPID item 13/14 goes away. This will free up more install options. I do think they have dewalt 611 retrofit instructions on their website. Might want to check those out.

 

Yes, I already have them. They suggest going in through the side and just connecting two wires to bypass the soft start etc...