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Can anyone provide any insight or details on the extrusion pictured? I do not know the source of it and dimensionally it is a bit different than some of the common stuff.

Approx 2.5" x 3.5"


3" x 1.5"

 

Yeah I thought the second would be the easiest to identify as it did not look all the different than fairly standard 80/20 stuff.

I have a decent bit of the first style.
1 piece of 2.5" x 3.5" x 25" Long
2 pieces of 2.5" x 3.5" x 18" Long
and 2 pieces of 2.5" x 3.5" X 30.5" Long

There are several small pieces as well that are bolted to some Bosch corner brackets like these below. Makes me wonder if it is related to that.

If I cant use it on my build than i will just save it for another project. It is beefy stuff though.

 

Well that answered my own Question.

Bosch Rexroth 60X90H 60 Series Profile.

http://www13.boschrexroth-us.com/Framing_Shop/Product/View_Product.aspx?category=10106&subcategory=3

 

I have a welded steel table that came with the lot of parts I bought.

The problem I have with it and the Bosch extrusion is the target dimension. I would like the ability to handle standard 4'x8' sheet material in either half length (4'x4') or have it setup as a pass through with outrigger support for the other half of the full sheet hanging out.

This would mean a 48" gantry dimension. I do not have any 48"+ pieces of the Bosch extrusion. I have some 30.5" long pieces but that is as long as I have currently.

I could easily splice length for the side rails since nothing will be riding on them. Splices in the gantry though would not be good. I may have to buy a couple additional lengths or resign myself to ~30" for a gantry length.

The table is also undersized so I am going to re-purpose it as a stand for my bench top drill press, chop saw, and grinder. I will probably build a heavy wood table or weld up another table to support the router.

 

It would make for a strong axis I am sure, especially if tied together in some way. I do not know if that is needed or if it is the best option for the end product but it could work.

 

With the great extrusion mystery solved, although decisions remain, it is time to move on to other mysteries.

I have three of these stepper motors with three matched driver units. http://www.grainger.com/product/AUTONICS-Stepper-Mtr-5PFF3

Are these Autonic 5PFF3's up to the task on a slightly large OX? Looking At the specs I think so.

I really will need another one to complete the build with dual drive on the rails and single on the Gantry axis and Z axis.

I am thinking I will just buy a similar spec NEMA 23 framed motor for the Z axis so that the X and Y are matched motors. I do not really want to pay the price Grainger has on these. It is more than I paid for three of them with the drivers. Hopefully the NEMA 23 in the store is more than up to the task of the Z axis. http://openbuildspartstore.com/nema-23-stepper-motor/

 

That is what I had hoped and thought after looking at the specs. I was just concerned I was missing something simple, as I often do.

I will need to source another motor wire harness with plug for one of these motors. He must have lost one Hopefully I can find a replacement that does not exceed the cost of another motor.



I think I am going to scale this back slightly to 36" x 36". I had hoped to build large enough to handle standard sheet width. Honestly though I can see that being a bit overkill and a space hog in the shop. Even if I wish to do some custom cabinet or furniture wood working it is not often I would be dealing with cuts/pieces larger than 36".

This will save considerably on guide and rail material. Things like supported linear rail get very expensive at or over 48". They are not necessarily cheap at 36" but much more reasonable and available.

Anyone have a source for hardened linear guide rod/rail in .750" diameter?
I have to ~30" length and like 8 3/4" ID linear bearings in the parts I bought. If I can find 3 lengths of ~40" rod at a reasonable price I could cut one of the 30" pieces for the Z axis and be in good shape. I wonder if 3/4" drill rod is dimensionaly stable enough to use as a guide rod.

 

Yet another topic of discussion is the controls side of things.

I have this board and module most likely sourced from ebay here.
5Axis CNC Breakout Board Set + Display + KeyPad For MACH3 CNC Control Software
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400782964783

I also have a second break out board of unknown origin. It appears to be a WTOTOY break out board. I am assuming based on some information found on setting one up is an additional board that it is not needed if the first breakout board set with keypad is used. Is this correct? With a second set of motors and drivers I could use this second board on yet another CNC setup correct?

Additionally there was a third set of controls in the package. It is a Autonics PMC-2HS-U513 which as I understand is a 2D programmable controller and not really usable in a CNC router setup. I am thinking this module will go on ebay in the near future unless I can learn of another use for it.

 

Oh how I miss Solidworks.

Google Sketchup is so limiting and such a pain to get used to. I am slowly learning but things that are intuitive and simple in Solidworks are either non existent or far to complex in Sketchup.

I have attached what I have for a basic design idea so far. It is far from complete and is missing things like hardware and corner brackets. Keeping in mind it is a work in progress I would love any input on the design.

notes:

Side rails (Y) are 2080 VSlot. (1000mm length)
Cross supports are 2040 VSlot (1000mm length)
Gantry Beams are two Bosch Rexroth 60x90H Extrusion beams (roughly 1000mm long)
1/2-10 5 start lead screw for X, Y, and Z (not fully shown on model yet
Guides are 3/4" OD Hardened, Ground, and Zinc plated Linear Shafting 2 shafts per axis. (42" long each for X and Y)

 

It is not progressing. Everything is in storage as I empty my house to put it on the market. I am moving into temporary housing while I build a new house. The builder says it should be done Jan. 2016. Nice thing is I will have a shiny new 28'x12' shop and a 3 car garage. The shop no longer will have to share space with the cars and motorcycles.

All of my research was enough to make me not even consider GT2 or GT3 belts. Screw or rack and pinion is the way to go.

 

This will be the fist time in a long time I will have all my cars and bikes in the garage. We have my wife's car, my car, my street bike, my wife's street bike, and two vintage motorcycles that all need to get stored in the garage. I will be adding a pickup truck next year and a new dirt bike to the stable. One of the vintage bikes will probably have to go when the dirt bike shows up. The pick up will probably live out doors. The welders and metal working equipment along with the tire changer will all have to live in the main garage with the bikes. The wood working equipment and my wife's kilns and glass tools will occupy the shop.

I have been a brewer for a bit more than 10 years now. I make more cider and mead than I do beer these days but I still get a beer going every few months. I know what you mean about taking up space. I plan on having all the brew equipment in an additional "pub shed" in the back yard. It will serve as both a brew space and and entertainment space off the patio and fire pit. I plan on opening a small commercial cidery next year after the house is done. Low production volume and really only serving my local area. I have commitments for a few tap handles in town already. I have been drumming up interest by serving at as many festivals and fund raisers as I can in my county.

Happy Brewing!

 

Happy Wife, Happy Life! And you have one that brews so you should be doubly Happy!

 

I have seen and/or helped build several stands made from various things. A common one is the Steel Unistrut commonly available at home improvement and hardware stores. It offers plenty of support and bolt together construction without welding. It will rust but is galvanized to reduce that. It can rust quickly if you have the flame in direct contact with the unistrut. It is significantly cheaper than aluminum extrusion and is not unnecessarily heavy for its dimension.

I am sure the 80mm extrusion would be fine with typical brew kettles and 5 gallon batches. If you start putting converted kegs (keggles) on it with 10+ gallon batches I am not sure it would be the best choice. Personally I would use a steel heat and wind shield around the burner assemblies that connects to the frame. Basically use that steel heat shield as a mount for the burner. Direct flame on the extrusion or even the burner mounted directly to the extrusion could be a problem in my opinion.

I have seen stands made from 2x4 pine lumber with minimal metal flashing as heat shields and those people seem to be happy with the result. None of them have died or burnt down their homes yet so I would think some 80mm V slot would be just fine if assembled properly.

My old setup was 1" square steel tubing welded together and painted with BBQ grill paint. My new setup just sits on a 6' stainless commercial kitchen work table. No burners to worry about since I went electric so I can brew indoors. I still have a couple propane burners as well that I use as a portable rig. They are bolted down to a moving dolly/cart.