Duane published a new build:

Read more about this build...

 

Progress so far:
I have ordered and received my plates last week.
My V-slot arrived today from openlab.com.au
I have ordered my steppers and power supply from omc-steppersonline.com, The con note shows they have landed in Australia and awaiting customs clearance, I hope to have them next week.
I ordered most of my hardware from the OpenBuild parts store last weekend, for some reason my order status is showing waiting for payment, while my paypal account shows the transaction is complete. I will follow it up again shortly.

According to my very untidy spreadsheet, I am still to order:

Stepper motor controller (can't decide, but leaning towards tinyG)
double brackets (out of stock at openlab.com.au and openbuild, thinking of making my own from aluminium angle)
Low Profile Screws - M5x30mm
GT2 (3mm) Timing Belt 5metres
Low Profile Screws - M5 x 8mm
and a few other bits and pieces that I should be able to find in the mess below or from a local store.

My biggest problem at this stage is this :


I'm hoping to get in there, clear it out and completely rearrange it this weekend, then build a bench for my little big OX.

 

The wife has filled up the social Calendar for the weekend, not sure how much progress I will make on the shed, but hope to get a good start on it.

I thought the freight from openlabs on the v-slot was very reasonable, this is a good thing as I don't think I have any material for the Z axis!!

Road/Sea freight from Perth to Hobart took 10 days.

It would be really nice if someone from the open build parts store got back to about the hold up on my order Not in a great rush, but the lack of response is making me nervous.

 

Stepper Motors are at the local freight depot, missed the delivery on Friday. Five days from China is much better than the 3-4 weeks I normally wait for my eBay purchases.

The Part Store has got back to me and my order should be underway shortly.

I spend some time looking at controller options last night. I've ruled out anything that needs a parallel port, and as I have zero experience with Arduino I'm still leaning towards the tinyG. Unless I discover something in the next 24 hours that changes my mind I will order it. International freight is about half if you buy through Inventables or the Maker store as opposed to Synthetos.

The shed is half cleaned. I can't believe how much junk I've accumulated in the five years I've been here. I found a home for some of it, and decided to throw a whole lot of it out. I need to relocate a workbench, or maybe some storage shelves to make room for the OX bench. That shouldn't take too long once I've made up my mind which way to go.

Unfortunately I won't get a start on the workbench until next weekend, but there isn't a whole lot I can do with it until the box arrives from the parts store.

 

I've ordered just about everything now, except some screws that are out of stock and things I know I can get locally.
The double L brackets are out of stock in a couple of places but as they are only needed to hold and position the centre table supports I'm pretty sure I can make my own from some aluminium angle.

Thanks for the tip on the t-nuts Serge. I didn't think about the extra support rail when I placed my order.

So far I think I've spent around $1100 aud on parts, not including the work bench I am still to build and the MDF base board.

I too plan on starting out with my Dremel, but I use it for so many things that I think I will start to miss it if it's bolted to my OX for too long. My current thinking is I'll upgrade to a Bosch trimmer, but they are available locally so it's not a decision I have to plan too far in advance.

My biggest mistake is that I currently have no v-slot left over to make my z-axis and the Aussie open lab store is out of stock, unless I want a length in black. If anyone has an off cut they want to send me...........

I'm also starting to think about an E-stop. The tinyG isn't configured for one, so I'll probably wire it in to the main power supply.

 

Just a quick update on the stepper motors.

I ordered these from http://www.omc-stepperonline.com/ based on a referral from another forum member. The prices are the cheapest I have seen anywhere else. Total cost for the four steppers needed for the OX, the power supply and deliver was $US131.90.

I ordered 4 motors and a power supply on a weekend and they were shipped from China to my door in southern Australia by the next friday, ie 5 business days.

The next thing that impressed me was the packaging. The amount of padding inside the box was excellent, there wasn't any room for the goods to move. It was more like they were packing for crystal figurines than big chunks of metal. Data Sheets for the motors were included, and a dodgy customs invoice was attached to the box.

Obviously it's too soon to comment on the functional aspects of the gear, but everything feels solid and looks good on the outside.

The only thing to be wary about if ordering the Nema 23's for your OX is that the current model matching the Open Builds spec has a 6mm shaft as opposed to a 6.35mm shaft. I wasn't sure if this would be enough to noticeably throw the geared pulley out of whack, so I chose the dual shaft version at the same price. If the extra shaft gets in the way, my Dremel will fix it pretty quickly.

 

Thanks @Jestah
The Aussie store has it back in stock, but going to cost me $50.oo with freight to get a length when I only need 200mm. Though I already have another project in mind that I could use the offcut for. Let me know how much it's going to cost to send it over and we'll see what we can work out.

There hasn't been a lot of progress on the build lately. I got confused with the naming convention of the timing belt and have ordered the wrong one. On the bright side, some of the bits and pieces that were out of stock when I placed my first order are back in stock so I can order them all together instead of hunting around locally for them.

I have learnt my first new skill, tapping threads. The first one was a bit wonky, almost like the tap needed to be broken in, but I'm happy with the rest. 4 holes tapped, at least 26 more to go.

 

Sounds like a plan, looking at running 60mm for the z access.

 

So it's been a while!

I've built a bench and wired up the motors to the tinyG, all worked nicely through chillipeppr.

I've put the X axis together tonight and found a bit of gap between the two 60mm rails for about 80% of its 1000mm length.
Based on my squeeze tests I think if I drill through the rails every 100mm and bolt them it will pull them together. The gap is around 0.8mm at its worst.

I'm open to simpler solutions ?