Part 5) X axis and Z axis assembly

as pictured below started bolting up the bridge pillars, did my best to get close to perfect but being profiles these can be adjusted easily after when everything is all together.

 

 

 

 

The bridge came together easily, though i plan to machine custom plates for the c-beam to bolt to 80160 profile. I’m sure behemoth will make its own upgrades when complete. 🙂

 

1st test of the x and z axis speeds are very high will fix all the steps and calibrations later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-YFdq_rlao

The x axis feels really solid with no flex and rigidity.  the extra epoxy, grout, reo rods have made the whole assemble very heavy, which will help with damping effects and reduce chatter.

To Start off the y axis we designed a nema 23 mount and 3d printed it solid. This is only a trail to see how it performs but for this size motor i believe it will be fine. Decided to try a new type of stepper motor the leadshine hybrid Nema 23 are integrated closed loop hybrid steppers.

Before assembling everything I couldn’t resist doing a quick frame mocked up and I must say it’s looking great at this point of the build. The end caps are 3d printed to give the cnc a more complete look, plus covering up the sand + epoxy inside the profiles.

Hiwin HGW15 rails mounted up with cbeam actuator, the extra support from the hiwin rails makes the base really solid and all flex or twisting has been removed.

Hand made the base plate out of 10mm aluminium plate, the size is 300×400

Cbeam cnc base (y-axis) complete

Hiwin Linear rail mounted onto openbuilds cbeam X-Axis

The install of the Hiwin Linear rails onto openbuilds cbeam wasn’t plug and play, it required some grinding of the v-slot by 2mm so t-nuts could slide onto the profile. I took my time doing this because the grinder could easily destroy the profile. overall it came out okay besides from a few scratches here and there.

Below image shows 1mm sanded from the outer edge of the T-nuts. This is required to slide the rail onto the profile.

lastly some loctite to every bolt and slide it on like a glove.

The Hiwin MGW15H rail fitted onto the c-beam adds a lot of extra strength and rigidity to the X Axis.

(Hiwin Rail measures at 10mm thick by 40mm wide by 500mm long harden steel).

combined with c-beam profile with x3 steel rods through it with epoxy + sand.

1. Cost of Hiwin MGW15H Est:$200-$300
2. Would I do it again?  Yes, though there is a Chinese version for 1/3 the cost if anyone has used that id love your feedback.

Custom gantry plate to merge X axis to Z axis

For this process I used a 3d printed template for a drill guide which worked out well. Below is a image of the stl i made (if you require then please email me)

Its always good using my 3d printer for cheating methods like this. But always measure everything 3 times and drill once.

Above image shows x2 mgw15h tracks mounted to openbuilds xl gantry plate.

Bolting X and Z axis together

Okay last part was pretty straight forward just need to bolt everything together as you can see in the photos.

above image shows z axis profile, as you can see all the channels are filled with epoxy and 3 of them have 12mm steel rods through the profile.

 

The moment of truth!.. Bam! everything lined up perfect.

all done and ready to bolt onto the frame of the machine

I’m happy that everything turned out to plan.

Part 4) Hiwin Rails HGW15 cbeam Y-axis leadshine hybrid Nema 23

This part of the build was looking for the cheapest way to boost the frames rigidity and dampening effects so it can handle machining metals.

I decided to use 3 lengths of 12mm reo rod that was purchased cheaply from the local hardware store which i glued in with epoxy resin. The reo rod diameter was slightly too large for the c-beam profiles so I used an angle grinder with sanding wheel and shaved off 1-2mm off.

As you can see above the three reo rods fit snug into the profile . The other two empty profiles were filled with a blend of sand, epoxy and steel shavings. Reason I done this was for the extra dampening effects provided from eg over steel rods. doing this mod to the profile adds alot of weight and strength to the c-beam.

Optional mod which wasn’t necessary but I still done anyways, Stainless 4mm rods were inserted with epoxy into the profiles 4mm holes. Only issue with this is I had to make sure it didn’t block the threads at either end of the profile.

Pillars were filled with non-shrink grout with added 4-5mm gravel.

overall this mod will boost the cnc rigidity and dampening effects at minimum costs due to the mass of weight of the machine. Happy with the results.

 

Part 3) Hiwin linear rail mounted onto openbuilds cbeam X axis