This is absolutly awesome. Your FreeCad videos are what got me going with drawing stuctural parts for 3D Printing. Nice to see you are building and awesome CNC machine.
If i get this far would probably just sit in the shop for hours sliding that gantry back and forth in amazement ;) I suspect we will see chips flying after a couple more videos of electronics and programming.
7:20 - I plan on machining all aluminum stock plates and would like references to mount the rails. I strongly believe a proper CNC build should always have a bench/knee mill to help making parts for the CNC. Watching this video because no one explains how to properly mount and align linear rails using a test indicator, I know some even use a granite parallel/square to be accurate.
Just stumbled across this. I've sourced a number of bits to build my own machine but haven't yet started. Funnily enough looking at your build page I think we picked similar motors for the axis, hybrid steppers. Got a sub since I'm really interested in seeing this since mine is going to be similar. Mine is smaller though since it's for milling parts for my own electronic projects, so small enclosure apertures and holes and so on. Seeing you do this with hand tools is a fantastic!
You considered adding an upright mount to the base plate, so you can end machining like proper dovetails etc. Also I am thinking about a similar build but was looking for a 4x8 build. Do you reckon the ballscrews would work with such a long unsupported run?
For years I have been wondering if this would be perfect setup for 3d printers. As it is not using timing belts allowing the 3d printers to print so much faster not effected by g-force vibrations.
It would work for 3D Printing. It is just a lot of overkill, strength wise. Just buiild a hot end mount to fit where the router goes and it will 3D Print. Also, I am not sure what electronics are going to be used, but the 3D printing and CNC electronics, and software, are a bit different. So maybe a quick swap plug system to swap out electronics boards, with a CAN Bus to control the router/printhead, would work. And then there is the heat bed. But something that large could probably be done with painters tape, instead, for bed adhesion. Laser engraving/cutting could be an option as well. Rounding out as a tripple tool.