Arbo's Modified Solsylva 25x37 build...

[Arbo]

I've been lurking for quite some time. Always wanted to build some CNC stuff. Many years ago I etched my own board for the MM2001 controller for a foam cutter. Built the board, had the steppers and all... never got to making the mechanics. Long story short, I traded that stuff to a friend who finished it up, so now he has a CNC foam cutter in his shop, and it's quite handy.

But moving on to current times, I have always wanted a CNC router as well, for making all sorts of stuff, but mainly for the model airplane hobby.

So I've looked at loads of designs, and poured through thousands of posts, and settled on the Solsylva 25x37 machine. I'd love to do a nice 80/20 aluminum one, but that's just not going to happen at this point in time.

The problem I found with most of the designs out there, was size. While it would be nice to have a ginormous table, I don't have the room or money. And the small ones were too small.

I picked the Solsylva because it appears that with minor modifications, I can lengthen the X axis to where I want it (in this case the 49 inch x footprint will be growing 11 inches).

I also want to start off with better lead screws, so I'll be using the 1/2 10 5 start ACME as recommended.

Being new to the big picture of all of this, I also need to get used to fiddling about in 3D cad, so I figured the smart thing to do would be draw it all up in CAD and make sure everything fits with the changes (lengthened and bigger ACME screws)...

So I got started drawing pieces...

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[Arbo]

z axis side plates on...

[CarveOne]

Very nice start Arbo,

I can see that you will get into this build and enjoy it.

When you make the legs you will need to move the lead screw hole away from the frame about 1/8" to accommodate the larger lead screw diameter. I didn't do that and had to chisel into the frame 1/8" to fit the bearing blocks in place. A similar adjustment will be needed at the gantry for the lead nut mounting.

I also made the front board double thickness because I thought I may eventually drive the lead screws with two steppers. It was a good thing to do even though I'll never do that change.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Which CAD program are you using for your drawings?

On the Solsylva site there are other oak machines in the customer build photo section that may give you a few more ideas.

CarveOne

[Arbo]

When you make the legs you will need to move the lead screw hole away from the frame about 1/8" to accommodate the larger lead screw diameter.

That was one of those things I knew would change so I hope to 'fix' in CAD.

I'll keep the double front board in mind as well.

Which CAD program are you using for your drawings?

Rhino.

On the Solsylva site there are other oak machines in the customer build photo section that may give you a few more ideas.

I forgot about the customer photos, I'll have to go check them out.

Thanks,
Paul

[Arbo]

Nuts and bolts for the trucks made, need to make the bearings and finish putting them all together.

[Arbo]

Y Axis trucks built and put on the carriage.

[Arbo]

Z axis trucks made and in place... (yes, the holes/bearings in the aluminum are reversed, but not going to change it just for this drawing )...

[Arbo]

Z axis installed on gantry...

[CarveOne]

Really nice looking CAD work you're doing Arbo. Keep it up.

CarveOne

[Arbo]

Will do. Just going through the plans/instructions now making notes. Silly things like .5 ID bearings for the ACME bearing mounts and such.

Did you use the 1/2 in the Z-axis as well?

[Arbo]

Y gantry end plates on. Stepper mount and shaft holes moved back 1/8" to account for larger ACME rod...

[CarveOne]

Will do. Just going through the plans/instructions now making notes. Silly things like .5 ID bearings for the ACME bearing mounts and such.

Did you use the 1/2 in the Z-axis as well?

I used 1/2 acme on all three axis. The VXB,com part numbers for the 1/2" ID x 1-1/8" OD x 5/16" wide shielded bearings I ordered is R8ZZ (10 piece kit) and R8ZZ-1 (individual bearings). You can find 1" OD bearings with 1/2" ID but they will usually cost more.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Y gantry end plates on. Stepper mount and shaft holes moved back 1/8" to account for larger ACME rod...

Looks like you're pretty handy with Rhino. Are you going to model the whole machine?

CarveOne

[Arbo]

Yeah, I saw those bearings on VXB.

As to modeling the whole thing. I think so, with the obvious exception of many of the bolts.

I'm looking at the pillow block mounted bearing, or the mountable flanged... so I definitely want to play with them in Rhino and see if it might be better to use them...

[CarveOne]

Yeah, I saw those bearings on VXB.

As to modeling the whole thing. I think so, with the obvious exception of many of the bolts.

I'm looking at the pillow block mounted bearing, or the mountable flanged... so I definitely want to play with them in Rhino and see if it might be better to use them...

Better mounting blocks would be a good idea. I don't particularly like the original design all that much where the belt tension tends to help the blocks eventually move towards the center of the machine. Wood screws haven't held the blocks securely enough. Pillow blocks can be shimmed for adjustments and would not have this tendency.

Making the bearing blocks from oak as a separate part from the leg would work also. Take the original leg drawing and slice it off so the leg becomes a rectangular block. Then make a bearing block that bolts onto the leg block. The bearing block could then be any shape that works ok. There is still a problem with where to place the mounting bolts as they can only be installed below the bearings and acme rod. I'll take a look at mine and see what can be done.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

I just went out to the work shop and looked at the legs. It looks like you can part off the legs vertically at the outside edge of the frame's side board and even retain the tapered look of the legs if you wish to. The bolts can go all the way through the leg and bearing block under the lead screw or you can install threaded inserts in the legs and use shorter bolts. The bolts only need to be size #8 or #10. You can use shims made of layers of aluminum roof flashing for any minor alignments needed.

If you can find pillow blocks you like better, then they would be less work for more money. The issue for them will be how to deal with the mounting bolt that will be above the bearing.

CarveOne

[Arbo]

Thanks for the info. I'll have to look at it and think over which might be the best route to go.

[Arbo]

Had a few minutes this evening, so I put the 'threaded' rod in position so I can see how much space is there, and where the nut needs to go.

[CarveOne]

If you are going to use DumpsterCNC anti-backlash nuts, a modified piece of aluminum angle will easily mount it on the y axis. Somewhere in my build log are close up photos of all of the mountings that I used that will give you some ideas. Though as simple as I could come up with at the time, no problems have been seen so far. Whatever design mounts you come up with make sure you have built in adjustments in the z and x directions.

Instead of having the y axis block of wood "float" up and down on the all-thread rods I made the block stationary on the rods and added slotted holes in the aluminum angle to adjust the mounting bracket for the z direction. I felt that the floating block design might allow some minor y axis backlash so I locked it down.

CarveOne