Monday, 26 December 2005

Project - CNC Mill X and Y Axes Trial Assembly

With the ballnut carriers complete, and after some basic plate work we come to the X-Axis trial assembly.



Tapping the motor mouting plate for the X-Axis. In order to keep the tap vertical and square to the plate, I am using a small block drilled to clear the tap.


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We start off with the carriage plate, registering the X rails with the step that was ground into the plate.


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Using a dial test indicator attached to the master rail we also check to make sure that it runs parallel with the side of the carriage...


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....here is the view from the other side. Looks pretty good.


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Now we make sure the othet rail is parallel to the master rail, again with the DTI.


This is a time consuming process took me a couple of hours to get this far.


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Once we have the rails parallel, we flip the whole thing over and screw the rails to the table, at the same time mounting the ballscrew.


You'll notice I haven't done the floating bearing for the X-Axis yet.


The vice is the squarest thing I own so I adjusted its position such that the back surface is parallel to the X-Axis travel and then used the side to make sure that the Y-Axis master rail travel is perpendicular to the X-Axis.


Once this is accomplished, as you can see here I am making sure the secondary Y-Axis rail is parallel to the master.


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The bed and the Y-Axis ballscrew ready for the table assembly to be bolted down.


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Here the table assembly has been flipped and the Y-Axis rails have been screwed down


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