Desktop CNC 'Thing'

[Misterg]

I set one of the linear rails sraight and parallel using the glass plate as a reference and marked for the securing screws.



I got it indicating straight to within about 0.01mm which I was reasonably happy with - I'm not sure that the glass plate is that good.

With one rail set and fastened in place, the carriage was used to get the second rail parallel



After all the holes were drilled and tapped, a quick test build:



All seemed to be working as it should, so I gave it the world's worst paint job and went on holiday for a few weeks




Once I came back, I made up a bracket to mount the X axis stepper motor and leadscrew to the underside of the gantry - all 4 jaw work on the lathe. The leadscrew thrust bearing is a standard FK10 from China which came with pukka angular contact bearings in it.

The leadscrews are all 12mm dia x 4mm pitch (selected pretty much at random!)



The bracket is secured with 3 screws into the underside on the gantry. I realised that I hadn't thought this through properly when I was marking out for the screw holes so I had to get creative when drilling them.









The loose end of the ballscrew is just supported by a normal ball bearing to stop it whipping around (the bearing is free to slide on the end of the ballscrew).



X axis drive installed: