CastCNC Alum carriages for my machine coming in 2011

[Mike Heidrick]

These are the new 2011 casting renderings with the K2 Z.





I am in the queue for the CastCNC.com alum carriages for my Joes machine in early 2011. Harry, the owner and maker of the parts has redesigned his X carriage to allow my 8" K2 Linear Z bolt on. I will also be adding the second X 8020 to the gantry. Now I am also contemplating a VRail upgrade at the same time while i do these mods. I am pretty excited about the upgrade.

Best part is last week's and this week's CNC parts and sign jobs paid for the entire Cast Alum upgrade!

Harry's site is:
www.castcnc.com

[Andy Birko]

This may be a silly question but I'm pretty new to CNC and this is something in particular that I'm interested in. It looks that while you have an 8" Z travel, the clearance under your gantry is only about half that. Of what use is the extra travel if you can't make it over your work piece?

[james mcgrew]

generally travel is twice the clearance to allow the bit to have the clearance not the carraige (spindle collet)

good looking setup i met joe in dallas, one really neat fellow

[Andy Birko]

James, I think I kind of follow what you're saying but is that really for convenience rather than necessity? i.e., I would think that with a proper design, you could have the tip of the tool even with the bottom of the gantry, have z travel equal to the gantry clearance and never have any issues no?

Again, I'm trying to learn about this stuff before a purchase. I could see that having extra travel would make spindle mounting easier but does the extra travel make it less rigid? I guess I could see that offset plates to regain travel could be just as flexy as longer travel....

[Dave Spitzer]

Mike

I have been in contact with Harry before Christmas, and I to will be placing my order to upgrade soon. Would like to have upgrade completed by mid-summer.

Dave

[Mike Heidrick]

Dave, you doing the K2 Z upgrade as well? Are you planning to do V rail too?

Andy, I am sure the 8" will have some convenience until I learn to more effectively use my setup. Have to understand that this is an upgrade to an existing machine as well (not many can do that) and that it is coming from a set of plans from one guy, a alum caster from another company, and a Z from a 3rd company. That fact that this is available to me is very rare. I have 5" between spoilboard and gantry now. I will need to learn the perfect spot to mount the Z and teh router mount on it. I use a Hitach M12VC router as my spindle. I have always thought like James in that twice the clearence for bit travel was best. Longest bit I have now is about 3" and I have the Xtreme Xtender router bit quick change.

[Dave Spitzer]

Mike

Yes I am going with the K2, but I'm not sure about the v-rail as my angle iron has broken in nicely and it is an added cost that I just can't afford at this time as I have the lead screw version. Even though it's not on his web site, Harry would make the carriages for the lead screw vision but not the bearing holders, thats OK with me. I'm still thinking of going to R&P.

Dave

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

James, I think I kind of follow what you're saying but is that really for convenience rather than necessity? i.e., I would think that with a proper design, you could have the tip of the tool even with the bottom of the gantry, have z travel equal to the gantry clearance and never have any issues no?

Say you use both a 3/4" bit (below the collet) and a 3" bit. The shorter bit will need to go 2-1/4" lower to reach the table, and the longer bit will need to go 2-1/4" higher to clear the gantry. If you have 4" of gantry clearance, you'll need at least 6-1/4" of travel. Preferable a little more.

[Dave Spitzer]

Just placed my order with Harry, my current build is lead-screw, so I'm going to keep the Y-axes lead-screw (will need to fabricate ABL nut holders on carriages), and the X axes I will convert to R&P, so this should be an interesting build.

Dave

[Mike Heidrick]

Looks like my Cast Alum parts have all shipped out from Harry (he is an awesome guy to buy from btw). Will be here soon. The parts arriving are all the red parts in the pictures above. Guess I need to get another piece of 72" 25S 5010 8020 on order.

Also what brand taps do folks recommend for aluminum? I am thinking the spiral ones from enco.

Mikie

[Mike Heidrick]

Update on Enco order for the build as I know Dave and I will be building these at about teh same time. Will also pick up some Tap magic at sears locally.

319-6098 1/4-20 H3 OSG FAST SP FLUTE PLG TAP
319-6102 3/8-16 H3 OSG FAST SP FLUTE PLG TAP
891-1805 CAPACITY 1/4-1/2" T-TYPE PLAIN TAP WRENCH
337-2597 5/16" 135D TIN HERTEL COB SCR MACH DR
337-2655 NO. 7 135D TIN HERTEL COB SCR MACH DR
825-8320 8OZ.BLUE BRUSH TOP CAN LAYOUT FLUID

Also ordered a second 25S 25-5010 72" 8020 extrusion, some economy T nuts, and went ahead and bought some imperial 1" T-Track in 48" lengths that will accept a standard 1/4-20 bolt vs that metric stuff that I have now that requires a slight grind to the 1/4-20 bolt. At $7 it is the cheapeast heavy duty T Track I have ever seen. Makes rockler and incra track look pathetic. You have to drill your own mounting holes though.

[Brian Breshears]

I received my CastCNC parts from Harry yesterday. Today I order the extrusions from 8020 and later in the week I'll order the racks and likely the drives. The K2 z-axis should arrive Thursday. Still pulling together my BoM and tool list for the build. Trying to ease into the build so I don't spook my wife with all the orders - I need a raise in my allowance but I suspect now is not the time to ask...

[Mike Heidrick]

Brian, did you pull my R&P BOM off Joes? What base style you going with? Are you doing the K2 Z Harry setup?

[Carol Reed]

Wow! Looks really cool! What are the gold colored parts in the pictures above?

I am working on budget and software research at the moment. I have to get a place to work before I can actually order anything. Winter weather moved in this week and shut down the shed addition for the shop area. That and a torn rotator cuff from swinging a hammer!

Getting old is the pits! But I am wearing out the body, not rusting out! LOL!

[Mike Heidrick]

The gold parts are 3/4" angle iron and also the rack is also gold in the pictures. The parts are not red or yellow or anodized at all - just in the rendering for pictures. Parts are dull cast grey and need cleaned/polished up and drilled and tapped. http://www.castcnc.com/ is Harry's website.