If anyone has, please let me know if you need to do anything other than extending the side rods and belt. Thanks!
I'm designing the bed to be cut and I will use the standard size for now if I can't find the info right now. I can always make a larger bed later.
@jimmycakes, you should check out sly's build. He's got some interesting hardware mods going on.
His designs are great. If he ever does a step by step instruction tutorial I may have to try some of it. I think I'll stick to the standard model to familiarize myself with building first.
That is exactly what I did, just extended the rods and belt. I did not extend it by much, but I definately added another couple of inches on my Y axis, and I am very happy that I did it.
Good luck.
Charles
Extending the Y axis is a project I want to tackle. My goal will be to make a large enough bed that a DIYLILCNC will be able to mill out the parts for another DIYLILCNC.
Charles, do you have a blog or anything with information about your build? what are your final bed dimensions? What size rods and belts did you use? Did you modify any supports? I'd love to have a 12"x18" cutting area vs the 12"x12". Thanks!
I see that you visited the post about my build. It is great to see how enthusiastic you are about building your own.
I measured my Y axis, it has been extended to 440mm or just over 17 inches. I did not modify anything in the supports, I just extended the rods, belts and base. The only difference is that i used XL Belt and Pully's as opposed to the MXL. They are just a bit bigger, my belts are 11mm wide which means I had to make other adjustments where the where rubbing against the structure.
And my reason for using XL, is that I could not source the MXL.
So I am sure that you will be fine with 18 inches.
Charles
So your bed was roughly 76cm x 61cm correct? Did you end up making your bed roughly 76cm x 69cm? Giving you an extra three or so inches? In which case my 36' (91.4cm) rod that I order will be fine. Maybe I'll order an extra rod just in case? And then I'll just add another two feet of belt to compensate for length. I think I'll use the same MXL belt since it is available, unless you see an advantage to the larger belt size. But I prefer to modify as little as possible.
Just downloaded the Rhino file and noticed that it would be easy to support the rail if it needed it. How much space is there between the rail and bed? It would seem that making small braces to support it would be easy, should I need them. I didn't realize the whole Zframe just floated on TOP of the rail. Excellent. Just redesigned a larger bed and sent it out to my CNC guy. Hopefully he hasn't cut my files yet. : )
Currently the rods simply sit on the base, so there is no space between the two. Certain aspects of this design are as simple as they get. The float does cause problems if you try to move through material faster than the rig can cut, but otherwise seems to work fine. We plan to add trap-style bearings in the next revision, but that's months away at least.
Sounds great. I can always upgrade later. I'm going to lengthen my Y. Files are sent. I don't mind cutting slow.
I am extending my bed to 36". How much belt should I order? Calculating the rods are easy enough.
I think you'll be fine ordering an amount of extra belt that's equal to the amount you've extended the Y rods (x2 cause there's two rods/lengths of belt, plus a few extra inches for good measure).
Thanks for the advice. That's what I had figured, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else to consider. I can't wait to hear if my parts are done so I can send in my McMaster and bearing orders.
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