Just did a bit of work, got all of my rails cut.
Decided to go with 48in long and 14 inch wide so i can cut out MTB decks one day as well (had to make it bigger due to @DerelictRobot’s yeti feet)
Also, printing the very last part (minus any extra adapter for other tools and such, also I may have to do the mid span supports since I’m going 48 inches!)
You fuckin what mate?
Well I started this one a bit ago, and it was due to the fact that I had alot of parts already that would just work.
I recently got a bunch of 8020 extrusion that I plan on building another CNC out of just for metal cutting.
Right now, my computer just has USB, but I can easily throw a parallel port in there.
Ok little list:
For power supply get the higher voltage drives and motor can take. So you will get more torque as Esk8 
Gotta support all of my lovers in whatever way I can.
Dude, this is awesome! thank you for the input man!!!
No problem 
we all have dreamed a CNC… It’s just the beginning.
Since the size of the CNC you are making I would advice dual Y motors drive otherwise they will loose steps with any load. Since you are gonna do light cuts then nema 17 should be fine. Otherwise nema 24 is better for the Y. Although they will bend your frame before stop so a bit over killed.
So if I throw a nema 24 on the Y, would I need dual motors?
If not, I have 5 nema 17s from my wanhao duplicator!
I got all of my conduit for free, had to buy 1 of them…so far, I’ve only spent about $40-50 on the entire project…I wish I had gotten the 8020 earlier, I would have spent my time figuring out how to make that work first!
There are several type of nema17. The one I linked have the power to cut. The one used on a 3d printer are usually weaker.
In bot of the case I would advice dual Y control. Also easier to set up then with a belt a Pulley running a the back of the Y axis. Then you connect the Y motor to the same drive so they get the same imput to move. Then an Inductive sensor at the end of one Y axis and of you aligned them correctly should stay approximately on the same line. Other solution is separated drives and separated Inductive sensor so that they allogn everytime you do a return to home of the axis. Anyhow you are probably using belt to drive the motor on the axis so I won’t care too much about precision and backlash since with belts the best you can do is keep cutting in climbing and never stops or the backlash will ruin your parts.
That actually make sense to me now. I’m starting to understand this more and more as I read. Imagine that!
I think for this one I’m going to leave the dual drive as an option, I’m going to print a second motor mount for the y axis tonight. I have a couple messed up mold blocks that I cant use under pressure that I will be doing the test cuts on. I plan on doing it in 3-4 stages to prevent adding too much strain on the CNC itself.
I know this machine is going to have certain limitations vs a full 8020 machine, but its going to be a big learning experience all in all. Thanks again for the advice and help! I’m gonna keep truckin along and hopefully make some good progress this week!
With the tight tool path you will be able to cut Alu with it. Just do not slot directly in it 
use shallow passes like 0.1- 0.2mm deep. Quite fast 300mm/min feed rate. Single or max 2 flute 1/8 or 3/8 carbide end mill. The short the better. High rom like 17K and enjoy the dancing. Important aspect is chip evacuation. I connected a 70L/min acquarium pump (way cheaper than a compressor and less noise) with a 10$ air blaster to blow away the little chips you will make. Keep the Alu cool and you won’t have surprise.
If you use Mach3 I have scripts to auto detect the X Y Z coordinate of the part you are milling using your end mill as a probe
I’m excited about making one of these. @Itsmedant do you have anywhere you can recommend to me to read/learn more about it?
I’m about to fire up the fucken Alessio appreciation train over here. You’re a damn good community member buddy.
Can we get a 2020 calendar with you in various precarious positions in your workshop? Like holding a partially disassembled mad hub while popping a hip, fresh out the shower in a towel inspecting your lathe… that sort of thing?
Ahahah you made my day… I am ok with the calendar. I will use the direct drive as Miley Cyrus used the hummer 
Gonna find a wrecking ball replacement now and it’s done
You can’t go back on this now. You’ve got 5 months
I would buy the calendar and proudly put on the wall
Well then I would say we could make an Esk8 calendar. Just in time for Christmas. We can pick up 12 lucky ones. Everyone gets a month and a 13th gets the front cover maybe. To involve as many people as possible. Then we sell it at like 5 Euro or $ and the profit goes to the forum.
Make a thread about that. I’m SUPER KEEN
Fucking awesome. We need more threads like this. I’ll build one for sure, hopefully within a year.
