Quote:
Originally Posted by cbale2000
If you REALLY want a project, I've always wondered how practical it would be to modify the X-Carve to entirely be driven by lead screws or ball screws. It always seems like the belts have too much slop or slip to hold a tolerance for what we're doing.
I've also seen a few fairly interesting projects involving expanding the build space of the X-Carve to 1000x2000 that seemed potentially useful.
Closed-loop stepper motors might also be a nice upgrade to have.
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Expanding the X-Carve is going to run into problems. I have a stock 500x500mm X-Carve and already I can notice a considerable (+- 0.005") deflection by just pushing down on the spindle. It will need considerable stiffening to expand to 1000x2000. You might want to just use one of the Openbuild plans or the Ox to get something to that size.
Also, for some reason, there is considerable backlash on the X axis (0.008"), and a little bit on the Y (0.002") -- I measured it and these numbers seem to be confirmed by other people on the internet.
FWIW, the Chinese spindle (0.8Kw) with VFD is a really nice upgrade and makes cutting aluminum easy.
Just don't expect great tolerances (i.e. bearing mounts might be off -- allow for that in your design).