My DIY CNC project. I did order the two 1610 ballscrews for the Y-axis today
While waiting for the screws to arrive I have started designing the screw/motor mounts.
I consider a setup like this using a L shaped 10mm alu plate. Adjustable left/right + up/down so I can align the ballscrew + adjustable stepper mount so I can adjust the belt
How are you covering the ballscrews to keep debris off them? That’s been a limiting factor for my designs.
I`m going to install a “shield” on the top of the two 90x90 profiles (not included in this model)
- I may make a cover to protect the belt…
I would love to see a render or picture of that when you get it done. It’s the main reason I haven’t gone to ballscrews on my mill.
Why the reduction? What’s the torque curve of your steppers look like? With this you’ll be giving up a lot of speed. Unless you go with something like the clear path servos then it will be very high performance.
If speed is a problem I`ll use 1:1 but I want to get the motors installed in the rear of the gantry, rear of the z-axis… so then I have to use a belt
@Oyvind_Amundsen Speed is often an issue with stepper motors. There never seems to be enough. Calculating your speed at various motor RPMs is easy enough to do.
RPM = velocity / lead pitch But in your case your motor will have to run at 2X RPM I think you’ll be OK though. At 1,000 RPM motor speed you’ll be running about 100 inches per minute. Which is fine for a small machine. I jog at half that speed to stop where I want to. Your motors will probably be good to at least 2,500-3,000 RPM. You never know til you run how your leads are going to act. Before I shortened mine they got shaky past 1,000 RPM. But that would put you at 200 IPM. Which is pretty zippy. Go easy on your acceleration.
@Oyvind_Amundsen once again, thank for sharing journey step by step 
I have the same problem as @John_Bump … You talk about a shield on the profiles, but how will you accomodate with gantry plate mouvement ? Or will the shield be some kind of gusset ?
VHF’s way of handling this issue is also interesting, at least from the pics, but still have to figure how their linear movement system enclosure works…
Anyone tested something like this?
On my mill, I have made bellows to protect the exposed y screw, by folding them out of paper. They work okay. I would definitely prefer commercially formed bellows. With that said, even with my existing ones I get stuff in there sometimes. I’m thinking about adding an air pump from an aquarium, that blows filtered air into that space so it’s under slight positive pressure and chips won’t drift in there.
Anyone know if it is possible to download step (3D) model :
HTD3M 48T and 24T pulleys?
I need them so I can design my motor mounts…
@Oyvind_Amundsen well, bello not gusset was the wright word, sorry for my english :/… Didn’t knew about the cylinder ones, could do it. On my side, I was thinking of U shaped ones, or maybe this kind I just discovered
Edit: C shaped and “Arch” shaped ones are interesting too… But whatever the shape, my worry is chips and dust that could accumulate in the folds and what configuration would best avoid/mitigate that