Author Topic: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box  (Read 6898 times)

Offline knighty

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Re: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box
« Reply #15 on: December 20, 2014, 04:21:47 PM »
There are a few options, cycle chain's,  fixed toothed belt, leadscrew and rack & pinion, I've been looking at leadscrews and SBR16 rails.

As for water jet you'll need some very very serious pressures.


I meant I could get someone else to waterjet some racks for me instead of buying them ;-)

Offline Jamesrl

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Re: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box
« Reply #16 on: December 20, 2014, 06:25:50 PM »
There are a few options, cycle chain's,  fixed toothed belt, leadscrew and rack & pinion, I've been looking at leadscrews and SBR16 rails.

As for water jet you'll need some very very serious pressures.


I meant I could get someone else to waterjet some racks for me instead of buying them ;-)

How would you compensate for wear and backlash with a rack?

Offline Julian

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Re: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box
« Reply #17 on: December 20, 2014, 06:47:18 PM »
Same as gears ... two racks side by side that can be adjusted longitudinally in respect of each other.
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Offline Jamesrl

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Re: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box
« Reply #18 on: December 20, 2014, 07:53:33 PM »
Same as gears ... two racks side by side that can be adjusted longitudinally in respect of each other.

That could get expensive,  you could need as many a 6 racks on a good sized machine,  I'll stick with Trapezoidal leadscrews.

Offline knighty

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Re: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box
« Reply #19 on: December 20, 2014, 08:32:13 PM »
I was thinking the same... I kept reading on a CNC forum an 8foot table needs racks, but screws sound better to me... plus racks mean I'd need the 2 drive motors for that axis on the gantry, when the weight it better on the end of the table ?

I don;t care about cutting speed at all, as long as it's accurate I could leave it to cut one piece all day


I keep talking about building one... but I've been talking about it for 6 months and haven't started yet...

Offline Jamesrl

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Re: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box
« Reply #20 on: December 20, 2014, 10:18:30 PM »
I was thinking the same... I kept reading on a CNC forum an 8foot table needs racks, but screws sound better to me... plus racks mean I'd need the 2 drive motors for that axis on the gantry, when the weight it better on the end of the table ?

I don;t care about cutting speed at all, as long as it's accurate I could leave it to cut one piece all day


I keep talking about building one... but I've been talking about it for 6 months and haven't started yet...

You can get  2500mm of Tr16 x 8 multi start leadscrew for as little as £82 and NEMA23 steppers are surprisingly cheap as well.

What guide rail and bearings were you thinking of using?

Accuracy is down to how well YOU calibrate the machine before it gets used in anger.

« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 10:32:16 PM by Jamesrl »

Offline knighty

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Re: Leo XKM60 replacement terminal box
« Reply #21 on: December 21, 2014, 11:32:03 PM »
You can get  2500mm of Tr16 x 8 multi start leadscrew for as little as £82 and NEMA23 steppers are surprisingly cheap as well.
What guide rail and bearings were you thinking of using?
Accuracy is down to how well YOU calibrate the machine before it gets used in anger.

I've got no idea which bearings etc. to buy, I've read up enough so I've got a rough idea in my head of how I'll build it, but I'll leave which bearings/motors etc.. until I'm ready to build it... few other jobs I need to get out of the way first

are you adding hight control ?

I was planning not to, and just set the hight before I start... but googleing other people making them, they seam to think automatic hight control makes a big difference ?

are you going to use the plasma cutter you have already ?  you've got a CUT40 iirc ?   I've got the same one in a different case ('cobalt40')... haven't used mine on anything big yet so I have no idea if it'll be ok running for longer periods with the cnc table ?

I need to do a load of 3mm stainless, cut to shape and then about 100 of 20mm holes in it...

I've looked at bigger plasma cutters, but they're  a bit pricey... I'm thinking I could split the cuts into separate jobs, so it can take a break every 10min instead of getting hot and cutting off?