jds cnc plasma cutter fixing y axis issues for $15

[@owenjohnson5030]

I’m building a JD’s cutter right now. I’ve already decided to build mine with dual stepper motors on the gantry to remove the sagging issue completely. I’ve already wired up the stepper motors to test them out. I made sure to wire them up so they will both move the gantry in the same direction, meaning one would need to rotate clockwise while the other would rotate counter clockwise. I’m doing this because I’m planning on building a larger version of the table.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

That sounds awesome! I'm curious to hear how the tuning of the 2 motors goes, I would think that even something like belt tension could potentially have 1 side move faster than the other. Or if 1 motor starts to slow down more than the other with age. But I hope it's smooth sailing without any troubles.

[@TCHamilton56]

I like your plan - seems like it add better accuracy without adding too much complexity or cost. I would be very interested in how your mod works out - thanks for thinking this out/Tom\

[@ElmendorfCopWatch-qx7id]

I love your idea. I'm in the process of building my Plasma Cutter and am going to steal this Idea before my first cut. GREAT JOB!!!!

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Thank you!

[@solarguy6043]

Thanks for the video. I am collecting parts right now. I am going to make that frame member longer in both directions. Boom, no issues with running off, regardless of where the wheel is compared to the cutting head. And if the wheel is easily removed, you can still get the ability to put bigger sheets of stock on the table.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yep, I think just making that 1 piece longer is a solid way to solve the problem.

[@urstuckagain]

I think you're absolutely right, you should move that wheel out to center of the torch so have access to the full size of the table. I know from experience with my table you start out douing small jobs the suddenly something comes along that takes the whole table or more. I think I'll do that with my JD's Garage table cause it can't hurt. 😁 Thanks for the video!

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yeah, I've got a few more small things I need to get done in the next little bit. But now that it's working, it makes me want to use it more, so I will likely need to fix it better. But there are a few other things that I will likely do first.

[@CerberusOnFire]

The reason that I would adjust the rail, instead of centering the wheel on the torch, is that you want that wheel as closed to centered under the Y axis rail as possible.

[@jmyers9853]

i am quite surprised at the huge followng on this project. i too have a set of plans, never thought much about building a machine till the videos showed up

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yeah it's neat to see. And there are also a lot of people who have done upgrades and improvements, tons of resources on them.

[@jesselejarzar5114]

So why not cut a longer steel tube to replace it so the wheel doesn't drop off?

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yes you can absolutely just cut a longer steel tube to prevent it from dropping off. And when I come to a time where I need to use the entirety of the table, I'll either do that, or to save a bit of cost and time just add a 2X1/8" strip to the entire lenght and have it overhang a little bit.

[@skyfreakwi]

Clearly you need to move your bracket to the other side of the gantry. Then you can weld everything and add some braces to stiffen everything up. You might want to readjust the wheel and add a channel under it to aid in tracking. Remember rigidity is EVERYTHING!

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

I hadn't thought about adding a channel to keep the wheel tracking correctly, thanks. And I agree rigidity for this setup is key, thankfully for the few smaller things I've cut I haven't run into any issues yet.

[@CerberusOnFire]

I would extend the rail that the wheel is riding on with a short piece of 2x2 tubing, and another smaller piece inside of it bridging the old rail and the new rail section.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

I get what you're saying. I like that idea, and it would be fairly quick to implement as well.

[@johnlucaiii9495]

Throw the angle guage away. Make the measurement from the frame to the gantry the same on both sides. The torch needs to run parallel to the table.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

If the angle of the gantry and the angle of slats in the water bed are the same, wouldn't that mean the gantry is parallel to the slats in the bed?

[@garyaltenhein4163]

Just finished watching this video (and your other CNC plasma cutter videos previously), Thank you for sharing your build experiences. I've been gathering up the parts to build my JD Garage plasma cutter, and am about ready to go. I had already planned on adding a roller support for the gantry tube, along with extending the 30 inch Y-Frame Rail both to accommodate a 32 x 32 pan and to provide support for the end support roller for full travel. How much would I have to extend it to accomplish this? What plasma cutter are you using? Thanks Gary

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Hey Gary, I am currently using the 28" x 30" pan that was recommended by JDs Garage. I currently have the 30" side on the Y-Axis so I believe you would want to make the 51" Y upper and lower 53", as well as increase the size of the 30" Y-Frame Rail to 32". And then since the 28" is on the x-axis, you'd need to increase the size of both 38" X-Frame Rails to 42". Please, please double check the above numbers as while I believe that would accomplish what you need but I could be very wrong, it wouldn't be the first time. As fo the machine that I have, I am currently using the PrimeWeld Cut60. It is pretty inexpensive in price, but so far is a really good unit and has the required cnc connection. They also have excellent customer service. I was having an issue with the CNC torch(not needed for this setup) sent them an e-mail on Sunday, and first thing Monday morning they were calling me ready to help me out. As it turns out I just needed to increase my air pressure a bit.

[@timothycamp6776]

I was thinking on ways to improve that also, I was thinking of a linear rail system. Thoughts?

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Unfortunately I know nothing about what would be involved with installing a linear rail system so can't comment.

[@ElmendorfCopWatch-qx7id]

rather than change the angle bracket, I suggest that you cut a longer piece of 2X2 that the wheel rides on. I think that would be the easiest fix.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yeah that's exactly what someone else said. I've also considered just buying a length of 2X1/8" flat that would run the entire length and extend like 6" past the end to support the wheel. That way I'm not fighting trying to line up the 2x2 tubing perfectly. But I'll fix it once I have a need to use the entire table on 1 run.

[@ElmendorfCopWatch-qx7id]

Last night i just cut a 40 inch 2x2 and a rectangular access hole on the bottom one inch from the bolt hole for the ability to tighten the end nut.@@TheAnnihilatorRacing

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Of course you would need to cut a hole to access the nut, very nicely done.

[@MagnaMachineWorks]

Nice easy solution!

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

It really was. After cutting out a switch panel for my car today, there are still a few bugs to work out but the fact it's working makes me want to use it more and more.

[@jayinmi3706]

At the beginning of the video, I was wonderiing if the drag from the caster would cause the Y axis to lag behind the motor side. Nice to see it doesn't seem to. I'm currently considering buildiing one of these and was watching videos to see what issues people have had and get ideas on how to deal with it so I can iimplement them from the beginning. Nice work. Are you, by chance, Canadian?

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

I've actually cut a few things out since making this upgrade and while it's not perfect, I haven't noticed the wheel making any difference at all. I certainly am Canadian, grew up in the praries before moving to the west coast.

[@jayinmi3706]

@@TheAnnihilatorRacing I find the majority of channels I follow are Canadian, and a couple of things you said mmade me thnk so. Nice Capri,. btw. Always liked those because you don't see them everywhere.

[@RonnFolk]

The Y axis hanging out in space does not seem like a good design. I see the same thing on langmuir machines. After adding the caster do you see flex in the Y direction . Better yet duplicate the driven side and add another driver.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

@RonnFolk After I added the castor, the y axis is solid now. I've cut out quite a few things with zero issues. I know a few others have commented saying that they added a second y rail, and motor.

[@DrFiero]

You said you had a 3D printer IIRC? Why not just make something that slips over the gantry. Tapers down and has a "U" at the bottom. Put a 6205 (or similar) pair of bearings in there as a wheel. Height could be hard designed in (sketchy), or make the axle ride in a slot and have it adjustable... That's essentially what I'm doing with mine anyhow!

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yes I do have a 3d printer, but I'm not well versed in designing parts. Anything past relatively basic shapes takes me quite a bit of time to design, and build. Given I just wanted the table to work so I could build parts for my car, I took an approach that was quick for me to do. But I do like the idea of having a couple of bearings riding on the rail, and it being adjustable, nice work!

[@DrFiero]

@@TheAnnihilatorRacing - Fo sure! Gotta you know what with the you know what ya got ((c) AVE). If you want to go plastic lemme know I'll whip something up and send you an STL. Gotta help a brother Canuckistan right! :D

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

@DrFiero when you get something together I'd take an stl for sure. Might be a bit before I implement it, but wouldn't be a bad thing to have. And definitely gotta help each other out. I've printed/designed a few things for the car and if anyone needed them I'd pass them along without hesitation.

[@DrFiero]

@@TheAnnihilatorRacing Can you measure the OD of the gantry tube, and what the gap ended up being between the bottom of the gantry tube, and the top of the frame tube. Looking at the caster, I'm guessing the axle centerline is offset to the "left" (from the end) roughly 1.5-2"?

[@mvorn44]

Round the corners of the bracket.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yeah I might one day :D

[@slipspectrum9253]

The JD’s garage table is just poorly designed. I don’t know why they mounted the motors on the moving X and Y carriages rather than at one fixed end, just like most 3D printers, like the Ender 3 or Prusa. They could have used the weight of the X motor to counter balance the arm… Especially if you have the active Z motor out there where it needs to be. It would have solved a lot of headaches, shortened the harnesses, kept some wires from dragging around, on and on.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Yeah I'm not smart enough to be able to do the math on it, but having the weight of 2 motors+all of the other needed bits way out at the end of the arm just seems like it needs more support than what it has. I'm also running the CNC torch head instead of the typical handheld torch so that may also add to some of the weight. But that being said for what I'm using it for this machine is working really nicely. Especially now that I've got the consumables and settings a bit more dialed in.

[@TCHamilton56]

That makes good sense, do you have any other thoughts on a redesign? The basic unit has a lot of traction/users - but there is room for improvement. I'm not an engineer, just an avid make/builder - thanks for your ideas - you're helping to make us all better

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

@@TCHamilton56 I'm no engineer either, so I don't really have much thoughts on a redesign. I know a few others have commented on my videos with different ways of doing things, but as it sits it's working pretty well for what I need so I'm not to bothered with it. Always happy to show/share my ideas, it's the only way we collectively get better. I actually got the original idea for this from someone else on youtube :D

[@811mookie]

Y axis? ...I think you mean Z axis

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

The Z axis is what controls the height of the torch in relation to the bed of the machine, or the face of the material being cut. This is handled by a 3rd motor on the arm, and I never had any issue with that. The issue that I had was when trying to move the entire arm from "left to right" or the Y Axis. And if you look at the video at 30:15 you'll see in the controller software I'm controlling the Y-Axis.

[@GeeEmJay]

Could have been easier to drill / tap on the underside of the gantry and add the rods in there? No need for angle iron.

[@TheAnnihilatorRacing]

Just went out and looked at it and yeah I think you're right. We could've come directly up through the bottom of the gantry. The ready rod I used was 3/8-16 so not sure how good a tapped hole in that thin of metal would be, but if it weren't strong enough there should be enough space to get a bolt on top.