Sheet Metal Covers and Fully Custom Bellows - Dark Art CNC Part 4

[@T0tenkampf]

WHAT KIND OF LUTHIER DOESN'T OWN A CROWBAR? The machine turned out very polished and professional looking, man. Great job!

[@larspetersen2688]

So nice CNC build, much planning must have going in to the design. Awesome

[@chrismakesstuffCNC]

Very cool. The sheet metal covers for the Y-axes are very similar to what's also on the AltMill CNC

[@peterwalker5413]

Very very nice looking! ❤

[@masterchief4125]

First ! Awesome stuff as always ❤

[@LionInTech]

schaut super geil aus, bin beeindruckt

[@clebermartinscnc]

👏👏👏👏

[@xyzspec82]

That machine is looking 1st class 😊 Only thing that might be a problem, is how far down the spindle is mounted on the Z plate, since it's bolted to the "floating" end of the Z plate. Won't it introduce some chatter when milling harder materials? Best of luck bruh!

[@DarkArtGuitars]

With where the mounting holes are located on the spindle there is no real option to mount it over the bearings as it would not reach down enough. The plate it is screwed to is 20mm thick so I'm pretty sure I should be fine, but only time will tell.

[@xyzspec82]

@DarkArtGuitars yeah I see... It would be good if the spindle had 2 more mounting holes at the top end. It would definitely be a stiffer setup. I hope it's good how as it is now 🙂 I did take that into account when designing my Z. But I don't have a nice spindle like yours 🤓😍

[@DarkArtGuitars]

@@xyzspec82 I think the reason it doesn't have any mounting higher up is that their design is quite modular depending on if you have ATC and water or air cooled. The non ATC water cooled version is basically just the lower half of what I have.

[@T0tenkampf]

Did they give you any idea of the minimum collapsed length for a given length of the bellows? I dont see that info on the sellers page and am wondering how much space I should allocate to either side of the z axis on a 4 ft wide gantry.

[@DarkArtGuitars]

Yes, usually you specify the extended length and then depending on how tall your folds are and the thickness of the material determines the compression ratio. For mine it was 10:1 which seems quite common. If it isn't listed you can just ask and they will be able to tell you.

[@mmmikem]

After all this time watching your videos, I'm completely inspired to get a CNC. I'm torn between the Ratrig Stronghold One and the Ultimate Bee. Do you have any thoughts on this? Ball screws and the ER20 collet are a strong argument for me, but I've never used a CNC, so I don't trust my gut feel.

[@DarkArtGuitars]

Ball screws I don't see as very important, leadscrews can be just as good for a hobby machine as cheap ball screws. ER20 collets however, are a much bigger benefit to me as it gives you complete tooling freedom. Shipping to wherever you live is also something you should take into account and might swing you one way or the other.

[@mmmikem]

@@DarkArtGuitarsawesome, thanks! I'm based in Cyprus, so weirdly shipping amounts to about the same. Ratrig it is!!!

[@T0tenkampf]

If you choose to make your drawing package available for sale in an editable format, then i might be interested. I am planning a larger footprint for my build, but i have chosen the same motion devices and controller, so it would be much easier to stretch your drawings. I was planning to use NEMA 34 closed loop steppers but if they leadshine servos are a financially viable option then ypu may have sold me on them. I just need to figure out which model can be slaved together on the y axis for the optimization software.

[@DarkArtGuitars]

I will have the 3d model for sale once I'm all done with it.

[@BinaParus]

.. krass ..