Picture of Follow up / Improvements

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The machine has been up and running for nearly a month now and has logged around
7-8 hours of cutting time without any major problems. At around the 3-4 hour ma
rk I had to re-tighten the V-groove bearings on the X & Z axes but these have no
t loosened since then. The following are a few observations I have made while us
ing the machine.
The pulleys on the Y axis have come loose more often that I liked. The problem w
asn't the time require to re-tighten them but that they would have to be checked
before each use to make sure they were secure. I had cut out a propeller end co
ne to find out it was circular because I hadn't noticed the pulleys had come loo
se. To solve this problem I attached 1/4" shaft collars to the pulleys using 10
minute epoxy as shown in Photo #1. All of the HDPE parts were cut using this set
up without the pulleys loosening. When running at less than 30 inches per minute
the movement of the machine is slightly jittery as the discrete steps of the st
epper motors is magnified. In the future I will be replacing the 40 tooth pulley
s with 20-30 tooth versions to increase the resolution of the machine and make i
t;s movement smoother. I imagine these will come with the same size set screws a
s before so I will take the time to bore out the threads and re-tap them to acce
pt 8-32 set screws as are on the shaft collars.
I had expected the aluminum rails to show signs of wear from the contact with th
e V-groove bearings as this was experienced on my first machine. The rails have
worn a little bit as shown in Photo #2 but shouldn't require replacing any time
soon. I will make a concious effort to use different parts of the machine when c
utting smaller items so that the wear isn't concentrated in a particular area. I
f this becomes a problem I might consider making my own V-groove bearings from H
DPE and fitting them around a skate bearing. The HDPE against aluminum should ha
ve very low friction and good wear characteristics.
The part I was the most concerned about was the elastic band driving the spindle
. This had taken a bit of damage during the construction process and I didn't kn
ow how quickly it would wear if it was slipping over the pulleys. Photo #3 shows
the elastic band in good conditions with minor wear that as taken off the lette
ring. The pulleys in Photo #4 show a bit more wear but is mostly cosmetic.
The home-made spindle has performed well and as been quiet enough to use in an a
partment but I would like a bit more power and the ability to use higher quality
1/4" shank router bits. I will be looking out for garage sales to pick up a 1/3
HP induction motor (similar to the one in this) and trim router to make a beefi
er hight powered version of the current spindle.