One final upgrade to put this debacle of a machine into a usable form. I wanted to get rid of the main wood frame and since the gantry was now so heavy (and my fasteners for the 8020 not used effectively), I wanted to make that fixed. I could simply turn the y-axis rails inwards and have the bed move.
I bought more 8020 a few weeks ago and just this last weekend put all the upgrades in place:
 |
| New bottom frame (upside down). |
 |
| Old base removed. |
 |
| Gantry corrected to maintain flush faces and fixed in place. |
|
 |
| Functional. The block for the y-axis nut will need some work. |
Everything has much less flex now and the envelope of the machine has shrunken.
After updating my LinuxCNC from 2.5.4 to 2.7.14, I cut out some samples to make sure it was really working:
 |
| LinuxCNC splash g-code. |
 |
| Fractal example in LinuxCNC. |
|
|
|
|
|
I also tested out some isolation routing for PCBs to finally put to use the copper clad board I've had for several years now; it turned out much better than I expected, and the base is significantly flatter relative to the router bit right of the bat than before. I used FlatCAM to generate the g-code:
 |
| First attempt with multiple runs of the code. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Round 2: really even cutouts and I run a cutting pass. |
|
|
|
|
I have some thinner bits and drills on the way to make complete PCBs (and even double sided).
