X-Table with Servo and linear bearings made from IKEA drawer rails
I am building a poor man’s Computer Controlled Router (Milling Machine). My first step will be to bootstrap the ability to mill needed components. Before I can make my own linear bearings, I am using cheap linear rails from the AS-IS (Surplus, Scratch & Dent) room of IKEA. Specifically, drawer rails make relatively good linear bearings. (Well, relatively good compared to what I could make myself without a mill.)
Shown here is the X table, able to translate in one dimension. The highly precise linear rails and support material (base & X table) are courtesy IKEA’s As-Is room. The stepper motor assembly cost $25 from a surplus supply house.
Steper motor attached to the base with a single machine screw
A 3/32 machine screw holds the servo to the base. Not exactly well secured. I secured the other end slightly better. The entire goal is to build a milling machine as cheaply as possible, and then use it to build a better milling machine.
The video below shows the X-Axis table moving for the first time. My servos and screw drives have a range of almost 6 inches. It takes 46 thousand steps to travel 5.5 inches, or 0.0001″ per step (which is my maximum possible precision). The speed is slow, with 605 steps a second, or 0.072 inches a second.
X-base attachment point.
Read more about this project here.
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