8020 Gantrys

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Militant83
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8020 Gantrys

Post by Militant83 »

Who all has made diy gantrys out of 8020 material? Lets see some pictures of your set up. Also is anyone making or know where i can get gantry carriages similar to the ones on a torchmate gantry and others ive seen? Instead of the wheels being vertical they are horizontal riding on a piece of steel it looks like. More information on this type of setup would be great.
Rodw
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by Rodw »

How about 80 x 40 x 3 mm Aluminium RHS?
DSC_7479_zpsytksv5vk.JPG
I am real happy with this. Drilled and tapped holes for the linear rails which I registered hard against the edge of the profile. I was a bit worried about alignment becasue I used 2 different edges but it was perfect from day 1. The rack had tapped holes at the back so I drilled through both sides and enlarged the rear holes to get an allen key and socket head cap screws in. There is also some 40 x 90 x 1.6mm angle iron at the back to hold the drag chain.

By the time the rails, rack and drag chain support was bolted on, this is as stiff as. Gantry end is laser cut folded aluminium.

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SegoMan DeSigns
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by SegoMan DeSigns »

8020 is easy to work with but the cost adds up quick when you start adding in corner brackets,T nuts, oversize freight ect I ran the numbers on my 8'+ gantry and it was going to be over $500 with freight for 8020, my 6" x 4" x 1/8" wall rectangular tubing weighs about the same per ft and cost a whole lot less.
Militant83
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by Militant83 »

SegoMan DeSigns wrote:8020 is easy to work with but the cost adds up quick when you start adding in corner brackets,T nuts, oversize freight ect I ran the numbers on my 8'+ gantry and it was going to be over $500 with freight for 8020, my 6" x 4" x 1/8" wall rectangular tubing weighs about the same per ft and cost a whole lot less.
I was wondering what the weight comparison is on something like the 8020 and regular steel tubing. I've read guys use the 8020 for weight reduction in the gantry.
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SegoMan DeSigns
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by SegoMan DeSigns »

My gantry will be in the 8'+ length (waiting on rect tube to show up) and I intend to mount an an air drill to it for doing smaller holes so I wanted plenty of rigidity. The larger dimensions of the 6" x 4" rect tube will be nice for mounting. 8020 has a good online catalog that shows dimensions, specs and price, your metal supplier should be able to give you a metal handbook as well. It's a time & connivance trade off for ex$pen$ive Aluminum profile. I have plenty of drill press's, taping machine and welders so I "over"build my own stuff.
Rodw
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by Rodw »

SegoMan DeSigns wrote: It's a time & connivance trade off for ex$pen$ive Aluminum profile
My thoughts exactly. I looked at profiles, it was hard to find it in Australia and I thought I really needed to use an 8040 profile which was even dearer again. Then I decided to use a simple ally profile from a supplier 10 minutes from home and spend a day or so drilling and tapping.
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SegoMan DeSigns
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by SegoMan DeSigns »

Rodw wrote:
SegoMan DeSigns wrote: It's a time & connivance trade off for ex$pen$ive Aluminum profile
My thoughts exactly. I looked at profiles, it was hard to find it in Australia and I thought I really needed to use an 8040 profile which was even dearer again. Then I decided to use a simple ally profile from a supplier 10 minutes from home and spend a day or so drilling and tapping.
I'm thinking about shopping your way for controllers, what's your thoughts on the Masso set-up?
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by Rodw »

SegoMan DeSigns wrote: I'm thinking about shopping your way for controllers, what's your thoughts on the Masso set-up?
I have no idea. I've gone with LinuxCNC and a Mesa 7i76e ethernet controller and a Mesa THCAD card to read torch voltage. The Mesa card has 32 inputs, 16 outputs, 5 stepgens, spindle control, encoder (which I use to read voltage via a voltage to frequency conversion), 2 MPG inputs, 3 A-D converters and a few other nice features including a RS422 UART which one day I hope to use to talk to a Hypertherm plasma cutter if I ever buy one. I think I've used just about every input but I could add 2 more similar cards or a couple of BOB's and MESA has a lot of other specialist daughter cards so there is basically unlimited expandability.

I had a quick look and I suspect that Masso are using similar FGPA hardware to what Mesa use.

LinuxCNC has been quite a learning curve but immensely powerful and support has been very good on their forum.
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Re: 8020 Gantrys

Post by msimpson99 »

I have done a ton or research on 8020 and my KRMx02 series builds are based on the thick walled 8020 15 series.

Never, and I repeat never use the standard (thin walled 8020) for the gantry at lengths over 24". It will flex and vibrate under speed and load. I dont sue any of the 8020 fasteners or brackets as they are very expensive. With 15 series you can use 5/16" carriage bolts as long as you compensate for the shoulder.

You can see some of my builds at http://www.kronosrobotics.com

Here is a build I am starting to work on. Its a double gantry design with one side as a VFD controlled spindle and the other a plasma torch. The tables are modular so they can be added or removed as needed for Spindle use.

This is all based on my KRMx02 design.
KRMx03 tables1.jpg

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