AeroModeller – June 2018

fl exible coupling fi ts from the stepper

motor. If you refer to the appropriate

photo you will see what I mean. To

complete the actuators there are a few

other steps to perform but these are

explained in the video.

The chassis is easy to assemble but

needs doing on a fl at surface so the

cutting table will be equidistant from

the router bit over its entire surface. If

you don’t own one, buy an engineer’s

square; they are not expensive but there

is no point buying a cheap inaccurate

one. The V slot rails bolt together using

angle brackets, T-Nuts (positioned in

machined slots in the rails) and hex head

screws; when tightened they provide a

rigid, stable structure for mounting the

actuators etc. on.

A clever design feature is how you

can tension the carriage plate wheels

that run in the V slots. Eccentric spacers

allow a degree of adjustment on the

wheels to ensure there is no play in the

plates so maximum cutting accuracy

can be achieved. The wooden cutting

table is a part you have to source as it

isn’t included in the kit; it fi xes on the Y

axis carriage plate. I went to my local

DIY store and got them to cut a sheet

of 12mm MDF into 300mm x 300mm

pieces. One is permanently fi xed to

the carriage plate with a second, easily

removable and sacrifi cial, fi xed on top.

The lower MDF board originally used

self tapping screws but Ooznest have

provided an additional set of bolts as

they found the screws could sometimes

work loose.

The actuators fi x on the chassis with

more T-Nuts and angle brackets and

very quickly you will have something

that looks like a CNC router. Check

Technology for Aeromodellers

Each stepper motor is connected to the ACME

leadscrew by a cleverly designed fl exible coupling.

CNC machined end plates locate the bearing for

the ACME leadscrews.

Only by having a high-quality components can

you achieve repeatable accurate cuts.

The free end is fi xed in place by a collet and shim

washer. The assembly video explains how to pre-

load the assembly.

The MDF cutting table mounts to the Y axis

carriage plate.

So there is no movement in the carriage plates,

eccentric spacers for the wheels allow a degree

of adjustment.

X and Z actuators fi xed

together. Although there

are a lot of components in

the kit, many operations

are duplicated.

COMPUTER ROUTER.indd 42 26/04/2018 15:45