X1 Project
Featuring:
- Light weight high speed head
- Balanced Quill
- Bipolar Chopper stepper motor drivers
- 4-axis CompUCut control software
CompUCut are pleased to present their latest 4-axis cnc conversion which is based on the SIEG X1 mill. The X1 Project marks a decade of CompUCut designs for small cnc machines. The progression from CompUCutter via CompUMill and Wolfcraft to X1 Project shows a deliberate trend to make these machines easier to build for non-engineers.
Aimed at fine arts and craft workers the X1 Project is ideal for ceramic designers, musical instrument makers, watch and clockmakers, miniature furniture makers and jewellers.
The X1 Project is also suitable for hobbyists involved in making landing gear for model aeroplanes, chassis components for RC cars, prototyping electronic circuit boards using isolation milling of tracks, routing and drilling. Small scale railway rolling stock can be profiled from brass or nickel silver in 2 or 3-axis mode.
Specific objectives of the conversion are:
- Higher Spindle speed
- Reduced wear in Quill and Screws
- Extension of Y-Travel
The project can be built and used in 2, 3 or 4-axis cnc mode.
Higher Spindle Speed
Engraving / Profiling applications use small cutters and for the most
part use free cutting materials making the standard 2000rpm top speed
on this mill rather slow, so a selection of four alternative high speed
heads are detailed. (Brushless dc motor, air turbine, 550watt router
or heavy duty flexible drive) Speeds from 8000rpm to 30000rpm make best
use of carbide tooling and all suggested applications assume that carbide
cutters or diamond grinding pins will be used. The swap from a high
speed head back to the Sieg standard head takes 5mins.
Reduced Wear in Quill and Screws
Much thought has been given to cnc'ing the vertical axis for repetitive
use and the 'balanced quill' design of the X1
Project gives the best compromise in the small space available.
The bearing area of the cast iron nuts has been doubled and the backlash
arrangement has been re-designed. The leadscrew thrust is taken with
bearings. Lubrication is made available to leadscrew nuts, thrusts,
rack / pinion quill drive and quill.
Extension of Y-Travel
The Y-axis movement has been increased to 150mm to cover the table.
Because the machine configuration used for engraving clock dials (large
and flat) is very different to that used for engraving woodwind musical
instruments (long and thin), the user can choose from the pictures of
differing setups those which best suit their needs. These pictures simply
show typical configurations and specialist workshops will 'mix and match'
to create their own. Note, The conversion requires access to a small
lathe, drill and usual hand tools. The user will also need to provide
a Pentium class PC and a power supply.