HB2 Construction

Section #5 - Spindle

The major construction is complete. That usually means there is about 50% of the work accomplished. That's the general rule when house building. I think I am farther down the road than 50%. Here I stick on the brand of router for which the machine was originally designed. It is a powerful little router. The case is metal except the wiring end which is plastic. The internal fan does a good job blowing cooling air down and out around the cutter end. This unit has been in production for many years and has proven reliable.

The collet will hold quarter inch cutters. I have ordered some bushings that will allow small diameter cutters to be inserted. I'll publish pictures on the bushings and how the router performs when I start to use them.

I purchased some special flexible cable for the stepper wiring.

This is the Porter Cable 7310 trim router which is the "standard" router for the PDJ design. It is rated at 3/4 HP and 30,000 RPM. That's three times stronger and 3 times faster than my Taig CNC. Stronger routers can be accommodated.

This is the mounting plate for the PC7310. Three bolts mount this plate to the Z axis carriage. The one in the center must be recessed so the router housing does not impinge on the head. I missed that when I drilled the plate, but was easy to fix on the mill. The two upper corners are not recessed.

A single bolt hole mounts the router. The yellow steel plate is loosened then tightened up against the bottom of the router.

Here I am showing all the bolts. This makes for an amazing strong mounting of the router. I was concerned about the single threaded bolt, but this is a completely satisfactory arrangement.

Here the router and Z axis are fully raised. The power cord will hit the top end of the frame. The notch in the top of carriage was at first a mystery to me for its purpose. It is to allow clearance for the power cord.

I am experimenting with a zip-tie to help keep the cord out of the way. White is all I had for now but will replace with black for appearance. Yeah, I care about that sort of thing.

Here is the business end of the router. I have ordered some bushing so I can insert smaller tools than the default 1/4"

Looking more like the finished machine now that the router/spindle is mounted. The cluttered background makes it a bit hard to see.

This is the special cable I purchased for wiring the steppers. It is flexible and designed to withstand the flexing movement as the machine moves. The black leads are numbered and the green/yellow is used as the common.

 I had to purchase a minimum order of 100 feet. The cost is over $1.00/foot but I think worth the investment. This and even higher quality/cost is standard specification on commercial machines.
    

I plan to extend this section as I get more accomplished on the wiring. The last section (#6) will likely be all about the new controller power supply I am building. When that is done, HB2 will be operational

There will be additional information published soon about HB2 (Home Brew 2) project as I move along. This is not a "shake the box and it falls together" Project.

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