I got asked for more pics on face book, figured some of you here on forums might enjoy this. All the specs I could think of are below, any questions and I’ll try to answer.
Waste board. Simple mdf attached to Baltic ply with 1/4-20 inserts. Baltic ply attached to wood under rails through factory holes. Mft grid is a Mix of 4” and 6” to jump cross members. This also made a grid where I have a bunch of visible measurements. Everything from 2” up and when matched with screw holes. And it’s square to 0.001” over a 40” square. All cut on altmill and designed in vetric.
Vertical board. It’s attached to a 2” thick spacer that goes under 2nd cross member. Spacer is attached to vertical the way same way but separately so each can be removed. spacer sits directly under crossmember as it is 2” wide and supports it. Vertical sits under the flange on cross member to support as well. All 1/4-20 inserts in wood so it can be disassembled if necessary. All holes planned out and done on cnc. It’s capable of clamping 2 pieces 22” wide or 1 piece 48” wide. It’s about 32” depth capacity to surface of waste board. So can cut 36” in piece or so.
Cabinet. 3/4 Baltic ply. Verticals attached to legs with 14-20 inserts through factory holes. The floor is attached to verticals with simple cabinet screws. All cross members braced with wood for density and support. Soaked in linseed oil and mineral spirits.
Dust bin. 1/4” mdf stapled to a 1”x2” subframe that is incorporated into wood attached to aluminum crossmembers that also stiffens them and gave them a better density attached to cabinet walls. Sealed up with silicone.
Drop board that covers opening for vertical board in pictures is made but not surfaced, it will clamp down/ attach to machine via an L bracket that clamps against crossmembers and verticalh board slot. At least this is my best idea so far to do this. Input is welcome. Another idea was clamp it against bench dogs in vertical board to suck it down tight.
Wheels. Amazon/vevor small wheels, fig feet, adjustable. Attached to floor through block with t nut. Block secured to floor same way shown in pics.
Computer solution coming soon. After I clean up the chaos that making room for this thing caused.
@Crave2Control , Ben thanks for showing this. It looks like your set up on the Altmill is very clean. Nice work!
Is this your first CNC or is the Altmill an upgrade for you?
I am also interested in the vertical application as I have a need to make drawers and bee boxes. I would like to figure out the best way to use finger joints.
Ben, thanks for providing the details of your vertical milling system. I’ve been thinking of doing this ever since my first CNC (Longmill MK1).
I didn’t quite follow your method of fastening the vertical spoilboard to the aluminum frame. You indicated you fastened a 2X2 to the underside of the 2nd rail, but I didn’t catch how it’s attached. I was thinking that I’d use the appropriate screws that link to the slots in the channel of the aluminum frame.
Another question relates to how you ensured that the vertical spoilboard was perpendicular to the horizontal spoilboard. I was thinking that I’d brace it against a cabinet (for carrying drawers accessed from the left side) located behind the vertical spoilboard. Thoughts?
Again, thanks for sharing your photos with us. If you’re able, some additional photos would be helpful in clarifying the questions I had.
Cheers & merry Christmas from Kingston, Ontario, Canada
@ApexWoodworks I wasn’t able to post all the pics like I did on Facebook. So under the second rail flange is a piece of Baltic that’s it fastened to left and right panels under y axis. Attached in a dado groove with screws, attached to bottom panel same way. So that panel sits flat against rear side of cross member. (Upside down on floor in pic) Under the cross member I made the trident shaped frame and surfaced it same thickness as the box section of crossmember. So when waste board mounts to trident shaped frame it is straight up and down and can be shimmed for adjustment. Trident attaches to panel wall via inserts in panel, vertical waste board attaches to trident shaped frame the same way. I hope this makes sense with the pics.
First cnc, But I’ve been lurking a lot of places and trying to learn everything I could for a bit more then a year before I ordered the alt mill. It was just a conglomeration of things I’ve seen from all over the internet and my best solution to what I wanted to do with my machine, and you guessed it! dovetail, finger joints, and fancy tenons are part of it.
