Building the X Axis

I started out with 2 -19"L, 1/2" Dia, Fully Keyed Shaft, I got this from McMaster Carr, along with
some 3/8-12 ACME rod for the screw drive.
I cut 2 1"x1"x1/8" Angle and ran the edges on the mill to square them off, next I welded those to
14" L 1-1/2"x1-1/2" x 1/8" Angle, I welded the 2 angles together , then I inserted the length of the
19" long angle into the Keyway of the shaft and tack welded that on both ends and once in the
middle, (Underneath were no one can see it).
Below you can see one of the assembled rails, the picture to the right shows the coupler I made
(my 4th hole drifted a little as you can see! oops!) to connect the ACME rod to the motor, the
coupler has a 1/4" bore to match the motor output shaft, I ended up turning the ACME rod on the
lathe down to 1/4" on both ends to match the motor coupler bore and the other end for the 1/4"
bore bronze bushing I used for the shaft end support.
The motor mount and the lead screw end support are both made out of 16ga sheet steel, I cut
them out with the CNC Plasma cutter at the shop I work at, I also formed and painted them there.
Now that I have the rails all laid out and the mounting holes drilled out on the 1" thick MDF I am
using for a base, I can mount the X carriage to the rails...
The carriage as you can see is also made out of HRS angle iron and it measures 15"x8", I figured
an 8" stance would make this very sturdy.The carriage slides very smoothly on these rails, not
bad!
The bearings I used were salvaged from another machine that used them for flange bearings they
have a 3/8" bore with a 2 set screw collar on one end, there is hardly any wear on these things, I
took the pressed on flange mount and discarded them, and just used some 3/8-16 Hex Bolts to
mount them onto the X carriage. The mounting holes are fixed on the carriage, so there is no
adjustment, but I took my time, and got the mounting holes just right.
I ended up deciding to make the carriage narrower down to 4",
to increase my tables work capacity by an extra 4".
Now I will have a working area of 16"x12" instead of 12"x12".
The 3/8"-12 ACME rod was really warped!! The company claimed a .009" offset for every foot!
what a bunch of BS!
To compensate for the rod being bent, I ended up designing a Lead screw nut that can
compensate for the offset of the rod. I aptly named it the Offset Compensating Lead Screw Nut. I
fabricated the whole thing out of black Delrin, the mounting block allows the rod to move left and
right, while the nut can move up and down, which covers a 360 offset compensation.
Once the lead screw nut was mounted in place, (as seen below left), I took some 1/2" shaft
collars and milled a 3/16" slot on the opposite side of the set screw, which allowed the collar to
slip over the angle Iron and around the shaft and act as mechanical stops for the X Carriage (or
Gantry, whichever you prefer to call it).
Below is the fully assembled X Axis. (Sweet!!!) This turned out a lot better than I expected.
After I had finished and mounted the Y and Z axis', I decided to add 2 rods that I threaded on
both ends and used them to attach to each side of the rails so I could "adjust" the pinch on the
carriage if I had to, I was just figuring sooner or later the wood is going to flex one way or another
due to humidity, etc.