This is my homemade conversion of a Genmitsu 3018-pro to a 3020-max. Maybe not exactly a 3020-max, but a lot of the changes have been included. Plus I think the spindle upgrade I’ve made is better.
The spindle upgrade was designed and made some time ago. It has significantly improved the stiffness of the spindle and reduced the vibration.
However, the y-axis needed improving before this could really be exploited.
The Tiamu z-axis is all aluminium. I had to replace the stepper motor it was supplied with the original unit as the supplied one was 48V.
The z-axis rails are now 10mm diameter compared to the original 8mm. Also, a ball bearing now supports the lower end of the leadscrew.
This unit uses a substantial extruded aluminium backplate. This has three rows of T-slots. This allows it to be bolted to the aluminium plate that itself is bolted to the MGN12 linear bearing blocks.
This has now formed a substantial unit.
The final piece I had to make was an aluminium clamp for the z-axis to spindle mount.
Other than upgraded stepper motors this unit is now essentially a 3020-Max machine. I may upgrade the stepper motors to finish the job. However, I will have to keep these at 12V if I want to keep the original control board.
My road from a Genmitsu 3018-pro to a 3020-max has not been cheap on time or cash. The 3020-Pro Max I think is cheaper than what I have spent to date. Maybe I should call my effort a 3019-Pro Max?
I will run some tests over the next few days to see how well this now copes with machining aluminium and brass.
This has made me wonder whether I should design a very small CNC of my own.
Tiamu Z-axis for Genmitsu 3018
Just bought a Tiamu Z-axis for Genmitsu 3018, my original plan was to machine this complete assembly from scratch. Then reason kicked in and I thought that as I could buy this for around £100 it was not worth me spending probably 3 days designing and making parts. Plus it was delivered really fast.