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.
However, there are still some parts to make, modify and work out how to assemble.
As I buy machines for my hobby of model making I end up buying at the low cost end. But I then spend lots of time modifying them. There is something interesting about making them more than they were. With some machine tools this can be a simple change. The Sieg SX2.7 was significantly improved with a stiffening bracket. However, this Genmitsu 3018-pro from Sainsmart is nearing a complete rebuild. Maybe I should have just waited for the Genmitsu 3020-pro max to have arrived? That still has issues though.
The plan is to bolt this to the aluminium plate that is itself bolted to MGN12 linear rail blocks.
So the flimsy 10mm x-axis round rails have gone and these new rails are bolted to the stiff aluminium box sections. A far more sensible use of the materials that are used in the making of this CNC.
I’m still not expecting this to be perfect as it is a very lightweight machine. However, the flex in the z-axis and the x-axis were just completely unacceptable.
Interestingly the modifications I’m making will make this look like a Genmitsu 3020-pro max.
