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CNC Mill Slide
A neighbor is a computer person and wants to build a CNC milling machine. He’s a genius at computers but weak in mechanics so I came up with this first stage slide prototype for him to review. I used the usual u-bolts and ball bearings which gives great precision with zero play, and all you need to build it is a drill and a hacksaw. It’s scalable so he can make it bigger or smaller. Everything comes from McMaster Carr.
The square tube is supported on the cross angles which ride on bearings on the ½” diameter rod. The rods are held together by the cross angle pieces at their ends which are in turn tied together by ¼” all-thread tension rods thru the tube. I cut pieces of thin-wire coil spring stock and slipped them over the u-bolts and then placed the ball bearings over the spring stock – this holds the ball bearings in place on the u-bolt.