u/540lyle

Just finished my gantry rigidity upgrade for the Anolex 4030 Evo Ult 2.

I added a 1.5" × 5" 6061 backer plate with 1.5" × 2.5" risers, bolted to the existing extrusion. This was my CNC mill project at school, and the material was supplied there.

Before the upgrade, pulling/pushing on the spindle in Y with about 20 lb of load moved it around 0.006". After the upgrade, it’s down to roughly 0.002"–0.003".

The bigger improvement was tram stability. Before, lifting the front corners with 20 lb would throw tram out by about 0.002"–0.004". Now it’s closer to 0.0005".

X-axis side load didn’t really change and is still around 0.003". My guess is that’s more related to the 4-piece extrusion-style spindle mount than the gantry itself. I may make a 1-piece mount as another class project, but I’m still debating whether it’s worth the time.

If I had paid for the material, this would probably be around $200 in 6061. For pure ROI, that money might be better spent elsewhere on a hobby CNC, but since this was a school project and a useful exercise (like spinding hours removing a broken tap- I have arrived), I’m pretty happy with the result.

Instructor said i could use the class/school's materials for machining practice so long as i made a blueprint for the project. I present, Rediculous Backing Plate - a story about over doing it.

1.5" x 5" 6061.

Planning on adding two legs to tie the backer plate to the lower frame but having a hard time limiting scope. My mind is like, "needs bracing, well just remake the grantry, but then id need a new frame since it's a noodle glued to a hammer, and if i have a 200lb frame, I'll need a new spindle, oh look- an entire diy CNC- mine as well buy a lemontart. Ouch, thaose tarrifs snd my budget, I'll just do some bracing but make it bigger." Recursively iterates over that thought process for weeks.