| The base consists of a flat piece of pinewood. This was just a scrap piece I had left, because everything else is done using MDF (highly compressed cardboard-like material). The metal rails are done with electric conduit. |
| The X axis will be a piece of wood riding on top of Y axis. I used cable holder to create legs for one side of this piece of wood. |
| The smaller the contact area the smaller the friction. Plastic glides nicely on the metal. I will have to adjust the legs to be in the centre of the rails. |
| The opposite side of the X axis needs to have bearings to hold the wood exactly perpendicular to the Y axis. The bearings are held by a bolt that has some space to move within its hole. It is tightened with a nut from the bottom, then a bearing and another nut. |
| The motors control a threaded rod (very long bolt), which has two nuts. The nuts are fixed the axis that is suppose to glide on the rails. Two nuts are used to prevent backlash, which is extra distance that a nut needs to travel before it actually starts moving along the thread. |
| I decided to have a platform ride on the X-Y axis to prevent wear on the plastic legs due to friction. Another benefit is to remove the direct vibration from the cutting tool from going through the X-Y axes. |
| This was my first attempt, which had 2 flaws. First, I wasn't able to adjust the bearings to fit tightly against the rail. Second, the bearings should be exactly centre with the rail. |