Except that I bought the 30 tooth one. I like having the 2:1 ratio, but 3:1 would be even faster.
But I will change the link to the 30 tooth one. I hadn’t realized I put the wrong link in.
Also, not sure why all the links are showing in Italian now, but they are the same, one just needs to change the language on the page to english (or whichever you prefer).
Ah got it, well I ordered the 20 tooth one from the link so hopefully it works well enough!
You probably got this one in 30T W6 B8 size right?
most likely. I am sure you can make it work with the 20 tooth one. Plus it’ll move that much faster. I found that I didn’t need to have a belt tensioner, but if you find you need one, I am certain you can figure it out. drop me a line if you want to commiserate on design.
Cool yeah as long as we think torque is enough to move it fine I can’t imagine other issues with the 20 tooth. I was thinking I’d 3d print a mount with mounting slots so I could adjust the motor to tension the belt. This mount is also one fewer part that I would have to strip from my original sled meaning I can keep it in service while building the new sled, right until the moment I need to steal the z axis motor.
I don’t think you’ll have a problem with torque. Since the axis is nearly horizontal, most of the weight is borne by the rails, and therefore the motor does not have to lift much weight.
Do you have a design or better photo’s for the z-axis mount? I will receive my parts soon and would like to try and build the “up side down” version like you did. Thanks!
The parts i ordered did not fit 
(spindle clamp did not fit c-beam plate + aluminium angles at the back did nit fit mounting channel in the c-beam. Was solved by drilling and threading the spindle clamp and cutting and drilling the 90° angles)
I had to do a lot of modification to put it together as i did not want to wait more 30-45 days for the boat from china. The reason why this built is not in the community garden.
Will still put some pics and the mod together, as from my mistakes can be learned.
Kind regards, Gero
Edit: It runes and works nice though:
Thanks, I’ll keep you guys updated as I receive my parts and try to make something cool with them 
I’m only waiting for the gears and belts at the moment, trying to make the mount to the board with hardware store angle irons or something like that…
Where is this clamp from?
If you visit this Onedrive, and go to the Z axis folder
https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArPFg5yKGdXipBzgd-2NwAYT2hGK
I made the clamp.
I used a Double Stack bolt design…
1/4 -20 shcs to hold the back of the clamp to the slide
the drilled the Holes large enough and Inserted Helicoils for 1/2 -13 threads
the 1/2-13 bolts are over kill, but need the size, so the 1/4-20 shcs would fit through the helicoils
so when I snug up the clamp. it’s just enough not to distort the body of the router.
Looks awesome! I’m curious about the cut off top of the router base…
@Keith Oh wow, good catch. Me too.
Perhaps to allow more travel of the z axis? The router base seems to be still fixed to the sled working as a sleeve for added rigidity. Ingenious!
Did you ever find the files for the 3d printed bracket? I’ve been searching and cant find them.
Wow, some great ideas here. In another thread I said I’d post my design for anyone who might be interest. Let me apologize upfront… I built this about a year go so some of my numbers are fuzzy. Also, the machine lives about 50 miles from me, so I can’t easily trot over and look.
Essentially it is a C-beam linear actuator with the 500W Chinese spindle you get get almost everywhere. I think I got mine from eBay. Total cost is about $225. Not much more than the Rigid router setup, but a lot quieter, and I haven’t had any issues at 24-25 ipm in MDF using a 1/8" bit cutting 1/8" deep. I could probably go faster, but I haven’t test that.
I’ve actually built this already, albeit by hand, and then re-modeled it.
Here’s the blender file: Z-Axis.blend (2.7 MB)
Parts:
Actuator I used: C-Beam® Linear Actuator Bundle - OpenBuilds Part Store (250mm is plenty) Of course I didn’t buy the stepper motor they have available. I also didn’t get the “shield assembly”. I see several other options in this forum that might work too, though I don’t know if the dimensions are the same.
Spindle & collar is a 500W Chinese, air cooled, spindle: https://amzn.to/2XPnMk6 or https://amzn.to/2XMx1Sm Just depends on if you need all the extras. You can buy the spindle itself for under $50 if you need to replace it. I got the variable speed power supply which allows me to tune the speed. I have been running mine for months and have not had any problems with the spindle motor. It gets warm, but not too bad. Don’t notice any runout due to wear.
I bought some t-nuts to attached the sides to the aluminum rail. You can get those on OpenBuilds, eBay, Amazon, etc. I also got extra M5 screws to match the size wood I was using.
I printed the BLUE motor mount out of PETG. It allows the existing Z motor to connect the the screw with the existing coupler. It works great and have not had any strength issues with it. I believe I got some M5x80mm screw to attach it to the top aluminum plate, but make sure you get the size for your plate. (Those screws were hard to source locally. Evidently in Texas, when you ask for ‘mil-a-meturs’ someone reaches for a firearm. Seriously, I think I had to try 3 Home Depots to find them) You do have to change the setting for the screw turns per inch. I believe the setting goes from 4 to 8 to handle the 4 start/2mm pitch lead screw. (I could be wrong about the numbers. It was a long time ago that I added it, but that’s my recollection).
The RED plate is 1/4" steel use to attach the spindle clamp to the actuator plate . Home Depot sells a 4"x12" piece for about $10. I cut 3" off that for this piece. I don’t have any real metal working equipment, so drilling and threading the holes was the hardest part for me. You’ll have to thread the holes for the clamp to attach. The aluminum actuator plate is threaded already where the steel spindle plate needs to attach. You’ll want to see what comes with your spindle set before drilling/threading. I drilled the holes in a piece of 1/8" hardboard first to make sure everything lined up. Then I used that to mark the steel plate for drilling. (I’m a software guy, not a machinist… I’m envious of some of the machining work I’ve seen on these forums!)
The side stands and base block (behind the actuator) are all wood parts cut from scrap.
Construction:
) and an 1/8" hole dead center. I also drilled 1/8" holes where all the other holes were going to be so I could drill them with the right sized wood bits later.The rest of the assembly was pretty obvious, given that it was (at least) the 3rd sled I built.
Tips:
I intend to resize the sled model to fit some 17.875" HDPE and cut a new sled from that. Someday.
Some pics of my current setup for those who made it this far: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4vQRFmb2hWtHTh1F7
If you noticed, I didn’t mention the orange cap on the vertical sides of the Z. It’s because it is totally useless 
Also, I noticed I don’t really have any pictures far enough back to show the Z motor and stand. Trust me, it’s there! You’ll see it in the video mentioned above.
Hope someone finds this useful.
Dave
@Gero, @WoodCutter4 there you go.
Nice built!
Thanks for the Bleder file. The c-beam and the spindle are great to have.
Here’s the motor and motor-mount, just in case you could like them. I don’t remember who to give credit for them, almost 2 years back. MotorAndBracket.blend (796.6 KB)
Excellent write up! Thanks for your contribution!
we have some 3d printed brackets here that might help you:
http://maslowcommunitygarden.org/3d-printed-Router-Clamps-for-MetalMaslow.html
if you want to swap the clamps fast, then tap the gantry plate using a m6 or 1/4-20 tap, if you want to bolt the plastic clamp on that can be done too, but you have to remove the gantry plate to tighten the machine screws from the back side.
If you are using a r22002 router that needs a 92.08mm router diameter, can be made just send pm.
This may be a stupid question but why does everyone look to make these z-axis changes? I am using the R22002 and it seems to work pretty well. How inaccurate is the stock z-axis positioning? Has anyone tried (apart from a rubber band ) to fix that z-axis slop? Maybe with tighter tolerances in that current mechanism? The first 22002 that I bought had massive play in the z-axis, I took it back and got a new one that was was better. I think there may be opportunity to print a tighter tolerance part for a simpler “good enough” solution.
It’s not a stupid question, and to answer your second third question about fixing the slop, there have been several fixes that have vastly improved the accuracy of the z-axis.
For my part, when I initially used the stock router mount as my z-axis, it worked ok, but was very slow. My workshop at the time was unconditioned, and I suffered from corrosion on the body of the router and in the mount which caused it to not be able to move freely. Sanding and waxing helped, but did not solve the problem, and I also wanted my z-axis to move faster. Implementing a c-channel z-axis fixed both of those issues for me rather nicely, and removed the worry of having the tab pop out of the router body at some point, which has resulted in ruined pieces for some of the people who have had it happen.
By all means, if your set up is working for you, there is no need to change it out to another z-axis. I think, to answer your initial question, that the main reason people look to make the change is for speed, with improved precision, accuracy, and reliability being second reason.
