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A salvaged EPSON motor from an old printer serves to drive one of the BeeCNC axes. Actually, I found three of them :) Unfortunately, the motors have short, non-standard bolts holding them to a custom steel plate with very small threaded holes for mounting. I needed something else to mount the motors, so I set out to make some new mounting plates.

A trip to Home Depot found some narrow and flat sheet Aluminium just wide enough to hold the motor bolts.

1: Field Measurements

First, I had to get the measurements. The motor bolts were about 1-1/4” apart and were basically 4-40 size. I took off the nuts and found some nice rubber washers under there.

2: Saving some parts

I liked those little rubber washers, so I decided to keep them in my design. They will make the machine quieter and hold the plate tight against the nuts.

The washers have little brass bushings that popped out easily.

3: Fabbing the replacements

I cut some of the new Aluminium to length and drilled four bolt holes, a large center axle/hub hole, and two easier mounting holes off to the sides. The Aluminium was very easy to drill cleanly with a metal bit, but I didn’t have one large enough for the center hole. With some assistance holding the workpiece, I managed to use a Speedbor wood bit to carve out that large center hole.

4: Reassembly

With four plates made (one for each axis, and one extra) I bolted the motors back together with the rubber washers on each bolt behind the plate. Beautiful!

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