When rebuilding the Pheonix CNC machine, I decided that I didn't want to just rebuild it to the way it was but to modify it to give it more capability. I was inspired by Dave Kush's machine over at BuildYourIdea.com that has twin Z axis that allows the ability to use it as a hot-wire foam cutter once the Y-axis is removed. I decided to copy this approach.

      Since this was going to be the "rebirth" of the Pheonix I decided to call the new machine the "Pheonix Redux" (in case you didn't know, "redux" means "rebirth") wich is, if you think about it, kinda redundant.

      After getting a couple of 18" pieces of storefront aluminum channel (I'm using John Kleinbauer's design for the axis on this machine also) from a local glass company I realized that some of the MDF from the destroyed carriage could be cut up and used for pieces in the new machine.

Parts of the new dual Z-axis and carriage:


      I decided that I could reuse the original Y-axis on the rebuilt machine without any modifications. Also, I reused the bed from the old Z-axis on one of the new Z-axis so I only had to make one new bed. Both the old and new beds are made from 1/2" lexan (in the picture below the new one, on the right, still has the protective paper on it).

New Z-axis mounted on the new carriage with old Y-axis sitting on the front:


Z-axis removed so so the carriage can be painted:


Machine reassembled with original milling bed and new gantry carriage:


      In the above picture I have my old motors mounted but before the machine became fully operational I ended up having to build a new controller, buy new motors, and make new motor cables, but that's a story that can be found on the Banshee page.

The aftermath of the build (note: the work table is 4'X8'):