Yet again, thank you for all the help! I think I may end up going for something like 60 x 40 x 3mm box section as this is within the capabilities of my welder and isn't too expensive.
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Yet again, thank you for all the help! I think I may end up going for something like 60 x 40 x 3mm box section as this is within the capabilities of my welder and isn't too expensive.
Hmm if I can get away with 100A/2.5mm electrodes then maybe. Although it is an added cost...
The rail I have takes M4 bolts so thats 4.28 threads for 3mm and 5.71 for 4mm... I think the rule is 1x the diameter?
Started work on the base...
Attachment 12740
Listen trust me it will be fine. One more added point My machine was mounted vertical for well over a year and other than hanging from the ceiling you couldn't put more stress on the bolts has they had all the weight of the gantry bearing down on them and they didn't even flinch. Go for it won't be problem.!
3mm it is!
Yes, still a bit of work to do on the gantry (motor mounting etc). The profile is 80x40. If I can mount the motor on the outside of the gantry end plates then I was going to put another piece of horizontal profile in to enclose the back completely.
While I'm here, what brands of welding rods do you guys recommend? There's plenty of "Super 6" ones on Ebay (6013) for a good price?
Attachment 12741
Dave,
See screen shot, i had 5 mins spare. The red and green sections would fix to your side plates and then to each other, the profile is 80x80, the plate is 20mm, note the datum for the rails on the front plate.
.Me
How did you manage to edit that, Lee? Thank you! My only concern with that design is that I thought the rails were better off not being on there side?
Hi mate, I pulled your image into the software I use for Web Dev then did some cut and paste magic with what was already there :).
For these rails it's not as important, open round type bearings, then yes that would be correct. You could still mount them at the top and bottom, the choice is yours really but the objective is to get and keep the bearing units as close to the cutter as you can, that being said the the difference here would probably be negligible. I did a few version's of the mock up and one had the rails as suggested, if you prefer that design add plates to the top and bottom, as well as the back, I forgot to say that the back plate didn't need to be 20 mil though, also going with the top/bottom arrangement also means that the spindle plate/assembly stands further away from the bearings due to the lead screw interference with the ali profile.