Hi, its fairly heavy (estimated 300-400kg). Pity you arent closer, I'm in Uxbridge / Ickenham, West London, Near the M40 / M25.
Sure, happy to help if I can.
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This is a bit delayed but I owe a big thanks to Chaz who has let me borrow his reference surface. It has been really helpful and I am not sure how I would of progressed without it. I tried to pick it up in a Fiesta, which unsurprisingly didn't work, thankfully it came on a pallet.
I've been making slow progress, I settled for an angle grinder for the cutting of the cast iron blocks, it took forever... I have managed to rough scrape all the surfaces for the column.
Attachment 24898
These blocks of cast iron are the ones highlighted below.
Attachment 24900
I have also scraped the main cast iron block.
Attachment 24899
They're not perfect but within 0.03 mm. I am making the mold and getting the inserts ready, I plan to cast the column next week. Just trying to work out how to drill 18mm holes through the 2 inch cast iron blocks, my drill press isn't up to it and I really don't want to have to buy a mag drill, I don't know if anyone has any other ideas?
Nick
Would the blocks fit on a lathe cross slide to drill the holes using a bit or boring head in the chuck?
Or the other way around with the block rotating on a lathe face place and bit or boring head in the tailstock?
Quick update
That was a great idea with the lathe cross slide although I couldn't quite get it to work, having issues with its size. I ended up getting a mag drill... Drilled 60 holes and tapped for the insert bolts.
Attachment 24938
Mould made and epoxy poured, all 150kg of it. Got it done in about 90 minutes with two of us. Had some slight issues, no vibration, we ran out of pigment towards the end and the mould blew out on one side. But overall went ok, if anyone wants more details on how to go about this I could write a more detailed post / video.
Attachment 24939
Will probably de-mould tomorrow.
It looks bigger out the mold
Attachment 24952
Small update
I've made a temporary stand and put the column on the base
Attachment 25159
I don't have a square big enough to see how perpendicular it is. Has anyone bought a granite square ? the only one I can find is this one
https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/measurin...MaAg9CEALw_wcB
I have been making slow progress with the table, I have reduced the table width to 240 mm and I've got two ground 25x50x1000 mm bars to use as the rail mounts.
The table "offcut" from reducing the table size width has been cut into four and scraped flat and parallel to act as spacers. I was starting to scrape the table flat but the carbide came off my scraper...
Attachment 25158
I am slightly concerned that there isn't enough support under the steel bars and they will deflect. You can see this in the renders below, with the overhanging steel bars and the small amount supporting epoxy granite. I'm thinking about adding some threaded rod or increasing the thickness of the epoxy, i'm not sure if this is necessary though, thoughts on this?
Attachment 25153Attachment 25157Attachment 25156
Hi Nick,
Very very nice project! I'm planning the exact same machine but first option is to use steel tubes filled with EG. Second is directly casting EG like you did. Anyway, will follow with great interest.
Would you mind sharing your model for study, or maybe just give us dimensions of base and column?
Thanks for sharing your experience, this surely prove helpful at some point...
Cheers
Envoyé de mon ONEPLUS A5010 en utilisant Tapatalk
Sure, it's not quite finished and I have had some difficulties with exporting it. All the joints have gone, does the iges file below work?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6w12be2b4w...0v19.iges?dl=0
The rails are from the Hiwin website and I've used these models off grabcad
https://grabcad.com/library/lichuan-servo-60st-m01...
https://grabcad.com/library/ac-servo-110sy-04030-1
https://grabcad.com/library/bt30-spindle-2
The design is based around the cast iron surface plate and blocks that I bought, I think this has resulted in the base being too narrow and long.
I think with hindsight starting with a welded steel filled epoxy structure would of been a good idea.
I look forward to your build, let me know if I can help