. .
Page 3 of 9 FirstFirst 12345 ... LastLast
  1. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Wejjmeister View Post
    expand on the disadvantages??
    If the rails are on the bottom surface then the bearings, i.e. your supporting points, are closer to the tool/bed. The overhang is therefore reduced, so the stiffness is correspondingly higher. It does however make mounting them on epoxy more challenging - although you could conceivably mount the Y rails and X bearing blocks on the same epoxy leveled surface and get very good accuracy. I'd try drawing both orientations and see which looks the most promising.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Roberts View Post
    Surly enough accuracy can be achieved when cutting and then wielding the frame that any small differences would be "levelled" out from doing an epoxy bed for the rails to then sit on?
    I tend to agree - there becomes a point when an extra couple of mm of epoxy doesn't cost much compared to the added material/time required to get the frame more accurate. The epoxy is pretty strong/hard and the damping properties may be useful, so I wouldn't be too concerned about minimizing the thickness, within reason. If you look in my build log the epoxy is quite thick, but don't treat that build log as gospel - there's plenty of room for improvement.
    Old router build log here. New router build log here. Lathe build log here.
    Electric motorbike project here.

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Jonathan For This Useful Post:


  3. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by EddyCurrent View Post
    That's the method I'm also using and I found that after welding, one corner of the frame was 3mm out of level with the other. This might be regarded as too much depth for epoxy treatment alone. I don't know for sure ? but at least I can shim the rails to as near level as possible then use epoxy from there.
    Thanks Eddy, any idea why this happened or?

    Quote Originally Posted by Clive S View Post
    Eddy You might have seen this before there is no problem with the thickness of the epoxy Jonathan and I have used it I think Dean uses some sort of epoxy putty which is stiffer, he has explained that on other threads.

    I poured this to about 5mm deep it is very slow setting 10 - 20 hours and don't touch it for 48 hours. Wests system
    ..Clive
    Hi Clive, in your picture to make your epoxy "gutters" you look to have used MDF, i dont know if you've seen Jonathan's recent machine but he made his using aluminum and then left those in place once the machine was ready. My question is, what are the edges like on the epoxy once it "sets", i.e dose it need protecting from damage and so on to keep it together.

    Did you do anything to yours after the machine was ready to be used to keep it safe?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan View Post
    I tend to agree - there becomes a point when an extra couple of mm of epoxy doesn't cost much compared to the added material/time required to get the frame more accurate. The epoxy is pretty strong/hard and the damping properties may be useful, so I wouldn't be too concerned about minimizing the thickness, within reason. If you look in my build log the epoxy is quite thick, but don't treat that build log as gospel - there's plenty of room for improvement.
    Thanks JB, I didnt see your post untill i posted mine.

    .Me
    Last edited by Lee Roberts; 08-01-2014 at 12:02 AM. Reason: A capital E for Eddy and reply to JB
    .Me

  4. #23
    Hi Clive, in your picture to make your epoxy "gutters" you look to have used MDF, i dont know if you've seen Jonathan's recent machine but he made his using aluminum and then left those in place once the machine was ready. My question is, what are the edges like on the epoxy once it "sets", i.e dose it need protecting from damage and so on to keep it together.

    Did you do anything to yours after the machine was ready to be used to keep it safe?
    It is 10mm MDF the box section is 60x60 the MDF is placed right on the edge (just on the round part of the box) and then a very thin bead of silicone was run around the inside of the moat to stop any leaks. I also rubbed a little oil on my finger and ran that around to stop the epoxy sticking to the MDF.

    The epoxy is like water and runs around ok. When it was cured the MDF was removed (the epoxy creaps up the inside of the MDF a little) Then I used a scraper and a flat file to get rid of the edges that were raised, it is easy to see when you are scraping it because it will start marking the centre.

    The rails were then screwed right through the epoxy into the steel. Job done. The epoxy can be chamfered off at the edges as it can be very sharp like glass. ..Clive

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to Clive S For This Useful Post:


  6. #24
    I've used both methods in the past and each work good and each have there own +/-

    Full Epoxy level is ok and works good but has you can see with clives pictures there's plenty of prepartion required and on large machine like what the OP wants this means a lot of work. This prep has to be very good and fully sealed other wise sag can happen and being 3mtr length the chances of this happening are plenty.
    Yes it's not the end of the world and can be corrected if it happens but it's a ball ache when it happens.!! . . . . I'm sure Both clive and Jonathan will tell you when pouring and it starts leaking your running round like headless chicken trying to suppress it and again over 3mtr and between 80-100mm width that's a fair amount of epoxy your fighting with.! . . . . It's also not cheap.

    Now with Epoxy putty feet and shims you don't have this problem has there's no liquid epoxy involved but you do still have to do careful measuring and setting up to get rails on same plane. Unlike The above epoxy method which takes care of this for you, thou if it's not perfect which you won't really findout until machine is built and working then it's a lot more work to correct.
    The epoxy shimming is very easy to correct on the fly and while machine complete and working. You don't need to strip it down to correct.

    Now to be honest I think the OP is correct to use Both methods has 3mtr is a long length of boxsection to ensure is straight and true, which it won't be, so would need some work even with Epoxy putty method and the Epoxy liquid method will make light work of this. The Epoxy putty and Shims will give him the fine tuning he will need over this length machine.!!
    Last edited by JAZZCNC; 08-01-2014 at 12:45 AM.

  7. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Clive S View Post
    It is 10mm MDF the box section is 60x60 the MDF is placed right on the edge (just on the round part of the box) and then a very thin bead of silicone was run around the inside of the moat to stop any leaks. I also rubbed a little oil on my finger and ran that around to stop the epoxy sticking to the MDF.

    The epoxy is like water and runs around ok. When it was cured the MDF was removed (the epoxy creaps up the inside of the MDF a little) Then I used a scraper and a flat file to get rid of the edges that were raised, it is easy to see when you are scraping it because it will start marking the centre.

    The rails were then screwed right through the epoxy into the steel. Job done. The epoxy can be chamfered off at the edges as it can be very sharp like glass. ..Clive
    Thanks Clive, I liked the tip on silicone, will add that to the mental archive for when the time comes. Good idea on the chamfering, i was thinking about what i could use to protect it once done but it sounds like its quite durable.

    Clive, where is your build log?

    .Me
    .Me

  8. #26
    That's the method I'm also using and I found that after welding, one corner of the frame was 3mm out of level with the other.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Roberts View Post
    Thanks Eddy, any idea why this happened or?
    Because I assumed my garage floor was level and I just built it from that datum.
    Last edited by EddyCurrent; 08-01-2014 at 09:58 AM.

  9. #27
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	CNC CROUTER - Frame Mk2 Minus Bed.jpg 
Views:	373 
Size:	128.4 KB 
ID:	11219Click image for larger version. 

Name:	CNC CROUTER - Frame Mk2 With Bed.jpg 
Views:	397 
Size:	136.0 KB 
ID:	11220

    First stage of the MkII done, Im still working on it so bear with me. I decided just to use the epoxy on the tops of the rails as plates and shims plus epoxy will be a mare. It may be slightly better but I dont intend on moving it once set up so I think Epoxy should suffice.

    The whole of the frame will be sand filled too, so not worried about resonance.

    Next step is the rails and ballscrews and placements of. Will add more a little later hopefully, time permitting!

    Thanks ever so much for all of the comments though guys, a real help!

  10. #28
    The diagonals at the sides, it seems to me help nothing except add weight. Should work fine without them, but that's me :-)

  11. #29
    Looks ok... but probably a bit OTT. Don't leave the ends of the long pieces of box section cantilevered - support them with a piece at 45°.

    Quote Originally Posted by JAZZCNC View Post
    I'm sure Both clive and Jonathan will tell you when pouring and it starts leaking your running round like headless chicken trying to suppress it
    I've not had any leaks at all. The guiding aluminium strips were firmly bolted to the frame, and the wooden pieces used covered with grease, which makes a good seal, and clamped with plenty of G-clamps. If it had leaked then I would have addressed the situation in a calm manner, using the glue gun and tape I had on hand just in case. The running round can be left to the three birds in the garden...
    Last edited by Jonathan; 08-01-2014 at 06:12 PM.
    Old router build log here. New router build log here. Lathe build log here.
    Electric motorbike project here.

  12. #30
    Sorry for interrupting but I have an idea
    Could it be possible to combine both methods (epoxy and shims) BUT instead of epoxy use clear coat for car painting. The clear coat will be the mean to show us which is the true level between the rails, so then we put shims and putty and fit the rails on that level. For that size of machine that may be 2-3 kgr of epoxy will be needed, the difference to the final cost will be significant After the putty pures we could even took off the clear coat as I don’t know how strong it is in getting pressure from the rails. In that way we don’t pay too much money for the epoxy as I think clear coat is much cheaper and we won’t waste too much time to true level the rails as we use the clear coat as guide. Regards the pure time of clear coat we could use a catalyst that will make pure time longer.
    Also instead of clear coat we could use anything chaper that has self leveling properties
    Just an idea I don’t know if it is correct

    Vagelis
    Last edited by ba99297; 08-01-2014 at 07:05 PM.

Page 3 of 9 FirstFirst 12345 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. BUILD LOG: First steel diy CNC router build
    By ivars211 in forum DIY Router Build Logs
    Replies: 59
    Last Post: 28-07-2014, 08:29 PM
  2. A Sturdy Steel Framed Machine Design
    By Boyan Silyavski in forum Machine Frames & Beds
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-11-2013, 05:58 PM
  3. BUILD LOG: Steel Framed CNC router
    By Joe in forum DIY Router Build Logs
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 23-06-2013, 10:45 PM
  4. BUILD LOG: Steel Framed Router
    By GTJim in forum DIY Router Build Logs
    Replies: 52
    Last Post: 14-09-2011, 06:51 PM
  5. BUILD LOG: My steel framed router
    By pavlo in forum DIY Router Build Logs
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: 06-03-2011, 10:08 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •