village idiot builds a plasma table.........

[warwick]

managed a few hours today,

for the (hopefully)final assembly iv drilled the shaft for the grub screws to bite into and for the pinion gear iv sweated the gear onto the shaft and used a roll pin,which im sure is very stable and wont come loose but now if i have a bearing faiure im going to have to pull the shaft back through the 60t gear and the other bearing,so im not sure iv gone the right way...

[warwick]

iv had a few hours spare so iv finished the slats for the table....iv used 80x3 flat...

[Paul3112]

looking very nice.
Have you thought of making a scraper/cleaner for the supported rails carriage?
In the past I have used pot scrubbers ( cheap scotch-brite nock-offs)
the flat ones .. Like these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAv-pKD0Eug
profile to suit the rail section.. Green side out. sandwich between to alu plates.
I soak them in sewing machine oil prior to installation

Paul

[warwick]

hi paul,
iv been thinking about some sort of scraper/gaurd for the linear rails..im ging to put an hour meter on the table so i can get an idea of how long parts last and cost of running.then i can work out if the for instance if the 16mm bearings will last a year and cost x amount and then they become a consumable? Or if its just a bad design and i'll need to rejig it....is plasma dust evil stuff?

[ned]

Just wanted to say, I've enjoyed reading this thread, I'm trying to learn as much as i can, so your lots of pics approach is great.

[warwick]

Just wanted to say, I've enjoyed reading this thread, I'm trying to learn as much as i can, so your lots of pics approach is great.

thanks for your kind words..i'm back on the cnc today...pics to follow

[ned]

cool, following with interest.


Can I ask you, if you were to guesstimate, how much you reckon the build is going to cost you?

Speaking in euros, to buy an 8x4 table seems to be around 11 - 12 thousand, so maybe 9 - 10 thousand GBP.

At the moment I'm trying to familiarise myself with the different mechanical parts of the machine, I'll concentrate on that first and when I've that built, I'll scratch my head and think about the next hurdle, the electronics and software.