El Beast - Initial design phase, comments and critique welcomed!

[Zeeflyboy]

Wow. Just Wow.

This is next level stuff. I have just joined this forum and hope to build a machine myself. Your work is very inspiring.
I love the way it is coming together just like the renderings and the 3d printed gaskets are the icing on the cake.

Cant wait to see it in action.

Ollie

Thanks, good luck with your build!

How did you create the belt in your assembly? Fusion doesn't (yet) have the rather neat belt / chain create / mate function that you can find in the likes of Solidworks, so the only way I could see to have done it would be to model the locus of the belt and extrude it. Then use bitmap to create the text for that finishing touch! Finessing the belt length so that it ended up as a standard length must have been a bit of a fiddle and is one area where the SW belt / chain function is a real bonus.

Nice work!

I used a belt calculator to work out the distance between locus for a standard length belt and then did it as you suggest. A belt/chain wizard would be a welcome addition to fusion for sure - might be worth putting in feature request (if it hasn't already been submitted)... my experience has been that they are very active on implementing requests that get sufficient interest.

[Desertboy]

Thanks, good luck with your build!



I used a belt calculator to work out the distance between locus for a standard length belt and then did it as you suggest. A belt/chain wizard would be a welcome addition to fusion for sure - might be worth putting in feature request (if it hasn't already been submitted)... my experience has been that they are very active on implementing requests that get sufficient interest.

Seems more like an api plugin to me for the store, there's some cool plugins but can't remember if I saw a belt one.

[Muzzer]

I used a belt calculator to work out the distance between locus for a standard length belt and then did it as you suggest. A belt/chain wizard would be a welcome addition to fusion for sure - might be worth putting in feature request (if it hasn't already been submitted)... my experience has been that they are very active on implementing requests that get sufficient interest.

I submitted it 2 years ago but obviously they are focusing on the core functionality first. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusio...7755765#M30496

The way Solidworks does it is really powerful and cool. Hopefully when the Fusion team turn their thoughts to it, they will make a good job of it.

[Zeeflyboy]

I added my vote and a new comment to do my bit ;)

Got the back plate for the Z-axis machined out today.

Most of the top side done, including second fixture work




Side clamps removed and attacking it with my big 10mm roughing bit (10mm Depth of cut, 1mm axial engagement, 9,600rpm, 2000mm/min)




Top side machining done:




Again used dowels here to locate and align the work for the back side. 6mm roughing bit here hogging out the centre channel (7mm DoC, 1mm axial, 10,000rpm, 1500mm/min) followed by some tidying up and a final contour with a 3mm to get a tighter radius in the corners



Finished with some chamfers




Still need to make a jig to drill the top and bottom to attach the end plates, but here's a quick semi-assembled pic:

[routercnc]

Nice work there Zeeflyboy. Starting to take shape and I really like those heavy chamfers.

[Snapper]

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Autodesk to implement such a feature, there are some rather basic things people have been asking for for years (lathe back chamfer on part off, stick text engraving etc) that still haven't been done.

Great work by the way, love watching this machine come together.

[Zeeflyboy]

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Autodesk to implement such a feature, there are some rather basic things people have been asking for for years (lathe back chamfer on part off, stick text engraving etc) that still haven't been done.

Great work by the way, love watching this machine come together.

Cheers.

I certainly won't be holding my breath!

Just one final update for today with an assembled shot of the v2 Z-axis so far. Coke can for scale as I find the HGR25H carriages and 25mm rails make it look smaller than it is in pics when you are used to seeing 20mm.



Not quite sure what will be done next.... either the side plates or the top counter bearing plate depending on what I can find in my aluminium stock pile. I think I'll need to make an order for more plate to complete the front plate and tramming plate.

[Zeeflyboy]

Little bit more progress made during the week.

So first up I made a little extended collar for the ballscrew bearing mount. This is just to allow the pulley base to clear the top of the bearing mount.






Next up I printed off a set of jigs for the sides of the Z-axis. I also made some bushings in silver steel and experimented with hardening (heated up till cherry red then quenched) to try and get some nice long lasting bushings that I can use for multiple projects... seems to have worked well.





Sides all drilled, tapped, deburred and quickly tickled with some sand paper to remove any high points (with the side plates mounted these edges serve as the reference edge for the carriages).




Unfortunately my 3d printer is too small to make the side seals in once piece so I split them into two instead.




Next up was machining out the side plates from 5mm plate






Machining the seal retaining slot on the back side. Out of interest I noticed Fusion has a new option on adaptive clearing which is "machine both ways" so I tried that out on this slot... basically it just climb mills one way then conventional mills the way back with a slightly lower axial engagement. Works nicely and means you aren't wasting time with a travel move where you have a lot of back and forth like this slot.




Finished parts:

[Zeeflyboy]

Seals are a beautiful press fit into their slots:






All seals done and fitted:




I think next up will be the top counter bearing plate, then I'll move on to the face plate and tramming plate.

[Zeeflyboy]

Got some bits and bobs done

First up - I printed a drill jig for the back plate. Just wanted to show how nice the print was after I left the filament in a food drier for 12hrs... makes the prints come out perfectly! This is printed in the CF filled filament which is perhaps a bit fo a waste but it's the most dimensionally stable and strongest stuff I have.






Anyhoo, also done on the 3D printer I made some sealing plugs for the front plate which allows access to the m8 bolts that fasten it to the X-axis. I need access to these as being a sealed unit there would be no way to adjust tram without first loosening these bolts... Printed in the same red semi flexible Cheetah filament as the main seals and with a fully functional m12x1.75 thread right off the printer!




I also made a few other parts on the printer, the drill jig for the part I'm about to show you and also the sliding bearing plate you will see in the next pics. This is the internal floating bearing for the Z-axis ball screw and due to a lack of space I had to custom make this to fit within the narrow confines of the Z-axis. It has the ability to adjust so that alignment with the ball screw is perfect.






Drill jig (could have done this on the CNC as the part is small enough but saves fitting the vice and any zeroing errors running the part :) )... I also had some bushings lying around from previous parts so was just a case of printing the jig.




Finished part and floating bearing plate




Perfect fit: