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

[Zeeflyboy]

Sorry, mis-typed there. The gantry is using HGH20HA carriages and HGR20 rails.

Travel is 178mm and the other dimensions I will grab for you later when I get a chance.

Got some time to play today and try my first ever bit of anodising!

First up I got to try out my new toy on the lathe to thread some titanium rod.






Then I thought for a first test I'd try one of the knobs. Cleaned, degreased, De-oxide and desmut bath, then into the anodising tub preheated to 20 degrees c and using 6amps per square ft for 2 hours.

The part after degreasing:




The agitation system I'm happy with... as you can see from the pic the surface is rippling but no bubbles and splashing which is what I was trying to avoid with air agitation, but no bubbles building up on the part and good mixing.






fresh out the anodising tub:




Dyed using caswell bordeaux red and sealed using boiling water with nickel acetate sealant:






Finished part (well, I might laser etch the top for fun). Very happy especially considering this was the first run.