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

[Edward]

Now that I can see where you've placed the motor mount, it gives an idea of the total height allowed from the nut to the base.

This is the one thing where I have agonised when messing about with my design. It's difficult to see in yours because the pic is not head on, but it looks like the spindle nut base falls about parallel to the edge of the extending plate, maybe slightly lower. One thing that I am sure you have thought about is that the clearance of the sliding plate is above the holding clamps for the part, in cases when you are cutting something deep using the full flute length, you don't want the sliding plate to touch the clamps.

Edward

[Zeeflyboy]

Actually that's just the angle of the pics, I designed it with the idea of having the bottom of the spindle nut approximately 1cm below the bottom of the mounting plate for that very reason. Obviously it's fairly easy to adjust to taste simply by moving the spindle slightly lower/higher in the mount.

So I had a go at creating my first eccentric bushing this eve. Seems to have come out quite nicely given that I have no idea what I'm doing!

I started off with some hexagonal stainless steel stock, and installed my 4 jaw chuck on the lathe. First job was to turn down to a diameter I could measure off to calibrate the scales.



Then turned down to 11.99mm




I was designing it to the specs of a specific commercial product as before I got the lathe I was intending to buy them. So I had to copy the slightly odd offset of 1.07mm from centre:




Then drilled out the bore, flipped and faced the top side.




End result:

[AlexDoran]

Man that Z Axis really is awesome! Far too nice to actually use and get dirty

Alex

[Desertboy]

You know Zeeflyboy you're a bastard because you've upped the bloody bar! Now we all have to aspire to your level not going to even attempt it with my present build but the next build I'm going to be copying you and then pretending like that's how I was always going to do it ;)

Between you and routercnc I feel like going home, ripping all my hair out and crying lol.

[Nr1madman]

You know Zeeflyboy you're a bastard because you've upped the bloody bar! Now we all have to aspire to your level not going to even attempt it with my present build but the next build I'm going to be copying you and then pretending like that's how I was always going to do it ;)

Between you and routercnc I feel like going home, ripping all my hair out and crying lol.

Hahaha you say what we all feel :D
Usually you just have to dig deep, go back to the drawing board and make a winning concept.
With these guys I have to admit defeat and bow humbly..

Skickat från min SM-N910C via Tapatalk

[Zeeflyboy]

Very kind, but I wouldn't put my work in the same category as routercnc.

In hindsight I think one big improvement to this Z-axis would be to use longer rails and Z-plate, such that in the full down position the top of the Z-plate is flush with the top of the main body, thus keeping the unit sealed at all times when down in a cutting position. That would also allow one to space the upper carriages up without losing travel, thus giving an even more rigid setup.

Oh well, there's always a v2 ;)

[JZimmy]

Very kind, but I wouldn't put my work in the same category as routercnc.

In hindsight I think one big improvement to this Z-axis would be to use longer rails and Z-plate, such that in the full down position the top of the Z-plate is flush with the top of the main body, thus keeping the unit sealed at all times when down in a cutting position. That would also allow one to space the upper carriages up without losing travel, thus giving an even more rigid setup.

Oh well, there's always a v2 ;)

I have been watching your build and I have been amazed by your quality of work. I am starting to design my router and will definitely be taking some ideas away from your build.

I agree with your comment about increasing the length of the rails but more for the fact that your seals might see some wear the more they run over the edge of the rail unless you have a good lead-in on the rails. I doubt it will be much of an issue here but thought I would point it out.

Keep plowing away at the build, I enjoy the updates!

JZ

[Zeeflyboy]

Did a little more work, haven't finished these side plates yet but thought I'd show where I'm up to.... they still need milling on the underside but I haven't quite decided how I'm going to do that yet.

So first up I just whizzed out some inserts from 0.6mm matte finish carbon fibre. Normally I would cut submerged but given it was such a thin piece and an extremely quick job I just used the vac with hepa bag and hepa filter.

For cutting CF I only ever really used double sided tape. Works very well and the waterproof variety doesn't mind being submerged...






Out of interest I get asked occasionally what I use for cutting CF - my favourites are these diamond coated fishtail burrs from BZT




So given that these side plates were going to be awkward to hold down without using a larger piece of alu and leaving tabs in I thought I would try something I read about online. I have in the past used double sided tape to hold down parts but the tape either tends to be a bitch to remove the part and clean up the residue or too weak and all types I have tried have allowed too much movement in the part which then leads to vibration of the part during cutting.

I saw someone do this and thought I would give it a go since these parts aren't particularly critical! My only reservation was that it might all go horribly wrong while using coolant, but I dialled back the mist to a bare minimum and it seemed to work fine.

So the basic idea is that you lay down some strips of masking tape on to the part and then lay corresponding pieces down onto the bed.




You then put a little superglue on the top of the tape and while lining it all up, push the plate down firmly into place. I turned the tape on the plate over the top to make it easy to line up before then removing the excess once it was stuck down.






I was actually very surprised at how firmly the plate was held in place - no wiggle like you can get from double sided tape. Anyway, proof is in the pudding as they say and it worked exceptionally well.... sounded great when cutting and the chips didn't dance on the surface as they do when using normal tape, suggesting the part wasn't able to vibrate. One day I will need to make myself a nice vacuum setup but one project at a time!




Before removing the plates I just checked the fit of the inserts in case anything needed tweaking but they were a perfect fit




CF plate isn't stuck down yet, just resting in place so it's not sitting perfectly flat for those with keen eyes:




So anyway, next up I need to mill the underside and then print the side seals...