3 Axis 900x500mm

[Wal]

Wal Your too kind I only see one spindle bracket you will need two. If you get the other cut we can do them Monday.

The other one's still hidden inside the piece of ali that the first one's standing on. I'll be starting it in the next hour or so - need to eat some biscuits to get me in the mood..!

See you soon!

Wal.

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[Wal]

Quick update.

Spindle brackets about finished:



Thanks once again to Clive for helping out with the drilling and countersinking of the mounting/clamping holes - these one-piece brackets are a smidge too tall for my mill so it was a real help to get that bit done over at his place.



I've spent a bit of time this week making some NEMA23 motor covers. See that large chunk of plastic..? I spotted it in a scrap bin outside an industrial unit coming out of band practice last Sunday. I didn't just want to take it, so I drove back in the morning and asked if I could have it - the answer was 'yep' and I've been chuffed about it ever since - 750x220x50mm - got to be the skip find of the month, huh? Not sure what it is, but it cuts very well... I've got a feeling that it might be worth trying to cut this conventional as opposed to climb. The 6mm cutter's quite aggressive and the material is surprisingly hard, so I've kept the DOC/step-over quite conservative. Here's a vid:



The cut's not as clean as I'm sure it could be, but the burr knocks off very easily with a bit of wire wool/fine sand-paper. I tried using a t-slot cutter for the under-cut (where the wires come out of the motor body) but even with the spindle at 3krpm it was still way too hot - I'll use aluminium caps to seal 'em up - an extra step, but it'll work - here's a bit of 3D to show you what I mean:



Still want to try making these covers out of some walnut I've got lying about (much to Clive's amusement) - no reason why a decent hardwood shouldn't work, eh.?!

Wal.

[Clive S]

Still want to try making these covers out of some walnut I've got lying about (much to Clive's amusement) - no reason why a decent hardwood shouldn't work, eh.?!

Re the T-slot cutter for the sake of others I have done plenty of these but the cutter needs to be spun at 600-1000 RPM.

Going to be a very nice machine, Keep up the good work and vids.

[Nickhofen]

Those covers for your motors are going to add mojo! Nice touch!!!

[charlieuk]

very nice and simple could kill for a machine like that right now, but think its at least 3 projects away.

[Wal]

Covers pretty much finished now - just waiting for a bunch of 16mm cable glands to arrive (in black) and then I can pair up and solder what's coming out of the motors onto lengths of CY cable. (Of course, the walnut covers will be getting brass cable glands...) A couple more pics:



...and a vid showing the machining off of the extra bit of plastic that was used to clamp to whilst cutting the main body along with a quick bit at the end showing the cutting out of the alu caps:



Next job is to fit the e-chain, I reckon.

Wal.

[Wal]

Started on the Y-Axis E-chain earlier today. I've got a length of chunky alu L-section that I rescued from my Dad's shed a while back and it's pretty much the ideal size for this job - well, maybe a little on the heavier-duty side...

First job was to drill and tap a hole on one of the plates that makes up the side to side moving part of the Z-Axis. Rather than take the whole thing apart, I used the plate edge tapping kit I 'designed' and had made by Dominic when I first joined the forum. Worked nicely...



Then I machined a little (0.6mm) step into the L-section, this'll prevent it from slipping/rotating without having to use two bolts.



I attached one end of the E-chain - looks alright so far. Space at a premium at this end of the axis as I need to get a little bracket in there somewhere for the limit switch...



Next I need to make a 7mm spacer that will sit between the L bracket and the extrusion at the other end of the axis. Should look something like this:



Again, recesses and proud bits are to prevent it (and the L-section) from rotating once bolted on.

There'll be another bit of L-section positioned somewhere in the middle to prevent the chain from sagging...

Wal.

[routercnc]

Nice video Wal (post#9). Like the speeding up bits !

The rest of it is progressing nicely. There is almost as much time spent on kitting it out as making the basic frame work, so hang in there.