Quick update.

Spindle brackets about finished:

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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.

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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.