3 Axis 900x500mm

[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.

[Wal]

A little more progress today - I might have got a bit more done, but there was a bit of a fire in my neighbours house while they were out walking their dog - I smelt burning plastic, saw a few wisps of smoke coming from an open window and called the Fire Brigade. A laundry basket left on the stove, apparently...

Firemen did a great job. Loads of smoke but no severe damage - I imagine that there'll be a fair bit of scrubbing to do over the next few days...



Anyway. I made a couple more of the L brackets, these needed slotting for a bit of built in adjustment - nice to have those extra long 5mm end-mills to hand...



Then it was on to the spacers. First I machined a channel for the L-bracket to sit in - the channel would also locate onto a fixture so that the reverse could be machined in order for the spacer to locate into the extrusion:





It's looking like it should work okay:



One thing I have noticed is that I won't have as much cutting area as what I say in the title of this build - despite the Y gantry being 670mm across, it's going to be more like 460mm rather than 500. I can see myself having to go lock to lock with the Y axis - and as a consequence I think it's a bit hopeful trying to squeeze in the limit sensor on a bracket of some sort. I'll take out the existing support and cut a section out to accommodate the sensor. Ideally the hole would be a bit lower, but bugger it - I'll make the targets a bit bigger.



That's about it for now - the other E-chain should be a bit more straightforward, so I won't bore you with progress on that one.

Wal.

[Wal]

Support bracket modified to take a sensor:



It's not a pretty effort. In retrospect I didn't need to put the hole right at the edge, worrying about the sensor being able to pick up a target - I could have placed it further in-land (dodging the existing horizontal screw holes) and made the targets tall thin bars secured into the extrusion with countersunk machine screws to keep it low-profile. That would have been the more elegant solution, for sure. Ah well, it works and I can always make a new one later on, though I probably won't..!

[Zeeflyboy]

I like the idea of the internal cable chains... neat way to do it.

[Wal]

I like the idea of the internal cable chains... neat way to do it.

I merely followed the ways of Clive and Dean...

The only potential drawback I see, is if I use a hugely over-length bolt for fixturing - anything that protrudes 12mm or so below the left underside of the bed could potentially foul the chain.

Hopefully there'll be none of that nonsense...

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[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.

[thomashomer1986]

Nice looking build! Do you have a log of your previous mini-mill build by any chance?