Etch Press Build

[Wal]

Hi John,

Thank you kindly for taking the time to photograph and post detailed descriptions of your presses..! Very helpful and much appreciated.

Ok, so bright mild steel looks like it could be a decent way to go in terms of the rollers - certainly expense wise. I'm really surprised to see that EN3B has an elastic modulus over two and a half times greater than 7075-T6. I'd still be surprised if the press managed to bend a 7075 roller - although I probably won't take the chance now that I've seen the numbers..!

I think I'll stick to a thicker platen - the reason being that the bearing blocks are sizeable things - part of the reason I've had to go so big with the rollers (ie. to get them to meet..!) - if I used a thinner plate I'd be operating the press with the top roller near to bottoming out, as it were - a thicker platen will give me a bit of grace in that respect. Sure, I could do that with a bit of wood, plate or what-not - but I like chunky stuff with mass...

...Talking of which - my bearings arrived today. Yep - they're self aligning (old-school, not the dual race sort) - the outer ring has a spherical profile which allows it to rotate into position within the housing:



Right, call me sad - I'm off to read up on Loctite 638..!

Thanks again for your advice and help..!

Wal.

EDIT: Holy Moly - Loctite 276 has a breakaway torque of 60Nm (M10 thread)..! The 270's 33Nm should do me, though...