Sisyphus

[Lee Roberts]

Looks like its going to be a nice machine, clean design well done, was probably always asking a Workbee for to much in what looks like 20mm plate :), still they don't look that bad at all to be fair, and good job at making the Delrin plates first in order to then make them again in ali, the plan worked :)

Probably didn't really need to double on on the Linear rails for the Y, have you set one rail up and then used that as the datum to align the other 3 rails from or not got that far yet? I ask to let you know (don't know if you already know), adding a second rail like that (from what I understand) doesn't really add much of a performance gain vs the cost or...

Having the rails doubled up like that (so close) adds a margin of required sophistication when installing the rails, in short - if you don't dial them in to be on the same planes as each other, the bearing blocks/rails could* be working against each other in their linear movement and thus causing premature failure (wear) even if Hiwin quality.

No criticism only constructive feedback, your doing a great job keep up the good work

P.S Welcome to the forum, thanks for joining and sharing your adventure.

[ian]

Hi Lee

Thanks - none taken as criticism - it is a learning journey.

You are right, to have two rails per side adds complication, effort and a notable level of frustration during assembly. I had the rails available and wanted to err on the side of rigidity so thought it a good idea to use 2 per side. I first set the left-most rails and then spent hours ailing the rail and ballscrew to an inside reference of the aluminium profile. At some point I also changed the reference line on the profile to try and check for errors (I still questions the flatness of the profile as a reference but didn't have another option). I then aligned the other rails to the first andI probably spend ±10 hours aligning all 4 rails and the 2nd ballscrew. It was quite an effort to get the exact distance between each rail and then between Y1 and Y2, constantly rechecking and testing the resistance.

This is where I realised that I didn't allow for enough adjustability (despite reading about it and being told to add adjustability - lesson learned - I did allow some, but not enough). Next time I will add forwards/backwards adjustment on the left horizontal plate (the one that connects the gantry to the Y-rails) and left/right adjustability on the right plate. Also, if I had to do this again, I'd machine a number of exact template plates to fit over the rails and profile to set the initial positions.

I still need to square and tram it, so I may find a few more issue to solve but am looking forward to using it!

Ian