Wobblycogs CNC Mk1

[Wobblycogs]

Quick update to say that I've started making the frame and so far so good. As I said to the wife, nothing that scrapping it and starting again couldn't fix anyway :-).

Joking aside I'm actually fairly pleased with my first real foray into the world of metal work. There have been a couple of minor hiccups but nothing that I can't fairly easily work around, the most serious problem has been breaking a centre drill in a hole I had planned on tapping. Unfortunately for me I tried to drill it out which caused the drill to wander as it bounced off the broken end of the centre drill effectively ruining the hole forever. 'Tis not a big problem though as there are three other bolts holding that side of the bracket on and it was only a bed bar anyway.

I made this jig for drilling the brackets which came in really useful:

The studs are pieces of 7mm shank from an old drill bit. I slipped the bracket over the two studs to ensure it was perfectly aligned for the other two holes. I now have 26 brackets with identical hole patterns.

So far I've put together the bed and part of one of the sides. I'm going to try and get a leg or two fitted tonight.

I'm completely fed up with drilling an tapping holes :-). There's 112 tapped holes in the bed alone which is less than half what the machine will have when complete. I'm also going to have to add some more bracing to hold the frame square I think. The bed as shown is stiff enough that I can't noticeably cause deflection by hand but individual members are easy to move so I think it needs more. A few bits of angled bracing should stiffen it up tremendously though I think and give me an easy way to make sure it's perfectly square. I've got a ton of angle section left so I might use that rather than get more steel.