[massajamesb]

Well, I have been running the heck out of the old machine, and due to size constraints, I had been turning down a number of jobs because I simply didn't have enough travel out of my machine.
I took on a job recently for a fellow member, which really lit a fire under my butt about getting my new machine build and running. Here is a couple shots of some of the parts.




These are old shots of the framework, but here they are in raw form.






I started working on the bearing rails today with some HR 3/8"x3" flat strip I had laying around, and drilling it on center every 6 inches. It will be drilled out to 17/64", then laid flat on its' side, and drilled on center 11/16" every 8".


(I am not really diggin' the cheapo drill press at work but, unlike me at work, it does the job. ) Yes, I also have a small shop at work.

I am taking 3/4" CR round and drilling it on center every 6" as well, for bearing rails. The CR will be threaded to 1/4"-20, and then bolted to the ground and straightened 3x8" flat bar, with the flat standing on end.

I picked up a few bearings from www.VXB.com, 20 MM open linear bearings.

Now, I know that 20 mm does not equal 3/4".The bearings had about .04" of slop, which I don't want. I do, however, have a solution for "adjusting" the bearings a little.

On a serious note, I took some 1.75"ODx.25" wall D.O.M tubing, and slit it open .5" on my bandsaw. The end result of that was I was able to compress the linear bearings enough to fit very snugly inside of the D.O.M. (snugly as in friction-fit) and spin the assembly in the vise real quick, to squeeze it all down to size. The bearings now grip the CR round tightly, and move very, very smooooooth.

This week I am going to take some 1"ODx.25" wall D.O.M. I have laying around, and bore it out in the lathe, so I can tap it out to 9/16"-18. I will have 18 of these, 9 for each side. Each one will be about 4 inches long.
These will be bolted to the rails of the machine, and then the 3/8" flat will be bolted to the DOM.
I imagine throughout it all, there should be plenty of adjustment for the rails.

Sorry there is no pictures yet, hope to have those uploaded in the next couple days. My camera decided to quit uploading pics for some reason after the drill press pic.
Next I am gonna build the mounts for the actual gantry.