[Regnar]

So I am going to try my own and see what happens. I got this ideal from looking at wooden hinges. Parts of me is saying that this will work ok but the little voices inside my head says it cannot be this easy. I drew it up in sketchup and rotated it and pretty much made sure it would work. Well it did so I am going to run it on the machine tomorrow. I already have a few ideals of how to improve I just want to make sure the concept works out.

So whatcha guys think. Going to work or not. Is it going to be worth it. Only time will tell.

[txcowdog]

Reminds me of a wooden door mat I once saw. So simple that it is genius. I think it will work great. Post the CAD drawings when you get it going.

[Guldberg]

Looks nice. Just dont do it to save money, e-chains are pretty cheap:-)

[Regnar]

Well it turned out better than I expected. It fully supports its self and worked out just like a had drawn up. There are a few differences in the between the drawing and the final product and that is I used 3/4 Oak Ply. I had it as scrap laying around the garage. I cut the all six links out of a 6"x22" piece. This size peice gave me a guide that is 3 1/2" wide by 20" long.

Now things that I am going to do different. I think it would look even better if I use 1/4 birch ply. It looks impresive now but think of 16 pieces going across! I will probably use 1/4 aluminum rod for the piviting holes so that it is a smooth. The dowels work but i think the aluminum will step it up a notch. I will also do the glue up (not done on this test) maybe seal or paint it.

Time to put out some numbers. This is all going to be ruff becuase you could use a 1/2 bit to a 1/8 bit and it really depends on the amount of waste you produce. So I will figure with a 1/4 bit.

For a 2'*2' piece of ply you can make 128 peices
128 peices / 5 (number of peices to make a link) = 25 links plus 3 pieces.
25 links x 3 inches (length of link)= 75 inches long or 6 foot 3 inches
75 x 4 (to make it a 4'x4' sheet of ply)=300 inches long or 25 feet long

Now material / cost

4x8 sheet of oak ply $45 / 1/2 = $22.50
1/4 dowels @ 4ft long .59 Need 6 $3.54
Glue 3.69
*if you wanted to use aluminum rod you will need 2 4ft sections @ 3.29 piece

total cost 29.73 for all wood and 35.13 for aluminum pivot points for 25 feet of cable guide. Not bad if you ask me.

Now for pictures and video. Enjoy

[ger21]

Very well done. I've always thought of machining them from plastic, but all you need is a table saw and box joint jig. Good job.

[Regnar]

added another 5 links. Video and pics. Wife was watching "sex in the city" so the word pu*** comes out a few time. Bewarned for work or kid enviroment.

[Regnar]

Ger, Plastic would probably work out pretty good. You might have to run bolts threw to make the link solid. Now that I know this works I have another ideal in mind that might work better for plastic.

[DougO]

Regnar, Is there a particular reason that you made the track 5 pieces wide? After reading your post, I was making a track and mine is 3 pieces wide made out of 1/2" plywood. Seems to work fine on the work table. I have not connected to machine yet though.

And by the way, thanks for the terrific idea.

Thanks,
Doug

[Regnar]

Dougo, No peticular reason why I would just keep it to odd number to maybe prevent twisting. Did you use aluminum rod for your pivot or wooden dowels? Can you also post some pictures of them hooked up to your machine. I always like to see what others did and get more ideals. I am going to do a smaller version for my y axis hopefully this weekend. The machine is torn apart right now to put on delirn nuts and a linear bearings for my x axis.

Ger I will finish up my plastic version tonight. Basically its 4 peices and it will be connected by rivets. I was just wondering what you would use for plastic that would make it cost effective? I was thinking of finding a buisness around here that makes the plastic bathroom stall seperators and getting some scrap off of them.

[elogicca]

Looks nice. Just dont do it to save money, e-chains are pretty cheap:-)

Where are they cheap? i usually see them for 12$+/ft i need @15'

[Regnar]

Ok here is the plastic ideal that I mentioned earlier. What makes this nice is that you can taylor your width so if you need the chain to be 1 inch or 13/16 you can decide with the top and bottom peices. I am thinking of using rivets to pivot on. I looked them up in enco and you can get 100 half inch lenght ones for 7.95 plus shipping. I am going to try and cut them out of mdf this weekend if I get the time. I will let you guys know how it goes.

[Regnar]

And here we go. Just did my first run after installing the delrin nuts but I need to square the machine up. It looks like its going to work great. I dont have any plastic or rivets at the moment so I used some mdf. and used dowels to hold the side together. In the end I will be using rivets to hold it all together. Photos are just for visualization for right now. Once the machine and rivets show up I will run enought to use on my machine. So stay tuned for more photos.

[DougO]

Think I will hold off making more of the original links till you finish your newer ones. These look simpler and and might even work better.

I am sure likeing your ideas. Keep them coming.

Doug

[sawmiller]

i tried making those side links, drew up a dxf 3"x1" with outside being one layer and the lands on the ends being another. ran it thru lazycam pro, no luck on geting the lands pocketed out... what program did you use to make the gcode for those ?
still trying to learn... more fun each day
dan

[Regnar]

Dan I use vcarve for my cam. Now to get the pocket areas done right I drew a straight line threw 4 of the links and offset it by 1/8 and it squared off the pockets. I will post a dxf. and gcode for it later. I havent worked on this project lately because I have been remodeling my bathroom. This weekend alone I have layed 400 wall tile so i get little or no time to get in the garage.