[peteeng]

Hi Gully - Looking very good. You use round rail. Is that because of cost or other reason|? vs square rail? Cheers Peter

[gully]

Hi Pete,
Would be nice to be using Hiwin rails or similar but building on a tight budget (AKA Wife) doesn't allow for it.
so round rails it is. They will still be a major step up in accuracy from what I have now

Gully

[gully]

Were back on the beers in Melbourne according to chairman Dan, and have been cut loose from lock down as long as we don't stray more than 25km from home.
So before he changes his mind I need to get my s#@t together now I'm on days off and pick up some stock to get this train wreck back on the rails.

Cleaned out a big hole in my workshop during my down time for space to build a flat welding jig/fixture to give me the best chance of welding the frame together square and level
Hit Bunnings early this morning for some chipboard flooring panels and got to work building a 1220 x 1500 x 180 box with adjustable feet
Attachment 451474
Adjusted it up with a water level so all corners were at the same datum height.
checked the surface with a level and a long straight edge to confirm it was indeed a flat and level work surface
Will use ali angle and timber blocks screwed down to the top to hold and clamp the steel in place while its welded together.

Gully

[gully]

Not a lot of free time this week, but we are moving ahead.
Good news, I was able to get steel. So managed to cut all the frame pieces to size, prep them by drilling and capping as required and setting them up on the welding fixture.
This way gives me the best chance of matching square and flat parts.
Will start to weld it all up next weekend.
Attachment 451784

Gully

[gully]

Good day in the workshop today.
Got the frame jigged up square and welded up
Attachment 452190 Attachment 452192 Attachment 452196 Attachment 452194

Will give it a clean up tomorrow and prep it for paint

Gully

[peteeng]

Hi Gully - You'll have to clear out a spot for the machine as well... Peter

[gully]

Hi Pete.
No matter how big your workshop is there is never enough space for all the goodies we seem to collect.
I do however, have a space allocated for the new beast once its ready to run,
I will need to make a few tip runs and have a tidy up before xmas though.
Gully

[Sterob]

Good progress Gully.
Will be great to see it up and running.

[gully]

Today was one of those days where you don't have much to show for your efforts.
Ground back the external welds and primed them.
Turned the frame over, marked out and drilled the bolt down holes for the C channels
Put the channels into position and temp shimmed as required to get them to measure the same top datum height from the build fixture.
Was surprised at how little shimming it actually took to get them level and square.
Once I got that far I put a couple of big dobs of body filler under them and let them settle back down onto the temp shims.
The body filler once set up gives you a nice flat permanent shim.
Attachment 452246

Also realised that I still need to fit the stepper mounts to the channels, so I see a bit more drilling and tapping in my future
It feels like it's starting to all come together now

Gully

[gully]

Haven't had a whole lot of time at the moment to work on the CNC so have just been tidying up some of the small jobs
Replaced a heap of temp fixings with the correct ones on the gantry
Basic steel frame is complete, it's off the build fixture and on its move around wheels. Would have painted it this weekend but the weather has been crap.
So that's on hold now awaiting a time and a weather window to coincide

Did manged to 3D CAD some custom nema 23 end caps so I can fit GX16 4 pin pugs for the cabling
Attachment 453158
Have tasked the son in law with 3D printing them for me

Gully

[peteeng]

Ah correct Gully. People ask me why is the shed so big? and I say "a house can be too big but a shed can't be big enough". Its already starting to fill up. 3D printing seems to be the perfect thing for caps and brackets etc. I'm looking at them now, anyone recommend one that can print engineering plastics? Peter

[Sterob]

Haven't had a whole lot of time at the moment to work on the CNC so have just been tidying up some of the small jobs
Replaced a heap of temp fixings with the correct ones on the gantry
Basic steel frame is complete, it's off the build fixture and on its move around wheels. Would have painted it this weekend but the weather has been crap.
So that's on hold now awaiting a time and a weather window to coincide

Did manged to 3D CAD some custom nema 23 end caps so I can fit GX16 4 pin pugs for the cabling
Attachment 453158
Have tasked the son in law with 3D printing them for me

Gully

These are a great idea. I don't have a 3D Printer so I bought some for my 6040. Using GX16's instead of the small inline connectors that came with my machine really made a big difference to the smoothness of my machine.
I was surprised!
I did notice the small connectors were getting warm so I must have had significant power losses.

[gully]

Had time this weekend to nibble a bit more off my CNC pie.
Time and weather coincided, so the frame got painted and looks great in its charcoal hammer tone finish
Not that you will see much of it when the machine is complete.
Also finished up and painted the limit switch/ E stop end plates for the front of the channels
Attachment 453726 Attachment 453728

Will start dragging cables through the frame for the limits and E stops during the week then I can finish fitting and squaring up the channels
If all goes well, would like to have the gantry fitted before Xmas.

Gully

[gully]

You win some, you loose some.
Had time to rough in all the cabling that I wanted to run through the frame that went well
Fitted the ball screws and steppers into the channels, that all went well till I spun the left hand ball screw and noticed it had a distinct wobble as it rotated. F%###@!
Checked all the others and they track fine.
As luck would have it, The supplier messed up my ballscrew order and sent my Z axis screw the same length as both the X and Y stuff so I have a spare the correct size sitting in my workshop. WIN!
I will now have to spend some quality time disassembling then reassembling with spare ballscrew

Gully

[ger21]

Excellent work, and really nice paint job. :cheers:

[gully]

Thanks for the kind words Gerry,
Will be upgrading to your screen set for this one.

Have swapped out the naughty ball screw and we seem to be back on track in the gully workshop
At work today. No rest for the wicked

Gully

[gully]

Big day today
Been pecking away after work getting ready for this
Have fitted the gantry to the frame and all went well
Attachment 454644 Attachment 454640

While all my measuring and rechecking told me it was accurate and square, it's always a relief to drop it on tighten it down and have it smoothly roll with very light finger pressure from one end to the other without any tight spots.
Happy bloke right now.

Gully

[peteeng]

Ohhh very good Gully - I can feel the sawdust coming on... Peter

[Sterob]

Looks awesome Gully. A great place to have made it to...'smooth movement on all 3 axe's'...
:banana:

[gully]

Thanks Gents for the kind words.
You are right Sterob, to have all the axis running smooth and square takes a lot of pain and mucking around out of the build,
Pete, making sawdust is a ways off yet. Have finally decided not to strip my Joe's for the electronics as I need it working to continue to make parts for the new beast
So I will need to order some new stepper drives, breakout board etc.
As we a circling the drain of Xmas, It will have to wait till the new year, that will give me time to do a bit of research. Kind of liking the look of the AXBB-E
Unless I can find more free time and cash, best estimation for having it moving under its own steam is around May.

Merry Xmas to all at CNC Zone

Gully