[peteeng]

Evening all and sundry - This afternoon I completed the walls of Frankie. Now to survey it for basic level and figure out how best to set the top of the walls very level. It will need lapping. One rear corner of the bed is down just under 0.5mm but its at the rear where the machine can't get to, plus a waste board will be the final level. I'm not sure if I will do a base this way again. The ribs mean the walls cannot be adjusted and if one of the ribs is slightly out when first connected then its out for good. On Scoot the walls where separate and the base was levelled really well and then the walls built and levelled. I think that's a better plan. The walls are not geometrically important but the base is and in this design since they are connected all care needs to be taken as assembled. I think maybe there are too many things to get right that you can't get "right" if that makes sense...But its very stiff and acceptable for its intended use.... Peter

[mactec54]

Evening all and sundry - This afternoon I completed the walls of Frankie. Now to survey it for basic level and figure out how best to set the top of the walls very level. It will need lapping. One rear corner of the bed is down just under 0.5mm but its at the rear where the machine can't get to, plus a waste board will be the final level. I'm not sure if I will do a base this way again. The ribs mean the walls cannot be adjusted and if one of the ribs is slightly out when first connected then its out for good. On Scoot the walls where separate and the base was levelled really well and then the walls built and levelled. I think that's a better plan. The walls are not geometrically important but the base is and in this design since they are connected all care needs to be taken as assembled. I think maybe there are too many things to get right that you can't get "right" if that makes sense...But its very stiff and acceptable for its intended use.... Peter

Now you could get creative, mount your rails on a known flat sheet make a saddle and a cross slide with a router mounted on it, and you could do a skim cut around both sides off the table, you may not even have to use the rails, and just slide the router mount along with its base off the table

[peteeng]

Hi Mactec - like a trammel or sled, hmmm some thought needed. Next job is to put in the thread insert grid maybe that will hold down the trammel and router. I was thinking about a sled for my electric plane as well... Peter

[peteeng]

Hi All - The top of the inner wall is about 1.0 to1.5mm higher than I wanted. I thought I'd lap that down to the top of the ribs. But surveying it this morning the top of the inner walls is quite level and parallel with no warp. So I shall lightly lap across the inner walls and use epoxy putty and the lap to bring the ribs up the difference. I scoured around looking for a suitable "thing" to use as a sled to clean the top of the walls but no luck. Then with further looking at it decide to come up vs go down. Happy with that solution... now have to do it....The other aspect is that the outer walls are not bonded in and left free to remove for wiring or electrical boxes etc. If I come down much further they will be a bit hard to remove as they are on an angle. So I'm happy with the current thoughts.

The next thing is to decide how to laminate the 2mm aluminium sheet onto the wall top plate or not. Will be practice for the gantry laminate. I have made the top plates but I think I shall have to remake, laminate then finish machine for best result... Peter

[peteeng]

Hi All - I was going to do some other stuff today but got excited and started lapping the walls. The first side I did had a small bump in the middle. The second wall side where I pulled it down first vs second came out spot on. So a bit of a cross lap, long lap and then check all levels to establish where the bump was. Then a little precision planing and final lap. Check levels squares and for wind and were good for puttying. Did the first land and will do the next this evening. Its all go here. Peter

[peteeng]

Morning all - next couple of weeks are going to be really busy so trying to get as far with Frankie as I can by tomorrow... I released the first rib lands this morning and set up the next 4. Only one to do tomorrow. my clean bench is starting to get filled again. Horizontal spaces gather things... Peter

[peteeng]

Morning Boys & Girls - This morning I set the last bed on Frankie. Now to move to the gantry details. When I started this version of Frankie I had two spare foundation plates but then I got an order so moved those to the order. I made Frankie's walls 1200mm long as that's the size of the ply. But Scoots wall is 50mm shorter. So I can't use Scoots plates on Frankie. Hmmm So I shall build new wall tops and use an aluminium laminate. Plus I need a small shelf for the drag chain so I can incorporate that as well... This area is the transition from timber parts to metal parts usually and the thick plate has worked really well on Scoot. Also trying to neatly integrate a small shelf for the laptop. Seems a few things are happening in this area to be worked through... I'd like to box this area out to clean it up compared to my "naked" approach on Scoot... Peter

[peteeng]

Morning B&Gs - This morning I set out the insert pattern and installed the first insert Yeh! The new formed inserts are so much stronger then the cast ones. Worth the 30c vs the 19c... I'll be busy for the next 2 weeks so may not be here much over that time.... only 55 more to do any volunteers? . Peter

[peteeng]

Evening all & sundry- Well one of my commercial projects stalled so I could get back to the shed this afternoon. I installed half of the inserts and gave Frankie a wipe over ready to mess up again when I get back. I'm not a fan of black but I have had a couple of good comments about the colour scheme. Sort of early Batman Batmobile stuff have to add that afterburner. I'm settling into the colour. Anyways the base is nearly complete and I'm thinking about the gantry foundations... Peter

[peteeng]

Hi All- Now I'm back to thinking about belts vs screws. I have 3 motors that I want to use with gearboxes. Ideal for a 16 or 25mm belt drive. So I'm costing out the belt system vs the ballscrew to see how they fare... Peter

[peteeng]

Hi All - contemplating the belt drive. There's room in the mount for a 25mm belt. Hmmm have to find a good asian belt and pulley supplier. Peter

[peteeng]

Hi All - Had a look at Powge belts & pulleys today. Seems to fit the bill. The ballscrew drives will be over $600 to do and the belt drive will be $200AUD. So since one of the build rules is to use up surplus parts the belt drive wins on $$$ and parts. Will use a 20mm wide belt. Will review the costs and order the drive bits asap. On Scoot No1 I used 16mm PU steel cable belts for X&Y and was very impressed. I used them on the Z axis as well but didn't like that. A bit springy in plunges. So Frankie will use the 16mm ballscrew on Z that is working really well on Scoot-S2. So a slight swerve and we'll get back on track.... Peter

[peteeng]

I'm fickle and will re-swerve back to ballscrews,,,, Just like the guy who hit the armco out front of our place today. Travelling too fast and there's a guy with a hand held stop sign on a sweep in the road while doing roadworks. The tyre squeal went for a few seconds then a dull thud. He has hit the anchors and slide out and put his boot into the armco. Lucky he didn't hit the lollipop guy....Hmmm Peter

[mactec54]

Hi All - contemplating the belt drive. There's room in the mount for a 25mm belt. Hmmm have to find a good asian belt and pulley supplier. Peter

Your attachments are not showing from something happening, this does not normally happen with your posts

Actually, all are missing on the whole thread

[peteeng]

Hi Mactec -interesting. Had trouble with zone site over the last few days. Slow and disconnections. Right now none of the attachments open so hopefully its a cnczone glitch and will be fixed. I'm about to make a tray for guy so I've attached an image here to see what happens today. Peter

the image loaded and opens now but well see what happens....

[mactec54]

Hi Mactec -interesting. Had trouble with zone site over the last few days. Slow and disconnections. Right now none of the attachments open so hopefully its a cnczone glitch and will be fixed. I'm about to make a tray for guy so I've attached an image here to see what happens today. Peter

the image loaded and opens now but well see what happens....

Yes, I see this one but none of the other ones it seems some other threads are having the same problem, so it may be just a problem they are having

[peteeng]

Hi All - seems images are working again. That's good... My usual cnc time has been going into putting up stair balastrades for my 96 year old M.I.L. But should finish that tomorrow... then back to my stuff...Peter

[peteeng]

Hi All - Frankie's ToDo list needs to be revisited. I need to finish installing the inserts and then mount the foundation plates. These plates represent the half way connection. I was going to make al/ply laminates for these but have decided to use the ones I made as temporary parts. I'll do this as I want to check the height of the Z axis motion. Then I can make the foundation thicker if needed to take advantage of the max Z motion. On Scoot-S2 there is some up Z that I could have used but its hard to determine this on CAD. Once you use the machine a bit and figure out the best height for the spindle and take account of small things like bolt heads etc then you get to know the real travel limits... Peter

[JayneV]

Hi Pete,

Frankie is looking good! Keep up the great work.

[peteeng]

Evening All - Frankies motors arrived today. All good. Peter