Primary Fab Done

For the past two weeks, I've been waiting for my RS Components order to arrive. If it weren't for all the required fab work, sitting home by the mailbox would have been a real pain.

Most of the order is here though, and I present about 20 hours cutting and drilling.



Below are some details.

This is my Z axis Slider and X idler pulley



Y bearing bar mounts.
I've counterbored the holes for the bar and idler bearing mounts, more on that later.


Y axis motor mount and idler pulley.




My X and Y slider bearings. I'm using part of a Mendel bearing set.



Detail of how I will constrain off-axis movement. The angle mounts are notched to accept the tension bolts as a tight fit. Side play should be eliminated.
It occured to me to weld, but I have a rotozip bit, and using a jig, this seemed easier.


Detail of the Z slider bearing. It's adjustable so I can eliminate off-axis play.



My conterbored Z drive-screw mount.



The Flexlink yoke mounting system.. I'm just waiting on the 6 x 44mm parts to arrive from a DHL hold, to be ready to assemble.



Tools that I used.

Many people may not be aware that a simple chop-saw with carbide teeth makes a great job of cutting aluminium, if a cutting fluid is used.



If you have multiple parts to drill, take a few minutes to make a jig... It makes a world of difference.



This would have been a 100 euro part If I had ordered it from RS Components. It's the drill jig for the 18mm hole for the yoke hardware. It took me about an hour with angle-grinder, welder and drill-press.



To mount and secure my bearings, I counterbored holes in all holding plates... I accomplished this by using a step-drill for the larger bearings, and this great 12mm drill bit for the 12mm bearing bars. I simply aligned the hole, clamped everything and drilled.