- Mechanical
- Steel
STLCutter 2 - Day 5
Today was luckily a dry day, so I took the Aeon to the workshop. I now needed to do work with the frame that was made earlier.
The idea was to make it look like this:
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/d60c99099fc80ebb4d23cc1b5de81c44.jpg)
The welding clamps made sure they were straight, and I measured from the back of the foot to the vertical section.
After welding it, I put the carriages on the rails, and then bolted the Y-axis frame to the carriages.
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/9332b65578b78664dd0ffcf95b567d70.jpg)
It glides very smoothly!
I added some braces to give it a bit more strength (although I've no idea why the picture ended up so dark - I think I was using a long zoom).
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/383d95166be0bdda7519aa6f3673a6a5.jpg)
Since there isn't a lot of horizontal force on the rails, I only bolted one every three - which happened to give a symmetrical pattern (quite by accident).
The next stage was to make the motor mounts - I used some right-angle steel, and welded it to the side:
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/89d2df5768ca2ff90738ee63018f8c8d.jpg)
And then some thick flat bar was welded to fit the ballscrew bearings.
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/de147b43811ed0ec439ae07187ec37a5.jpg)
I may make an alumimium cover for it in case it gets kicked (it's very low).
For the ballscrew attachment, I did a similar thing for the Y-axis, except I welded the plate instead of bolting it (this is only tacked on; it'll be welded more thoroughly later on).
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/b1dc55f690a56fb77c78e26f059303a7.jpg)
Finally, I attached the Y-axis rails and Z-axis unit back onto the Y-axis frame to see what it looked like completed:
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/bb5125822acba11d7452743390855c46.jpg)
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/32706b843472d04a81fcfed7574f4547.jpg)
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/3ad2567b2460ae87df51048cdffb7bba.jpg)
I did have a slight incident which almost caused me to abort during the manufacturing of the ballscrew plate - while drilling a 48mm hole, the drill suddenly made a crunching sound. I found I'd ripped half the teeth off the hole saw.
Luckily there was another one, so I continued with that - however, I hadn't realised the remnants of the teeth were still in the hole, and promptly ripped a few off that one.
![#](https://tribbeck.com/application/files/cache/thumbnails/345f0ab8c6c6e62febcc92078e2b4271.jpg)
There were enough for me to finish off the hole from the other side though. And luckily, Keith doesn't seem to use the 48mm hole cutters, so I don't need to immediately go off and buy a new one.
So, I'm reasonbly on schedule - the plan had always been to spend 2 days on each axis, apart from the X-axis, where only one would be required (since the frame had already been made). Next Monday, I was planning on starting to wire it, but there's some finishing off to do (like making a new Z-axis motor mount, and also an X-axis motor mount, tidying up the welding and making cable supports).