STLCutter 2 - Day 15

Today's job (although as it's a Saturday, only a morning) was to make some guards for the X-axis ballscrews - just to prevent people from kicking them.

We made a very rough template out of a small plate of steel, checked that it fitted (and where it would need adjustment), and then cut and folded two long pieces and two short pieces (unfortunately, the sheet metal folder they've got is not long enough for the lengths I needed). The longer bits were slightly wider than the shorter lengths, so they could slide over the shorter lengths.

I started with the near side:

And with that looking nice (I did need to compromise the strength of the guards a little by cutting notches into the bottom to get around the bracing I'd put on the floating end of the ballscrew), I did the same in reverse for the other side.

And as a final check, I made sure that the conduit would go under the motor (it looked like it could be a bit tight).

While doing that, I saw that the Y-axis motor cable had suffered a knock. Luckily it's just the sleeving, and hasn't gone into the shielding.

The next work I'll probably do on it will be nearer Christmas, where I've got a couple (more) weeks off work - it should be running (and painted) by the New Year!