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#1
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Makin Goblets #131 - New Orleans, USA
Very excited to begin my build. I have been pouring over the forum and drawings and finally feel confident enough to ask the right questions. Beginning to source out some parts now and am looking forward to start building. Thanks, all, for this wonderful resource.
Ted |
#2
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Welcome Ted.
It's a wonderful journey. We look forward to seeing your build progress. Don't forget to document your build with pictures and SHARE them. |
#3
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The name xraydude is fascinating...tell us more
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#4
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John - Photography is one of my passions, so I plan on doing just that.
Gerald - I am an engineer for a medical imaging company that is based in Europe. Our software helps manage and display all types of diagnostic images. Part of our hardware line creates digitized xray images (computed radiography). That hardware also is heavily dependent upon stepper motor driven robotic assemblies, so I am hoping that I can use that experience here in my build. |
#5
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. . . and just last week I was asked for help in converting and older plate mammography machine to digitized. They wanted the strip CCD to move in sync with the collimator slit, using stepper motors. Welcome Ted!
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#6
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Wow, Gerald! That would be an awesome project! We are heavily involved in mammo, but not much in image acquisition. Almost all of our mammo images are coming from direct digitizing modalities from other vendors. The exposure is captured directly by a digitizing plate. We do still have some mammo certified wet chemical processors out there and some of our CR equipment is mammo certified for markets other than the U.S, but most of our mammo work is in the software for the diagnostic reviewing stations and the software toolsets that the radiologists use.
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#7
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Got my laser cut/bent parts in from MetalHead last week. They look great.
laser_cut_parts1.jpg laser_cut_parts2.jpg UPS decided to re-bend one corner, but I straightened it out. laser_cut_parts3.jpg Getting some quotes in for the remainder of the steel right now. Can't wait! |
#8
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Y-Car welded / painted
Couldn't stand waiting on steel for the table to start assembly, so I went ahead and welded/painted up the y-car. The parts from MetalHead went together perfectly. Dragged my old Millermatic 250 out (had to put a new liner in the gun), made one practice weld and jumped right in. Followed Gerald's welding sequence and everything fell into place.
ycarpainted.jpg |
#9
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Looking great, nice colour...just a few steps to go.
...did you countersink the holes for the motor plates? |
#10
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Claus - yes, I did countersink the holes. Although, I admit that I only caught that because I went over everything one last time before welding. It is obvious on the drawings, but I have to rein in my enthusiasm. Almost got me!
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#11
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Ted,
museum quality! you are on your way! Ries |
#12
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Amazing paint quality - look at the flash reflection on that rough wall!
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#13
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Gerald, you have an eye for details...
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#14
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Waiting for steel to arrive within the next two weeks. Supplier is waiting on the main beams, so I am moving on to other parts while I wait. I'm thinking of using this former medical device frame for a cart for the PC running Mach. I've stripped off all of the plastic down to the stainless steel frame and will re-skin it with some 3/4 ply and ad forced filtered air cooling to the entire cabinet. Situation is this: I have enough room in there to mount both my PC and a separate enclosure with all of the other electronics (drivers,bob, pwr supply, etc..) This cart came with a rack type PC that I have stripped all of the computer parts out of, leaving me with a 19" x 19" x 6", positive pressure forced air (filtered) enclosure (have to do a little sheet metal work on it). As I have been accused by my wife of collecting stuff to use 'one day' but never doing so, I would like to recycle these things if possible.
So, any inherent disadvantages to having the pc and driver enclosure in the same cart? Are the dimensions of the old pc case enough to squeeze typical components in? (seems a little bit smaller than those nice enclosures I see folks using). My only real motivations are : A) I already have the cart B) I do like to recycle where possible C) I do want to be able to wheel the PC around when needed as I am tight for space D) I am bored waiting on my steel! If I don't stay busy, my wife will find some other project for me to do around the house cart1.jpg cart2.jpg enclosure2.jpg |
#15
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Quote:
If you can't squeeze everything into one PC chassis, you can always use another chassis. I see enough space in the cart to house a few PC casing. BTW, before you squeeze, may I ask is it paramount for you to have a tiny foot print? Last edited by KenC; Sun 28 February 2010 at 04:39.. |
#16
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Ken - She caught me. I've been putting down new flooring in her office all night. She can sense when I have free time and always finds something for me to do.
No, it is not paramount for reduced footprint. That is only a secondary consideration to having an efficient, functioning control system. I've been following the discussion here, http://mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292 about enclosures, and there is a lot of good information there. After reading that thread, and what everyone else has done, I suppose that I am leaning towards just wall mount enclosure for electronics as called for in drawings and I'll use my little cart just for the PC. Maybe add some drawers/storage up top to house bits, mills, etc... |
#17
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Finally have the table welded up and flipped over. Had to call in favors and offer free beer to get enough folks to my shop to flip it! I went with .25" wall on everything except the main long. beams which are .419. Very heavy! Getting it up on it's side wasn't too bad. Coming down with it was a little scary, but four of us did it with no real problems. Made the leveling feet out of some 5/8" all thread, some nuts and some old stiff rubberized caster wheels I had.
Only one real mistake occured when I made the same cut on both the ends of one of the cross members. I had to weld the cut piece back on and make the cut again. That is what I get for working at 2:00 am with power tools! Once it is painted, I will deny it ever happened! table1a.jpg table2a.jpg |
#18
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Smart move to get paint on the bottom before flipping it over.
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#19
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Looking good Ted. Yes it sure would be hard to paint under there properly once flipped. I remember JR, I believe had to jack his table up high on supports to be able to spray all areas of the table.
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#20
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A fine progress, painting the bottom while it was still easy is a good move.
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#21
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Thanks, guys.... yes, as I get older, I start taking into account things like how long I am going to have to spend on the floor painting upside down. Guess I'm getting better looking AND smarter with age!
By the way, in case anyone is interested, I had to decide on a tool to make the cuts in all of the steel, except for the main beams which I had my supplier cut. I went with the cheap chop saw at Harbor Freight (Item# 1624-5VGA, actually the most expensive one they carry) as I don't plan on needing it for much else after the table build and it takes up a lot less space than a full sized floor model gravity or hydraulic band saw. Well, it did do the job BUT just barely. Burned through two sets of brushes even going slowly. When I went from the standard 1/8 thick blade to a 3/32 blade of higher quality it cut better, but it was still a chore to cut through that 1/4 thick steel. The saw claims 3.5 hp, but I don't think it is really close to that. Anyway, for $100(sale price now...dang it) it got the job done, and the quality of the finished cuts were great but if I had to do it over again, I might go with the bandsaw or higher quality chop saw. Just my opinion, YMMV. Ted |
#22
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Some progress made. Rails ground, gantry welded up, everything painted and I now have a rolling table. The grinding skate worked well, though it took me a while to get the hang of it when grinding in the angles. My 6 amp Skill grinder made it through with only a little smoke escaping!
My local Fastenal didn't have the M12 'thin' nuts, so I have washers for spacers behind the bearings. Every thing rolls smooth and quiet, though I haven't shimmed the rails yet. Have to make up the stop blocks or get some from Mike. I could just stand at the table and push the gantry around for hours. It is hypnotic! paintedtable2.jpg gantrycloseupvbearing2.jpg |
#23
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Congratulation for getting this far!
All the heavy & hard labour is over. From here on all you need is patient & good eye-sight than you are home. Keep it coming! |
#24
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Looking good when you see a of that blue the end is getting closer.
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#25
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Excellent progress!
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#26
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All that hard work is paying off!
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#27
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Hey xraydude I'm in the Slidell area outside New Orleans. I am doing my research to get ready to build one as well. Maybe you could tell me what local suppliers you use for parts and material.
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#28
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RJ, glad to see another local...
For all of my steel, I used O'Neal steel. They are nationwide, but their local shop is in Lafayette (actually Breaux Bridge, I think). They delivered to my shop. www.onealsteel.com For fasteners/nuts/bolts, etc.. Fastenal in Hammond. Lasercut parts from Mike (MetalHead). Working on electronics now, and none of those parts are local sourced. Ted |
#29
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Ted,
Thanks I appreciate it. I have a long way to go myself, but I think it will be a cool journey. The metal work won't be a problem for me but when I get where you are and start the electric its going to get interesting...lol. RJ |
#30
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Back at it...
Holy smokes, 8 years! Well, maybe I can win the longest build award. Thought about selling everything a few times, as I was so busy with work/traveling that I basically used the table for a workbench in my shop for years. Have a little bit more time now and am getting it finished. Believe it or not, I managed to keep pretty much everything together over the years, and just need to wire everything up and finish the Z-axis. I'll post some pics soon.
Ted |
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