Started making windows with the mechmate ... #70 - Rome, Italy

[silverdog]

Ciao,
Sometimes looking at someone else errors can help .... so I start this tread hoping many would laugh at those stupid errors
A skilled mechanic knows very well that rush and distractions are his firsts enemies ..... but dummies are often not able to control them.
So, let start laugh:

The first thing I did was to build the Y-Car ... the parts are so well studied that it's quite impossible to make a mistake.
Gerard as pointed out very well that you have to pay attention to the squareness at a certain point of welding.
As a good dummy I was very concentrated on this point .... and impatient to see my fist piece toghethe that ...... guess what ?
........ does the word coutersink tells you nothing ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersink (for those not too familiar with english )

On the plans Gerard adviced to countersink the holes before welding the Y-Car .... it is not such a great problem .... but it would be easier, to avoid errors, to read the plans better before you start, and not to control after you started !

[silverdog]

Second job: Cutting the Rails !!!
Most important invention after the Weel ? Obviously JR's Skate !! (at least here)
It's mandatory for this project to have a strong plain surface, then, cutting the rails it was an easy task ....... problems ? Not really, but consider this tread: http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1168
I cutted the rails in just one operation at the height requested (28 mm), just consider you have to change the disks about 3-4 times. And here is where a dummy fail !!
I did not considered in my woood skate base, the space to change the disks
I was very scared to remove the grinder from the base, (to avoid any misalignment of the cut) so I badly cutted the base to let the space to change the disk.
That's All. Time taken ? 2 rails one day ! (no rush)

[Gerald D]

Sergio, thanks for those lessons!

[Greg J]

Sergio,

We ALL made mistakes.

Some of us are just more public with their lessons. Keep up the good work.

[Doug_Ford]

Amen Greg. I made lots of mistakes but I was too timid to post them because I thought everyone would laugh at me. I shouldn't have been that selfish. Future builders benefit by seeing the traps and pitfalls and hopefully, they can avoid them.

[javeria]

The dummy is doing good

U have to read my archived thread and the current thread to understand what a true dummy is

[silverdog]

Sorry for the delay, some photo will follow ....
At the moment I have all the rail cutted I thought it was tougher .... it was just a snap - .... about half an hour/meter .... then I made all of the holes on the Y beams, rails and strip ... exactly as suggested by Gerard (start with strip than use it as gauge ..... ) I thought it was harder but with the essential help of a punch and cutting oil ... it was a plesure. Then I startet to grind the rails .... I thought it was easier .... wasn't at ALL !! today I shoud finish ... 3 days two rails (2x2 m) !!
That's a Dummy: underestimate the work you have to do !

[silverdog]

Wow, yes it was tough !
Now for the dummies .... :-)
I strongly suggest to use cut oil when you make holes (in a picture you see the most important tools I used: a punch, to center the holes, a tape to have a better visibility of the marks,and a gauge to make the marks).
Well, gerard told that you need just one disk to grind the rails (and another one to give the last touch) ..... I think he had much better grinder disks than mine .... in my case the older disks were very difficult to use and cutted poorly (in the pic you can see a new one a slightly used and the one I used for quite all the work), when I will grind the X rails I will change the disk more often.
two picture of the final results .... and tomorrow I will go suffer a bit mesuring what I did .... any suggestions on tolerances, remedy (I think I can mark the points out of range and correct with a file .... then anothe pass of grinder
ciao

[silverdog]

Today I made the order for the base table's iron (around 320€ +70€ of rails and y beams) (2x3,20m 180x70,8x2,015m 80x45,18m 40x40x4mm)..... after I spent a lot of time thinking wich could be the best way to cut the 6 meter bars ... .. I discovered that they have 12 meter bars and they sell what you need and you don't pay for the waste !!
Monday I will have the iron at home.
ciao

[Gerald D]

Sergio, I really enjoy reading posts

[silverdog]

Ciao,
A long time has passed since my last post .... I wasn't missed .... just very busy with some family affairs My wife programmed some house restoration, and guess who was charged to do the dirty job ?
Anyway, now I can dedicate myself to mechmate again, and some progress was done, hope to show some picture of the progress during this week, I should have the table fully welded next week and ..... maybe painted ? I am going to buy RAL 5010 paint during this week (and of course primer),but I have a stupid question is it allowed to use some "glittery metallic" paint ? like in post n°20 in this thread ? http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=856
(yessss I understand the disadvantage of this kind of paint but Joe's mechmate is fascinating).
Ciao

[jehayes]

I vote for something fancy in the paint dept. Italians are known as the world's fashion leaders, show us something flashy! Maybe a MM by Pininfarina!

[Gerald D]

Welcome back Sergio! I too would like to see some Italian flair - it is all allowed.

[riesvantwisk]

Originally Posted by silverdog

Second job: Cutting the Rails !!!
Most important invention after the Weel ? Obviously JR's Skate !! (at least here)
It's mandatory for this project to have a strong plain surface, then, cutting the rail......

We did cut the rails BEFORE they where grinded Second we use our 'own' skate setup in the beginning because my spanish is bad enough to explain well to my father in law where the skate parts where for ....
Later (half a year later) when we finally got the plasma cutter parts, I shown him and he said 'OOooooooo claro!!!!' (now it's clear )

Ries

[silverdog]

Originally Posted by jehayes

I vote for something fancy in the paint dept. Italians are known as the world's fashion leaders, show us something flashy! Maybe a MM by Pininfarina!

Joe, you are my inspiration !!

[silverdog]

Ciao,
I have a doubt on the correct/better procedure to follow for drilling the cross beams and support table:
If I understood well, I should have the support table squared an drilled, use it as a guide to drill the cross bearers, screw it to the cross bearers, position them togheter under (or above) the long beam, square the table and longitudinal beams and finally weld cross bearers to the longitudinal beams.
Or there is a better option?
thanks

[Gerald D]

My suggestion:

Make a template/guide from a piece of flat iron and use this to drill the holes in the cross beams. Use the same template/guide to drill holes in the wood table top, I should have the support table squared an drilled, use it as a guide to drill the cross bearers, screw it to the cross bearers, position them togehter under (or above) the long beam, square the table and longitudinal beams and finally weld cross bearers to the longitudinal beams.

[silverdog]

Hi, still here with some progress !!
The story of the construction by a dummy will continue soon :-)
for now just a picture to see some good progress.
Gantry and carr are moving flawlessy, all the structure is well squared... I'm very happy !
..... yes ... some minor errors were made ... soon I will post some picture.
See you soon
Sergio

[PEU]

between your previous post and this last one you missed one saying: abracadabra!

[silverdog]

Well it was just some aligning, welding ... and follow instructions !!

[federicodimeo]

silverdog good is wonderful I do not know if I'll even build it.
how did you weld the tubes?. alignment as you did?

[silverdog]

OK, for the moment just the announce:
After a "divorce", a broken shoulder and some other amenity ....
My MechMate is working flawlessly (after some trick like changing a rectifier (not my fault), changing gecko's fuses , correcting a few connections ecc. ecc. and obviously some trick with Mach3 configuration !) !! I already did a few v-carving and some cut !
Photo and video will follow this weekend, and very soon the whole story of a "dummy" without experience on CNC, metalworking ... (well yes some in electronics) that succeed in the MechMate building !
ciao for now
Sergio

[Gerald D]

Sergio! I thought you got divorced from us! Looking forward to the video.

[silverdog]

Absolutely not Gerard ! .... it was just a difficult moment (period !!)

[Gerald D]

May I call you Selgio while you call me Gerard?

[silverdog]

Of course !!

[Gerald D]

(L)ies van Twisk is another guy that spells my name wrong, but both of you have a good humour.

[Kobus_Joubert]

Don't worry I have a friend called Dough...

[silverdog]

First video of a Harley carving test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nceAZ78fQfw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqHVYk7iOeE



and two picture of the harley and a scorpio (mach3 example)

[KenC]

Viola!