Gantry rollin!
 

Hi all,
Well been down to the workshop and made some more progress. Leon and I managed to get the gantry made up today, cuttin, drillin, tappin, weldin and Rollin!!!!!! Wooo Hooo that baby rolls smooth. Leon did a great job of makin sure it was all sqaure on the ends, that panel saw top sure came in handy. Next we levelled the frame again as I had to move it, squared and clamped that sucker down and started welding, A1,2,3,4,B1,2, and so on. Have to make mention we looked for countersink bits and gave the $6.50 P&N a go 4 holes counter sunk and still good as new. Will try to get as much done this week as possibly but the 6am starts at work might slow me down.

Chris n Leon

It's been quiet
 

Hi All,
Not much to report but we now have a Blue control box and our toroidal transformers have arrived. Still waiting for RS to send the cap. Got some crazy shifts at work so I'll probably be trying over the next week to get the electronics done. Just need to heat the shed these nights are getting a bit fresh. Then long weekend it should be back to the workshop and finish the carriage.

Either that transformer is too small, or the box is too big? :confused:

Big Blue Box
 

Hi Gerald,
Im hoping both are ok, the box is 600mm x 600mm and was the right price.
These power supplies are 35 + 35 300va, paired together will make our required 600va. This is very similar to Mattyzee's setup.

Chris

If someone else is already using that setup without hassles then there is nothing further to say. :)

Small update
 

Another weekend, more work done. We managed to get the Y rails ground and the carriage made up. Have joined our rack together and test mounted it for the X axis, welded the stops on X. Just have the Y to do the rack and the stops. Cleaned up a few other bits and started planning for the next weekend in 2 weeks time. No photo's this time sorry.

Chris n Leon

Were still here!
 

Hi all,
It's been quite a while, both Leon and I have been quite busy and myself closed up my cabinet shop and have started working elsewhere. Have put up a new 12m x 7m shed in the back garden and moved all mine and Leon's gear in. Had our first meeting on the plan of attack to get this Mechmate finished and up n running. Have spent some time on little bits this week but also trying to finish the shed plus find where everything is from the move.

Couple of pix of the Mechmate and its new home.

Hopefully more to updates to come and soon!

Chris n Leon

Looking good.

Keep the pics coming. Definately inspires me to get on with my build.

Mick

Another Sunday
 

Wet weather outside but dry in the shed, so we soldiered on!
Leon jumped on the lathe and hooked back up the DRO and tweaked the guides and a few other bits. Then he turned up the stand offs for the spider.
I finished marking, drilling and tapping holes in the Y rail, added the stops and drilled the holes in X and Y rails for the sensors. 20mm Step drill from Bunnings did the job nicely. Next got a start on the proximity holder/stop plates. Finished off with planning our next get together.

Yes there is 3 of the plates the other one is hiding underneath.

Chris n Leon

Started on the electronics
 

Thought we might have a look at the electronics today, managed to make up a mounting plate for the geckos. Tested the transformers and started some wiring. Need to make another trip to the shops for some more heat shrink and cable. Also managed to machine up the piece for the bearing on the Y axis.

Chris

We are still here :)
 

Hi all,
Well Leon and I are still here and the Mechmate is still a WIP. Hopefully this Easter we will be out in the shed and making progress. I have got the Mechmate up on wheels so we can move it around to work on it. Sold a heap a stuff out the shed, but did buy a new panel saw though. Have moved things around and are ready to get back into finishing this build. Pictures and updates to come soon.

Bye for now Chris

Some progress,
Another day in the shed and we have Y-cable chain fitted and tested. The stop blocks all finished. But most important we spent some time just getting familiar with where we are up to and what we need to finish this machine. Well with a shopping list in hand we are off tomorrow for more bits and some emails of to people tonight for other bits.

Perseverance!
You're almost there. It comes together pretty quickly once you have it rolling.

Cheers Red,
Yes it does seem like we are nearly there. We managed to get lots of little parts yesterday springs, nuts n bolts and cable chain ordered for X. Still working on the Z plate finding the plate rather expensive and hard to get in Adelaide. Have been to a few places for costing on milling it up.
Oh well another day of holidays of to steel yard for some bits and then back out to the shed.

Chris

Y cable chain revised
 

Hi all,
Quiet day finished the Y cable chain setup and tried out our new springs. Cleaned up a few welds on the frame that were a bit crappy. Getting ready for the X cable chain to arrive and still researching this Z plate, got one quote today and nearly fell of my chair.

Chris

Is there a significant reason why you are trying to outsource the z-plate?
The fabrication method is not any more difficult than the rails. Just a little more layout is required.

Additionally, if the tool steel is the part that is hard to acquire, then use Cold Roll flat stock as a substitute. The steel substitution isn't a huge deal breaker - I had this set up on my first machine for 2 years before I put in a proper d-2 tool steel slide. No challenges on performance at all.

Good luck
Sean

We were looking to outsource for ease and accuracy. Im hoping that a fellow Mechmater here in Adelaide can get his friend to do the machining as the price was very reasonable. I am going to ring back the place were I tried to get the steel from before, just last time we tried to get it in they mucked up the order and sold it to someone else. Didn't offer to get another one in just refunded my money. The plate here in Adelaide cost me about $160 AUD, not sure what my interstate builders paid for theirs.

Chris

Hi all,
Lazy Sunday thought we would just do some washing and hang it out to dry. Going over the last bits to order hopefully get more painting done soon.

Chris n Leon

You guys hang corks around your hats like that! :D

Tomorrow it is the wife's turn on the washing line :D

What are those "lumps" on the wash line pole?

Yeah she didn't find it funny when I asked her to get all the washing off so Icould hang some stuff up. But on the plus side our MM is finally getting ready to go BLUE!

PS Gerald if you are referring the silver lump above the handle winder it's a peg bucket the old guy that owned the house before made up :)

We don't even have the handle winders here.

Here in Australia we have so many people from all over the world living happily together, what this means is we have women folk of many varying heights, so Mr Hills designed the Hills Hoist to allow the height to be changed so that they could get the clothes line to the correct working height and joyfully hang out the washing. This results in our women being wonderfully happy and welcome us with open arms when we get home every night... :D

Its also handy to raise things up a little when painting.

Z Plate finally happening
 

We have managed to get a good price on the plate for the Z axis, found a dealer in Melbourne who was overstocked and happy to sell us a piece delivered for less than any of my quotes from Adelaide. Also thanks to a friend who races cars we now have his machinist to machine the plate up for us. Just need for finish the paint job and it will soon be time to start final assemble.

Chris

Mechmate in a booth!
 

Well another day on the MM build. Today was the last day of cleaning up the last bits of surface rust, she has been sand blasted, rainex rust converted, wire brushed and sanded. Then wheeled it into the temp spray booth I made and let the primer fly. Interesting thing to paint so many angles and sides, seemed like every time I moved there was another bit I'd missed. Well finally got it all primed, u can see it in there somewhere.

Chris

Z Plate is done
 

Phone call from the machine shop and a quick drive down to his workshop and we now have our Z-plate. Just need some time of work and we can get the spider finished.

X rails set up
 

Hi all, just looking for some feedback. I was setting up the x rails the other day and its seems despite all our care and measuring and previous rough trial set ups, that some how we have ended up with the tapped holes in the x beams being 6mm overall to close. Meaning I cant get the y carriage to sit down on the v rails.
2 Possible solutions we have thought are
1. Just use 4-5mm of shims on each v bearing
2. Elongate the holes in the rails to slide the rails out further and back to 2 - 2.5 mm of shims.

Any thoughts everbody?

Chris

Did you make sure you didnt swap the rails to the other side? What was on the right is now on the left and left is now on the right. A slight offset would be doubled when swapped and could be where you came up short.

Option 1 would be a whole lot easier than elongating a bunch of holes just be sure you have enough on the X axis pinions to come in full contact with the rack.

I wouldn't recomend enlogating any holes on the x rails. Do you have any 'shims' between the V brg and the Y carrage? It is a bit hard to tell from the photos. Somewhere I read use half of a nut if necessary.

We still have 20mm of overhang each side so with the rack being 15mm space shouldn't be a issue. We have tried it in the current holes and can get the y carriage to ride correct with 4mm of shims each side. I was going to look into getting a shim nut if possible. The rails were clearly punched so they are back in the right spot. Im leaning more towards just using the 4mm shims or a nut, was just concerned cause I have seen it mentioned about 2.5mm of shims should be all you need. But that is a lot of holes to elongate.

Chris

4mm of shims, or a standard heavy washer + shims, should be quite acceptable

Thanks Gerald,
I Was thinking it should be right but its always nice to get advice from experienced folk. 4mm washer and shim to true it up it is, back in the shed on the weekend and I will get it rolling again.

Chris

Its Rolling
 

Well we finally made it out to the shed, lost most of Saturday the wife came back from a holiday and wanted to spend time with me.
After sorting the shims for the Y carriage bearings, I got the X - Rails on and shimmed level. Then Leon came down today and we got the Y carriage on and the rails fitted and shimmed level. It is rolling real nice and smooth. We then decided to start looking at testing the motor mount, which all seemed to go fine as well.

Yes we have decided on a different colour scheme, one of our local auto stores was clearing out 3M paint for $10 a litre and they had Metallic Charcoal - Hammer finish. We thought it would look nice with the black accessories.

Chris n Leon

Hi all,
I have been quietly working away on the MM in the background. Sorry I haven't posted any updates but there is good news. Our Mechmate has made the dust fly and is up and cutting, I still need to tidy up some wiring and bits but its definitely cutting. Will post pics and maybe a video as soon as I can get a chance.

Chris

Can't wait to see the dust!

Running and stickered!
 

Hi all,
Been playing around with the MM making lotsa dust. Purchased a up/down compression cutter, cut melamine board real nice. Been doing a bit of engraving and just mucking around. Have purchaed some acrylic to play with and have orded some strip LED lights for making some signs for fun. Thought I best do the square test and check the machine, had just under 1mm difference on the diagonals and after a quick adjustment and some changing of shims it all squared and ready to go.
Have put the stickers on and now await to see if we have earned the honor of a serial number and which one 98, 99 and who's is goin to get the 100th?

Oh yeah and the last photo is something from one of my muck around sessions.

Great job!

If you want #100 you need to ask Mike if he will reserve it for you :)

Great job, Chris and Leon.
I'm in the running for #100.

Would be nice to have the #100 I will leave it up to Mike to make the decision of who will have that honor (Hi Mike). After 2 years in the making I am just happy and excited to see it finally cutting.