Ah, you made a grinding skate today just for fun! :)

Yes. That's the general idea..

However, I have thought of making a bunch and offer them for the cost of P&P to users of this forum...
But I don't know if it's just going to be the to pieces of metal or ready painted, including bolts but no bearings though...
But I would be happy to offer a set of the two plates, and perhaps the bolt's for the skate as well for the price of Shipping.

Finally I got together and ordered my mechmate wheels from superiorbearings... So now I'm waiting for these to arrive... I need to add the cable chain shelf on the main table and the painting the main table, but then I'm ready to set the gantry on the base...

So all in all, I'm nearing a time of partially completion.... :)

Kim
Just been looking at the rack system you were working on did you ever complete this ?? just one suggestion you could try turning a bar down then drilling holes on a P.C.D similar to the rack then cut a groove into the turned peice to the rack thickness then loctite dowel pins into the pre drilled holes

Hi Liam...

I'm still waiting on my dowel pins to arrive. The shall be mounted in bearings in the Roller pinion, so gluing them into the roller would not work, cause then they would wear out to fast when they travel along the rack...

So no I'm not finished with it yet.

Today my guide wheels arrived form Superior Bearinigs... nice and fast...

I also have recieved my paint... I think I overdid it perhaps, got 4 liters of Ral 5015 Sky blue, but better to have too much than too little...

The tape has also been ordered for the racks, found 5 rolls of 3M VHB on Ebay for 16.5 Euro incl. shipping to Denmark. Offer I couldn't resist.

So of to sandblasting with the main beams and legs, then paint, it should be good.

Dissassembly started today, paint is the next part for the basetable... Everything has been test mounted on the base table, so now it's time to paint it... A big piece of work, but it should be easy enough...

Pictures will be posted next week when paint is finished, and it has been assembled again... :D

Today, the main beams where painted blue...
It's looking very good.

Now it just needs to dry over night, so I can move it outside and I can get all the other parts of the table painted...

They look beautiful Kim. Great work.

IT'S ALL BLUE

Today I got all the primed parts painted... I only need the X-rails and a few small item's painted now, so It's looking really good now.
This sunday I will start assembling the machine again...

I'm looking forward for a view of a completely Blue table.... :-D

Those pieces hanging make me think of BILTONG..I think the Americans call it Jerky. Dried salted meat hanging to dry. Very nice with a cold beer when watching a game of rugby.:D

Today the machine has been partially put back together...
I do however, need the baseboard attached before I can Square the table once again...

I included a nice little picture of my footplates... Curtesy of my dad... :D

But finally it's beginning to look like a mechmate... :D

Kim,

It is looking very good.

...now that's a footplate!

Thank you guys...

The rails, and a few odds and ends have been painted today, the table has been squared, and put in it's final position...

Tomorrow, the rails will be mounted, so I can start having some fun with the gantry....

Kim,
Your table is looking really good. How did the bolt together aproach work for you? I think your table uses the most bolt together pieces that I have seen so far. :) I was thinking about going with a bolt together approach as well. Sean also did a bolt together as well.

I did a bolt together table also, though I welded the side legs and supports to the main beam. I'd recommend over-drilling (~1/8") the holes just slightly on both sides (either to the main beam or the cross supports) to allow a little adjustment. I would also consider moving the holes on the cross supports a bit farther to the edge. Using 1/2" bolts on mine, it was a little tight getting the nuts in. If you can, get ship/car channel that has a more parallel flange than standard structural channel.

The bolt together works well for me...
All the cross bearers are mounted with 2 10mm bolts in each end, the legs is also mounted using 3, 10mm bolts. The holes in the legs are slotted holes to add som adjustment...
Most of my parts are build using the the table as a jig, so things have been made to fit each end of the table.. This means all pieces fits only in one place, so all have been tagged for future dissassembly and reassembly...

Ok guys, busy day today...

The gantry and Y car has been mounted....

I have made a couple of videos of me moving them around the machine.... Have a look...

http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...t=MOV01405.flv

http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...t=MOV01406.flv

By the way, that's my ugly face on video number 2... :-D

Kim,
Fantastic progress.
All those concerned on the force needed to move the MM gantry and Y car should be watching you use just your finger to move the carriage.

...your almost done!

Yes the carriage is quite easily moved because of it's massive weight, I'm guessing the heavier it get's the easier it moves... The Y car is a littel harder to move actually, but that's only because of the low weight it has...

Next up is the motors, and the racks....:-D

A little update....

A Router Mount has now been fabricated. So now I can go on to mount it to the Z-Axis...
I'm still waiting on my springs and the Z Gas Spring...

Tak a look at the router mount... Made out of ½" Steel cut on the CO2 Laser at work... :-D

Kim,

The bracket looks good. But I have a question about why you made it out of steel? Ease of available materials? Is there an added weight difference with the steel over aluminum or is it so minor it doesn't matter?

Thanks

The reason for making it in steel is that we don't have ½" aluminum sheets at work... These has to be ordered, and that would be extremely expensive.... so rather than paying around $500 for a small sheet of ½" aluminum, I made it in steel instead...

And ½" aluminum is very hard to cut on a 5kW CO2 laser....

That is reason enough!

Today I got my electrics cabinet finished...
I have not taken pictures of the door to the cabinet, but it has been made to look like a Rittal cabinet, but after my own specifications.
The hinges have been taken from an existing Rittal Cabinet... :-D

Some nice welding on those box corners!

Hmm, not all that nice, used a disc grinder with a soft lamel disc to make the corners perfect... :-D

Kim,

Looks very nice.... it just needs some blue paint.

Kim,

WOW, you make the box from scratch. Nice work. Looking forward to the final assembly.

Greg and safli...

Yes the box is made from scratch, this makes it easier to make it the size that I need.
Again, it's the advantage of working with a CO2 Laser at work... :-D

Looking forward to getting it painted, and filled up with wires and such.

Finally after a long dead tired winter for me, I'm beginning to get some energy again.
Today I actually took time in the garage, put some fire in the oven and got a good 18 degrees centigrade in the garage...:-D

A little progress has been made.
I Have started attatching motors and pinions to the machine. For now, only the y and z motors have been mounted. Not yet connected.
Altso, the cables for the motors, and E-stops have been pulled on the machine, and now the E-stops have also been made to work. Well work with a tester for now...:-D

So all in all, a little progress has been made.
I should be able to get to building my cyclone soon, so I can get that finished before I start out any cuts. But for now I'm not sure when it will be finished yet. I'm working constantly and I have very little energy at the end of a 12-15 hour workday... Good money though, but that job really takes away my spare time... :-D

Welcome back Kim!

Thank you Gerald.

I'm closing my build thread now, after selling the machine to Mike who conveniently comes from the same city as my self.

Mike has started his thread here

I'm very sure he will be adding alot of new input to the forum, and soon be able to get the next serial number released from the mechmate family.

I than you all for a couple of very interesting years on this forum, and all the good things that has come of it.

Kim

Good Luck Kim, Hope you can check in with us sometime. :)

Hello everyone...

Just letting you all know, that I could not stay away from CNC so I have startet a new build. Not a mechmate this time, but a serious build anyway.

Heres a little peak at what I'm working on at the moment.

See also Heavy duty Wood CNC in Denmark on the CNCzone.

Gerald

You found me already... :-D

What you see here is put together in a couple of weeks... So This time it seems to go somewhat faster than before.:D

I am interested in the kit (laser cut parts) for the MM, just let me know the final price including shipment to Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico.

Include those parts that need to be bent

Rafael Ceja

Very nice kit !!!!!