Wait until you turn it over, THEN the real reality sets in. Ha ha:D

You will find that it gets very big and very heavy very quickly.:)

Think I have figured out a way to still go ahead with the MM :) So today I spent the hours cutting up steel, taking a break every so often to get out of the 37C heat we had today. Still got a bit to do and maybe, just maybe, this weekend I can spend welding up the base sides. Lotsa drilling, tapping and welding coming up!

Sweating
 

you got to love that sweating grinding, drilling, welding, sweating. it makes for great memories and you got to appreciate all those who have done it before.

Finished up all my cutting today, I now have all the sections of the base. I made a jig on my current cnc to make sure I got everything inline and square.

I changed the configuration of the sides to make it easier to cut and build. Each panel coming out of this jig will have 3 legs attached, one at each end and one in the middle. These panels will be welded to the legs, the end plates in the photos were a previous idea but they make a good square end point - they won't be welded.

Off to buy some drills so I can drill the legs for tapping and hope to get them drilled some time today. After that the welding will begin :)

Couldn't resist - today I started tack welding the frames. One down, 5 to go then on to drilling and tapping the legs.

Another one bitten by the MechMate bug.:D

And boy, does she bite hard! :)

I started to weld up the base last weekend and then got called to work. Real annoying when work gets in the way of one building schedule :) The only positive thing this week was my racks and pinions arriving today, one more piece of my puzzle solved. Hoping my upcoming 3 day weekend will be fruitful and that I can get more done on my machine.

What is this 3 day weekend you speak of? :confused:

I think he is already on it.

I work part time, and go back on Tuesday :)

Construction has officially started :)

Got 50% of the base welded over the weekend and continued today to start the final pieces. Did a quick check to see if everything was fitting as per the pic.

I was going to weld the side panels but after spending the day trying to do just that I have decided to bolt everything so my tack welds will be broken and mounting plates added to each section. I have more work for the next couple of days so the next update will probably be around this coming weekend.

It is definitely exciting seeing this thing go together, so looking forward to doing more!

Cheers

Looks very sturdy Bruce.

Ross

Looking good mate !
Will you be offering those bikes for sale on the net ?
Looks as if some of that other stuff will have to go as well, or will you be going on a diet ?

Thanks guys :) Al, its being initially built on my garage entry driveway, I can't get it in my garage just yet as my other 4x4 cnc is in there along with a long neglected model railroad in the making. Oh and alot of that in the driveway is destined for the skip bin that I haven't got yet :)

You'll need a skip when your MechMate gets going.
Offcuts, Skeletons & lots of lovely dust.

Whats the story with the other C.N.C. ?
I cannibalized mine.
The bed ended up as a top for a bench, somewhere else to stack offcuts and junk.

Hahaha, thats what most of what is in the background is, offcuts and failed projects.

The other CNC is a Joes CNC, one of the original leadscrew versions, aluminium extrusion and MDF. Never had much luck with creating anything of worth from it. I could have enhanced it to make it better but for a little more I could build the machine I have always wanted, namely a Mechmate so the decision was made to just fix up the old one once my MM is cutting. That machine will end up in the driveway to make room for the beast in the garage :)

Once you get your MM going... I doubt you will bother with your old Joes any more...

Been looking for more 65x50x6 for the past couple of days with no luck. The last place I got my other lot from now have a $250.00 minimum spend. Ended up buying 65x65x6 instead which only means a little more effort to get one leg down to 28mm. Oh well, such is life.

I agree Ken. The entry level machine I posted pics of at the beginning of my build thread has gone untouched since the first day the MM came to life.
Probably should sell it to someone else looking for an entry level machine.

A little more progress. Lower table fully welded, tomorrows job is to perfectly square it up (currently 4mm out of square) and drill & weld the PFC mounting plates and foot plates.

Found my 25 yr old drill press wasn't big enough to drill the 200PFC and was dreading drilling holes with a power drill. Happened upon a drill press for sale at the local camper manufacturer yesterday and bought it today for $200. Lovely old beast built like a tank, comes with a 20mm chuck, multi speed etc etc. Give me an old used too any day over a chinese import new one!

Speaking of tanks, your frame is one. That puppy is solid. Nice work!

Thanks Pete, wanted to make it as flex proof as possible. Didn't want any "leaning on the machine" to affect the cutting like some other cnc's out there :)

Frame looks about right to me...

Mike needs to move you into the Construction Started heading. I think you are well out of the planning stage. :)

Speaking of moving, have you got an overhead crane or will you invite the rugby club over.
Looking good.:)

Thanks Mike for the move!

Al, she is all bolt together so I am simply unbolting the bits and reassembling the right way up, no cranes involved, only muscle for the main beams :)

Bruce,

If it is all bolt together. Once you have it leveled and square, take the time to put in locating pins/dowels and stamp each piece as to location (ie AA, 1E etc. Then if you have to move it later to another location, setup will be easier.

Good idea Pete, thanks. Was just looking at metal stamps on ebay, bit pricey but I will continue to look for some cheapo sets. Will also grab some roll pins for the task.

Oh, and got my final motor plus a roll of tape for sticking the rack on. Went with Husky tape, $65 odd for a 16.5m roll of 2mm thick, 15mm wide A5200W. Priced 3M VHB but it was double that here in Aus. Bought my toroid (35V 4.5A x2 300VA), my 10000uf 100V caps and the bridge rectifier the day before.

All I have left to buy is some wire, a gas strut, one more motor spring and work out the cable chain stuff. All I will need after that is time......

Just use a center punch.
1 dot to 1 dot.
2 dots to 2 dots and so on.

Or you could do a dotty A,B and so on.

Brilliant Al, sometimes it takes others to point out the simple methods instead of over thinking and spending money. In my case spending money is a bad thing! :)

:)
My father taught me to be economical.
All the company's I worked for were tight fisted.
I learned to make do with what I had and to be inventive.
Glad to have helped.

Don't use a roll pin, they will shear or suffer shear marks between the two pieces of steel when a force is applied for a long period of time. Use of alignment dowels is preferred then roll pins if you cannot obtain them.

I used chisel to mark not only the numbers , also as locating marks. but after I has access to laser cutting, locating is made very easy & by default.
& yes, I use numbers of dots for numbering.

I gave my old CNC a chance to be resurrected while I build my beast today and it let me down as usual. So as punishment I am pulling it apart tomorrow to make room for the MM to be built in the comfort of a closed garage.

With that done I am hoping to have something workable by the end of January 2014 depending on work. Roll on 2014, the blue beast is coming :)

You know what they say,
"Out with the old and in with the new".

Wishing you all the best for the year ahead.:)

Just rang a local one man engineering shop to ask about boring out my pinions. Quoted $10-15 each which I thought was pretty good - $40 to $60.00 for the lot and more accurate than me using a drill press. Will drop them up next week.

No progress on my build, still clearing the garage inbetween the heatwave days here in Sydney's West. Old machine is gone though so have no CNC to distract me from my task.

Made some progress this week, hope to have the machine standing right side up ready for the top bits by the end of the weekend.... in the garage instead of the driveway :)