Gerald and Sean,

That sounds like some thing you tell the gofor to do just to see if he will do it.

When I was in college, I worked for a demo company that did mostly fire damage work. The did it all from demolition to painting. One summer they had a new guy and me, paint the basement for a client. I told the new guy that the way you mixed paint to get it really mixed up was to stick you hand in the paint and stir it. About the time the new guy had his hand and arm in the 5 gallon of paint, the owner walked in and asked what was going on. I told him and with out missing a beat, he said, "Fine, keep up the good work". He never said anything to me. I think the new guy still mixes paint using his hands. It is a longer story but I gave you the short version.

So no, I have not attached the proximity switch to my car battery to see if it can find the aluminium.

lol

Sean, Nils is wising up to us ;)

I have reassembled the table after it has been painted. I have also temporarily installed the rails so we can test the proximity switch with the car battery.

Gerald, is it okay to have the car running?

Sure, the car can be running, but it is easier if it is standing still. :D

Oh, you mean the engine running? That's okay, but shouldn't be necessary. Your battery will be over 12V with the engine off, over 14V with the engine running. The proxy only needs 10V.

Tell me again how wide your main beam channel, and the alu angle, is? I didn't expect your rail to completely cover the channel? Not a problem at all, just unusual for me. Still looks rather good!

Wish I had those nice rails on old BBB....looking good Nils.

Looking good Nils,

Like those square ends on the channels also. If you and Sean are satisfied with the Al. angles, that's what my next build will include. Watching closely.

Gerald,
Due to availability, Nils had to order 3" x 2" x .25 Alum angle.
Since we didn't detect any interference issues, we left the 3" alone.

Thanks all.

The table is looking very good thanks to Sean.

Since we have both Sean's machine and mine, when it is done, in the same place it will be able to give a comparison between the different rails.

Sean is going to cut my spoil board in the next day or two. It is easier to assemble the machine when you have another MM to cut patterns and for a comparison.

Nils,
What height main beam did you go with? I want to maximize my Z height on my machine and was wondering if you did the same.

Sean,
Would a 10 inch beam be ok with the 14 inch slide? I plan on using a thick spoilboard for sheet cutting and remove the thick board when I need the extra inches on the Z for 2.5D or whatever projects, or maybe an indexer / lathe. :)

Heath
Currently I have a "standard" classic slide which yields me about 6" of usable overtravel height with a short cutter. This really means I can have about a 3" exposed tool bit and cut into 3" of material. I have a 8" side channel.
The 10" channel would add an average of 2" of overall travel. Yielding a net 1" increase in cutter depth and material depth to be cut. Does this make sense?

The long z stroke with extra bearings would allow for the tool bit to "tuck" up higher off the table which in my case would add about 2" of clearance.

If you have 10" channels available and you will need a 14" stroke slide to accommodate that new depth. Keep in mind, the longer the z stroke to material distance, the more deflection you "may" see at the tool - hence accuracy.

This is why I am in the process of making a VERY stiff z slide for my modified table due to this challenge.

Good luck.

But if your really only going to cut standard flat goods, I don't see the need for the more expensive side channels....unless you plan on using a table top indexer, then that extra gantry clearance would be a nice benefit.

Sean

Time for a short update with some pictures.

The Gantry has been welded and painted. I hope to add VBearings and place it on the X Rails in the next days.

The X Aluminum was repainted. I have added the stop blocks, placed the rails back on and have installed the racks. Photos.

WOW, I like it. :)

Nice work Nils ..... and Sean.

Looking good y'all. Keep up the good work.

Good stuff!

Tell us a bit more about your stop block fitted to the alu?

Wow Nils, really lookin good!

Wish I had the same help you do :D

Wow, the Bolt & Nut place must like you....impressive. One of these day's you can make your own dust.

Good stuff!

Its looking good. Very nice!

That's a beauty even before the finale, Sean has been a good teacher.

congrats to both! :)

Gerald and others,

Gerald, I did not think about it but I will take close up pictures of the stop blocks and create a drawing for you. Basically, you have a .5 x 1 x 3 inch piece of aluminum sitting on the .5 face. There are two holes on the bottom that accept two bolts that attach the stop block to the Architectual Aluminum. The holes are countersunk in the Arch Alum. Hope that helps until I take pictures of the setup on the Y.

Thanks for all the comments about the work. Yes, Sean has been directing my efforts. I am also pleased with my own part in the process and happy with the results so far but I am getting cutting fever.

We are very lucky in Orlando. There is a place very close to me called Skycraft Parts and Surplus. They have a huge selection of surplus items they pickup. Much of the stuff they have comes from companies that have built the USA space program. They pickup the surplus that is made from NASA changing space craft. They also pickup surplus from buying the complete stock of companies that go out of business. They have been pickup up large quantities of wire and other hardware.

Most of the nuts and bolts I have purchased have come from SkyCraft. At the price of $0.05 a piece or $0.25 a doz. So when they don't have a bolt or nut I need, like what I used to attach the rails to the aluminum, I don't mind paying what it cost to buy at the bolt store in town.

I recently bought a 100' 13/2 extension cord for $34.95.

Another big place that I have been saving is in the cost of the wire. I have not purchased my long run of motor and E-Stop wire because I have been waiting for the right wire to arrive. It just came in last week. I will pay $0.30 a foot for my motor wire which is a nice savings.

Again, thanks for all the nice comments. It is great to see an increase in the number of machine that are at the stage of cutting and I am looking forward to being one of them.

Thanks for the info on the stop-block.

What is the difference between architectural aluminum and just plain aluminum? I thought the the architectural stuff was for special shapes for window frames and building finishes etc. What we are using is nothing special?

Gerald,

I am not the expert in this area. Arch Aluminum from my understanding is what get the square corner on the inside.

The MILL spec on aluminum grades in the US follow the grade type and use.
The Aluminum used in this project is 6061-T3 Architectual Grade Alum Angle. Sharp inside corners. It is also available in 6062/3 and 5051/3 grade as well.
The "run of the mill" Aluminum angle which is almost always 6061, has a much wider tolerance on mill thickness and cleanliness.
The Architectual alum always comes individually wrapped in paper and is clean - almost ready for paint. Thus the use of it on Window Glazing Surrounds. The main reason, it gets it spec, is it actually has an interference fit rating within a few thousandths. I like to think its like the difference in HRS - hot rolled steel to CRS - cold rolled flat steel. The tolerenence specs are different. Does this make sense?

Thanks, that does make sense. We don't have that differentiation in our market. . . . . or maybe I havn't looked at it enough.

Details of the stop block.
Attachment 2180

Pictures speak for them selves!!! Things are rolling.

Yes the bolts will be tightened.

really looking good Nils!!

Really happy for you & your progress… Getting jealous :o
I’m looking to start soon too.
Congratulation and thanks for those pics !
Robert ;)

Nils,
You build is looking great. In the second pic of post 147, it looks like the v wheel is rather close to the aluminum rail? Or is it just an angle thing?

Heath,

You are looking at the inside which means you are looking at Rail. Look at the second picture in post 132. What most likely through you off is that I painted the exposed part of the rail that is not in contact with the V Wheel. Every time I turned around it was rusting so I painted it. I liked the contrast of the unpainted rail but the painted rail also looks nice. Hope that explains!

Thanks for all the nice comments.

Nils,
Sorry, you are right. :) I knew it had to be me. No more reading after midnight. :)

I have had a couple people ask me about my T3 Rail order.

For my machine, I ordered the following.

All T3 Track with no holes.

4 each 6'
2 each 4'
2 each 3'
2 each 2'

I decided to go with no holes because of the price of them cutting the holes, I decided I could drill the rails.

The maximum length was decided by the cost of shipping. 6' is the maximum lenght UPS will handle. Trucking cost are very high so I went for UPS.

I purchased them from Superior Bearing. The same place the V Wheels and Bushings come from.

Hope that helps those considering pre ground rails.

Nils,
Rick at superior bearing had mentioned to me that ups was ok up to 8 feet? He said that once you went to 8 foot 1 inch then the shipping went to freight and over doubled. I am now confused since I was going to place my order for rails soon. :confused: Or is 6 feet still cheaper than 8 foot lengths?

Also what size table did you end up going with?

Heath,

Either I don't remember right or I heard wrong. Either way what I ordered has worked out.

The table is X 12' long Y 7' long. So the size rails I bought worked well.

I think the price is the same no matter what size lengths you get. It goes by the foot.

Dankie Nils. :)
That is going to be one big Mechmate! :eek: With the inspiration from your build, I have decided to go with the bolt on rails myself. Order is being made right now!

Sean, you will have to build a bigger one. :)

Heath like the way you say thanks!:D

Hennie,
Still trying to figure out a lot of the interesting language here on the forum. I have figured out some. :) Have to keep practicing for the Mechmate convention. :eek:

Mechmate Convention ...when where? ;) sounds like a plan

".oer.e" goeie Plan!:)