Now you have the required sacrificial blood dripped for a MM build <grin> ... Now the rest goes safely!

Good mornings work. Got the beast turned over, gantry welded, and starting to cut down the rails.

Used a skyhook mounted to a beam ahead. Worked pretty slick.

For the rail cutting I mounted 2 blocks to the skate. Lots of balance

Get some diagonal bracing in there Petey.

Day 3
 

Nobody told me this was a dirty job. Sheez.

Finished out the day getting the y car welded.

Got all 4 of the rails cut to size. Ready to assemble the skate and shape them.
Had to keep water handy to water down my sliders on the jig. It worked well though. About 3 hours to cut them all.

Yes Darren, the frame is getting bracing. Tony worked on that this afternoon. We rushed the turnover so we had a work surface.

Time for a shower and an adult beverage.

Welcome to the Black Hand Gang.

Well, got the skate together and the rails cut. Tony got the panel box cut out for the heat sink and the geckos laid out.
Coming along nicely.

OOPS!!!
I just found out I left the flat on the rails wide. I was sure I read .1 wide now I see the plans say .04 wide. Easy to fix on the y rails. They are still full length.

The x rails are a different animal. I have cut them to length. Will I survive with the .1 width or do I need to tack the ends back on and skinny them up?

Any advice?

I am not sure if .1 is okay or not. You probably will need to see if how the roller rides. If it looks like it will not work, you could knock down what you can with the grinder and then take a file to the remainder.

The challenge you may find is that the vee rollers dont seat deep enough and allow for your pinion engagement or motor plate to swing clear. If you cut them to the correct height, you may be okay.

The rails were cut to 1.1 inches tall. (Ha.... just figured out where I got .1 stuck in my mind.)

By tomorrow when I can get back on it I will have a solution. Hopefully.

Minnie steppers.
Building the Mechmate has helped me to understand these motors. These are for the laser machine we got in this week. Sucker is working pretty good. Now I will be able to logo the parts I make on MM.

I sure wish the orders would slow down for a couple of weeks. They are taking away from build time.

The elephant is getting smaller
 

Well a little more progress. Most of the components have arrived. Cable chain, air shock, motor springs, etc
Should be able to hit the spray booth for painting this week. Primer and paint should be here by mid week.
And we got some motion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clM-g_nIdBA

Looking good. You will be done before you know it.

Still shooting for April 1. I need that new employee.

Nice work Pete.

Well Tony got the transmissions welded up today. Getting a little closer.

Question? How did you prepare the metal for painting? Is mineral spirits to clean it sufficient?

When I initially bought my steel, I just cleaned with a pressure washer. When it came time to paint I put some grey rustoleum on it and then the regular blue paint. All from spay cans. It may not be the smoothest paint job, but it is still sticking.

The only part where where I did a very thorough cleaning was where I mounted the VHB tape for mounting the racks. I ground off the surface scale and cleaned with acetone.

Thanks DB. Some of what I used was old steel so we will be sandblasting that. Then a cleanse of mineral spirits.

Did you mount your racks prior to painting?

The racks were mounted after painting. I masked off the underside of my rails to keep any paint off. I also masked off the ground part of rails as well so I would have to scrape paint off afterwards

...same as DB did. VHB tape directly to RAW clean steel. I often use SIMPLE GREEN as a degreaser and cleaner.

Mineral spirits are slightly greasy themselves..better using alcohol or thinner.

Thanks for the input Fox. Wood I know just what to do, metal not so much.

Our paint arrived today.

Better get your camera checked, that blue looks gold??!! :D

Ya, I know.
But it is a blue gold.:)
Company colors.

Would be interesting to use a wood graining kit over that color

I pondered that Mark.
Wasn't sure how to accomplish it though.

Z slide grind
 

I set up a radial arm saw with a grinding disk to cut the z slide. Worked pretty slick. It took about 35 minutes to grind it out.

Short video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbrBcUd9pvc

Painting day
 

Got the beast into the spray booth and primed and painted. It went pretty well having it suspended.

Only 2 issues. I didn't order enough for everything. Probably won't have it for 3 days.
The paint has a metallic flec to it and it plugs the tip on my Kremlin gun. Frustrating.

At least I can get the big piece out of the booth. It goes in on it's side so I don't want to do it twice.

Rock-n-Roll!:cool:

Cool on the Z grind!! I think that method is a first. What grit was that wheel and what kind of saw is that?

That is an old radial arm saw with a tilting arbor. Sears Craftsman brand.
I set a fence to slide against, at a slight angle to the grinding disc, so the leading edge cut. The cutter is just a 4 1/2 grinding wheel.
Need still pics?

Back on it's feet.
 

Well we needed to get the beast back on it's 4 legs. It came out of the spray booth on it's side. Tony refused to climb the ladder and install a sky hook in our 20 ft high ceiling. ( Sheez, kids now days)

So after a little head scratching we put a plank across a doorway and used come alongs and a floor jack to gently lower it down.

Our steel company is offering 29% off all orders today. http://campaign.r20.constantcontact....2-d4ae527536ce

I should order for a second machine. I did order for a different application. We are installing a loader and unloader above the Mechmate so I ordered up for the gantry for it, and new forks for my skid steer. Oh, and steel for my new sander.

I'll be following your loader/unloader progress with interest.

It will have it's own vacuum motor to pick the plywood up. Hopefully enough suction to pick the processed parts up as well.

Intriguing :) ... Keep the updates coming!

With the vacuum motor, winch, trolleys and steel I will have about a grand into it.
But it will make it so anyone can load and unload the machine. Even an old Fart like me.

I've got a Joes Woodworker vacuum pump, and a sliding door track off a commercial bldg.
Need a winch and vacuum pucks to be in bidness. The Lyme Disease makes me think this would be a good project.

I believe Gary Campbell, who is a member here, has a video of a DIY panel lift in operation...