Good thing it doesn't require a plate of stir fried elephant meat to go along. :)
I left the Amarula in the fridge & will have a some tonight. :D

Found time to proceed with the 2nd x-rail. Managed to get them within 0.1mm height & straightness is about 0.4mm. Is this enough?

Another question pops up, The rail grind is not absolutely precision, certain part of the knife ridge are narrower & certain part are wider the variation is small about 0.5~1mm, I align only one corner, i.e. the corner made by the 45deg grounded edge to the horizontal ridge. by pulling a 30lb fish string with 0.55mm diameter. I used the gauge rod to set the two ends of the rails then lay the fishing line through this 2 point of the corners. once I'm finished straightening & adjusting the rail height, I checked the space between the x rails & I found the spacing is inconsistance, at places I get about 0.5mm gap & at certain place I can not push the gauge rod in... Will this be a problem, do I need to do more straightening?

Help needed for the Gantry roller on the x-rails.

Is it mandatory to have all the wheel surface in perfect contact with rail? I get wheels "lift" or is it no contact on one side in some position along the x-rails. Is that normal or I did too little?

Jan a fancy dibbler on his indexer? or a flat, hand one?

Ken, you now need to use your gantry as the gauge rod. In other words, move the rails a bit to improve the gantry's ride.

I think it is normal to get a bit of wheel lift before the motor springs are fitted. But, you must try and get firm contact on all wheels after fitting the motor springs.

Thanks Gerald. Will see how to go about this.

Firm contact means the V of wheel mesh completely with the rail? Meaning shim on the wheel is required? At this stage, I measured .2mm (worst case) gap between the rail & the wheel.

I guess the next thing to do is get the rack welded, tape on the angle, mount the motor & spring on to be sure.

You can just load some weight on each end of the gantry to see if it pushes into contact.

Gerald, like an elephant?

Ken, put the bottle on one side of the rail. Take a sip. Go back to the other end, check the bottle from that end, if you see one bottle, take a another sip, go back, do this until you see two bottles. The gantry will then be ok and you will be a lot happier.

LOL!!!

Let me go around the neighborhood to see what I can find as weight...

Thanks again

Found 2 empty 18 liter oil containers in someone's rubbish.

Filled with water & I have 36kg of weight. ;) Now I can get on with it.

Attachment 8784

BTW, even with lifted wheel, it rolls real smooth!

Jan, just say when and where and how big. Sure can make a plan.

BTW Ken it is looking good so far

Thanks for the kind words.

Jan got me interested in growing food, would love to see how the dibbler take shape.

Managed to squeeze some time to line up the gantry wheels & one of the y-rail. but work just had to get in the way of fun.

Hope to show some pix after I get the other y-rail align n the y-car riding on the rails.

Got the rails aligned, gantry ride on x-rail, & y-car on the gantry rail.
Attachment 8790

Next I power brushed the rack as recommended by the Romanian dentist & the teeth meshing situation improved, but unfortunately, my brush is a seriously worn out. Will do a more thorough brushing when I get hold of a new dish brush.

QC question. Please advise me if you will reject this racks to proceed with welding?
Attachment 8791Attachment 8792

ken try to slowly grind( I did that with my angle grinder) the edges to get them to mate properly

Irfan, do you mean grind the end so that the 2 ends of the butt joins mate nicely?

Exactly

Ken,

First, I suggest that you do not put a bar across the backs of the racks that you want to join. If your racks are each of a different height, that is not a serious problem, as long as you you have the gear sections of the rack in line.

Second, it seems like the last 50mm of the top right rack got damaged, or was badly machined. Cut it off and scrap that piece, but if you really need that length, then put that section at X=max on your table.

Gerald,
The racks are of the same height, or very close. but I'll not have a bar as back as you advised.
I inspected the rails closer this time & found out most of the racks are deformed at the ends, they bow about ~1mm away from the teeth in short distance of 1~3 teeth. will chop & scrap them. & grind the ends for good butt joint as Irfan advised.

As per the drawing M2 10 110 W, I advise to avoid a good butt joint, if you are planning to weld them together. The welding wants a space to be able to penetrate.

OK. Will prepare a V-groove with the gear teeth root almost touching & a gap of 2~3mm on the back/toothless side of the rack.

Ground & welded the racks as close as my skill allow as shown in plan.
Would appreciate QC check before taping the racks.
Please pardon my poor image quality. I only have my handphone camera handy at this time.
Attachment 8827

Attachment 8828

Attachment 8829

Attachment 8830

Attachment 8831

Attachment 8832

Another question, I can't seem to find the dimension of the rack position in the plan, Can I assume to position it at the mid-point of the gantry/beams?

Remember that those welds are very weak for cracking open from the teeth side, so handle with lots of care now. Yes, the racks are in the center of the rails/beams.

Yet another milestone passed with the joining of the racks Ken.

Cheers
Ross

Gerald, the joins are weak, broke twice :o

Ross, not just yet, let me tape the rails on before I'll call it a milestone.

Very well Ken I see your point, it's not done until it's finished. It's that pragmatic approach that has got you this far.

Regards
Ross

Ken, we welded across the back, and down the sides until just before the teeth to make a fairly strong joint. But your current settings seem to be vicious and I don't want to encourage you to go nearer the teeth with that type of welding. :o

I merely "standing on the shoulder of the giant", "follow the foot steps of the great minds" & realizing "you can eat an elephant a bite at a time"

But this describe my present mental state best
"学而时习之,不亦乐乎"
"Enormous joy when practicing the knowledge I learn."

Anyway, taped the Y-rack on the gantry. and realized the rails slew a lot with respect to the gantry beam. Do I need to re-align the rails?

Attachment 8833

Attachment 8834
Left end of the rack

Attachment 8835
Right end of the rack

"AH HUH! I just know its not going to be so easy"

Relax ken - been in similar situation a hundred times :)

I'm aware of this too, hence I dare not go on welding the sides with my present welding skill & damage the rack teeth. :o
Better safe then sorry.

Ken, as long as your rails are straight, forget about the beams.

Thanks Gerald.
Will proceed with the X-racks installation tomorrow when I get hold of some extra hands to handle the fragile rails.

Finally got some help to taped the x-racks on & did a little more then that.
Attachment 8861

Then made the Y-hold down from a piece of AL found in my junk bin
Attachment 8862

Attachment 8863Attachment 8864

Bought some bolt, nuts & washers
Attachment 8865

And now we have this
Attachment 8866

Almost at the milestone now, just waiting for the custom springs to show up.

While waiting for the spring & Z-axis parts, I'll get some work on the control panel & the PC.

Ken,

you machine coming together!
One thing I noticed, the y/hold down does have a fairly small nut/bold going to the ball baring. I am not a mechanic, it just looks small...

Ries

Almost there Ken, I bet your getting excited to do some cutting.

Ries, She is taking shape slowly, :D I must to thank on the Y-hold down idea.
The hole is about Dia. 10mm, at that time, I only have that M8 pan head bolt that is long enough, now that you mentioned it, will buy a suitable M10 pen head bolt when I pick up the springs.

Just realized another laser profile 10 60 216 for X-cable chain carrier is missing, I guess I'll figure out something along the way.

Jay, sure looking forward to some wood dust making, exited but exhausted too, apparently, the adrenaline wins when I come in to the shop & the fatigues takes over when I got home....

Ken

I see another number :)

And lots of DUST...we LOVE dust

Took the easy way out with my Z-slide.
Attachment 8934
Attachment 8935
Attachment 8938

Now, this is a pleasant sight
Attachment 8937

Edit. The assembly does require some shimming to achieve a smooth movement; I should had asked the machine shop to face the plates :( ... anyway, at least I had the comfort that I saved a some money on that...

Hi guys,
Need professional advise.
I spend some time shimming the linear slides & got it smoother. and 2 questions arises while I was enjoying the shimming process.
1) I got the slide assembly moved without feeling the ball bearing during motion & as light to push as I could, but I do need some initial force (not a lot, no need to burst my muscle... but a finger push isn't enough, more like a palm's moderate push) to set the slide movement & it feel tight as well. Its that how it suppose to be?
2) what lubricant is suitable for these linear slide in MM's application? sticky grease or light lub oil?

Thanks in advance.

I have little experience with those slides, but one lesson I did learn was to cover the screwholes in the slide bars so that the seals can work correctly.

This bag of green button had puzzled me from the day I received them... :(
Attachment 8940

Now I know its for sealing the screw holes... :D
Attachment 8939