4 Attachment(s)
Prototype X-Axis End Plate
Last night, I made a prototype end plate for the X-Axis.
I drew it up in DraftSight, then loaded the dxf file into Sheetcam and created the G-Code.
The end-plate is cut out of 12mm Corian. I used Corian, as it is easy to cut, yet stable enough to be used to check the alignment etc. I'm even considering that I may be able to use the Corian endplates on the mill to allow me to cut the final plates out off 12mm aluminium, rather than cutting them on my Taig mill.
The holes for the 6mm cap screws that fasten the end-plate to the table were drilled to 6mm, so it is a tight fit. I did this to see how accurately the holes in the table were drilled. The bolts fitted up very well, so they may have been machine/jig aligned and drilled. This is in contrast to the locating pins which were obviously hand drilled as the holes are not even perpendicular.
Later on it may be necessary to increase the clearance on these holes so that some slight adjustment is available. That is also the reason that the countersink diameter on these holes is quite large.
If you notice the fit, the top of the side plate is slightly below the table sides. I'm not sure what this means in terms of fit. When I measured up the original plate. The lead screw centre appeared to be 50mm from the top of the plate, and the mounting holes appeared to be 25mm below the top of the plate. The mounting holes were 160mm apart. These were the dimensions I used as I figured that the mill was built of a blueprint somewhere and it was logical to use these dimensions.
The FK12 bearing block is held in with four M4 bolts.
I also put in four holes tapped for M6 bolts. These will be used to mount the plate that will hold the stepper or servo motors. The plate will have elongated holes that will allow me to tension the timing belts. There are holes either side of the centre as I haven't decided yet which side of the table I'll be mounting the motors.
The next step is to make the plate for the FF12 bearing block. It requires a slightly smaller hole.