THE GRIZZ

[atomarc]

Chris,

I think I may have been blowing a bit of hot air. After going down to the shop and actually looking at a piece of .120 aluminum, I don't think this HF tool has a snowballs chance in hell of even putting a dent in it.

Stuart

[atomarc]

Worked on the grizz for a few hours today.... tacked on the last remaining side of the enclosure... started laying out how we want the side windows to look / operate... then its onto the front doors and tracks. So far i am very pleased with how the enclosure is looking (kinda like when you stare at something long enough you get use to it!! lol)



(shes gettin' a bit unruly!)





(getting a feel for the size of window)





(Ting* )

[atomarc]

Weld, cut, grind.... repeat. Continued with the fab work on the enclosure today, stitch welded both side panels onto the enclosure and did some clean up work with a grinder and file. So far we have been very lucky with regard to panel warping / distortion.... the enclosure is amazingly straight considering what tools we are working with! Also started working on the "tracks" for the 2 side windows but ran out of time and didn't get to cut out the window holes in the enclosure and weld the tracks in.... that will happen tomorrow... cheers!



(2 sets of window tracks ready to be burned in)





(the track is made from a chopped down piece of angle iron and a strip of 16 gauge, holes are punched for plug welding (using that schweet harbor freight punch!! ))





(post ocd grinder session.....)





(zap...zap.....zaaaaaapppppp!!!!!! this takes forever!!!)





(the table shifted to one side to check clearance with the enclosure.......)





(....... room to spare!)





(the backside of the machine...still need to do some shielding for the gas spring arms that move up and down)





(a few photos of the enclosure as we left it for the day)

[atomarc]

Nick.....good job son, you are the 'mig-man' for sure!

Dad (Stuart)

[atomarc]

Started off the day with some more cutting and grinding! Got the windows on both sides of the enclosure all cut out and the rails installed. Tomorrow we will be fitting and installing the 2 sheet metal pieces above the windows as well as a small piece of flashing underneath.... Got a piece of poly coming for the side windows. I suppose the next move is going to be the front doors.....



(started off by laying out cut lines for the windows opening and drilling holes for the punch to go through)





(with the center piece removed for convenience... the 4 holes will allow the punch to line up with the previously drawn cut lines, making for a nice radius)





(and some video.... because videos are awesome!)





(4 corners punched and read to be cut..)





(you make a better window than a door )





(.....?)





(the window tracks installed... wood for testing purposes only!)





(this is the top support that will be fit tomorrow)





(the black sharpie line will be cut away so the window can pass when opened)




Thanks!!

[lcvette]

Looking great guys! Keep up the excellent work! Will be completed in no time!

Sent from my QTAIR7 using Tapatalk

[atomarc]

Looking great guys! Keep up the excellent work! Will be completed in no time!

Thanks Chris!

[atomarc]

Enclosure update.. Got the left and right window opening "caps" and flashing installed and ground down. Started work on the doors, bent up some square tube for the door frames (doors will be skinned with with sheet-metal with a one piece windows bent to match the 45 degree slope of the front of the enclosure)..... after researching different options for the door slides, some cheap.... some not so cheap.. we have come full circle again and are back to using drawer slides. I think we found a way that will work out really well and will protect the slides from chips during machining... idk we shall see! Yall know how things change..



(flashing piece ready to weld on before installation of the top cap)





(ready for welding...)









(slot in top cap to allow passage of the "win-der")





(open sesame)





(front corner of enclosure..... crispy )









(the start of the doors...)





(drawer slide brainstorming)





(the end of the day! )

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Trust me - you do NOT want to use ball-bearing slides inside that enclosure, especially on the bottom of the doors!

Regards,
Ray L.

[lcvette]

I've been using ball slides for 6 years without incident, I use them vertically however. I used super heavy duty units in stainless steel. Have been excellent! I would for cautions sake see if perhaps they would be easy to fit on the top so they don't collect fine chips. I cut mostly aluminum and nylon, but could see where steel or cast iron could be a problem.

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[atomarc]

In this configuration there would be slides top and bottom (4 slides total) ... the only time the slides will be directly exposed to chips would be when the doors are open, when the doors are closed the slides are protected behind the doors. I too was concerned about how the slides might hold up to the chips but after hashing out our options and protecting the slides with the doors it seems our best option as of now. If not drawer slides then what? space is limited and a drawer slide is about as thin as it can be...


PS. There are some Igus low profile slides on the way from McMaster. They are PTFE plastic..no ball bearings. We'll see how they look, but again, the drawer slide idea seems fine..can't be any worse than ball screws and nuts working in the same environment..right!


Stuart & Nick

[ninefinger]

I've used the drawer slides in my enclosure too, but I used them to hang the door so they are way up high and rarely see any coolant or chips. Then all you need to do is put a little hook / channel on the bottom to keep the door from flapping in and out as you slide it. Look at shower doors at Lowes or Home Depot for ideas of how to do it.
Mike

[atomarc]

I've used the drawer slides in my enclosure too, but I used them to hang the door so they are way up high and rarely see any coolant or chips. Then all you need to do is put a little hook / channel on the bottom to keep the door from flapping in and out as you slide it. Look at shower doors at Lowes or Home Depot for ideas of how to do it.
Mike

That's a great idea..thank you.

Stuart

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Personally, I don't even think ball-nearing slides are the best solution, even ignoring problem of chips and coolant getting into the works. My doors are hung at the top from strips of aluminum T-track, using "glides" made from UHMW, which were "machined" in a few minutes using nothing but a table saw. The cost was near $0 ($10 worth of T-track I already had on-hand, and a few pieces of 3/4" UHMW scrap). The sliding action is effortless, absolutely silent, dead-smooth, and they are 100% impervious to chips and coolant. If I had it to do over again (and I will...) I would do it exactly the same way.

Regards,
Ray L.

[atomarc]

Personally, I don't even think ball-nearing slides are the best solution, even ignoring problem of chips and coolant getting into the works. My doors are hung at the top from strips of aluminum T-track, using "glides" made from UHMW, which were "machined" in a few minutes using nothing but a table saw. The cost was near $0 ($10 worth of T-track I already had on-hand, and a few pieces of 3/4" UHMW scrap). The sliding action is effortless, absolutely silent, dead-smooth, and they are 100% impervious to chips and coolant. If I had it to do over again (and I will...) I would do it exactly the same way.


Regards,
Ray L.

That sounds pretty nice...how about a picture!

The top rail area of my doors is not in a simple vertical plane so the solution isn't quite as easy as just letting them hang like a closet or shower door. I don't want to do this task again so I would like to make sure the first attempt bullet proof. I have lots of UHMW laying around and can probably find some sort of track but the drawer slides sure seem nice and smooth..and again, that bottom slide will be hidden from the chips and coolant..not sealed, but hidden. Seems like if they got funky I could simply blow them out and carry on, don't know though.

Stuart

[SCzEngrgGroup]

That sounds pretty nice...how about a picture!

The top rail area of my doors is not in a simple vertical plane so the solution isn't quite as easy as just letting them hang like a closet or shower door. I don't want to do this task again so I would like to make sure the first attempt bullet proof. I have lots of UHMW laying around and can probably find some sort of track but the drawer slides sure seem nice and smooth..and again, that bottom slide will be hidden from the chips and coolant..not sealed, but hidden. Seems like if they got funky I could simply blow them out and carry on, don't know though.

Stuart

Not much to see, but a crappy cell-phone picture is below. Just a block of UHMW with a slot to clamp the plastic (Lexan) door using thru-bolts, and a T-profile cut into the top so it fits nicely into the T-track. It took all of about 10 minutes to make a long strip, then cut it into 4 separate "glides", all done on a table saw.



Regards,
Ray L.

[atomarc]

Some random photos from yesterdays continued work on the doors. the frames where squared and welded up, then the skins where tacked onto the frames.... the window holes still need to be cut. Chopped off the unused end of the Y stepper motor shaft. Working on the drawer slide mounting today. Ill post updates this afternoon.



(door frames)





(skinned)





















("get to the CHOPPER!)"

[lcvette]

Not sure on your window plans, but you can bend the plexiglass to make your windows taller for better viewing.. could have actually just made them completely out of plexiglass, 1/4" or 5/16". I did mine out of 1/4" and they are stout.

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[atomarc]

Well...the window plans have changed. After finishing the steel door and preparing the cut out for the Lexan panels it became apparent that the window area would be dinky if we left adequate frame material for support. We're going to scrap the steel door and follow some of the good advice given here (Chris, Ray & others) by using full, framless Lexan panels on UHMW slides. This will give 100% viewing into the enclosure. We're a bit challenged in this neck of the woods ya know!


Stuart

[atomarc]

Okk.... we are back!!! Since the last update we have changed some things up regarding the doors for the enclosure. The new doors are frame less, bent sheets of poly-carbonate. The drawer slides from the first attempt where used on the new poly doors. Took some practice to get a nice bend on the door panels, ended up making a heating board using some plywood and a bit of nichrome wire... after the doors where up to temp we placed them on the old steel door panels to make a perfect bend (at least we go some use out of them!!). The drawer slide where slightly modified by silver soldering on 8/32 nuts and bolts to the slides to mount the doors onto the rails... The rails are held to the enclosure with button heads that thread into a "backing plate" welded to the enclosure... the door opening was also framed out with some .750 square tube.... Added some square tube to the bottom of the side windows to act as stops for the sliding windows. Over all i am very happy with how the V2 doors are turning out and am pleasantly surprised by how much of the drawer slides are protected from chips when the doors are closed... some photos and videos of the work....



(flame on!!)





(studzz and nutzzz soldered on and slides mounted on backers)





(The flat bar backer that the slides bolts to gets welded to the enclosure)





(some photos from the process of welding up the door frame and drawer slide backer rail things..)









(holy clamps batman....(bottom slide mounting)





(top slide mount and frame in...)






(the heating board...)





(425 for 45 minutes or till crust is golden brown.. not really lol. the key was to go nice and slow even ramping up in temperature or the plastic will bubble and loose its optical crackin-ness)





(new door on old door cooling after being heated & bent)









(door closed)





(door open)





(the front... you are going to have to stick around for the completion of "the grizz" to see the protective film come off.... )





(it took some careful measuring to get a nice reveal on the door(s) )





(and.... a newly added stop for when the side windows)





(Some live action 4k of the door sliding... the slides have a surprisingly nice feel even when plumb full of tiny iron particles from grinding!!)





Thanks!!