spyderxxx's glacial build

[CarveOne]

Yeah, I knew that.

UPS shipping rates are high here also, and they seem to have their package lengths and weights set up to maximize profits, but at least they do deliver. I almost bought a nice large table saw from them recently, but decided to use a different path to get a more expensive saw. It ended up being more of a hassle than necessary, but it was due more to mis-communications with the place I ordered it from than with the freight company. The saw has been well worth all of the extra cost and the effort though.

CarveOne

[spyderxxx]

C1

Re tablesaws, I have an old Rockwell/Beaver made in Canada. It's an early contractors saw with a smaller top. Had to replace the sector gear for raising the arbor and buy a new motor. but I got it at the good price. Had it about 10 years.

Ed

[CarveOne]

C1

Re tablesaws, I have an old Rockwell/Beaver made in Canada. It's an early contractors saw with a smaller top. Had to replace the sector gear for raising the arbor and buy a new motor. but I got it at the good price. Had it about 10 years.

Ed

My previous table saw was a freebie Sears 10" with 3/4hp motor. The one before that was a little lightweight 10" "toy grade" model. I did a lot of upgrade things to the Sears saw that made it better, but it was never very accurate or smooth operating. The new Jet 2 hp, 52" cut width, with down draft table, is the best saw I have ever personally used.

CarveOne

[spyderxxx]

Well the parts from Cncrouterparts have left Canadian Customs aka the Department of Rain Delays . Only spent 7 days 11 hours and 49 minutes there.

May 13, 2011 7:03 pm Out of Foreign Customs
May 06, 2011 7:54 am Into Foreign Customs

Supplies from Wholesale Tool have also shipped. The race is on to see which arrives first.

Going to wait to see how much of the carriage covers the tube before I start welding. I would like to bolt the MDF to the side rails if possible. Still lots of prep work to do .

Ed

[spyderxxx]

Had a reasonably productive week. Parts arrived from Cncrouterparts and drill, taps and counterbores arrived from Wholesale Tool. Had a bunch of stuff to do around the house Saturday and Sunday but Spent 4 hours on our holiday Monday in the garage. Got the base welded, the holes re-tapped and tempory risers made so I can mount the sidebars and carriages this week. Going to fab the uprights out of 1/2 inch oak to see how everything fits. Then buy metal .

[CarveOne]

Whoa! That's a radical new Z axis design. Is that an open frame servo motor? Just kidding.

You do what you have to when you need space to use a drill press.

You won't have room to fully mount the MDF to the side tubes. The carriages may cover it by 7/8" depending on which way you mount them.

I have the narrower side with the pre-load set screws facing the box tube for two reasons. It's easier to get to them for adjustments, and it makes more room between the gantry riser plates for the lead screw and anti-backlash nuts. Mine has about slightly less than 1/2" of the box tube available for the MDF to rest on with a little clearance to the carriage bearings.

I considered making 3/4" long by 1" diameter aluminum spacers for each rail mounting bolt but didn't do it. It's too late on mine to change now.

CarveOne

[Drools]

From following CarveOne's thread he struggled a bit with keeping the welded frame square, how did you over come this problem?

[spyderxxx]

C1

It's a small drill press that I carried up from the basement . Sorta portable. I've been toying with adding angle iron for support but it probably not be necessary.
We'll see what next week brings.

Ed

[CarveOne]

I have a similar one made by Delta. There are some things that I still prefer to use it for even though I have two milling machines and a Delta floor standing drill press.

Drools,

I think he has it covered by having the extra tubes in place. I didn't do that because I wanted to be able to get more "headroom" with the MDF in place under the frame and have the option of putting thicker molds directly on the work table top without the MDF in place. The 1x2 box tubes I put under the frame supports the MDF and are removable if ever needed.

I messed up by not putting a couple temporary tubes between the long side tubes (or the original channel irons) to keep the bowing under control while cooling down. Just didn't think about it enough before welding.

CarveOne

[spyderxxx]

Drools

I used 4 Bessy corner clamps and squared the 4 outside bars before tack welding. I checked the diagonals as I added tack and they didn't change.

Ed

[spyderxxx]

Not much to show for the week. Working on the uprights in wood. It's cheap, reasonably easy to work. CarveOne has his linear bearing adjusters on the inside away from the uprights. I want to have mine easily accessible from the out. This has presented a few challenges. First with 1/2 inch stock the r/p spur gear interferes with the 1/4 by 4 rail by about 1/8 inch. Easiest solution would be a spacer under the r/p plate mount or turn the spur gear down. I built a tap handle for the big drill press out of oak so I could tap the linear cartridges but I cracked it today with 1 and 1/2 holes left. I post pics when I gat the second upright mocked up

Ed

[CarveOne]

If you can't get to the adjuster set screws because the uprights block access, just drill an access hole in the plates where each set screw is located so you can put an Allen wrench through it. If you don't like looking at the holes, you can machine a decorative wood plate later, as a first project, and attach it with a snug fitting dowel pressed in at each hole. A 1/4-20 threaded hole is big enough if it is properly aligned with the set screw. Then you can even cap it off with a button head socket screw.

CarveOne