JR's Solsylva 25x37 Router Build

[CarveOne]

Ok, good. By the time that all cable connectors are installed on the board there didn't seem to be a lot of space left for the air flow, and that may slow the fans down due to the space restrictions. It's all a careful balance for acceptable cooling anyway. If it became necessary, you could machine some length wise channels in the divider plates to help improve air flow or try flipping the fans so that they pull versus push air.

CarveOne

[Tayloned]

Now all the ordered material has arrived, will start making the bits and posting some photos of the work in progress. Have noted that the M8 carriage bolts have a head diameter of 20mm and hence are larger than the ones specified in the plan. May cause some problems with the counterboring required.

Also, had confirmed from David Steele that the Z-axis dimensions on his plans are inaccurate and there is a dimensional mis-alignment of 0.45mm. The co-ordinate maths just does not add up correctly. On checking the gantry stepper motor plate the same type of error is apparent. To overcome problem see suggestion below.

SUGGESTION:

1)Drill the stepper motor mounting holes in the main wood section as specified but using a drill size equal to the diameter of the carriage bolts, and drill the bearing centre hole the diameter of the stepper motor shaft.
2) Make the stepper motor plates but DO NOT drill the mounting holes for the carriage bolts.
3) Bolt the stepper motor to the plate and position stepper motor shaft in bearing hole.
4) Clamp stepper mounting plate in its correct position and drill the plate using the holes in the main wood section as a template.
5) Now drill out the bearing hole as specified.

Then you should have all holes correctly aligned without any further adjustment being necessary.

[CarveOne]

John,

You could reduce the carriage bolt head diameters to fit by turning them in a lathe or filing them down in a drill press. Spray paint the heads silver if you don't care for the eventual rust rings on the heads.

Thanks for calling David and confirming the error. Did David say that he would update the drawings in his plans book file for future printings of his plans book?

I will be installing the lead screws in my gantry and z axis this weekend. The aluminum stepper plates were made a couple of months ago. There's a good chance that the holes in my gantry and z axis are off enough to compensate for the misalignment (or make it worse) since they were drilled in wood on a shaky old drill press. The error is only 0.01772".

CarveOne

[Tayloned]

CarveOne,

Thanks for your suggestion.

With regard to the geometric errors in David Steele's plans; The Y-axis is also out of align by a similar amount. David's response is that he is working on a new version and the current plans use hole sizes large enough to cope with the errors as the user can align the axi by hand. Plus a 1/16" grid was used to draw the components and hence the max. accuracy is governed by the grid used.

However, should the stepper motor plate be drilled using the holes in main wood parts, then any miss alignment is sizeably reduced. Plus smaller drill sizes equal to diameter of the carriage bolts can be used to further reduce and simplify assembly without all the fiddlely trial and error process to align the shafts.

Also the critical nature of wooden parts being parallel is NOT stressed in the plans. This is especially true of the Z-axis backplate. Any errors here cause problems of the bearing trucks at one end only partially contacting and unevenly running on the Y-axis beam. The same is true for the router Z-plate.

Hope this helps. John R.

[CarveOne]

Thanks for getting David to clarify this error for us and correct the plans book.

I drilled my critical wood parts in my milling machine separately as I did for the aluminum stepper plates. I didn't bother to recalculate the dimensions as you did. All of the stepper mounting screws aligned with the plates, and the shaft hole in the stepper plates looked right by eye. The stepper plate mounting bolts appeared to align also. When the steppers are turning under power I guess I will see any serious misalignment, as the flex couplers will be bending if the stepper shaft to acme lead screw is mis-aligned.

CarveOne

[Tayloned]

Thank you CarveOne for your reply and comments. The oversized holes used in the plans will allow correct alignment, but if you drill the holes using the same diameter as the carriage bolts, the mis-alligmnet becomes visible. Hence my suggestion in previous post.

Have had some family matters to resolve and therefore no progress on building router to date. Hope to re-start and post some photos shortly.

Kindest Regards, John R.