Joe's 2006 in Albuquerque

[bp092]

There are missing parts, sometimes it is a bit vague. Not sure it's rocket science though? You just put it together glue it and clamp it? I would do it in sections, a few ribs at a time depending on the clamps you have. I used a fast drying reliable glue called titebond and did it in 2-3 glue ups. Just make sure you have the ribs in the right side as the left side is different from the right due to the bearing mounts protruding from the gantry sides at different sizes. Other than that it's rather simple, no?

What in particular are you looking for? Photos? We have tons of those here.

[bp092]

Clamping the parts that need to be put together (too long to cut in one shot, maybe not on joes new hybrid)





Table assembled, glued and primed roughly on all ribs inside (not neccesary).



Old photo showing how the threaded rods go all the way through and pull everything together for that added strength. I'm missing a few that I add in later, this photo is really old from the build log.

Theres more photos and some people here documented more than I did. Just browse around, thats the way I built mine. Joe's manual is good but he did a lot of work, it's asking a lot for him to detail it down to everything on how to put it together after he has already designed so much. The usergroup really did the rest just showing their builds imo.

[TCGliderguy]

Thanks for the photos..... the problem with the CNCZone forum is that there is TOO MUCH information.....

I was just browsing, looking for build photos.... and got totallyl sidetracked on the Automatic Tool Changer thread...... WAY TOO COOL.... but probably a year off from what I need now...

I'm off to Lowe's to buy some all-thread....

Thanks!

-Taylor

[CNC-Joe]

I disagree.. you may as well make the torsion box as strong and as square as you possibly can. You'll never take it apart.. if you have to take it apart - you'll destroy it anyhow...

The more rigid and square that torsion box is - the better the base of the machine will be.

Anything you can put in there to make that thing stronger - is only going to help. If we're going to build it - let's build it strong.

Just my 0.015 cents worth

[joecnc2006]

Originally Posted by TCGliderguy Thanks for the input...... About "Joe's Manual"..... is there something other than the 17 page "CNC Model 2006 R-2 Manual.pdf" ? There isn't a word about assembling the base egg-crate in that..... certainly nothing about all thread, assembly hardware, etc. ? I have the distinct feeling that I am missing something..... -Taylor

No you are not missing pages, the base I felt was pretty easy and straight forward and many log files to show the assembly, I did not intend to sell any plans or anything like that, but rather make kits for people who do not have the means to do so for them selves. I i did not expect the machine to have so much interest and sometimes trying to find information on what you need at the time you need it is hard, but we do have alot of people who have built it and can give alot of insite to the machine.

Joe

[TCGliderguy]

More progress..... I fabricated an "extension" for my Smithy lathe. I found that a pine 1x4 would just slide under the bed of the lathe, so I attached a five foot long piece with three wood screws into the riser deck that keeps the lathe up out of the coolant tray..... attached a perpendicular 1/4 to the portion that sticks out the end, and rigged up a sliding "H" shaped piece to support some rollers.

CNC-Joe Communale gave me an idea to use some skateboard bearings as rollers, and using some scrap aluminum channel, I rigged up a crude little roller assembly... with two bearings on the bottom, and one pivoted on an arm from above. I used a small bungee, intended to hold a tarp to a tent pole, to provide some tension on the upper roller. Voila! I've now got a 6' bed for my lathe.. Well, sort of...

After reading about the sanding and polishing process around here, I was pretty sure that I was in for a five hour nightmare. Nothing could be further from the truth. It took a LOT longer to build the lathe extension and rollers than it did to polish the gas pipe. (Maybe Lowe's just sold me gas pipe with wimpy paint?) Anyway... in about twenty minutes, I had all four of the 60 inch lengths sanded, and polished with 220 grit wet or dry. I may go back and polish some more, maybe even with finer grit, but I really don't think I will gain much. There are a few pits in the pipe surface, but I'm certainly not going to grind those down.... and they are so small that the bearing rollers should glide right over them.

A couple of comments.... If you are going to sand down your gas pipe with a lathe, either wrap the threads with four or five wraps of masking tape (as I did initially) ... or just leave the red plastic shipping caps on the threads when you tighten the pipe in the lathe chuck. Those tapered pipe threads don't allow much surface contact with the parallel jaws of the chuck, and the pipe tends to slip out. Having something with some "give", to tighten the jaws into makes the grip a lot more secure.

Using that "H" shaped piece that straddles the main rail of my wooden extension, will allow me to shim it up a bit when I start sanding the 3/4 inch diameter pipe.... allowing for the decreased diameter from the one inch pipe.

I laid a piece of bubble wrap across the lathe bed, just to catch the paint dust, etc.... and the troughs around the bubbles did a nice job of capturing all the junk.

Oh yes... the last picture is of the quart can of Rustoleum Hammered Silver paint. This stuff is the greatest! It takes about two quarts to paint everything.....but it is well worth it.

Onward!

-Taylor

[TCGliderguy]

More Progress! I got the one inch gas pipes polished, and blued (using swab on gun bluing stuff from the sporting goods store.) After washing off the bluing agent, I rubbed on a light coat of white lithium grease, and was ready to install the end panels on the machine.

Since my faithful assistant decided that she needed to get her nails done more than she needed to hold parts for me, I used bungee cords to hold the pipes in place, while I bolted on the end panels.

Lowe's didn't have any 6 foot 1/4 x 20 allthread (and I am fairly disgusted with the quality of the hardware that they sell anyway....) so I'm going online to order the rest of the hardware for the machine.

Next stop... the angle iron bearing supports!

-Taylor

[rdhharm]

Lowe's didn't have any 6 foot 1/4 x 20 allthread (and I am fairly disgusted with the quality of the hardware that they sell anyway....) so I'm going online to order the rest of the hardware for the machine.


-Taylor[/QUOTE]

I got my ¼” threaded rod at Home Depot in the electric department.

I don’t remember if Lowes has it there but it sure seems they should.

The only thing different is they are 10’ long. How this helps

Your machine is looking good keep up the good work

Rick

[bp092]

Yeah they sell it in electric near electrical struts. That's mainly where it's used in regular applications. Also if you're ordering hardware check out boltdepot.com. I and others used it and I plan to use it again for future builds. I won't ever buy hardware in stores again unless it's small stuff and I need little amounts. Cheaper and faster online.

[TCGliderguy]

Yes..... the only 1/4 x 20 x 2 1/2" hex head bolts Lowe's had were some grungy looking, galvanized things..... I went ahead and used them to hold the end plates together....

And the 1/4" lock washers they had were $.32 each...... Unbelievable!

I've read about BoltDepot.com here in several threads... and will be placing an order shortly.

Does anybody happen to have a link to that updated/revised hardware list that somebody put together here?

Thanks!

-Taylor

[rdhharm]

Does anybody happen to have a link to that updated/revised hardware list that somebody put together here?



I think this is what you are looking for.

Rick

[TCGliderguy]

That's the one! Thanks......

-Taylor