Hi all!
For the x axis on a plasma table I would like a 2 meter travel.
I am looking at linear rail and bearings (used) for the carriage.
It seems to work out cheeper to buy 2 x 1m lengths than 1 x 2m length and the 1m's are a LOT easier to come accross!
What woulf be the best way of 'joining' two bits together?
I will be most likly to use the 25mm wide rail and so far I have come up with the following:
Get a 2m length of 50mm dia alloy bar (solid) and run a flat along it with a 25mm milling cutter (or maybe sink the 'grrove' down a couple of mm), drill and tap holes and bolt both lengths down to it.
This should line them up nicely I would think!
Any other ideas / suggestions?
I have thought about trying to tig weld the rails together and I also wondered if just bolting them to the frame (angle iron) would be good enough.
Also, while I am going :-) do you guys use all the holes in the rails to fix them down or would just using one at each end help the rail stay strighter?
I would have tohught that (unless whatever you were fixing to was ground dead flat) you would deflect the rail. Would it be best to put a bolt only at each end with a washer between the rail and the mounting surface and 'float' the rail? This is assuming the rail will take the weight of the gantry without deflecting?
Thanks!
the rail needs to be bolted to a machined surface with all the bolt holes securing the rail for best results. I would not think that the rail would be sufficient support without deflection.
"you don't even need cnc if your handy with a torch"