THE BUILD!!!

May 22, 2014

Currently we have built the base and aligned all the linear motion components for the x-axis (ballscrew, linear rails, ballscrew mounts, etc.)

1) The assembly began with the the two base beams and four legs. Each base beam had two legs mounted perpendicular at each end. Perpendicularity was maintained by an L bracket on the inside corner.

2) Next the second level of the frame was added in order to connect the two halves mentioned above. The extrusions were cut to specific dimensions so they would create a rectangle with 90 degree corners.

3) The the linear rails, ballscrew mounts, ballscrew, and the gantry beam were added. Alignment of the gantry beam was achieved by first mounting the beam at the free end of the ballscrew called the "ballscrew free end mounting beam". Then a the gantry beam, which was loosely attached to the linear rails by t nuts and hex screws, was pushed flush against the ballscrew free end mounting beam. Then the screws and nuts that attached the linear rails to the gantry beam were fastened.

 The ballscrew was one of the most difficult components to align. The ballscrew pillow block was mounted roughly in the center of the gantry beam first. The setup, minus the ball screw, in the picture above was assumed to be aligned correctly before the ballscrew alignment was attempted.

The ballscrew nut was moved to different points along the screw and the gantry beam was moved to match the ballscrew nut position. If there was any misalignment, the ballscrew nut would not fit smoothly into the pillow block. Minor adjustments to the position of the bearing blocks on each of the ballscrew would be made in order to adjust the orientation of the screwn. This process would be repeated until the pillow block could be slid over the ballscrew nut at the center, left, and right side of the screw without having the ballscrew nut rub against the walls of the pillow block.

Jan 17, 2015

It has been a while since I have updated the blog since school got busy back in June 2014 and also being away for four months in the fall right after spring term ended. Anyway, the machine has been full constructed and here is a picture of how it looks.

The only thing that needs to be completed is the wiring and also drilling more holes into the table to for mounting.