And we can always have them anodised in different colours for different types

 

An update;

I purchased machine bed profiles today and other hardware for the upgrade. Unfortunately the parts I bought from UK shop wont be in my hands till mid December as my nephew had to postpone his visit.

I also bought 20mm by 20mm aluminium stock to make the vise sets. I will be making them together with new X and Y gantry plates until mid December to be ready for the upgrade when the rest of the part are here.

I done some test cuts with 2mm alu today and realised my circles are not perfect circles. I am using fusion 360 for now to create my g-codes.

Below is a part of the gcode for the circles;

Code:

(Circular1)
M9
T1 M6
S10000 M3
G54
M9
G0 X15.25 Y44.7
Z17
Z3
G1 Z1.3 F576
G18 G2 X15.55 Z1 I0.3
G1 X15.7
G17 G3 X16 Y45 J0.3
X14 I-1
X16 I1
X15.7 Y45.3 I-0.3
G1 X15.55
G18 G3 X15.25 Z1.3 K0.3
G0 Z7
Y44.7
Z2
G1 Z0.3 F576
G2 X15.55 Z0 I0.3
G1 X15.7
G17 G3 X16 Y45 J0.3
X14 I-1
X16 I1
X15.7 Y45.3 I-0.3
G1 X15.55
G18 G3 X15.25 Z0.3 K0.3
G0 Z7
X45.25 Y44.7
Z3

As you will see from the below photo, top circles (10 mm) are not exact circles. Below ones are 5mm so its less visible there. I am happy with the cut marks on the sides but they can be smoothed more somehow I believe. The pocketing (in the middle) is not so bad but now I hesitate to mill the gantries from 6mm alu as the circles can be a real problem. (at least cosmetic wise)

 

Sonny;

I find 360 very easy to use and very handy everyday. I like it more and more.. It is very accurate with the CAM operations and very flexible. (I love the simulation) The only thing is there is so much to learn but I am sure we will get there.

As per 1/16 I really am not so sure. But circles are really problematic for sure. I think the best solution would be to have a wide selection of tools with different diameters and try to stick with those toolset diameters as much as possible. (I broke one endmill today btw so it can be costly as smaller diameter bits are fragile for us newbies specially when cutting metal )

 

Good luck .. I appreciate if you share the results and any helpful hints on the CAM side of Fusion 360

 

Ha! Am glad you are getting there for the accuracy.. Now your circles DO look like circles to me.. Far better than mine for sure!

When you select the correct tool in fusion CAM setup it is pretty accurate in my case. Are you actually selecting the tool that you are using for the cuts?. You know you need to do that for each setup instance (circular, pocketing etc.)

 

While waiting new parts to arrive (I keep adding new ones as I design the upgrade) I am playing with fusion to learn it better.
I completed the new design in fusion 360 and here is a render from fusion...

 

Hope this will work and anyone interested in can have a look into the design using the below link.


FUSION DESIGN LINK

 

Well I am a learner myself on the render side, but the key to my renders is to use the correct (or eye-cendy) material from the material libraries for each and every component. Another tip is to use a good virtual studio with appropriate lighting.

Btw, could you guys have a look and comment to the (planned) bottom inter-Y-gantry connections? Do you think it will add support and make any difference? I am planning to use aluminium spacers, cut to correct lengths, and a threaded rod in between and both ends.

Something like this:



Thanks

 

Well not so easy to calculate, but;

The bed profiles and their connection hardware costed me around 100 USD.

The gantries, I bought 6 mm aluminium from a local provider (500mmX1000mm) for like 35 USD

You can see the prices for all other material used in the frame in the parts store. I am sorry I did not yet have time to prepare a BOM with price breakdown.

 

Yeah Fusion is amazing me with it's capabilities everyday.. You can actually define the axis ad make the parts move over the defined axis etc.

About the Z wheels.. Yeah I have added them because I just want to make sure I can reduce the wobbling as much as possible. This time with my previous build experience I believe it will be a more sturdy setup with the editions.

I have been talking to a tech-school tutor who teaches about CAM and also owns a shop with all kinds of pro stuff and he explained me why and where I might be having problems (backlash issues etc.).

I just have to sit and wait till I have the parts in my hands and meanwhile I am spending my time on design, render, animation trio.

 

Made another animation (and changed the Z-Plate using the 4 wheels there instead of X)

 

Also here are the fusion links for gantry designs and gantry assemblies; (they are downloadable)

X PLATE FRONT

X PLATE BACK

X GANTRY ASSEMBLY

Z PLATE

Z GANTRY ASSEMBLY

Y PLATE

Y GANTRY ASSEMBLY RIGHT

Y GANTRY ASSEMBLY LEFT

 

Here is a demo video of the planned lock down mechanism:



Also I measured and found out that I can use 20X20 rails between Y gantries so it will be a lot easier than the initial "rod-spacer" design.

Here is a pic;

 

Thanks for the great input @Florian Bauereisen . I need to think of something on piece and "U" shaped thats because I need to "bypass" the mid wheel in between 2 holes I made for that purpose. How about if I connect the two 20by20 extrusions with 6mm aluminium from few points creating a more rigid connection?

 

Indeed...

 

It will look something like this; either 5 mm aluminium or 3 mm steel.. dimensions are 90X836

You may CLICK HERE for the design

 

OK my new set of gantry plates are ready. The rest of the parts are coming in tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some dismantling and re-building very soon.



And these are the clamps as the other design did not work very well for me (although I spent few days on them to build but they just dont grip well enough). Hopefully these will do a better job.