Hello all! I'd love some feedback on this tramming adjustment idea. I'm new to cnc milling and thus doing a tremendous amount of research at this time. In so doing I have learned about the importance of tramming adjustments. That being said, I have not seen any methods by which to adjust tramming on OpenBuilds' projects (I may be wrong, just haven't seen them yet). In wanting to be able to fine tune my initial build, I came-up with a tramming adjustment mechanism for which I'd love the feedback from all those who know more than me (pretty much everyone). The concept is laid-out in the following image... Traming Concept by Trip posted Aug 21, 2017 at 6:10 PM Thank you kindly for taking the time to review this idea and sharing your thoughts. All the best, Trip
Trip. The idea is very good in principle. Things to consider; Plate 1. The holes for the lock down bolts will need to be threaded, therefore what thickness of plate do you visualise? Plate 2. This plate will need enough space between it, and Plate 1, to allow for the bolt heads holding the plate to the C Beam. I guess Plate 2 would, ideally, be a piece of aluminium channel to fit the bill, but I think would be expensive. Although an extra wide flat piece with a couple of strips, as thick as Plate 1 plus the additional space for bolt heads, fixed down each side would also do the trick. If someone decided to produce, Plate1 & Plate 2 complete, as a kit, they would potentially find some customers. Thanks for the idea. Gray
Having sweated getting my Z axis right, I see how this might help on the C Beam plate maker machine. As it was, I had to pull the plate off the X carriage to get Z perpendicular to the bed. The build video, while really good, glosses over that one. Would really have preferred to be able to align in place. Alignability would have been a nice addition to the design of the plate maker. However, I'm not sure how much your design will stay aligned. I guess easy alignment makes it simple to re-adjust as part of periodic maint.
I would bore/drill a hole through the top and center of each plate and then pin the plates together when assembled. This will make a pivot point for adjusting the left to right tram and only need pusher bolts on the bottom edges, one on each side. This will make adjustment much easier. Also, I would use grub screws long enough to allow the use of jamb nuts against the outer plate. This will make holding the tram much more secure/certain. The grub screws hold the front plate in place and the jamb nuts keep the grub screws from backing out. The machines I run at work have a system much like this and it holds really well.
Thank you for all the good feedback guys! I hope to continue learning and I appreciate the guidance you all are providing. Thank you!