Hi All, New to the forum but not new to building things out of aluminum extrusions... I'm putting together a C-beam machine from the bundle, and I'm noticing that the two 500mm C-beam extrusions are not flat... they rock when I place them on a granite flat - they are twisted along the long axis. I'm worried that when I torque them down to the frame the whole machine will be twisted. Has anyone else come across this? Thanks, Jon.
To be a little more specific... If one end of the beam is held flat, one corner at the opposite end is up 0.5-0.6mm. Maybe this is not enough to worry about, but I'd like to reassured that the wonderful resolution of the machine won't be spoiled by an inability to level the work surface at all four corners across the span of movement. Thanks!
Contact the part store support by email. They are really good about packaging extrusion well, but there is always a chance of damage during shipping or a bent piece slipping through. I've ordered a bunch of C-Beam (and other beams) from them and can verify that this is not normal. I've had just a few bent or otherwise defective pieces from them out of all my orders. They are very good about replacements if you ask. But you might need to be a bit patient since they can take a few days to respond if things are busy there. -D
Twist like that is more likely to come from the extrusion house or after tempering rather than created during shipping/handling. Not much that the parts store can do about that, but they may replace the parts for you.
Yeah - I didn't imagine it happened in shipping - the packing was extraordinarily well done. I wonder if I can bake the part and sort of get it to relax. Does a temperature of 500 Fahrenheit have any effect on something like this?
Hello @jmdhuse welcome to the OpenBuilds Community! Sorry to hear that you are experiencing this issue. The extrusion process like most things in manufacturing has tolerances limits so there is always that aspect. However over the lengh of a 500mm C-Beam they should be spot on. So that being said before getting into the Build I would recommend reaching out to the Part Store http://support.openbuilds.com/support/home so that they can fix you up with a couple more with better tolerances. Best on a foundation piece like the C-Beam that they are as right as possible before you start your Build. All the best with your Builds looking forward to seeing all the cool projects you make on your C-Beam machine.
