Project Ultra-Rigid G10 X-Gantry Plate for C-Beam 1.0

do you have a picture of this mounted on the C-Beam? I am trying to wrap my head around it and it just went poof

 

I understand it a little better now because I just put my gantry plate on my C-Beam together and see how it works. The mini V's go on the inside of the C-Beam on either side of the lead screw providing outward pressure. Do you think there is an advantage to that over using a second plate on the back side with additional wheels so you could turn the C-Beam around and protect it from chips?

 

lol...I haven't gotten far enough to even consider a dust shoe but see how that would keep the chips down. I am going to be making one and am going to need to make this near the top of the list! I am also going to enclose the entire machine because it will be in my wood shop and that gets dusty QUICK

 

Thank you.....You just saved me a ton of work and probably a few doses of Xanax

 

I like rigid stuff, and dislike vibrations,resonanes Always shows up when dont whant it.
My machine have so hevy Z axis in solid alu,, and i can say i never gona build in solid alu again so mutch drilling and tapping bolt holes.....
Mutch better to build with alu profiles , the side plates is okk to do in solid alu but next time i will take the easyer way it can be as rigid as s
solid, and ther is other materials to use with alu i have seen komposit material that is light and stiff as h--l.
I like the hardend steel axel that u can fit on the alu profilr and u groove steel Wheel .
But this seems just as rigid aas that, like it a lot!

 

Have you got any specific information sources on the flexural and torsional rigidities, resonance characteristics, etc of G10? I understand it's a pressure-formed epoxy fiberglass, which seems like it should be doable in the home shop depending on the actual pressure requirements- and even if not, it's fairly readily available commercially. Seems like it would be ideal for projects where rigidity is important, but mass is reduced in favour of speed and acceleration- anything without a spindle, really, but I'm particularly thinking large format, gantry-mounted-tube laser cutters and things like that.

 

Hmm. I guess you'd need three times the cross-sectional area/total volume (of a 2D prismatic shape) to match the absolute values of an equivalent aluminum plate, then? If its density is substantially below a third of that of aluminum, that's a pretty good deal. If it's even somewhat similar to aluminum, it seems to me like its structural heterogeneity makes it a fairly inconvenient material. From what I'm seeing, it's about 1.8g/cm3 to aluminum's 2.7g/cm3. Which looks good if you're swapping out like-for-like, but not if you're re-speccing the part to maintain structural consistency. It would actually be heavier to achieve the same stiffness, and not in every dimension like aluminum.

Unless I'm missing something, it's very much pre-coffee-o'clock here.

 

I would like to see your "END" plates on the Gantry C-Beam and how they fit on the Y axis.

Thanks,

pat