I Went to the steel store and bought
3.5meters of 16mm Diameter Bright Bar
1.5meters of 10mm Diameter Bright Bar
12 Meters of Box Tube 3mm wall 25mm x25mm OD (plenty spare)
from the 25x25 i have cut
2 x 1m long 45 degree on both ends
2 x .55m long 45 degree on both ends
this makes the base of the frame
i then cut
4x 590mm one end 30 degree cut the other end 60 degree cut
these make the A frame vertices
i also cut 4 500mm long sections with 90 degree cuts for cross bars but have decided two will be plenty
Out of the 16mm bright bar i have cut
2 x 1m rails for the bed Y Axis
2 x 590mm for Z Axis rails
from the 10mm bright bar i have cut
2 x 560mm for the X Axis.
I have purchased from ebay 8 x 16mm SC16UU Linear Bearings 4 x 10mm SC10UU linear bearing for a total of $90au delivered
these run really nice on the bright bar, Yes!!! i know its not as good as ground steel but MEH i really can see how much better it is going to be the guys at the steel store let me poke around the racks with my digital calipers until i found the bits that i wanted and they even did their best keeping it straight, so after cutting and cleaning up the end i have run all my smooth rods against a straight edge and they look fine.
to make construction a little easier i have decided after a little consultation with the welder that the rail mounts will be simple, take a spare piece of 25mm box tube and drill a 16mm hole in one side for the rails to slide in and welded into place nice and square.. these will then bolt onto the frame, the draw back to this is that the linear bearing is there and cannot be changed with out a little assistance of the angle grinder and a 1mm disc...
i will be recycling the motors and the electronics from my first printer it wont be worth keeping compared to the new one :) I will eventually upgrade my MakerBot2.3 Stepper controller for some Micro Stepping controllers but that can wait...
I am considering concealing the wiring (where i can) by feeding it thru the frame, being 25mm box tube i should be able to get at least the power cables hidden, that may help with interference.
not too sure where i want to mount all my electronics just yet but have a 10inch LCD with Capacitive Touch screen and a Mini Atx motherboard i might mount into the frame that way it will be a complete stand alone machine, no need to worry about SD cards and all that...
Here is a shot of all the parts for the frame and a few for the bed. in this shot the base of the frame is welded but nothing else, i have only placed the bright bar just to see the scale of things want to make sure it's all of similar strength, don't really want any weak links
