Progress Update 2

So my nights have been long and cold working away in my mates workshop we have made quite a bit of progress and only one or two stuff ups to the tune of $10, when i purchased a 1.5m length of 10mm bright bar for the X Carriage to run on and cut it into two i noticed i had about 200mm left over that i thought sweet i could use that to make the axles that the T5 pulleys spin on, so i measured those and cut them first. then i cut the remainder in half for the X axis this was BAD and resulted in me not having enough steel to make the distance between the end plates that bolt the Z axis bearings, which i had to spin around to allow me to move the leadscrews to just inside the A frame.

Now i have all the parts for the X Y Z carriages and frames tack welded into place, the motor mounts are all done as is all the smooth rods all that i need to do before everything gets a final weld is to make some mounts for bearings at the bottom of the lead screws to keep them true as they spin and i should be good to go, this will require me to remake the lead screws so they are a little longer and have a smooth section that the 1608 bearings will run, and to install 10mm dowels into all the sections that are removable this will remove any chances of them going back together in a different place and thus keeps everything nice and square and maybe a little serviceable.

 I am a little worried that once everything is tacked and then i try and pull it apart that i may not be able to take the Z axis smooth rods off, if this happens with the current setup i will not be able to take anything else off if i need to, if i find this is the case i will have to cut the peaks of the A Frame off to allow me to take the Z motors off..

Hmmmmm Bearings 10mm & 16mm linear bearings i bought off ebay :)

Upside Down upside down.. here is an action shot of the frame being TIG welded by a master of the Art, that's not Me...

The Bare Frame Completed, 25mm box tube 3mm walls and not a bit of flex in it :)

 The Motor mounting plates, made from a section of 55x75x3mm ROHS box tube cut firstly into L sections then cut the center holes in each then the mounting holes were drilled then tapped, i plan to screw the motors down from above the motor.

 The Z Axis 16mm Linear bearing with X axis 10mm smooth rods that were just a little too short and had to be replaced Doh!

A different angle of the end plates.

Z Axis smooth rods with the bearings mounted, yes all the bearings will be welded onto the smooth rods and will not be replaceable, i had planned on getting split style bearings but when i was ordering i could not justify triple the cost, for these purposes i doubt they will wear out too fast not much load on them.

 here you can see the mounts for the Y carriage as well as the other axis, the two 50x3mm flat aluminum bar will be taken off and four pieces of 20x15x3mm Angle will be attached to make a frame that the glass bed will seat into, the glass bed will have a smaller 10x10x2mm angle frame that supports the glass the heater and a sheet of 2mm aluminum that will act as a heat spreader and give me a way to mount the heater tight against the sheet to couple the heat better, below this i may add a second sheet on the lower side of the heater to reflect as much heat upwards as possible and stop my desk from bursting into flames.

 here you can see me aligning the axles of the motors up with the axle for the idle pulleys, making sure the belt does not hit the bearings or the bed or anything.

another angle of the alignment process.