Wood support table #21 - Bellingham, WA - USA

[jeffh]

Hi all,

I've been a lurker (occasional poster) for a loooong time and I've finally got all the pieces together to commence my build. I promised myself I'd get it started in 2008 and lookee here... Dec 31, 2008.

To start off, many MANY thanks to you Gerald for putting all of this together and for providing an infinite source of wisdom to the construction of this machine! Additionally, many thanks to the rest of you, both actively cutting and currently under construction for the tips, comments, pictures and general knowledge posted in your threads. I've read them all (This forum is
an addiction for which there is no cure...)

My build is going to be a mongrel MM since it's going to sit on top of an
old ShopBot PR table at least to start with. I sized the Gantry and rail steel so that, in the event of serious instability, I could jack up the rails and gantry and slide a real MM table underneath :D
(I think there's another guy here in Washington doing the same thing. Although his table looks to be sturdier than mine to start with)

So without any further delay, here are a few pics of what I've started so far:
(Grinding the rails).

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[sailfl]

Jeff

Looks like a good start... Good Luck with your build

Happy New Year

[jeffh]

Hey Thanks Nils!

Actually watching you finish your build is what pushed me to get started in earnest. Glad to hear the little problems you were having have been solved. I hope to be there soon enough myself.

Here's more pictures of what I got done today: Priming the gantry and y-car after welding as well as my control box power input test jig... (I wasn't too sure about the contactor latching mechanism but sure enough, it works like a champ.)

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The green light is on! and goes out with the contactor when the off or e-stop button is pushed.

[sailfl]

Jeff,

I am happy that you got inspired from my build. Yours is looking good and you be glade you pushed forward.

[YRD]

Jeff,

You are very fast :)

[javeria]

Jeff - seems you are full time on this - :)

hope I was as fast! :(

RGDS
Irfan

[jeffh]

Thanks you guys,
But no, I'm not very fast. I've been scrounging up parts for over a year as
budget (and wife) allowed.

I've never worked with metal before so it took me a while to learn to cut and weld with any reasonable results (I spent a long time making big pieces of scrap out of little pieces of scrap...). Still, a lot of my weld beads look like something a cat barfed up. :eek:

I'm in the middle of paining the gantry and y-car MM blue but it's been so
cold here that the paint takes well over 24 hours to dry. I'll get there eventually.

Good luck to you guys! (Irfan, your MM looks done to me! :) )

-Jeffh

[sailfl]

Jeff,

Hang in there and take your time. Rushing will only cause more grief. You can't speed up paint drying. You are doing well and steady is the course to be on. Speed can some times result in errors. That you don't want.

No lecture just a suggestion from one that thought it would never be done. But it is.

[J.R. Hatcher]

Nils actually the right catalyst will speed up paint drying, I was wishing I had used one.:D:p

[Gerald D]

Nils is a rattle can body painter - don't think you get catalysts for that! :)

[javeria]

Thanks you guys,

Good luck to you guys! (Irfan, your MM looks done to me! :) )

-Jeffh

Yup Jeff - during me cutting the rails down to size - I succumbed to back pain and its been there for the past 2 days.

I just utilizing the time to put together a AMD Phenom quad core computer for designing and stuff.

THink Nil's advise should be taken by guys who actually have jobs where we just sit and exercise our fingers :)

lifting heavy stuff is not advised - :)

now I have everything to complete my Mechmate - I am waiting for vishnu to send me the grinding attachments and parts for Z. As I dont have ready access to a machine shop - Vishnu promised me to do the stuff - so I am just waiting for him to send me all the parts.

I still have to order the wires and cable track.
RGDS
IRfan

[jeffh]

Nils, thanks for the advice!
And I completely agree. I'm taking my time (well...I'm forced to right now)
but I can't wait to start the learning curve on the software and actually cutting.

IRfan, Thanks! I'm watching your build too! I hear you about the back pain and I agree that Nils advice is best for those of us who only sit and exercise
our fingers :)

Like Nils, I'm also using the rattle-can paint. The first coats are on and now dry. they could use another coat but the last time I sprayed the second coat
I got a weird "crackly" effect in the paint. Any of you guys ever see this?

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I'm concerned because this is on the rails and the VHB tape needs to bond to the paint which needs to be super-bonded to the metal... I know I need to grind this off and repaint this part but should I remove the paint from the whole rail ??? Is there a systemic problem with my technique (temperature could also be a factor... Hmmmm...)

Anyway, here are the pics of the big painted pieces...

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[sailfl]

Jeff,

I a bit confussed. Did you paint where you are going to attach tape for the rails? If you did that, you want to remove paint down to bare metal so the tape adheres better. You do not paint between tape and metal. That is my opinion. Gerald the metal man needs to way in here.

The crackle paint, I had that problem on the controller box. It was a problem with not removing all the cleaner I used or the powder coat paint that the box people use. It is the only place I had that problem.

You got to love them Rattles! Thats a nice color of Blue - is it safety blue?

[gmessler]

Hi Jeff,

That crackling / lifting typically happens when the previous coat is not fully dry. The paint can will have a recoat range (ie within 1 hour or after 12 hours). Depending on the temperature and humidity those numbers can vary. As cold as it is that second number can be a lot longer.

[Gerald D]

We tape over paint, but we make sure that the paint is sticking properly.

[sailfl]

I know you can tape over the paint.

[Gerald D]

Jeff, are you covering the painted rails with that pink material while it dries?

When paint dries, you want the solvent to evaporate out of the top surface before it can work into the previous coat. So, make sure that previous coats are fully dry, apply thin coats (less solvent, and can get out the top quicker), and don't cover the paint before all the solvent has escaped.

This is all assuming that no oily hands were involved between the coats, and that someone wasn't busy spraying silicone nearby . . . .

[jeffh]

Aha! Thanks Guys!

I think that's it. I painted the second coat too soon.
The paint on those rails was just ever so slightly tacky and I figured it would be OK to spray the second coat. I'll bet that's where the problem came in.
The bummer is that the rest of the rails are fine and, had I waited a few more
hours, I probably wouldn't have had this problem. (Again, Nils advice pertains here...)

I use those pink sheets just to protect the painted stuff (after it's dried) from
other bits of junk that fly around the shop. I don't think I covered the rails whilst still slightly uncured but... it's definitely a possibility given the crackly paint syndrome above.

I think I'll wait another day before shooting the second coat.

Thanks everyone!

-Jeff

[jeffh]

An update....

I had a chance to get the rails attached to the wooden table and finally got the gantry and y-car seated on their rails as well.

One potential flaw with the wooden table build is that, if you do have a twisted gantry, you don't have the luxury of a stable and heavy table to help you tweak it back to square with the Gerald/GregJ method.

I had a problem with what I thought was a twisted gantry and the first few
posts in the twisted-gantry thread solved my problem. Table had come out of level and, once re-leveled, the problem went away. That is the true power of this forum!

Here are some pictures of the table so far:
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This last picture shows the "addition" I had to add to the original shopbot
table to get the height right. I wasn't sure how far I could retract the
router+bit into the y car so I added a bit extra. The actual height
of the rails off of the inside table is about 7 inches. I think that's roughly what the real MM tables have when using the channel.

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[jeffh]

I could barely sleep last night...

The machine is alive!

Still have a few things to add (Proxy switches, E-Stops on the table etc)
and the table needs some beefing up for stability but man... it cuts like a dream on the little files I ran through it.

Again, many thanks to Gerald for sharing these plans and his expertise and the rest of you who helped me build the thing by asking the questions I was too shy to ask!!!

Cheers!

-Jeff

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[bradm]

Wow, these are coming fast and furious now! Congratulations on your success!

[domino11]

Jeff,
Congratulations, I think you will be the first to get a serial number with a wood table! :) Let us know how the wood table has worked out for you. Others may be too shy to ask about it. :)

[Gerald D]

For a month, Jeff goes silent . . . . . . . then the pleasant surprise

Well done!

[jhiggins7]

Jeff,

Nice job...and FAST too.:)

Updated builder's log is here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pLoxg8wu4WnsBc2_U5yEaQw).

Hey, Jeff, what are the cutting dimensions of your table? I would like to add them to the Builder's log.

Regards,
John

[gmessler]

Congrats Jeff!

Exciting isn't it?:)

[Kobus_Joubert]

Well done Mr. Blackjack (#21) At least with a wooden table you can still cut something if you run out of MDF.:D

[jeffh]

Thanks Guys!

Yeah, I haven't been this wound up over something for a long time.
I wouldn't have gotten here without all of you.

I didn't expect a serial number because it's more of a mutt-mate (franken-mate?) so thanks for that. It's the icing on the cake.

What a great product and great forum!

Cheers

-Jeff

[jeffh]

Oops.

Sorry John, I forgot the dimensions for the log: The table is for a 49"x97" sheet size

I'll let you guys know how the wood table works out. My next machine
(Actually, my brother's machine) will be a steel table though.

Can't thank you guys enough!

-Jeff

[jhiggins7]

Jeff,

No problem...thanks for the info. Updated Builder's Log is here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pLoxg8wu4WnsBc2_U5yEaQw).

Regards,
John