Greeny
Sun 23 August 2009, 19:38
Hi Everyone.
My name Greeny, from the 'sunny' north of the UK.
I am very interested in building a MechMate, and have spent the last week or so reading as much as possible.
I would want to cut long and narrow wood almost exclusively , typically 8ft long x 10 inches wide.
With that in mind i am thinking about a moving X table utilising a standard gantry, slightly widened, that is
approx 10ft long and 2.5ft deep (requiring 5 ft of X movement).
The X table (gantry) would be lightly braced to stiffen it. Perhaps with a centre rail for support.
The Y Rail beams would be fixed and part of the main table frame. A Std Y car would run on them with a standard Z axis.
The advantages of this configuration being that loading & set up would be easily accessible
The reasoning behind fixing the Y Rail beams is so they can be made as beefy as neccesary, without worrying about weight.
The wood to cut will not weigh much (~2-4lbs) so i'm guessing it will be ok to move the table instead.
I have included a picture to try and clarify my ramblings :)
(Note: it is only a concept and not meant to be an accurate representation)
I know it seems a bit of a radical departure, but other than the table mods, i think i will only have to widen 2 of the laser cut
parts (The carrier plates 10 20 451 & 10 20 452) . The rest utilises std mechmate kit ie, Y car,z axis,V rails & bearings,
motor mounts, rack & pinion etc, so I hope it is not to far outside the accepted bounds of the mechmate design :eek:
I would be very interested in anyone's comments & thoughts.
(I'm thinking i might be trying to run before i can crawl, and should have a crack at a std mechmate first, but i quite like the idea of a moving table:) )
Lastly a huge thankyou to Gerald. This forum is nothing short of amazing.
Cheers
Greeny
My name Greeny, from the 'sunny' north of the UK.
I am very interested in building a MechMate, and have spent the last week or so reading as much as possible.
I would want to cut long and narrow wood almost exclusively , typically 8ft long x 10 inches wide.
With that in mind i am thinking about a moving X table utilising a standard gantry, slightly widened, that is
approx 10ft long and 2.5ft deep (requiring 5 ft of X movement).
The X table (gantry) would be lightly braced to stiffen it. Perhaps with a centre rail for support.
The Y Rail beams would be fixed and part of the main table frame. A Std Y car would run on them with a standard Z axis.
The advantages of this configuration being that loading & set up would be easily accessible
The reasoning behind fixing the Y Rail beams is so they can be made as beefy as neccesary, without worrying about weight.
The wood to cut will not weigh much (~2-4lbs) so i'm guessing it will be ok to move the table instead.
I have included a picture to try and clarify my ramblings :)
(Note: it is only a concept and not meant to be an accurate representation)
I know it seems a bit of a radical departure, but other than the table mods, i think i will only have to widen 2 of the laser cut
parts (The carrier plates 10 20 451 & 10 20 452) . The rest utilises std mechmate kit ie, Y car,z axis,V rails & bearings,
motor mounts, rack & pinion etc, so I hope it is not to far outside the accepted bounds of the mechmate design :eek:
I would be very interested in anyone's comments & thoughts.
(I'm thinking i might be trying to run before i can crawl, and should have a crack at a std mechmate first, but i quite like the idea of a moving table:) )
Lastly a huge thankyou to Gerald. This forum is nothing short of amazing.
Cheers
Greeny