Spider plate - 194mm wide and 4mm thick

[hutchcj]

I've got the laser cut parts for my MechMate and I had a quick look at the spider plate. It's only 194mm wide (should be between 199 and 196mm) and only 4mm thick (should be 5mm). Other than needing large spacers to bridge the 6mm gap to the Y Car, is there an issue with the width and/or the 4mm thickness.

I'll check the rest of the part for tollerence tomorrow.

[AuS MaDDoG]

Hi Colin,

Should not be too much of a problem, just use spacers between the spider and the car and all should be good.

Cheers
Tony.

[hutchcj]

What about the thickness of 4mm. I was thinking that Gerald originally made it 5mm for a reason. I don't really like the sound of the spider breaking mid cut.

[AuS MaDDoG]

Colin,

5mm is the prefered check out this thread, http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1043

Cheers
Tony.

[rotorzoomer]

Mine is 4mm thick too:(

Will need to contact supplier about this; especially being for such a integral part to the build process to be under specification.

[MetalHead]

Are you measuring the thickness of the plates with a digital Micrometer?

Any photos? Where are you measuring the thickness?

Does anyone know the tolerance swing on metric plate material thickness?

Let's see some pictures of these spider plates.

[rotorzoomer]

The spider thickness on my batch are 4mm all round measured on all corners, sides, insides e.t.c. It's obvious that it's 4mm material no matter where you measure it.

See pix below...

[hutchcj]

I haven't measured the thickness with a micrometer yet but I can do that tomorrow. But really I don't see how this is a factor. 1mm is easy to see, even without a ruler.

No photos yet, as I don't have the parts with me. But I could probably upload some tomorrow if you like.

Again, I don't see why it matters where I take a measurement for thickness? If the sheet is 4mm, then it's 4mm all over (except for maybe the bends).

[MetalHead]

Yeah I meant not at the bends. It is an easy spot to measure, but just making sure not to measure there.

[Gerald D]

The plates were originally 4mm thick. Quite a few builders commented on flex issues. I personally did not experience flex, and the builders who commented on flex were asked to measure the flex with a dial gauge. Despite no measured flex values being forthcoming, I decided to err on the side of caution and increase the spider thickness from 4 to 5 mm. That revision was also made to prevent the inch guys from choosing 1/8" inch instead of 3/16".

[hennie]

My spider plate was cut out of 3 mm steel by accident and up to now had no headaches and I use my MM everyday ( watch my space on Tuesday).

[smreish]

MM #5 had a 3mm steel plate spider and has worked perfectly for years now. That spider is now found a new home on MM #58 as the second z-slide for the MechTorch table at UNCSA. I never noticed any challenges when using the spider. Notably, I had the short stroke slide on #5 with Pre-Mamba parts.

Sean