Two MM's being built in Delavan, WI and McHenry, IL

[Delamination]

I and a friend are starting construction on two MechMates. Laser cut parts ordered (thanks Joe). Working on getting the other steel.

[Doug_Ford]

Welcome aboard. You'll enjoy it.

[domino11]

Welcome Travis!
Hope you have your camera tuned up, we like to see lots of pictures. Will be starting mine this fall too. Good luck. :)

[Kobus_Joubert]

Good luck, this machine is worth every penny and effort you put into it

[smreish]

Speaking from experience, 2 Mechmates in the shop make for twice the fun!

[gmessler]

Hi Travis,

Good luck with your build. Look forward to pictures.

Greg M

[Delamination]

I am still waiting for the large order of long steel pieces to arrive. I thought I would post a pic of my laser cut parts from Joe in the meantime.

I am building in a 13' x 23' basement. Hardly ideal, but it is the only space available. There are two 24" x 48" window openings, so I can get plywood in and out (on a slant ;) ).

[Delamination]

Got more steel today! Cut two main longitudinals at 122" from a 20' 8"x2.3" c-channel. Total steel cost was under $1500, including laser cut parts. The guy in the red shirt is Chuck, who let us use his band saw. Mike (the guy building the other MechMate) is driving the forklift, whose shadow you can see in the left of the picture.

[Delamination]

Got the cross member tubes, cross bearers and legs cut. We just cut the cross bearers straight - it was easier and quicker. I can still cut the angles later. The cross member tubes were trimmed together to 71-1/2".

Also discovered that the main longitudinal flanges were not perpendicular to the web, and they have some crown. :( Having little previous experience with steel, I always imagined it straighter and squarer than I am discovering.

[gmessler]

Hi Travis,

Looks like you're making good progress.:)

Here is a link where Gerald gives me advice on fixing warped steel.

http://mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5192&postcount=6

Hope this helps.

It worked for my rails as well.

[vishnu]

Good going Travis my build is in the same position. Well would like to complete in a short span so could concentrate more on designs & sample cutting. Whats your table size?

Vishnu

[smreish]

Travis,
I just finished adjusting Nils machine and the really important part of the weld up is making sure the top edge is flat and level. If the sides are toed out at +/- 3 degrees like ours, it didn't make difference.
So, you can cut all your leg steel square, but weld the out - of - whack stuff so it's level on top. Welding and filling the gap should be easy.

I didn't do the later process while fabrication was in process and ended up spreading the feet apart on the stretcher part of the rails until the machine top was level. (it was a lot like aligning a car suspension) Thus, the table's base is wider than the top by about an inch.

I hope this helps.

Sean

[Delamination]

I have made some progress - I have the y-car welded and painted. I have most of the components for the controls sitting here staring at me.

I started cutting the rails. I made a flat surface (12" TGI beams sandwiched between 3/4 MDF) to which I clamped one of the 6' y-rails to start. I have the grinder attached to half the skate and bolted to a base like many others have.

But when I start to break through the other side of the rail after making many light passes, the grinder starts to bind up and chatter and jump out of the slot. Do I just muscle through until it is completely cut along the entire length, or am I missing a finer point of grinding/cutting finesse?

[Gerald D]

. . . when I start to break through the other side of the rail after making many light passes, the grinder starts to bind up and chatter and jump out of the slot. Do I just muscle through until it is completely cut along the entire length, or am I missing a finer point of grinding/cutting finesse?

This doesn't sound right. The slot shouldn't get that much narrower purely from the weight of the scrap above the slot. Can you think of a force that is making the slot close up?

[Kobus_Joubert]

When you cut thru just wedge a screwdriver or something into the end to keep it open

[Gerald D]

Oh, you must be talking of the stress in the scrap that makes it curl sometimes. Yes, just wedge it open, or bend it back with a wrench.

[Delamination]

Thanks - wedging a screwdriver worked.

I find that I am taking about 1/2 a thousandth (0.0005") each pass. Is that about right? That means to cut through 1/4" requires about 500 passes. Yikes!

[hennie]

Travis think about the meters you walk to do all those passes:)

[Gerald D]

Travis, you are doing it very gently, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I wouldn't have the patience! The first passes would be gentle to establish a clear furrow and then the pressure is piled on till just before the grinder motor complains. With the extra pressure, the grinder must be kept moving so that the metal doesn't "burn". (Actually, the hot metal destroys the glue in the disk)

[smreish]

...I think it took me around 20-30 passes and had each rail cut.
All I can remember at this point (it has been over a year now) is it took an entire Saturday to cut down all the rails and clean up the mess.

[Delamination]

I finished cutting the rails yesterday. Light cuts at first, then heavy cuts as was suggested. Worked quite well, along with a few screwdrivers to pry the cutoff away from the rail and prevent binding.

Dust everywhere. But I brushed some of it into a old plastic 1 gal ice cream bucket. The fine grindies nicely show flux lines from a few hard drive magents placed underneath,

[Delamination]

I am getting ready to grind the bevels, but I've run into some confusion. I've seen a few references to tapping the height adjustment bolt holes for 1/2" bolts, but these holes are .497" in diameter. Should I tap for 9/16 bolts instead?

[Gerald D]

You have me confused. Where are the "height adjustment holes" - drawing number please?

[Gerald D]

If you mean the holes in the skate, they should have been lasered at 9mm [0.35"] - meant for drilling to suit your tapping size.

[Delamination]

Sorry - the dwg nr is M610116PB. The holes in the ears are about 0.5".

[Gerald D]

Better check with Joe why those holes are so big.

You could get nuts above and below the plate (I think), avoiding the need for tapping. The lower nut cut in half to reduce its height.

[J.R. Hatcher]

I would just spot weld a nut on the top side and have a jam nut on top of that, no need for a nut on the bottom, plus the ease of adjustment. :)

[J.R. Hatcher]

I needed to come up with a good and quick solution :D, since this is a drawing I modified and Joe was kind enough to just cut 1 off for me. I think his laser cutter got confused :confused: and thought this was a new modification for all :rolleyes:.

[brian green]

I and a friend are starting construction on two MechMates. Laser cut parts ordered (thanks Joe). Working on getting the other steel.

Travis, I'm in wonder lake between you and your buddy, I have a 30"x40" home built running right now and I would love to see your guys progress, as the mechmate is something that I want to do in the near future. Right after I get an indexer and finish building my cnc lathe.

Brian

[Delamination]

That would be great Brian. Right now there is really nothing to see but a pile of semi-assembled parts, but hopefully they will become fully-assembled (and moving) parts within the next few weeks.

[Delamination]

I have finally gotten to the point of grinding the angles on the rails. Took me much longer (and more trips to Lowes and Ace) than I was expecting to get the skate assembled.

Welding nuts for the height adjustment bolts worked great, but I was having trouble spacing the grinder to set the grinding wheel at a good location to engage as much of the bearings as possible without bottoming out on the angle iron's fillet. Finally got it right and zing! bevels a-plenty.

Some things that were definitely helpful:
1. Clean off all the mill-scale. The bearings dont bind up then.
2. A little oil for the height bolt to slide on made movement smoother.
3. Clean up the 45 degree corners with a file so the v-wheel rolls smoothly.

[Delamination]

Well, I've made some progress on the table, but I right now I need to back off on the MM and concentrate on some other things. I am going to put my four OM PK296B2A-SG7.2 and four Gecko 203v's on ebay if no one here is interested.

[astrolavista]

whats the difference between the a2a and the b2a, Just the rear shaft?

[Gerald D]

Yes

[brian green]

Travis,
I sent you a pm w/regaurds to the steppers and geckos.