This Alan bloke is a perfectionist. I just noticed in his photo of the V-rollers, he has turned all the Superior Bearing logos in the same direction!!! :eek::eek:

Thanks Guys, I hope Doug doesn't mind the shiny blue paint on the rail cutting tool :D

Thanks for the compliment Gerald, that comes from my years doing product photography and pack shots. (other people just think I'm APITA)

That rail cutting tool does move sweetly, I have just closed the holes in the top of the ball bearing units to stop the grinding dust getting in there.

Right, the post of Official MechMate Photographer has just been filled!
To earn your keep you need to tell us how you get your lighting and focus so good. :)

I don't know if I can afford the travel fees and per diem to bring him here! :D

How about a "group buy", spread the costs over the country and I get to see it all ;) :D

Hey, he didn't get the job of Roving Official MechMate Photographer - that's on my portfolio. :mad:

Lighting: try to balance the flash with the daylight or use daylight and reflectors only - flash tends to blow out the details if not controlled properly. When taking pics after dark I have a 85w CFL (= 500w) above the work station that gives a nice even light which I then balance with the on camera flash (i.e. turn down the output of the flash)

Focus: no tricks there, just focus 1/3 in, use the smallest apperture possible and if necessary use a tripod to eliminate camera shake (the biggest cause of fuzzy pics). I take all my pics into Photoshop, resize and apply unsharp mask to help bring out that extra bit of detail.

Thanks Alan,

I'll start working on the lighting. My pictures do need some work.

If Alan agrees, for daylight light, avoid direct sunlight (too many shadows on machinery). Overcast day is ideal.

I actually wrote a comment about the fact that you even painted the skate but changed my mind about posting it for fear that you might take it wrong. :) I can already see indications that I'm not going to want pictures of my machine on the same forum with the one you build. :rolleyes:

Doug,
Don't worry, when my pics start coming in you will definitely feel good about yours. :)

Ditto, here as well.

Skate assembled
 

Here are some pics of the mods and final assembled grinding skate.

I modified the mounting position to suit the Ryobi grinder, it attaches with those cap screws into metal inserts in the gear head. That gear head bearing holder is plastic so we will have to see the long term wisdom of my decision. Because of that mounting position, the plate sits proud of the grinder body so I extended the shape around the back to cover the grinding wheel. The recess in the plate is to mount it as close as possible to the grinder and also helps it locate. (I have the same arrangement on the cutting jig). To attach the bearings I used countersunk cap screws and just machined most of the head away to make a very low profile fastener and its still plenty strong enough.

The second shot shows the skate assembled with the bearings. I am using the Superior Bearings cam bushes here, but have also made shorter versions to hold only one bearing if necessary.

The next two pics show the skate in working position on the rail - I still have enough space below the bearing bolts to drop the height of the rail closer to the required spec, its currently sitting at 28mm on that test piece.

The last one shows my hand position when testing the contraption - one hand on the body near the switch and one hand gripping one of the height adjusting bolts. I am considering welding a nut to the outside edge of the grinder holding plate to mount the handle that usually fits into the side of the grinding head. This will, I think, add just a little bit more control and comfort. :confused:

Yep, that's what mine looks like too!
I found if I kept my left hand on the center [(in a glove:) ] and my right hand on the aft (cord end) it had great balance.
I also added threaded handles to the "studs" sticking up at a 45 Deg angle and it push and pulled well.
* NOTE *
I also recommend zip tieing the cord to the top side of the grinder. I knicked my jacket on the cord and required a little "e-tape" repair.

Alan,
Also, on the vertical adjustment bolts don't forget to round them over on the bench grinder. The lead on the threads wants to try galling the top of the rail. I replaced my bolts with Bullet tipped hex head cap screws after the Beta test.

NICE WORK......Is that polish residue on your hand from manicuring for the photos :D

Have fun grinding...it's a Hoot!

Alan, did you buy a new grinder to make these pictures? :cool:
Man, looks like we have the beginning here of the official Mechmate manual comming to Amazon soon! Wow great pictures!
The parts also look nice :)

Stefan

Okay Alan, it's official, you're banned.:D

I know of a bloke in Cape Town that would like to borrow your grinder!

JR, can you see what you started here. Everybody, blame JR for this! :D

That can certainly be arranged, lets just hope I dont burn it out doing the rails :eek:

Alan, you win the award for the nicest pictures! Keep them coming, please. I am enjoying them.

Paul

wow superb, nice pictures, i just whait for my laser cut parts for the skate, i've got the roller and the grinder.

Alan,

Tell them what kind of camera you are using. I suspect that is why the quality is so good.

The camera is pretty old - he still ducks under a black hood.

Its not the tool, its how its applied - same as a cnc...

For the record I use a Canon G5 (5M Pix) built in lens with auto focus and "mickey mouse" flash - not what one would describe as a top of the range pro model camera (some cellphones I know have a higher pixel count)

I have not used any auxiliary lighting or flashes besides the 85w CFL mentioned and reflected daylight.

(background info - I did my trade in the Air Force as a photographer 27 years ago and although not currently doing any commercial, money earning photography I have done a broad range of work from weddings, advertising, aerial and technical photography in that period. The Air Force gave a very good background, just like Geralds experience in the Navy - Those might have been difficult years but we are richer for the experience)

As a former "squid" (US Navy), the above statement is so true. I owe everything I am today to the U.S. Navy.

Alan,

The truth comes out....... it is all those 27 years. Well you do an excellent job.

Nils, it was 27 years ago.

Z Slide Assembled
 

I assembled the Z-slide today, had it machined at an engineering works I use for most of my maintenance work for the factory - not entirely happy with the end result, I get so frustrated when I know what I want and how to do it but dont have the tools at my disposal :mad:

I decided to go with the 6 wheel option on the spider even though I have a pre-Mamba unit, its close to the edge but works - as an aside I notice the spider has quite a bit of flex, if you lift the guage plate out of the bottom set so that it is only held by the top four rollers, the bottom pair spring back inwards slightly - when the plate is lowered again it seems to catch as it enters the rollers. Admittedly it was very roughly set up, will have to play with it some more once its fully assembled with spindle, gas strut and power.

Attachment 948

Attachment 949

As you can see I have added the cable chain mounting point as per the Mamba design - building a hybrid Classic/Mamba Mechmate

Started cutting the Y axis angle iron for the rail - the cutting jig works great but seems to use disks at a rapid rate, went through 3 1/2 disks to cut just one rail, and no I wasn't pushing too hard. When the disk is new, it cuts with a good flow of sparks, but once past halway, the sparks get less and the disk wears at a much higher rate. I was using the thin (1mm) disks from both Norton and Klingspor. The Norton ones wore down much faster.

As I didn't have any more disks on hand and the closest supplier is over the Mountain, I decided to call it a day and join the Kids in the pool (temps over 30 deg C today, but predicting thunderstorms for tomorrow) :D:D

The flex you see, ie. the v-rollers "bending" apart for the slide and springing back when the slide is out, is about right. I think it is also the 8mm bolts flexing a bit. All this doesn't seem to cause any problems though.

The good cutting disks are by Pferd - ask them for the thin Inox (Stainless Steel) disks.

Alan,

Easy on the pictures. Those are nice enough to go into a manual. :)

Pferd disks rule, cut the second Y rail tonight with only one disk and it stayed cutting all the way down to the centre. Will do the bevels tomorrow.

Another small job I have to do tomorrow is remove and reweld the lower mounting point for the gas spring, it seems in my haste I bent it the wrong way...:o:o:o

To bend it neatly, I cut halway through, bent it and welded up the open groove producing a very strong mounting point - only in the wrong direction - we have one of those lovely Afrikaans words to describe how I feel, but I am not allowed to use it on the site :D

Gerald, What is the tolerance on the height of the track - I currently have a variation of about 0.2mm along the length