So the machine mechanically is far from perfect. If anyone has experience with v-wheels and makerslide feel free to share. Let’s just say not all the wheels turn, all the time. They are tightened as per the assembly instructions and they do spin with my fingers but on each y gantry there is a least one that just slides along. I have fresh wheels and bearings to build up and swap out.
The other odd thing about the design is there isn’t a means of tensioning the wheels against the rail. Ala the usually employed eccentric spacer/nut. So I’m considering doing a little modification to include them. The internet rabbit hole on that topic is all over the spectrum on whether it is a good idea to use them for a rack and pinion drive. Most companies seem to be using a spring loaded tensioner for the motor and pinion.
Only one way to find out. And if it fails I suppose I’ll have to start saving for the Altmill.
Whoooohooooooo!! Yeah! Maaaan! The only Mogul in the world standing on 32 bits!
Maan I am so happy for ya. Resurecting that thing was never going to be easy, but pulling it off must feel sooo effing awesome! Top of the world, King of the seven ponds, President of the universe, ruler of the underworld!
You know, being you.
But.. this is not your last post, it cannot be, it’s cruel to not post at least a few projects made with this oldschool beast. Post a video of it running, for mankind to find when virtuarchaeology is a thing or something sienci can put in their museum of fun stuff done with the SLB. This one will win the top spot, I’m sure.
Anyhoo, allthough I salute your initial idea, your stamina and your badass attitute to sticking to the plan. Allthough I see you as a hero, a fighter for good, a knight in shiny armor slamming his fist on the round table while stating calmy to the other table members whom are bussy gossiping: “silence! Listen, this is what we are going to do!”
It does feel pretty awesome to have it up and running. Though a lot of responsibility lies with the ease employing the integrated Sienci system. Without the calibration tools I would still be killing sharpies. I can’t wait for the auto squaring option to be available.
No no, it won’t be my last post ever. Just for this thread. Further posts will be in the showoff or other categories. First project is a torsion box based table to be the base for the machine. The surfacing has shown me how incredibly uneven the temporary plywood’s mdf combo is.
And yes I have dug quite the canyon. Man am I stoked all the screws I used got missed!!!
First, I have now learned the hard way the true extents of the work envelope, thank the maker for the included emergency stop button with the SLB! And I have gained a lot of experience using the motion tuning tool and x/y squaring tool!!
Second, I have learned that when attempting to level a surface choose the lowest elevation as datum. My first attempt I used the home position which magically was the highest. I should have stopped the program but after watching it run for 5 hours it had left almost 3/4 of the surface untouched. Then I “smartened” up and chose to zero the bit in the middle and when I saw it still wasn’t coming close to the back half of the surface I stopped the program and re-established zero there.
The odd thing on this attempt was that even though when I ran “outline” it looked good, when running the job the “X” dimension was offset by about 15mm. So I let this job run to completion which created the canyon you see. Then I created another “mini” surfacing job using the “ledge” of the canyon as datum and cleaned up the rest.
For the time being I will use the canyon as my trued surface until the torsion box is cut and built. As a bonus the edges of the canyon act as a fence so I can layout material square to the machine.
