Saturday 16 May 2009

A flurry of photo's

I'm too tired to go out looking for tubing, and too tired to work out how to do the z stage/"vertical base", so I've taken Renoir at his word; it doesn't matter what the background is. (Bet you weren't expecting a trampoline, though......)

My photography skills aren't, so apologies there. I don't have steady enough arms for my current digital camera, and often get blurry images, which I didn't with my old film one. (Some of you will have an inkling of why I find this less than easy....and why I'm nervous about the soldering thing, although I do have steady hands...)

I'll get anti-everything for my next camera. Hope the pictures give you a flavour if you haven't already got it. I suspect most of the followers already know what's what.

Here was supposed to be a photo' of my base and one of the x stage only they don't seem to be on the camera - as I say, my photography skills aren't. So here instead we have a blurry close-up picture showing the extra strips of MDF I added to the rails attached to the x-stage to give the y-stage enough clearance:


Here is the y-stage:



(cunningly hiding the error hole)


and here is the top surface of the y-stage (anyone want a spare hole?):

Here is another blurry picture showing how the two washers fail to raise the pivot arm off the stage - I need those penny washers:


Here is a picture of the x-stage assembled on the base:


and here the y-stage covering the x-stage, both assembled on the base:


The base isn't finished yet - it needs its upright at the back to hold the z assembly, and I may need to move the x/y stage assembly backwards on the base. The screws/nuts have not been tightened, since disassembly seems to be a regular feature of my build! The y-motor isn't yet attached to the framework, and the x-motor isn't attached to the threaded rod because I have no suitable tubing. And no, it doesn't look like anything - YET!

4 comments:

  1. Fabulous!
    You're doing great. Also, stop apologising! the photos are fine - more than good enough to work out what's going on
    :-)
    Ironically, I usually reprap on my dining table - a few feet from an a 8ft x 14ft giant trampoline in the garden!

    It looks like you're making excellent progress. Don't feel afraid to modify the design to what you've got. At first, I was trying to follow the instructions exactly, but as I got more confident, I realised that there are lot of changes or tweaks you can make.

    Thanks for the blog.

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  2. Ideas for motor and rod couplings: you might be able to use polymorph (maplins) to form a plastic coupling. A couple of hose clips might help tighten the coupling on the rod or motor shaft.

    Come to that, you might be able to use oversized hosepipe of some kind (garden hose?) which has been split and overlapped, as long as there is a pipe clip on each end to tighten it up.

    The only reason for the hose is to allow a little flexibility in the coupling. You might find it works OK with a fixed shaft coupling ( a coupling nut, plus a grub screw).

    ReplyDelete
  3. It just so happens I have some Polymorph approximately one foot away from my build - yes that is an idea, and one I can get to right away. OK, tomorrow. As for your stressing flexibility and suggesting split hosepiping (no hosepipe) it did give me another idea - a strip of old cycle inner tube wrapped around and cable-tied on. These things I also have, well next time there's a puncture, anyway!
    Thanks Renoir for spurring me on!

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  4. That's the key - adapting the designs to what you've got to hand. RepStraps are adaptable.

    :-)

    Have fun

    ReplyDelete