closer to success

This past Saturday was cut short a little because of a bbq at a friend's place, so we had only a few hours of machining, rather than a whole day. Regardless we've accomplished a few things.


This photo shows the overall progress of the machine. You can see the main addition has been the z axis leadscrew and driving motor.

















A closeup shot of the z stage motor and leadscrew junction. Here you can see the leadscrew entering the upper bearing, where the z motor shaft is coupled to it by means of a set screw (which i stupidly forgot to drill and install before putting together the assembly).

You can also see the rubber washers used to hopefully reduce the vibration effects of the stepper motor (at least we hope).











A closeup shot of the x stage motor with the rubber washers and the timing belt pulley.

Where did we get the timing belt pulley you ask?

Short answer: not in Canada.

Long answer: David's family had it custom machined in Korea (probably cheaper than the cost of customs from the U.S. XD) and brought it over when they visited him last week.









A final shot of the captive nut assembly, showing how the nut is held in place by friction and pressure. The assembly unfortunately doesn't work too well in that the nut still rotates, so it will have to be fixed in the short term by a dab of hot glue or epoxy to lock it in its place.










As it looks, the machining mechanical work seems to be nearly complete for the cartesian stage. What's left now is merely ensuring the timing belts (which have yet to be purchased) can be coupled to the moving xy stages and installing set screws for the z-axis leadscrew. Hopefully both of these things can be completed next week. After that, I'll be shifting my focus over to the electronics of the whole machine (with a lot of help from David), while he continues on the extruder design and construction.

till next time,

-Eric