Monday, February 21, 2011

Technical Design and Early Fabrication

Having worked on the nitty-gritty details of the technical design for my rapid fabricator since Christmas, I began fabricating components last week. The first pieces to be machined were corner gussets for the 80/20 frame. While similar supports are available through the manufacturer, it was far less expensive to spend a few hours making my own.


The last 2 days have been devoted to machining the linear bearing assemblies for the X-Y-Z axis. Each tracking mechanism required machining on 3 sides, as a result it look much longer to fabricate and maintain a constant level of precision between operations. Again, 80/20 manufactures linear bearings, but at roughly $200 apiece. I chose instead to make my own at less than a tenth of the cost.

Dimensional Drawings


Milling bearing mounting plates




Cutting bearing Bushings on a speed lathe


Final Bearing assemblies



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