Scratch Build – In Progress The Elite Modder - cvriv_mechmate_001

So I decided to go ahead and build a MechMate instead of designing my own cnc router. Atleast for now. Because I dont really know all the in's and out's of CNC. I figured I would build a MechMate and learn from it. I'll design my own after I have learned all I need to know.

The MechMate is the closest thing to what I wanted design wise so this is why I chose it. Plus the plans are free and the designer will walk you through the build process Smart man

So here's my first post:

cvriv_mechmate_001_05-23-2009

Hi Here are ALL of the modeled MechMate profiles cut and bent

1020451PC.dxf


1020452PC.dxf


1020456PA.dxf


1020457PA.dxf


1020458PA.dxf


1030422PD.dxf


1030450PG.dxf


1030455PB.dxf


1040372PA.dxf


1040387PA.dxf


1040432PF.dxf


1040434PD.dxf


1060215PB.dxf


1060315PA.dxf


1060325PA.dxf


M130332PA.dxf


M510312PB.dxf


M510314PB.dxf


M510322PC.dxf


M510324PA.dxf


M610115PB.dxf


M610116PB.dxf


So yea. These were made to specifcation using the DXF file's that come with the MM plans. Imperial thicknesses and metric dimensions. I have to make tiny alteration here and there so I could get the parts to bend within the software. No biggy. I am going to start modeling the rest of the components now. I think all the remaining components are actually made by the MM builder. After that I can finally assemble.

 

laser cutter.. win! lol

nice designs

 

There's a guy in alabama who arranges for these profiles to be laser cut and bent. He actually purchases like 10 sets and then sells them to the MM public. Would cost me about 550 for all 25 or so pieces to be cut and bent for me. Easy.

 

This is gonna be awesome my friend, I can't wait to see the real pieces.

 

Nice. Let someone else work out the bugs.
This design is nice because the gantry doesn't pass under the work. You could build it directly on the ground, (with a little concrete leveler.)

 

Before your reincarnation, you and me and Cheaps and some others were banging around the idea of res with gears for paddle blades etc.

Over on the steampunk world I got turned on to a free website that allows you to design gears for thin wood, plexi, barass, etc. It allows you to print the designed gears and use it as a template for actual cutting.

Store this away in the long term memory files:

http://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html

Played with it today and it's pretty easy.

john

 

I wanted to have gears inside a reservoir. I wanted to do something like what cheap did and I also wanted some gears turning inside the res just for looks. I will do this once I have the router running. And you want to know what the best part is?!?!? I'll be able to make several of them to sell to the public.

Did I ever tell you guys that I found out why the old reservoirs were having the problem with gluing?!?!? Well it turns out that is was the cold. I was suspicious of it but at the time though it was kind of ridiculous. It wasn't till I put an old res into storage where during the windeter months it's really cold. This res was in perfect condition. I was there one day looking for something and came across the res,... which displayed the same symptoms as all the other reservoirs with seperation. So no cold. Im actually going to cut down on gluing.

 

I can't wait to see those new reservoirs mate, good to have you back .

 

D*mn, He's going to beat me to it.
Plexi hates the cold? I never would have found that out here...

 

Plexi alone,... I think it's fine. It's the bond that doesnt like the cold. You'll see silvery bubbles form. It's seperation.

 

cvriv_mechmate_001_05-26-2009

Here's an update. According to the plans but with a few changes. Check it out.

Here's how I would like my table to be. The plans call for the 8 cross beams(1010302SB) to be welded to the x beams(1010322SA) because it's permanent. That way you dont have to worry about the able going out of square. Which is good because thats one less thing to worry about. BUT! like some,... I need to be able to dismantle this machine for transport. What you see in the image below weighs about 650lbs. Thats according to Inventor. AND! Thats only what you see! LOL.


So instead of welding these 8 beams I am going to do what many others are doing. Im going to bolt them.


To keep help keep the table square,... I and going to weld a support bar across the ends of the beams, in sets of 4. These support bars will hold the cross beams together so that they are square. When the x beams are bolted to them they will be square with each other. Once the table surface is bolted down to the cross beams, it will help hold the table square too. Plus the legs of the table will help to hold the table square also.


Forgive my Inventor rendering abilites,... im still trying to figure that out. In this pic you can see the inventor welds for the end plate(1010324GA) for the x beam(1010322SA).


Here's the bolts that will hold the x beam to the cross beams. 16 x 3/8"-16 heavy hex bolts. I have to use beveled washer because the steel channel has an internal taper. It very dark. Sorry.


Im using 3/8"-16 socket head bolts for the table. These bolts will screw directly into the the cross beams for ease of removal.


See Still kind of dark.


Here's the underside. You can see the two sections of cross beams. Kind of like pallets. Really heavy pallets.


Here they are alone.


I dont want to weld to much because I dont want to deform the metal to much. I think i'll be fine with this. The very end with the flat side facing out gets welded all around the channels shape. The remaining 3 only get a top and bottom weld. That should be good. It's not like those support bars are going to be taking on a load.


And thats it for now


Now this isn't my final size. I will know for sure its final size once I build the gantry.

 

Looks like a very sturdy bench you will have there.

 

cvriv_mechmate_001_06-06-2009

Sorry for the delay. I've been stupid busy. Working. Sleeping. Buying a house. I have a ton of stuff going on. Didn't really get much drawing done but this is what I do have done,...

I did a few things actually. I remade the spoil board because I just wasn't understanding how the spoil board works. There the bottom layer of the spoil board called the support board that gets bolted to the table. Then there are spoil layers that get glued to the support board. You pretty much embed the bolts within the layers. You use nuts on the underside of the table to hold the support board down. Now, you use the router to surface that spoil board so its clean and square to the router bit. Once the surface of the spoil board is destroyed enough, thats when you surface the spoil board with the router again. once you cut down far enough you then go ahead and glue on another layer Cool right? Anyways. I had drawm up the legs and supports for the table too. I totally forgot to take a pic of it but the way I have it, the entire machine disassembles into a few pieces. Well more than a few but not as many as there could of been. The two largest pieces of the machine are the sides. A side is mostly welded together with few things bolted to it. The side are held together with table cross supports and leg supports. Not including the gantry,... thats a total of 10 pieces right. Atleast right now. The sides are way heavy. But I can move them.


All the bolts are missing. These are test fit pics. I'm working on the x rails and gantry now. Everything will be fine tuned in the end. I will literally build my machine according to this model.


Been practicing my welding skills. My girlfriend bought me a 110V 140amp Lincoln MIG for xmas. Seeing that there is a god amount of welding involoved with the mechmate router,... im practicing now. I only have like 2 hours of practice under my belt. LOL. But I'm doing good! I have a good grasp on flux-core welding with a MIG welder. In this pic I'm set up to make a weld. I'll first tack weld that in place and then complete the weld with two hands. I'm ok with one hand but I perfer two when I can. This is going to be a strength test because many dont believe that a small 110V welder can weld 1/4" steel. Going to prove them wrong!


Sloppy. It's been several days since my last 1 hour practice session. LOL. I have to stop welding to the ends. I'm melting the ends away.


I'm going to do a 3" run across this section here. I have it already tack welded in place. I'm at it with the wire speed at 1.5 here. I prefer 1. Better penetration. But you have to go slower through to fill in the weld.


Done. This is pretty ok. The brown stuff is slag from the flux-core wire.


Just did the other side with the wire speed at 1. You see how the weld is concaved? I think they call it undercut. Its from not filling in the weld aka slow wire speed. I used a wire speed of 1 which is ok but I went to fast. Didnt give the machine enough time to fill it in. This has good penetration though. Everything was melted under that bead.


This "thing" your looking at is a wire speed setting of 2. The inside panel of the welded said I should be using a wire speed setting of 2.5 for 1/4". I dont get it. It obviously doesnt work. Not enough heat for that wire speed. There was tons of kick back, respark, slatter,.... just ewww. You see how the weld bead is large? Thats from not having enough heat. The bead grows quick because theres just enough heat to melt the wire onto itself. Not enough to heat the work too. Poor penetration.


This is a wire speed of 1. This time I went slower. The beads looks more like a chamfer now as oppose to a concave. I really should be using a wire speed of about 1.5. You want to build up but I like this weld. It's clean and tight.


Here's the ugly weld with some of the slag removed. There's still some left. It's actually looks like melted metal. It all has to be removed before painting. Best to grind some of the weld away to be sure the slag is gone. Or if you have a sand blaster, which I dont.


My pretty weld. The slag is on the edge of the bead.


Tried getting a cross cut to see how far I penetrated but that obviously didnt work. I wonder how they get cross cuts?!?! You see the difference in bead size? Although the bigger bead looks stronger,... ?I have my money on the smaller beads. I know I penetrated far.


Here's a crappy 1.5 wire speed. I was playing around to see what would happen if you moved to fast or two slow. Just want edo t see what would happen. I was moving a bit fast in this pic.


Moving fast here too.


Time for the strength test. Did the 110V welder do the job most think is not likely? We'll see. This is the first weldment I did. I did it with a wire speed of 1 with the amperage maxed. I went kind of quick with this weld. Not 100% sure it will hold. maybe 90% sure. I had a weld kind of like this break the last time I tried. But I was super new at that point.


So I did another one with the same settings except this time I went slow allowing the heat to seriously soak into the metal creating that permanent bond I am looking for. I stayed clear from the edges too. Still sloppy.

 

THE RESULTS ARE IN! It's conclusive! LOL.That is ONE piece of metal you see there, not 4.


This side I used a big thing of pliers on the top of the flange and just muscled it down. It work but I though that wasn't convincing enough so I broke out the hame and beat the S@#$ out o fthe other side.


Yeeeeea. This isn't going to break.


Awwww. Thats thin sheeting. With setting maxed,... I can just blow holes through this sheet like a knife through paper.


Now,... time for house pics. This is going to be my new home. It's not ours just yet but we are closing in the next 2 weeks so yea it's pretty much ours. But im not going to hold my breath until they hand me the keys. We got 1.25 acres.


Big ole' hot tub in a gazebo in the front yard.


We need a mower. A big one. one I can ride.


Side of the house.


My girl makin sure everyone is working hard. LOL.


My back yard. Awesomeness!


The kitchen. Which we are going to like work on. We have a lot to do.


Previous owner a modder?!?! Maybe


And the best part,...


A big garage.


A place just for me so I can do my work uninterupted!


HOT! Oh yea, of course, I mean you Christy,...


The garage has electricity and is heated. Or atleast will be as soon as I hook that antique in the back.


The clean room.


This is where I will do a lot of my clean work such as light fabrication, assembling, packaging, computing, etc. The other room will be where all the dirty work happens. I actually want to move the furnace into this room. The dirty room will be messed with dust from wood, acrylic, metal. I dont want it to funk up the furnace.


Yes. The clean room. Well look at that. Theres an upstairs to this place.


Oh yea. Storage. I might even put a mechmate router up here. Maybe two. I dont know. The machines are very heavy. Maybe if I brace the ceiling some more from downstairs. I want all my fire starting machines down stairs on the concrete. I dont know. We'll see.


Anyways,... I'll start posting real work very soon. I am hoping to start the router fairly soon and definitely start working on blackout right away. As soon as I move in and get all my stuff out of storage. Patience.

 

Nice progress, and congratulations on the new home/workshop space!

 

thank you sir.

 

that's quite a big space for modding purposes - nice welding progress

and i've got one question :>



do i see rifle case ? sorry for oftopic

Congrats of very impressive house in such a peacfull area!

Regards
HeXeN

 

LOL. i said the same thing! It belongs to the septic guy. I said to him,... "A rifle case? Just in case you open the septic and find something alive in there?". LOL. It's actually for a special camera. He uses it to look inside the septic system to check for faults.

There's going to be more than modding going on in that garage. I'm going to try and seriously manufacture on a small scale in that garage. Wall to wall cnc machines. No joke.

 

nice house!

 

Nice place. It looks like you might need a snow plow blower attachment for the lawnmower too. That's a hell of a lot of driveway to shovel.
It might be better to leave the furnace where it is and wall it in behind an extra filter panel.
Any Jersey Devil sightings yet?