Now that finals are over I got a chance to do a little more. I made some nice linear rails for one axis of my machine. I CNC'd them from MDF and painted them with epoxy to seal them. They worked reasonably well but ultimately I decided not to use them because they used twice the bearings they needed and were hard to adjust correctly. The hardware also weighed it down a bit. At least I learned a little about working with epoxy.
Now you probably think I'm crazy, and your entitled to your opinion even if you are wrong, but here is where I started over. This time I'm going with a traditional skate bearings and angle stock solution I see all over home made designs. I started by drilling holes for four 8mm bolts to hold my bearings I bought from buildyourcnc.com. The other two holes were drilled from the inside of the angle for mounting to a block. I also used a little blue threadlocker on every nut to prevent the vibrations from loosening them. I'm not sure if that was necessary but it doesn't hurt to be careful.
And here you can see them all finished. It didn't take long to make them and I only needed a drill press, a hack saw, and a few wrenches for the whole thing. Anyone whose worked with aluminum will know how easy it is to scratch so if your fanatical like me, a little steel wool will hide them pretty well and give it a brushed look. Just make sure to rub in circles across the entirety. It's also worth noting the finer the wool is, the finer the finish will be. I used coarse wool to hide the scratches then very fine to get a nice finish. It only took about 7-10 minutes to do all six pieces.
I have a few days before summer classes start so hopefully I can finish at least a few of the axes by tuesday. I have some almost finished blocks for mounting these rails to, then I should be about half way there. So far I like these much better than the first set. I'll have some more pictures soon.
Now you probably think I'm crazy, and your entitled to your opinion even if you are wrong, but here is where I started over. This time I'm going with a traditional skate bearings and angle stock solution I see all over home made designs. I started by drilling holes for four 8mm bolts to hold my bearings I bought from buildyourcnc.com. The other two holes were drilled from the inside of the angle for mounting to a block. I also used a little blue threadlocker on every nut to prevent the vibrations from loosening them. I'm not sure if that was necessary but it doesn't hurt to be careful.
And here you can see them all finished. It didn't take long to make them and I only needed a drill press, a hack saw, and a few wrenches for the whole thing. Anyone whose worked with aluminum will know how easy it is to scratch so if your fanatical like me, a little steel wool will hide them pretty well and give it a brushed look. Just make sure to rub in circles across the entirety. It's also worth noting the finer the wool is, the finer the finish will be. I used coarse wool to hide the scratches then very fine to get a nice finish. It only took about 7-10 minutes to do all six pieces.
I have a few days before summer classes start so hopefully I can finish at least a few of the axes by tuesday. I have some almost finished blocks for mounting these rails to, then I should be about half way there. So far I like these much better than the first set. I'll have some more pictures soon.
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