geneb
12-25-2006, 03:15 PM
I finally got my 'bot finished at 1:30AM on Sunday.
I took some pictures during the process that I wanted to share with you folks that concern the drill axis.
The instructions are a bit vague when it comes to mounting the drill. These pics & info should help quite a bit. The pictures are greater than 50k, so I'm hosting them myself instead of attaching them to the message.
Here is a picture of the newly drilled hole that is referenced in the installation instructions:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_mounting_holes.jpg
The instructions don't tell you that this new hole isn't for mounting the drill axis. It's actually there to replace the hole right next to it. The drill axis only uses a single bolt at the top for installation, but it covers a hole as well.
In my installation I may have used the wrong hole to mount the drill! Using the other hole placed the drill axis too close to the HSD spindle IMHO. If anyone from ShopBot wants to chime in on the correct position of the drill, please do!
The instructions go on to tell you to remove one of the horizontal roller bearings in order to slide the T nut out and slide in the two new ones that will be used to attach the bottom of the drill axis mounting plate to the extrusion. You DON'T have to do this! I fiddled with those little triangular shaped retainer nuts for what seemed like hours. It finally dawned on me that they could be inserted from the bottom of the extrusion and manipulated in such a way as to line up correctly. The trick is the little ball-bearing nipple that's mounted in the top of the triangle nut. It will allow the nut to be inserted from the bottom and will prevent it from falling out. I don't have pics of this unforunately.
The easiest way to align the triangle nuts to the lower mounting holes is to mark where they're to go first:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_in_place.jpg
The drill is just held loosely by the one upper bolt. I then marked the mounting hole centers in the extrusion:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_bolt_locates.jpg
Slide 'em around with a pencil and you're done:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/below_drill_axis.jpg
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/above_drill_axis.jpg
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_installed.jpg
If you have any questions or noticed where I might have screwed something up, please sing out!
g.
I took some pictures during the process that I wanted to share with you folks that concern the drill axis.
The instructions are a bit vague when it comes to mounting the drill. These pics & info should help quite a bit. The pictures are greater than 50k, so I'm hosting them myself instead of attaching them to the message.
Here is a picture of the newly drilled hole that is referenced in the installation instructions:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_mounting_holes.jpg
The instructions don't tell you that this new hole isn't for mounting the drill axis. It's actually there to replace the hole right next to it. The drill axis only uses a single bolt at the top for installation, but it covers a hole as well.
In my installation I may have used the wrong hole to mount the drill! Using the other hole placed the drill axis too close to the HSD spindle IMHO. If anyone from ShopBot wants to chime in on the correct position of the drill, please do!
The instructions go on to tell you to remove one of the horizontal roller bearings in order to slide the T nut out and slide in the two new ones that will be used to attach the bottom of the drill axis mounting plate to the extrusion. You DON'T have to do this! I fiddled with those little triangular shaped retainer nuts for what seemed like hours. It finally dawned on me that they could be inserted from the bottom of the extrusion and manipulated in such a way as to line up correctly. The trick is the little ball-bearing nipple that's mounted in the top of the triangle nut. It will allow the nut to be inserted from the bottom and will prevent it from falling out. I don't have pics of this unforunately.
The easiest way to align the triangle nuts to the lower mounting holes is to mark where they're to go first:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_in_place.jpg
The drill is just held loosely by the one upper bolt. I then marked the mounting hole centers in the extrusion:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_bolt_locates.jpg
Slide 'em around with a pencil and you're done:
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/below_drill_axis.jpg
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/above_drill_axis.jpg
http://www.simpits.org/~geneb/drill_axis_installed.jpg
If you have any questions or noticed where I might have screwed something up, please sing out!
g.