Saturday, March 26, 2016

Building the X axis

As I'm gaining experience building this thing, It seems to go faster and easier,  maybe I'm seeing the finish?


Sunday, March 20, 2016

Z axis mechanical drive

This is the most complicated thing of the whole enchilada.

In order to move the whole beam up and down, it has two driving belts, one for each end of the beam, driven together by a shaft.
To counter balance the weight of the beam and Y mechanical axis, I choose to use constant force springs, instead of weights for the purpose of reducing the inertia.





The constant force springs are expensive, so for now I'm using a low-tech approach, bungee-cords.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Received printed idler gear

I have received the 3D printed idler gear today.

Thank you Alex for printing them for me! They look really nice.

Thank you Cristian for helping me modifying the source file so the model accepts 608Z ball bearings I already have.



Working on the belt tensioner:


Wednesday, March 9, 2016