Posts Tagged ‘ v-slot ’

Building the C-Bot 3D printer: Part 6 : Tapping the linear rail

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Six of the aluminum OpenBuilds v-slot linear rails need tapped for their M5 bolts:  The four vertical legs, and what I’d describe as ‘the two top Y-axis beams’.  The legs only need tapped on one end, while the two other beams need tapped on both sides.

I borrowed my buddies M5x.8mm tap and got to work:  I’ve got to say, this has been the least enjoyable part of the whole operation to date:  16 holes  to tap (2-holes per end * 8 ends) fell into a rhythm:  Squeeze anti-seize paste into a hole, twist tap 21 times, untwist 21 times, meticulously remove shavings and paste from tap, clean paste from hole, screw in M5 bolt to test, repeat.

Gotchas:

  • Everything was cruising along fine until I got going too fast, twisted off-axis, and snapped the tap off in one of the holes.  Which stopped activities for the evening.  Luckily this was one of the legs that only needed tapped on one end:  I used my angle-grinder to shave off the remainder of the tap sticking from the hole, relived to know I could tap the other side.  Next day got a new tap from Home Depot and finished the job.  Lesson learned:  Go slooooooow….
tap_tap_tap

TAP!

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2015
05/27
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Building the C-Bot 3D printer: Part 4 : Cutting the linear rail

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While I really wanted to use this printer build as an excuse to get a chop-saw (and I could have done this on my table saw), the offer of my buddy Mason to go to his house and borrow his sounded pretty good too:  While I’ve used quite a few tools in my life, I’ve never actually used a chop-saw, and it’s always nice to do something with someone who has experiencing doing it themselves.  Not that chop-saws are rocket-science.  But after using one, I think I’ll add one to my Christmas list…

For my build, I ordered nine meters (in one meter sections) of the 20x40mm, which would get cut into 14 separate pieces.  I would have needed more but Mason had an extra length of it, plus the 20x60mm I need.  +2 more cuts…

I hauled all my OpenBuilds v-slot linear rail over to Mason’s and spent the next few hours marking them, and cutting them up (along with the two Acme lead screws).  Could have gone a lot faster, but we were in no hurry, and time was spent staring at his C-bot and dreaming of the future :)

Overall it went very smoothly, nothing outstanding to note.  After I brought them home I spent a good amount of time with a dental pick (they’re awesome) and steel file de-burring all the cut ends, and cleaning them up.  Next up will be tapping the ends for the metric bolts (part 6).

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2015
05/25
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