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Step 11Starting the Assembly
Now we're starting to see the whole thing come together.
The blue parts are the bases and the bed, supporting the "ways". The ways are (is) a strip of 3"-wide, 1/4" thick cold-rolled steel (CRS). It's pretty solid and heavy, but actually can flex a bit -- which is why it's important for the bed to be very, very precisely flat, as the ways will be bolted quite tightly to the bed and thus follow its flatness (or lack thereof). The bed I cast, as you may recall, has a nearly 2mm dip in the center. That may sound like very little, but in fact would result in unacceptable imprecision -- most machine-tool work is specified in terms of thousandths of an inch. 2mm is about 1/12th of an inch -- a HUGE error in machining-land.
In any event, the "ways" are/is resting on the bed. The green piece is the carriage. On top of the carriage yet another "ways" (a piece of 1/4" thick, 2" wide CRS) for the cross-slide, and the cross-slide itself (the unpainted chunk of metal with the circular pattern on top).
So - briefly -- the bed ways will be bolted down to the bed/base; the bed/base will be bolted to the two base castings; and a long threaded rod along the front will let me crank a handle to move the carriage left-and-right.
Then, the cross-slide ways (the 7" long x 2" wide piece of steel) will be bolted to the carriage, and a screw with a crank-handle will be installed in the cross-slide (so, when I turn the handle, the cross-slide will go back and forth). Then, the compound swivel base (coming soon) will be installed on top of THAT, so I can turn the cutting tool clockwise or counterclockwise.
The blue parts are the bases and the bed, supporting the "ways". The ways are (is) a strip of 3"-wide, 1/4" thick cold-rolled steel (CRS). It's pretty solid and heavy, but actually can flex a bit -- which is why it's important for the bed to be very, very precisely flat, as the ways will be bolted quite tightly to the bed and thus follow its flatness (or lack thereof). The bed I cast, as you may recall, has a nearly 2mm dip in the center. That may sound like very little, but in fact would result in unacceptable imprecision -- most machine-tool work is specified in terms of thousandths of an inch. 2mm is about 1/12th of an inch -- a HUGE error in machining-land.
In any event, the "ways" are/is resting on the bed. The green piece is the carriage. On top of the carriage yet another "ways" (a piece of 1/4" thick, 2" wide CRS) for the cross-slide, and the cross-slide itself (the unpainted chunk of metal with the circular pattern on top).
So - briefly -- the bed ways will be bolted down to the bed/base; the bed/base will be bolted to the two base castings; and a long threaded rod along the front will let me crank a handle to move the carriage left-and-right.
Then, the cross-slide ways (the 7" long x 2" wide piece of steel) will be bolted to the carriage, and a screw with a crank-handle will be installed in the cross-slide (so, when I turn the handle, the cross-slide will go back and forth). Then, the compound swivel base (coming soon) will be installed on top of THAT, so I can turn the cutting tool clockwise or counterclockwise.
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Get the thingey with the color and move it nearby the thingey thats the other color from the other thingey until the thingey has the other thingy in the right place.