I had a couple more holes to punch with the drill press on the X-table before I could really move on. The 7/16″ holes for the cross dowels for the rails needed to be measured out and punched in. I picked up the kids form daycare today, so I came home 1/2 hour early and banged out the 4 holes. I left everything sitting, just in case I forgot anything. Once the kids were in bed, I went back out and looked things over. Yep, done with the drill press on the X-table.
Rather than drill a bunch of manual holes in the edges of the X-table, I decided to move on to cutting out some of the other pieces, since I can’t really do anything else until that happens. So I measured and laid out the circular saw cuts on both boards, then started in with the circular saw. It’s been awhile since I did any cutting with one of those, so it took a little while to get set up. And the first thing I found out was that the blade is shot. Luckily, we had a spare sitting around. With the new blade, things started going pretty smoothly. I need to figure out how to deal with the “part that falls off” when I finish a cut, but other than that, all was well.
With only a few small mistakes, I now have a pile of parts waiting to be drilled, a pile of “primals” (boards that contain multiple smaller parts that still need to be cut out), and a 2’x2′ piece of extra plywood, in case I decide that I absolutely need to re-cut anything. The so-called primals are all small enough to be cut apart using the chop saw, which makes my life ever so much easier. By the end, I was decently good at getting consistent cuts out of the circular saw; I knew whether a particular cut was going to require me to construct a fence (the 2′ level does a great job at this, by the way), or whether I could use the little fence-guide-thingy that came with the saw, which is awesome if you have to cut out two of the exact same size part in a row. I am particularly proud of my X-table “feet” pieces, which came out exactly the same size. Another “win” moment was when I was able to cut away a bad chunk of wood that was less than 1/2″ wide, by skillful use of the fence-guide-thingy.
This is a lot of words to say that at the beginning of the evening, I had 4 plywood boards, two of them clamped together with a couple of holes drilled in them. By the end of the evening, I had a pile of CNC parts, waiting to be processed and installed.
Tomorrow, I will start putting together the X-table legs, then the gantry sides. If I can get all that drilled tomorrow, then I am simply waiting for the hardware kit to arrive (it shipped today, after I wrote a note to the seller to ask for status) so that I can build the X-axis BRAs and make my first “custom measurement” to cut a couple of key pieces of the Y-axis to size.
Things that I may have to be worried about:
– The X-table boards are not flat, and when unclamped, the edges and corners pull away from each other. I may have to add more connection bolts, or maybe it will come together when I bolt on the legs.
– I am uncertain how I am going to get the legs to line up properly with the table, since some of the holes are not lined up right. I may end up redrilling them and epoxying if necessary.
– The gantry sides are not the same width. I made a really bad cut (first cut with the circular saw) and one of them is about 1/4″ narrower. I don’t think it’s a big deal, in fact I think that most of the holes are drilled with the gantry sides clamped to each other, so that should be fine. But there you go.
– The most visible piece on the whole kit, the Y-axis rail, has a big ding on it. I am hoping that chamfering will help. The gantry bottom has a ding, too, but that rides under the table so is usually invisible.
The hardware kit is underway via USPS Priority from Houston, so it might be here on Saturday, which would rock.
The electronics kit is underway via UPS from Chicago, scheduled for Monday. I’m in no hurry, there. Unless something dramatic changes, I won’t be ready for electronics yet by Monday.
I have all the pieces and parts in place or underway. Now I just have a couple hundred holes to drill and some assembly required, and I will be CNCing!
Good progress today.