I spent the evening figuring out how to fit all the parts I have to cut onto the pieces of scrap I have left over.
I had to create 3 parts more or less from scratch:
– Y axis top and bottom pieces (I decided to go with 3 pieces, a center 18″ piece and 2 flanking 12″ pieces, to give maximum stability to all parts of the gantry)
– router mount (I reused the router mount I’d designed for the Book CNC, and modified it to use the same attachment point as the BlackFoot — it felt very good to be able to reuse a part like that)
– doweling jig (I created this more or less out of whole cloth, although I used an existing part to get the initial spacing for the cross dowel hole. I was able to add and subtract from the original part to get it to fit on the board and also to create enough room for the cross piece to fit. I’m pretty happy with the part and I hope it works)
I also added in a bunch of parts that came out a little sketchy, including most of the Z axis table and the Y motor mount. I added a vacuum shoe so that the new rig will not blow sawdust everywhere (I hope).
With all the extra parts, I will end up using all 4 pieces of leftover board in order to cut the required pieces. I can start with the “must have” pieces of course, but I really feel that all of them need to get done. The whole cut represents somewhat less than a full sheet, but all the extra setup will cost some time.
Once the parts are all cut out, I should be able to get the drill press fired up to start running all the doweling holes, as well as any pockets that were missed. I also need to re-pocket the back of one of the Y gantry backer boards, since I cut a mirror image of what I was supposed to. Once I get started, all of that shouldn’t take much time at all to complete, maybe a night or two.
Once I get all the pieces cut and drilled, I’ll be ready to start in on construction again. I have a feeling the drill press will remain handy throughout the build, as there are a lot of “off by a little” errors in the drill points.
Good work tonight. I’m up late. Very tired. Need to get some sleep. I feel the same way I do after a long night of astronomy; glad to have done it, but knowing I’ll be regretting it at work tomorrow.
Keeping on.