"Origami" CNC Plasma Build - folding 1200 x 600mm cut area

Back to work but managed to get the brackets tacked up and checked for still being square.  So far so good.  Of course the real fun starts when I lay down some weld bead.

Got one welded up tonight.  Seems to be pretty square for a weldment.  Will get the second one done, do a final skim in the mill on one face that has a weld and mount them up.  Then on to the gantry.

The welds are functional and not pretty.  Its what happens when you don't weld enough to get good practice.  But they are stuck and for the forces they will be dealing with should do the job just fine.

 

Great work James,

Its all coming along nicely.

Not long now...

Hey James,

Have you started n the Z axis yet?

I'm about to make the 3 hour round trip to get some ally sheets for a few jobs and was going to pickup a bunch of plate to start on the new Z axis.

So a little update.

Got the brackets all welded up.  Also went back and added some more weld in to get closer to what a proper fillet on 6mm should be.
 

Then after maching things square the first one mounted with a sqaure on it. Think its looking ok.
 

I couldn't resist just laying the raw gantry beam on the new mounts.  Might need a little trim.
 

Unfortunately not going to get any progress this weekend as have to head north to parents.  But the next thing of real note is going to be the Z/X assembly.  Will get into that next week.

Cheers - James.
 

Update and design thinking.
 Got the gantry cut, trimmed the ends square on the mill and drilled/tapped the mounting holes on mill at the same time.  Need to get some shorter screws. These are getting a bit long.  On the plus side it has proven that the brackets have turned out rather well.
 
 

After seeing Tommylight's X axis belt design and it confirming some rough ideas I started converting things into CAD.  This helps me get dimensions right first time and get a better feel for what the assembly will look like.
So here is an early idea for an X axis drive system using belts.  Still rough and still debating how to secure things together.  Obviously there is the potential to leave things in the current orientation or to move it 90deg shifting the motor higher above the gantry and in line with the Z axis.
 
 

Improvements/ideas welcome.  Also any abservations on limitations and things to watch out for are welcome.

Cheers - James.