Friday, September 3, 2010

CNC build phase

This week was purely a build phase, working on the gantry ends that would support the rolling rail.

The materials I had salvaged largely dictated the design for me, as the end supports made no impact on the action of the axis; they only serve to raise the axis off the table.
The material I was working with was 25mm stainless steel rod, and 5mm ss plate which proved a lot trickier to work with than I had anticipated. Stainless is far harder than steel, so many of the tools I would usually use to cut steel were unavailable to me.

As I was working only in stainless steel I couldn't use the MIG welder, because the 3D labs only have steel coils for it. Instead I learned how to TIG weld. This was an extremely rewarding experience for me, because TIG takes a great deal more skill than MIG to do, and I love to learn new physical techniques especially if they are technically demanding. I wouldn't call myself a good welder, but I did a good enough job.

Tags: fabrication cnc

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