Guide Supports and Bearings
It's been slow-going for a few days. I've made pretty good progress this week, but it seems like there isn't much that's very visual. I had a good time working out how to machine some of this surplus plastic I have, and getting it to thread smoothly. I have a good start on the anti-backlash nuts.
Yesterday and today, I was able to nearly finish up all my guide supports. These are made from 1.5" x 1/8" aluminum angles. I went to the trouble of spotting all the holes on the mill so there would be no alignment issues with the guides and lead screws. They came out pretty good.
The bearings are press-fit. If I had it to do over again (and I will), I wouldn't have skimped on the bearings and just bought flange bearings.
They're mounted on the frame, and it only took a little finagling to get everything to line up within a few hundredths. I may need to ream one of the holes on the sub-frame strips, as it ended up having slightly more than 1/16" error (in relation to its mounting hole). It still makes it through the hole, but the counter-sunk head is clearly askew.
The Proxxon tool came in this week. I was honestly shocked the first time I turned it on. Everyone said it's a quality tool with very little excess noise. I wasn't expecting this nice of a tool.
I'll probably be working on the linear guides, screws, and plastic bits this week. There's a lot of aluminum sub-structure to build, as well as the motor mounts, motor couples, and tool mount. The list of what needs to be done is shrinking!