I originally just had some clear acrylic that I cut out with the table saw before I came across your design (MWP Y Axis Belt Dust Guards | Inventables). The dark plastic was just what I had laying around, but it does match the machine nicely. Thanks for the nice design!
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Soooā¦ I disassembled the X carriage and gantry this weekend fully intending to sandwich the 3/16" steel from Lowes between the 2 pieces of maker slide to firm things up, however the 3/16" seems to be a tiny bit too thick and was causing the gantry to bind pretty much the entire length of the X axis.
Has anyone else run into this, or did I just pick the fattest 3/16" piece of steel they had in the bin?
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I had no binding at all when I did the stiffening mod for mine. After drilling, did you clean up the holes so nothing is keeping the layers from a nice tight fit? I hit it all with a file after drilling.
Just a test fit of the 3/16" bar with small clamps holding it tight along the travel (moving as I go) prevented any real travel at all without a LOT of pressure. I did this because my first test of the bar was to just slide it down vertically between the makerslides while they were still screwed in place on the Y axis plates and itā wouldnāt goā¦
I did the same thingā¦I slid the steel bar between the makerslide before I took anything apartā¦it was tight enough to remain in place with nothing attaching it, I even ran a small carve while it was there before I drilled for the bolts.
Your steel bar may be a bit too thickā¦
I think youāre right, I need to go find my calipers and measure ā¦ then take them with me to Lowes for a replacement.
Although - Has anyone found a good single extrusion replacement with V rails?
Iāve been following a couple of these x-axis stiffening mod threads. The plate between the makerslide mod calls out 3/16 .1875 for thickness, I have nowhere near enough room between mine to fit that in. The gap at the widest is .174, and at the narrowest is .168 . Strangely the x carriage wheels (which are 1.775 center to center) donāt change the gap as they pass. Thinking that the 60 minute mod is the way to go for me, just have to order some 4 mm bolts (just smaller than my tightest gap)
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If you loosen the screws holding the endplates to the makerslide, you should be able to wiggle the makerslides around a little bit.
Unless you are going to change to 9mm belts, the 60 min mod (bar top and bottom) is so quick and easy to do, I highly suggest giving it a try first. I think you will be surprised with the level of stiffening. Its also easy enough to remove, with no damage, if you then want to try the bar in the middle approach and or change to 9mm belts in the future.
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I am curious: Are you guys in need to stiffen the X Axis because it flexes when cutting hard materials like metal?
I mean, for cutting Acrylic, PVC, and Woodā¦ the de-facto setup is fine or you also encounter problems?
(I am half way assembling my x-carve, but If I need to do a mod like this beforehand, would be nice to know).
Sorry if I am a bit late in the discussion.
Thanks!
Advice that I have been given on this forum, by knowledgeable people, has always been to do the stiffening mods on all axes (X, Y and Z), as you assemble the X Carve. There are threads and videos showing all of them. Just search the forum.
Just out of curiosity, besides this mod of X axis, what other 2 mods did you implement for Y an Z? Can you point me to them? :).
Thanks
I also did these y-axis braces (see pic in earlier post on this thread): MWP Y Axis Braces | Inventables
I have not done the z-axis yet, but I think this is the one folks are talking about: A mod to make z-azix more stiff and easier to adjust
I just got a chance to test my 3/16" steel bar from Lowes, turns out itās 5/16 thick (per the mic) despite being labeled at 3/16ā¦
Iām going to take the mic over and find one thatās accurate and try the ābar in the middleā X mod again.
These guys have very decent prices on 4mm * 40mm * 6 foot aluminum flat bars. I bought one for $25 (including shipping). Being slightly smaller than the ~4.1mm optimal spacing means itās easy to add something to shore up the difference (rather than the 3/16ths bar [4.7625 mm] being slightly too big). Havenāt installed it yet, but Iām hopeful itāll work out nicely.
Anyone have a trick for getting these freaking stickers off the aluminum Everbilt bar stock??
wd-40 works pretty good on stickers
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Actually I had pretty good luck with a Clorox cleaning wipe and an eraser, back and forth for a few minutes. Got all the residue off.
On a more important note, I have my aluminum bars cut (I tested it, you CAN insert a full length underside 0.75" wide piece of 1/8th inch aluminum on a 500mm X Carve) and Iām about to drill the holes. Have all of my 4mm screws, washers, lock nuts, and locktite ready. I just wanted to make sure that 0.25" offset for the top bar was ok for clearance on the GT2 hardware? @PhilJohnson, I saw you were planning to do 0.21875" offset, why is that?
Yes, but did you choose that offset because you found that 0.25" wasnāt enough clearance?
I guess when a post is old enough you canāt edit itā¦
Donāt buy the M4 screws I linked to on ebay. They worked ok for my mod, which I believe helped the rigidity of my makerslides greatly, but the socket cap heads are too tall to use with washers. I used washers on the underside, but they interfered with the V wheel assemblies inside the gantry with washers on the top side. Definitely look for screws with a lower profile head for this mod so you can use washers.