Just don’t forget the blue loctite!
Guys I have gone through 24 feet of aluminum making the Y axis End Plate replacements. I am on the road tomorrow heading for Dallas to my supplier to restock for both the Triquetra Touch Plates and Y Axis End Plates. This means I won’t be shipping any End Plates until Saturday. I have disabled the ability to backorder them until I can get the material in hand. I don’t want to have orders for material I can’t get. So if you are interested, check my website or here tomorrow evening and I will post an update.
Thank you guys,
Charley Thomas
Triquetra CNC
I don’t make mistakes…I make opportunities for adjustments.
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I received an email from my supplier and he said he has 48 feet of aluminum set aside for me to pick up today. So I am going to open the order page for back orders. I will begin shipping again on Saturday and fill backorders first come first served. Below is a link where you can place your orders. Thank you for your support,
Charley Thomas
Triquetra CNC
https://triquetra-cnc.com/product/triquetra-cnc-triquetra-cnc-y-axis-end-plates/
My plates arrived yesterday. Plan is to put them on tomorrow. I’ll provide the info I told you about once I get them installed.
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Just ordered a set for my 750
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My plates arrived this past Saturday, two days early!. They look great. Thanks again to Charley for a great product and outstanding customer service.
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Ok here’s what I found.
- the stock 8 mm screw has no thread engagement of the tee nut.
- a 10 mm screw will work but its bottoming out with maybe 1 or 2 turns, I opted to pass.
- a 12 mm screw works great for the tee nut.
- if your belt clip screw is just barely through the stock end plate, it won’t go through the new one. You have to either let more belt out or get a longer screw. One of mine needed some slack let out (which was easy with the new belt clips).
I ended up using 12 mm for the tee nuts (4 mm longer than the stock) and 16 mm for the maker slide. I also cheated and used a scissor jack to support my X axis and took both plates off and then raised the entire side. Worked like a charm and I checked level afterwards and it was within 0.05 degrees which is probably where it was before.
Overall, another fine product by Charley.
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I have the 12 and 16 millimeter screws available for new orders. Thanks for the feedback
Charley
Mine just came in the mail today. They look great! Thanks Charley!
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Mine came today, one word. beautiful
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Now Charley has to make some Y-Axis Stiffening plates!
I’m game but I’m not sure what you need to stiffen your Y axis. On my machine I cut some 3/4 inch MDF that simply screws to the inside of my Y axis rails. I made them as tall as possible without interfering with the gantry moving forward and backward. I used insertion nuts on the Y axis rails to screw it them on. This stiffed the rails very well plus acts as a shield to keep debris away from my Y axis drive belts and wheels. This is particularly important to me since 90% of the work I do is milling aluminum. Although it doesn’t keep 100% of it out, the use of a dust shoe and the MDF stiffening/dust shield does a very good job of keeping the belts/rollers clean and the Y axis stiff. 99% of the debris that escapes the dust shoe remains on the table and not in the Y axis track so I can live with that.
Because the MDF extends all the way down to the waste board it also prevents any sagging of the Y axis rails. This picture show my setup. You could use some “L” brackets to screw to the MDF and waste board to stiffen it even more but I didn’t find it necessary. The X-Carve doesn’t do well with deep depth of cuts primarily due to the lack of rigidity in the Z axis so keeping it within it’s capability never really presents the need for much stiffening of the Y axis. This was an inexpensive and easy mod to apply and has worked very well for me.
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That sounds like a good idea, but I would think you would lose 1.5 inches of usable work space. I also was thinking of using open builds 20x40 or 20x60 rails and making them 1500mm long giving me a bigger work space. The I was thinking of simple aluminum plates to connect upper and lower Y axis rails along the length of the Y rails, then using plexiglass or something similar to run the entire length as a dust shield as you have done. Since plexi is thinner than .75 MDF, I would not lose any work space in the X direction.
I see your point. I will look at creating some simple brackets that could be attached to the outside of the Y axis rails and the bottom rails of the machine. That might work. I’ll get back to you on that.
Charlrey
I went with two Y-Axis rails on each side with brackets to connect them. You can see a pic of the rails next to the original one in the first post in this thread.
I don’t think the outside will work. The V wheels travel on the outside part of the rail and anything connected on the outside would interfere with motion.
I’ve seen people that have essentially a bent support that attaches on the inside of the Y rail and then snakes down and under the rail and then connects to the bottom 20/20 extrusion.
What I’m going to look into are just 90 degree brackets that screw into the waste board and attach to the rail using a screw and tee nut. Due to mechanical overhead, you don’t really have cutting access right next to the rails so it wouldn’t reduce cutting area.
I think some have done just aluminum angle all the way down and screw into the waste board and attach to the rails.
Hey Charley there’s a guy out there that makes a magnet for the spindle instead of the alligator clip. 
I believe you are correct. I had used some L brackets that attached to the rail and waste board before that worked. After I installed the MDF I didn’t find them necessary any longer. Not being in front of my machine I was thinking about something that could attach t the bottom of the Y axis rail and then to the waste board. Again though, just the MDF acting as a stiffener and dust shield is working very well for me.
I used 1/8" thick flat stock aluminum, drilled 6 holes into each. When I ordered the X-Carve I purchased extra t-nuts and bolts to bolt into the lower extrusions and Y rails (forgot to buy enough bolts for the Y rails, so got some hex bolts at the hardware store, worked out better for the magnets as it turned out). I made 3 for each Y rail to stiffen it up. I then cut some Y rail shields out of mirrored plexi and glued magnets on the back to allow them to be taken off real easy for cleaning. It doesn’t take away much space from the work area. I’m sure if you offered them, people would jump on them.
