Post date: Mar 31, 2013 3:50:58 AM
I've made progress with regard to replacing my X and Z axes. I've taken the old axes off, and got one of the linear bearing rails mounted, with the holes drilled for the other one.
More work has gone into the X and Z axis drives- [re]creating the stepper mounting plates to be more rigid and quiet. The latter is achieved by feeding the threaded rod through bearings instead of just holes with some washers and locknuts- no more rattling around whenever an axis moves!
Mounting the linear bearing rails was kind of a pain. I just aligned it, clamped it down, then drilled through the mounting holes to create holes for the screws. It seemed simple enough, and actually ended up working really well. A lot of work just got added when the 1/8" bit was a tiny bit too small for the mounting screws to fit through... and a 9/64" was a tiny bit too big to fit through the mounting holes. So I had to drill each hole twice.
Oh, and there were wires running where I was drilling, just for extra excitement. Fortunately, everything seems to have come out pretty well. I don't have screws in all the rails' holes (some wire routing precluded that), but it should be enough.
Finally, I beveled a tiny bit of the Z axis mounting plate to allow the X limit/home switches to trigger off it. No pictures of that yet, but I have updated the Pictures page with some of the progress. Hopefully there will be more tomorrow- I'd like to hope that I'll get everything together and be able to mill something, but I suspect that's being overly optimistic (especially with Easter and having homework to do).