Finished The Frame

Completed Frame with Y axis Frog plate

Got a couple more hours in on the build last night.  Finished the frame assembly.  Was keen to make sure that I did have all the angles correct.  So it was off down two flights of stairs to the kitchen again, and the flat work surface.  Shimmed up back two legs with 4 bits of paper to get the spirit level indicator correct. Did the plumb weight technique on the vertical Z smooth bars.  I'd done this before and had it mostly right, but now it was off by a mile! My partner uses the same computer room to do her web surfacing, mostly the MSN website (she hasn't figured out how to change home page yet) and browsing for yet more holiday bargains.  When she does this she likes to get comfortable, meaning putting her feet up on the table.  I asked her if she had touched the frame and she said "Oh... yes well, I did try to put my foot through, but then saw that there was a bit of cotton in the way".  That was my plumb line.  Why would she try to put her foot through the frame? I thought to myself.  Anyway, she had only twisted one of the bottom U clamps through 180 degrees.  It was loose, so didn't matter, put it back and all was well again. Politely asked if she could be more careful next time she goes up there.

Smooth rods in and tightened off. The next stage is the Y axis frog plate. Think this is the bottom part of the heated bed support and will have a belt clamp to driven by one of the stepper motors. The motor was put together with it's supports in readiness for mounting somewhere. Next was frog plate, so called, I think, due the laser cut shape in the middle that resembles a frog. This piece was easy to assemble with the bearings and clamp fixings. It was longer to go through all the plastic bags to find the parts that were needed than to build it. The belt will attach to the clamps and is driven by the motor and will move the plate in the Y direction when all is operational.

If you are interested in seeing some time lapse build videos.  Some are short and some are long, but it will give you an idea of how things went together.  They are shot at one frame per second and viewed at 30 fps.