Do we need one stock frame design? Canāt we make like 2 or 3 designs, list the pros and cons of each and let the user decide? If there is anything this tread (260 posts in 4 days ) teaches us, it is that there will never be 1 right answer.
Iām thinking one mobile frame design and one really rigid overbuilt frame. Mine is gonna stay where it is, so i donāt wanna compromise on rigidity because someone else needs to move his around.
I think that by the time most of us get our maslow, we have built and deconstructed our machine in our head dozens of times, i know i have, iām just glad that i didnāt begin building when i placed my order.
Maybe we should also make a list of not so obvious things your frame has to have to work i.e. sprockets on the motors in line with the attachment points of the sled, chain slack stretchy string as straight as possible under the sprockets as possible.
@dlang, I was also looking at how to build it (with one person) and thought it would be easy to do if the blue blocks in the picture are below the red beam. Thatās based upon building the legs first and tying them together with the cross members. I donāt have the room in my shed to build the front frame flat on the ground (if you follow)
I believe we need something so that the kit can ship with the necessary hardware to make it work. The desire is to improve upon the current frame design and yet keep it simple enough and not require anything more than common toolsā¦ and ideally, not require a temporary frame to be build.
Aah you want to include the bolts and everything in the package, they just seem like dead weight to ship, canāt you expect the users to pick them up at their local home depot equivalent? I expect that a standard bolt is available everywhere.
Also if you ship inch bolts, where am i going to find an inch drill? Places where metric bolts are sold have metric drills, same for imperial.
I agree with @dlang that this could get complicated quickly and be hard to build but I think it is a brilliant and out of the box idea that we shouldnāt gloss over. Great suggestion @matmaxgeds!
If you ignore our excursion into using carriage bolts to support the top beam, I think a design like @dlangās alternate 3 could be constructed using screws like the current stock frame.
The advantage to using some bolts, however, is that you can (need to) predrill the holes and that allows you to very accurately align everything when building it. I can easily measure and drill holes in 2x4 and assemble the pieces as designed, but to try to line the pieces of wood up and then screw them together is a greater challenge. Maybe you donāt ship the bolts and let the end user buy whatever size is available. All that matters is that they are placed on center.
Each user could certainly pick everything up themselves, but I think that @bar has the right idea in making it as easy as possible for those new to CNC to get up and running by only requiring picking up the lumber.
Is there hardware available that can reasonably be universal (i.e, can fit comfortably through holes drilled with a common imperial-sized drill bit and a common metric-sized drill bit). For example, 1/4 inch is exactly 6.25 mmā¦ is there a 6.25 mm drill bit readily available in metric-based countries?
Thatās 6.35mm. Iād guess that 6.5mm would work.
You can find metric drill bits in the states, suspect you can find inch ones in metric land. Although Iāll admit my metric set came from a mall in Riga when we passed through
I think that trying to make it work with wood screws might be the easiest to implement for everyone. I agree that bolting is better, but perhaps that is a user upgrade issue that can be chosen or not.
Here is a picture of a cheap metric drill set so it looks like .5 increments is normal
@Keith Thanks for being the voice of reason here. Is there any way we could get rid of all of the triangle braces on the legs and still use wood screws? That is my favorite part of using bolts, that everyone doesnāt have to cut all those darn triangles.
I think that depends upon the frame design. Since I like @dlangās alternate 3, Iāve been trying to figure out the steps to build it. Take for instance building the legā¦
How do we tell users how to line up the back leg and the horizontal brace in the right spot so they can screw it together. If you tell them to drill a hole in the middle of the 2x4 a certain distance from the end, they can readily do that and when they go to assemble, all they have to do is fit the bolt through the holes in the two pieces of wood. Much simpler and less frustrating than having to carefully align pieces at specific angles, hold in place, and screw them together.
Personally, iād rather take the time to drill holes in the 2x4 on a workbench than to sit on the floor trying to line up the pieces of wood. And the bolts are only really useful for some key joints (particularly the three shown above). The rest can easily be screwed together.
Worst case scenarioā¦ throw in a cheap bit of the right size.
After testing it, @dlangās joint design is rock solid. I was expecting a little more play than with the through bolt, but I really couldnāt tell the difference. Itās solid as can be. I would recommend pre-drilling all the holes because I split my 2x4s.
I am leaning towards the bolt design for simplicity of assembly. Itās six bolts for the legs and two for the top beam. We would be getting rid of like a million wood screws and the entire temp frame which I think would make construction so much more enjoyable
perhaps something similar to @apprenticebās design using rectangular plates? It would require measuring, marking, and lining up the boards before screwing in the plates, but that should be doable. The other thing about @apprenticebās design is that all of the cuts are square, which also lends itself to easy fabrication. Perhaps a design that can be laid out flat using 2x4 cut to lengths specified and aligned with ends touching and angles defined by measurements and backed up with a template that could be printed out for each requisite angle such that the boards could just be laid down on top of it?
Of course, thatās a lot of work to put in for a frame design that many may not use.
Totally true. Not to add to your plate, but perhaps include a 1/4" bit? Of course thatās another $2-3 per kit
the right side illustration - 1 screw downward towards the read and a second from the side toward the front. Th left needs 2 screws from the top and one to the side but in general it will want to torsion the top beam.
one issue is that the top rear joint is under tension, not compression.
i would much rather have 2x4s bolted/screwed against each other rather than having to cut any notches
on the alternate 3 model, the angle of the board from the front legs to the back legs doesnāt matter (unless you are using it to hold sheet goods on the back), you could have the legs pivot at the top and have a rope/chain to keep them from going too far.
) teaches us, it is that there will never be 1 right answer.
