Project update time, just so you all don't think I am all talk about building a solidoodle from open beam. Imgur album for all the below:
http://imgur.com/a/wSNoq
I got in all the aluminum extrusions and other parts from Misumi on Friday, so that makes it 9 days between ordering and receiving. I think that's very quick for custom cut extrusions and all the rods too. I wanted them to cut it to my specs so I didn't have to worry (as much) about building the frame out of square.
I blocked off my whole day on Saturday hoping to get the frame built and maybe more. I have previously received the M5 tap and handle from McMaster so I was ready with that and the cube corner connecters from openbuildspartsstore. So I tap the first couple beams and go to test fit it. Unfortunately, I did not pay close enough attention and these connectors require low profile M5 screws instead of the standard M5 cap heads, so I was immediately dead in the water and couldn't work. Crap. See last pic in album. So I immediately ordered some low profile M5s from McMaster and these should be here pretty quick. Spent the rest of the day cleaning my house. Fail.
Anyway, tapping all these extrusions turned out to be a pretty big job but when combining the corner bracket with these printed braces that I made, I think it will be a very rigid machine. When tapping open beam, the M5 fits nicely and self aligns. I didn't have any metal cutting oil on hand, so I just used the glass cutting oil that I got when I was cutting glass beds and it worked fine. But some kind of oil is essential, don't skip on this. You could also order the ends tapped M5 from Misumi but it more than doubles the cost of the aluminum extrusions and the tap with handle was only about $12 from McMaster so I decided to do my own taps. It was pretty easy but I should have ordered a few small sections to practice on first.
I did build another solidoodle extruder from self sourced parts. I put my volcano on there for now. M3x60 screws are perfect for securing a fan and heatsink on the back of the motor and can also be used in the lawsy carriage to hold the motor and mount on the the bearing holding part. I've now have a ton of the screws and heat sinks because I had to order like 20 heat sinks from aliexpress if anyone needs one.
I also held the open beam up to my SD2 for scale. I estimate this will end up giving me a build area of somewhere between 10 and 11" when done. I thought about making it big enough that I could for sure get a 12" build plate in there but I ultimately decided that I will probably never actually want to print anything that big and there is the whole issue of thermal contraction making it hard to go much bigger anyway. I'll order an aluminum plate and heater pad when it is all built and see exactly what I end up with.
I also changed the name of this thread. I guess it's not very correct to call it an ultimaker hybrid when the only ultimaker piece will be the Z axis assembly. It will have solidoodle carriages but it will have 8mm rods in the back and front (in addition to the typical 8mm Y rods). These will be used for the Y drive in the back and in the front I will mount the idlers for the Y axis, but if I ever wanted to it could be converted to an ultimaker style gantry without too much work.
I need to get to work designing something good to mount the Y axis end stop with. The Z endstop will be based on this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:126716
SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed
