By Steve Bush 21st September 2022
Another few late nights in the workshop have created a dimensional model for a 3d-printed y-axis stepper motor mount for the manual Clarke CM10 (Sieg X1 mini) milling machine (right – and here is the z-axis 3d print)
The good thing is that it all seems to fit, and it keeps the highest point of mount or motor below the surface of the table – allowing material overhangs and vice handles to pass above.
Getting a NEMA24 motor and belt drive to fit in such a small space and be adjustable leaves few options for the mount – it has to miss the bed surface (left half visible in the above photo) for example, hence the motor has ended up offset from centre, at a weird angle, and adjusting in an odd direction.
A tricky thing is that there is hardly any steel below the two mounting points (about 4mm, photo below right) for the rear foot of the mount to press against when supporting the weight of the motor – fine if the mount is as rigid as the original steel handle support, but not when it is plastic.
That said, it hardly moves at all with the weight of the motor (will put flex displacement here when measured), but it seems on the wrong side of the 10μm flex measured in the z-mount.
Current thinking is that some shaped 3mm steel sheet needs bolting over the mounting studs first, projecting down into the void below the y-slide, on which the lower rear edge of the printed mount can press with less force to resists the same moment from the motor weight.
Motor test results will have to wait until the drive belts and control board arrive from their journeys from who-knows-where.
Ps, Please excuse the awful what-was-on-the-bench bolts that are holding the motor on above
I’m impressed! although I don’t know diddly about 3-d printing. Looks big and robust, though!
Thank you for that Mr Kurt. I think the final mounts will at least be stiff and strong enough to allow metal replacements to be cnc’ed with the machine if necessary. (That previous sentence assumes I can ever learn enough cnc programming to cut anything without just breaking tools…) In a parallel project, I have been trying to 3d print adaptors to mount my ancient triathlon bars to my commuter bicycle, which would be my first safety-critical prints. Sadly, as the tri-bars would have been needed this weekend, I have run out of time to make parts that (I guess-timate) have enough safety margin. The issue was a narrow gap between the gear change and bars through which a sufficiently strong component has to pass. I think I have worked out how to do it, but there just is not enough time to print and test the necessary prototypes.
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