Thank you so much, will be printing them today. Want to be ready when my MR-1 gets here.
So life got in the way but I’m finally back to work on this thing! I may take over the slowest build award haha.
I took one of the base plates into work and added a bore with a counterbore and o-ring groove. I wanted a pass through specifically for machining the ends of axles. I have an aluminum cap machined also.
I modeled a 3d printed spacer that leaves 1/4" of concrete to be broken out later. TBD how well this works.
Four studs will be embedded, sticking down below the table after the pour. These will be handy for a steady rest or future fixturing I think.
I’m catching up on the other threads and I am contemplating some coolant drain modifications before I pour concrete. Others have mentioned drains clogging and I have been toying with a chip auger design. I bought this 2" hole auger (amazon) but it hasn’t arrived yet.
My plan is to embed a 3" tube with fabricated end caps now, and build out the rest later. CAD screenshot shown below. Perforated section with a chamber below, and a large drain tube connection.
Question: To those of you with completed units, do you see any conflict with where I placed the auger?
A few progress pics:
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this is awesome. Is the chip auger at front or rear? If it’s in the rear I suspect you will might have issues with cable support. You should be able to squeeze it behind that, I’d recommend setting it up on a slope with a 5/8 or 3/4 drain or put a 1/2’ drain on each end and just do away with the stock rear drains less stuff to fuss with during pour. Make sure you mount it well for the pour, when you start tamping it can push your drain towards the surface, I would secure it with some studs through the bottom. Also awesome pass through, I was just going to core drill mine if I ever had the need.
It’s at the rear. The stock rear drains would be eliminated.
I’m still in the planning phase but I think I’m going to cut and weld the whole thing in. No chance of it moving then.
sounds like a good plan, Might aswell do away with the concrete between it and the pan edge at that point or just push it all the way to the pan edge. Are you going to put the motor below the water level or use some kind of u joint linkage and remote mount it? Also re thinking it, I would put a good slope on it like at least 1/2", more if you intend to really pump a lot of coolant, on the coolant end use a 3/4" drain and then on the high end use a 1" or 2" through hole and have the chips dump in a bucket under.
The current thought is to add a bearing and mount the motor outboard on the far end. The near end will have a 3" tube turn up and then an exit chute into a drum. Similar to most other CNC machines.
I’ll update the model and post some more screenshots as I go. For the moment I’m trying to get the provision in place and then move on to general assembly. I can put gaskets and blank covers on for now and come back to it later.
Are you going to use two screws? one for the turn up and one for the drain tube?
A few images to better explain my thinking.
A gearmotor (green) will drive the auger from the one end. This should push the chips away, forcing them up the chute. They will somewhat dry as the coolant drains off of them before dropping into a barrel.
The perforated section will filter and drain the coolant back to the pump basin.
In theory anyway!
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looks sweet although im not sure chips would push up a tube super easily, kinda feel like they might jam up, even our chip auger on a Hass machine which had one screw on the floor and another going up the vertical occasionally had issues. I’m not super familiar with motor options, but a high torque stepper motor might be a cheaper option? Might even be able to drive it using cut control once the 4th axis option comes out.
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Picture time! I was able to get some cut templates made up and he main tube welded up with perforated section and drain. Everything is cut and fit and looks good. I’m just waiting on the laser cut end plates and temporary blockoffs at this point.
Also the pass through is bolted in for good with some improvised nelson style fasteners tacked and bolted in place.
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That is awsome. What a great idea.
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Really cool! Hope it works well!
Progress… I’m taking way to long on this haha
The flanges are welded on and the whole thing welded to the pan. I also set the uprights in the final position and tacked them in place as they kept shifting on me. All four corners were sanded, tacked, then touched up.
Auger shown just for a visual 
I think the coplanarity check is close. I’m struggling to get a good repeatable reading. I’m going to go back fresh and recheck but otherwise I’m ready for concrete.
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That is freaking awesome. That is the best mod I have seen yet. Kudos!!!
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Thanks! Time will tell on it’s effectiveness haha
This is pretty cool, love to see you pour this in Epoxy Granite…Dave
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Poured!
I used 5000psi mix and mixed it by hand.
Pour details:
I added plasticizer to each bag and mixed them by hand. A one lb sample was $20, and the concentration rate is 1% by weight of cement. According to the SDS the quikrete bag is 10-30% cement and since I picked a higher psi mix I feel confident it’s at least 20% cement content.
By that logic 8 bags x 60# x 20% = 96lb of cement so one lb of plasticizer distributed evenly comes out to 1%. Perfect.
I mixed each bag with 4 pints carefully measured and the result was basically self leveling. If I did it again I might try 0.5%
Source:
https://globmarble.com/concrete-additive…
The only issue was I needed a 9th bag so I had to run out and get another. I should’ve bought an extra for how cheap 1 bag is. Ohh well. And no plasticizer for that last bag either.
I also now have 1/2 of a drain kit I didn’t use. If anybody is interested in it please send me a message.
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Nice job with the cement! Can’t wait to see this thing up and running!
Epoxy! It took right at 16oz to do the seal coat and the remainder of the 1 gallon kit to finish up. I used a white pearl Mica powder and I am super happy with it. I think it’s really going to keep it nice and bright inside the enclosure.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Epoxy…
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