5/16/22 Cutting Carbon Fiber

Colin Szeto

I was able to install the ABS clamps onto the dust shoe. This was able to better resist the heat from the spindle as the pump was not yet upgraded.

The 7mm diameter clearings were not enough for the washers for fit through. 5/32 bits were used to create free fit holes for the screws that pass through. 

To secure the nut onto the clamps I pulled the nut through by just screwing on the nuts. This helped center and press fit the nuts onto the clamp. 

I sanded down the bottom of the clamps in an attempt to flatten down the mounting face. However, this sanding may have been uneven as now the shoe fits onto the spindle on a diagonal. 

As the top place was paused in between cuts and in between sessions I had a hard time finding the 0,0 where I started the cut. 

As the contours for the outer plates needed to be cut I moved all of the securing screws to the middle of the plate. This ensures that whatever cut needs to occur that the screws will not be nicked and shift the guantry. 

Here were the final cuts. I initially set 0,0 to the far left. One can see this was adjusted a bit too much for the second to plate

The outer cut of the plate coming mighty close the mounting holes of the on the first top plate that was cut.

I then attempted to counteract this placement by shifting the 0,0 the other direction. This causes the mounting holes on the opposite end to be very close. 

One can notice that the lightning hole/fan hole is a bit closer to one edge than the other. This was due to improper alignment. 

One can see that the motor mourning plates were hair thin on one side. This was again the 0,0 was misaligned.

To recap I ran the moves for the central holes out first (in green). These were a bit too out of line in the negative x direction (see the axis)

The first top plate was cut out (in cyan) This was a bit too far aligned in the negative y direction

The second top plates and attempts at extra motor mounts were attempted. These were all aligned too far in the positive y direction.

These separate cuts were achieved with the strategy of duplicating the master setup and then deleting the already completed cuts.

To reduce tolerance stacking I will now drill a hole at 0,0 to have a more accurate reference point for the start of the program than guessing where I started in correlation to the golden x at the bottom of the parts. 

These edges for the front vertical plate were filed down with a square file. These files were wetted down with water to reduce airborne particles. 

This cut out was repeated for the lengthwise vertical spacers

I used a wetted file to expand the previously 2 mm slots. This allowed me to take off the smallest amount of material which provided secure vertical plates and a lot of contact. 

The bladed strategy of filing down the edges of the plate to remove material was scrapped due to this new method. 

The first step of aligning the misaligned slots screws were passed through the mounting holes then taped down to restrict vibration. 

A circular dremel was then used to cut out the misaligned material to the dimensions of the top plate. This material was also wetted down to decrease airborne particles.

The vertical plates are assembled with the mid and bottom plate.