Drill Holder - Combination Glowforge + 3D45

 I have wanted a complete set of Metric drills so this so where I started. 

1mm thru 10mm by 0.1mm = 91 pieces

To get an even 90 = 9 rows of 10 I had to drop out the 1mm drill. I rarely work down in that range. 

 

 

As mentioned in other projects I am fixated on using each machine for what it does best; Laser cuts flat stock, 3D Printer makes complex forms. 

The trick with drill storage is compactness verses accessibility AND readability of the markings. 

Yes it takes forever to map this out in CAD but worth the effort; any time spent in CAD always pays off in the final outcome. 

I added 0.05mm all around the drill holes for clearance, I think that was too much but it is fine.

I used CATIA for the body and Rhino for the Lettering. 

The top panel is on a 10 deg angle so I had to compensate for the thickness of the material. Each hole had to become a slot. 

Lettering each of the drills made no sense because of the logical arrangement of the rows and how difficult would be to see the markings, so I just labeled the "bookends" and the intermediates on the first row only.

This was my 1st time using acrylic (really nice) I wanted something that would not be affected by oil.

So the 3D has all the features incorporated: 3 different ledges to drop the Laser cut panels into.

I found that 0.25mm clearance all around was perfect for assuring that the wood and acrylic panels would fall right in. 

I also brushed Polyurethane on all the laser cut wood edges.

MIG Welding Wrist and Gun Rest

I Do a lot of welding with my rotary table and because it is so high above the bench I started using a wrist rest a few years ago. 

I had a portable gun rest too but realized that the two could be combined. 

I don't have a permanent weld bench set up so I arrange it and tear it down after each session. 

Nothing helps welding than a steady rest for your hand. 

GlowForge 3D Print Ganrty Wheel replacement

 Had one of the Gantry wheels split in half on the GF Basic

Only noticed it because I took the Laser head off for cleaning and saw it laying in pieces

Even though I was a little out of warranty GF sent me a new one.

In the mean time I trudged thru the GF user forum and found several references, seems like  this happens a lot

https://community.glowforge.com/t/broken-glowforge-rollers-a-trip-to-the-hardware-store/62632/54

A known problem it is a weak design that has little alternative but to break in two

The choice of the 12 x 6 x 4 bearing is likely not a problem but the root cause is the close placement of the wheels to the rail

The plastic roller pressed onto the bearing is about a 1/2 mm thick in the middle and so it is thinnest where the splitting forces are the greatest

While waiting for the replacement (it came very quickly) I thought I would try one of the 3D models offered in the users thread, they are not workable.

I went thru careful efforts to measure a good one and came up with a very good CAD model hear for your use

I increased the thin mid section as much as possible and made the roller a little taller because the 3D45 needed a little more material to print reliably.

I'm going to run the 3D version until it breaks.

3D Printed at the highest resolution, solid fill

For a test I made the gauge for setting dividers

Precision is right on and the straight lines show no waviness

Update!

Finally got an Optical comparator so I can truly measure the original wheel. I'll be looking into that this summer.