When I got my SO3 it was hand delivered from USA… but without the wasteboard to save weight.
I recently made an MDF wasteboard to the dimensions on the wiki 580 x 717.55. I used the end Plates to mark the bolt holes as I did not trust myself to get them correctly placed to fractions of a mm using my optical measuring device and a tape measure. I did this with the rails tight against the edge of the MDF and they all lined up fine,
HOWEVER:
Time come to attach the aluminium Y rails and they are 600 long but the space between the end plates is 580!!!
Aaaagh…they don’t fit.
Obviously when the wasteboard is inserted in the endplates it is done with a 10mm gap on each side which I did not work out when drilling the holes. Now I have to make a new wasteboard. No trouble there as I have plenty of MDF.
My question is WHY??
Why is the wasteboard 580mm when the space between the rails needs to be 600mm. Surely it would be easier to make it a tighter fit. I can understand that the internal bend on the endplates would be rounded and not a perfect right angle but it would be quite simple to sand a slight bevel to the MDF is necessary and far easier to get the bolt holes aligned.
Before I go making a new wasteboard, and my inclination at this stage is to go for 600mm rather than the 580mm on the wiki, am I missing anything that is going to cause problems in the later assembly. I intend to make the through holes a tad oversized to give me a bit of leeway squaring the build at the end.
It might be an idea to put a bit of a warning on the Wiki re the measurements to prevent other Numpties like me making the same mistake?
Congratulations on the acquisition of your new SO3. I’m sure you will be very pleased with your purchase and get lot’s pleasure from it.
Yes there is about 10mm gap between the wasteboard and the ‘endplates.’ Part of the reason is to accommodate the radius of the bend on the endplates, perhaps also it is to allow more wiggle-room when assembling the machine. But why Carbide3D chose this larger measurement one can only guess.
If you choose to go with 600mm be aware that you will need to radius the bottom of the wasteboard to a small degree on two opposing edges to accommodate this bend.
FWIW if it were me I would be inclined to stick with a bog-standard SO3’s dimensions even if this does mean producing a new wasteboard. It may be unlikely but one never knows if Carbide3D will come up with some add-on doodad down the track that requires this gap. Good luck.
The gap between the wasteboard and endplates is useful for clamping things to the front, and for enabling one to insert workholding hardware into T-tracks.
Thanks Patrick.
That pretty much my thoughts and if I go 600 I would radius the bottom edge.
My problem with sticking to the standard dimensions is that I am not sure I could get the holes exactly right and I know even 0.5mm out can make it impossible to hit the bolt holes in the endplates. I plan on making holes a tad oversize just in case.
Will…I have those dimensions as a dxf but as I am cutting and drilling by hand (no drill press or CNC) accuracy is hard to achieve for the through holes. Local CNC shop wanted $nz300 to cut one waste board if I supplied MDF and $nz600 to cut 4!!!
As I am not planning for T-tracks at this stage I am thinking of going for the 600 size and once I am sure it all aligns I could always shave 5 or 10 mm as required for any wriggle room
Good practise for my next waste board(s) with all the bells and whistles.