Following on from my post about buying a shapeoko metal bed and files I finally decided to take the plunge and make my own. I did want to have one CNC’d but it was too costly.
I started with a piece of 720x580 12/13mm aluminium that was cut by a local supplier. From there gave it a quick polish then drilled the mounting holes and put the shapeoko frame back together - only recessing the 2 front centre screws - then I drilled 88 pilot holes, then drilled to 5mm, then tapped with a M6 machine tap.
All in I spent about 2 hours drilling the 88 holes - the boring and tapping only took about 30 min which I thought was pretty quick. I went through 6 3.2mm drill bits, and charge cycles on my 18v 4ah dewalt.
The best bit is using my DTI the base only have a 0.2mm variance across the board. It also only cost me £75 in materials and £ 10 in misc bits - like drill bits.
I will post results tomorrow from my first tests, but so far I’m impressed - if I was able I probably would have bought the one offered by carbide (it’s great value if your in the US)n - but this was a cool project and by far the largest bit of metal I have worked on.
I wanna know too, I had to re-look at the photos and can only see a front wheel. Bed looks great as well, but really, tell us about the bike:-)
For a few months there after my SO3XXL arrived my bike (2014 Triumph Street Triple R) got pretty lonely. Now that the weather has been clearing up and my XXL is partially disassembled waiting for a move to new house the Striple has been starting to get a bit more attention.
@ApolloCrowe Maybe C3D needs to do a Spring calendar? CNC + Motorcycles + I dunno, bacon bacon cheeseburgers? Just trying to think of a few of my favorite thing, haha!!!
@DanoInTx - since I got my s3 the bike has been a a bit neglected but it’s also winter and cold as! Since the photo above which I think I took last week on my first ride this year I’ve changed the sam cover around, painted the efi caps, done the speedo swap and some wiring. This weekend I plan on wrapping the pipes and am part way through a paint project that so far has not been going well…
I am also up for bacon burgers, bikes and milling!!
Looks super nice, the Bonneville/Thruxton variants are some my most favorite bikes of all time!!! I’ve come “this” close to trading my Street Triple in on one of the new Thruxton R’s, but just can’t seem to let it go, especially now that I have it modded to “just right” standards. Here’s a pic from last year. This picture shows single LED headlight conversion (Motodemic) and custom vinyl checkers and lettering. Funny looking at this picture it’s before I was even half done.
Don’t do it! the Striple is probably a much better bike I love my bonnie and it suits me just fine but it’s not fast and I have spent a long time and way too much £ to get it to be a good bike. I’m sure the new ones are better, but I doubt they are as fast or fun as a true sports bike.
It’s funny I went from a fully outfitted Yamaha R6 (straight pipe, smog blocked, O2 delete, Power Commander, custom ECU reflash) to the Street Triple and I almost don’t consider the Striple a true sport bike in comparison. The bars are easily 5" higher than the R6 clip-ons and the power/speed of a fully tuned inline 4 beats the pants off the inline 3. But after left and right shoulder reconstructions I can no longer lay on a bike, I need all of my weight in the saddle, even the Striple is tough on longish rides, keep thinking a more cool, less sport bike would be more comfortable. It’ll probably never happen though, especially since all of my money goes into CNC these days, haha!!!
Happy CNCing and be safe on the road!!! Alu bed looks really great btw, been thinking of doing one for my XXL, but alas aluminum isn’t cheap!
Looks great man. I recommend facing that plate with your machine to ensure the plate is square to everything. If that makes sense.
I haven’t bought a plate for mine yet but I think I am going to extend the y of the table out beyond where the factory one stops. This will require me to cut the brace but I’m ok with that. This way it will actually cut its advertised work area.
I did that to my wooden one but found it actually make things worse. I have measured this one with a DTI gauge and it’s within 0.1mm/0.2mm all the way across - for my projects thats fine.
@WillAdams - I was going to buy that t slot bed, but in the UK its £260! I can’t believe how cheap that is - I might go and order one - they also do a 10x10 one
