Used the aluminum brazing stuff I picked up at a hamfest years ago now. Works well enough but using inside an apartment is just a bit scary and requires a LOT of attention to what is going on :-).
The corner clamps I picked up from Harbor Freight are not spot on, but with a little work I think I have this within about 1/16" of square. Not so sure that matters in that I can allign everything that I am planning to bolt on and braze to the frame itself.
The square tubing was marked on two sides, then a score line was cut with a wood saw in the miter box (otherwise the hacksaw wandered all over the place). The cut was finished using the hack saw and following the vertical line down the front to try to get a square cut - more or less worked.
After brazing all the parts together (the 1/4" overlap was because I thought I had 1/2" square tubing and it was 3/4" [blush]) I had one corner up in the air. Solved this by clamping the whole thing flat to the table (on top of the metal sheet) and hitting all the corners with the map gas torch until it popped down flat and then touched up with the brazing rod.
I'm not enthralled to be doing the brazing in an apartment so I think that during the rest of the construction that if I can screw it together I will be doing so. Picked up a box of drill screws at Home Depot and hopefully those will work out OK and save me some work. If not I can replace them with nuts. starwashers and bolts.
[12/19/05] Got the bracket for the stepper drawn up, getting better with QCad and even starting to appreciate it :-).
[12/21/05] Well, in building the stepper mounting bracket, I was reminded of this quote:
"I am always ready to learn, although I don't always like being taught" - Winston Churchill
I did get the bracket "drilled out" using the drill press, hack saw and files. Took about 2.5 hours, I stopped and took pictures as my hands were pretty worn out after that adventure :-).
The education here was to discover that the "wimpy" 1/8" aluminum (when one has a real shop) is in no way "wimpy" with the tools I have. The attempt to bend the bracket resulted in another couple hours of trying to figure out a way to do it. Everything either came loose or crushed the particle board when the bend was attempted. Plus the bend, whatever I might be able to effect will be of MUCH greater radius than desired :-(.
Will be spending some time thinking on how to accomplish this, a break is just not in the cards either expense or space wise :-(. I suspect that I will end up cutting it apart and brazing it together in the correct configuration.
Also discovered in the process is that measuring twice isn't enough for me :-). The bracket drawing was off :-( and I ended up slotting the mounting holes and then making an "X" of the lower one to get it to allign properly. Will revise the drawing at some point as I have two more to make (Y and Z axis brackets).
I am learning a lot here :-)!
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