Hi everyone, as I'm to start producing things with my belt driven Workbee 1510, having tuned all my eccentric rings, I tried cutting a series of 6 circles devided in 2 columns. The CNC proceeded in cutting starting with the first columns of circles. As the first and second circles were cut, I noticed that it was loosing its origins and the cut was drifting ever so slightly in the X+ direction. Aside the fact that the circles have flat sides.... Heummm, I'm more concerned about the inconsistency of keeping its origins.... Can someone guide me?
1) Check Belt tension 2) Check and retighten grubscrews on the pulleys, and add loctite - pulley slipping on the motor shaft.
I must admit that I'm annoyed at myself forgetting to do this at the start. I would recommend that the openbuild videos talking about this part of a build include a written recommendation on the video saying to add locktight to the grub screw to secure the integrity of the fit. Thanks for the advice Peter.
I prefer to add the Loctite AFTER I finished my machine, calibrated it and run a test or two to make sure it runs correctly. It would be a pain in the butt/neck to have to unscrew a loctited screw to re-adjust things.
Ok but here's my gripe.... Now that it's built, to unscrew and remove those grub screws, add some loctite and tighten them up again is not a given. To get a clear access to those screws is not an easy task which brings up some concerns on my side. I don't want to dismantle the machine at this point.
Loctite is entirely optional, if one tightened the grubscrews correctly. Slipping though, indicates a problem in that area, so unfortunately some rework is now needed. The Loctite tip is to prevent it working loose over time, its more important to tighten it properly in the first place (even with loctite) Properly torqued fasteners do not go loose by themselves too easily
I understand Peter and my response is just a simple fact of things while I'm knocking my head on the wall wondering why didn't I think of this loctite approach from the get go.... But hey, live and learn.... Life goes on.
Trust me, it won't be the last time you have to get in there to do maintenance And every time you take it apart and put it back together, it goes faster, and the machine improves over time because you inevitably put it together better, squarer, and tighter each time
just in case anyone thinks they can build a machine and then never do any maintenance.... you are wrong. even the pro machines need maintenance
