I made a couple connectors for the 12" 3D printer I'm building.
These are basically housings to connect the stepper motor to the ballscrew on the Z-axis.
These were done on a table top mill combo.
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I didn't have metal big enough to cut them from a single billet so I joined two blocks together before machining.
The cutout you see on the top of of the pieces was necessary for clearances.
1) Drilled all the pilot holes on 4 blocks using a 1/8" bit. Each block had 11 holes drilled.
2) Enlarged holes on each block.
3) Tapped all six holes (M5)on 2 of the blocks. 4 from the top, two from the back.
4) Drilled out the pilot holes for the M5 bolts needed on 2 of the blocks
5) Bolted the blocks together.
6) Drilled the center bore in 4 steps. Final size 1.25" using a really well-utilized drill bit.
7) Cut slot for connecting window. That's needed to be able to connect the flex couplers.
8) Milled top (as shown in the picture) on both items to account for clearances on the Y-axis slide.
In between each step I cleaned up the holes and/or cuts to make sure everything went back in the vise without tolerance issues.
I set up the DRO one time for the original holes and used the one reference point X-Y zero to make all the other holes/cuts with the exception of the final milling. Those were done almost old school. Still used the DRO but never dialed anything in. Still repeated with .2mm accuracy. They aren't critical tolerances since they're just for clearance anyhow. Cosmetically the difference isn't noticeable.
Now I'm debating if I want to try my hand at anodizing.
