1. Hey guyz. Welcome to the All New Phlatforum!



    Sign Up and take a look around. There are so many awesome new features.

    The Phlatforum is a place we can all hang out and

    have fun sharing our RC adventures!

  2. Dismiss Notice

Yardstick Mod

Discussion in 'Original Phlatprinter MODIFICATIONS' started by Flashsolutions, Oct 13, 2010.

  1. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    Just when you thought there couldn't be any more mods needed on a Phlatprinter MK1, here comes one more!

    Reason for the mod: When cutting tight tolerance lite ply or balsa woods, the Z height is critical to get the tabs cutting only half way thru say an eighth inch piece of wood. The MK1 was never really designed to cut hardwoods and as a result at least on my machine, the top sags ever so slightly in the middle which makes cutting a consistant depth across the Y axis impossible.

    I have tried a number of things over the past couple of years to strengthen this area, but have not been successful until now. Why this never occured to me sooner, I'll never know, because it is really quite simple.

    I went to Lowes and picked up a wooden yardstick. Not a flimsy 1/8" one, but a 1/4" thick hefty heavy duty yardstick. Paid maybe a buck for it.

    Removed the gantry and flipped the machine upside down to get access to the bottom of the top plate.

    Cut the yardstick to 28" and dry fit to the inside stretched between the roller housing and the left side panel. Sanded to tight fit and glued in place using liquid nails. I clamped the yardstick so that the top would fit tight against the yardstick on its 1/4" surface. Applied some liquid nails to the printed side that hugs the roller housing and let it dry.

    You just need to keep the yardstick as close to the roller as you can when installing. It butts up against the roller housing at just the right distance... just follow it across to the other side.

    The result is a very stiff top plate that no longer sags in the middle and I can now cut precision depths along the full 22" of Y axis travel. After a quick check I discovered that there was also a small inaccuracy in the depth from end to end, maybe an eigth of an inch. To remedy this I enlarged the holes slightly on one end and lowered the two support rods while installing a couple of HDPE bearings I had left over from an earlier bearing purchase. Now everything is precisely aligned and my Z axis depths will be consistent thru the full 22" travel.

    As a side benefit, I now have a visible ruler to measure distance of travel along the Y axis. Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  2. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    6,311
    Trophy Points:
    13
    Location:
    NJ
    Flash you ROCK! That is an awesome mod Brother!
    Mark and Trish
     
  3. meistertek

    meistertek Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    318
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Flash that is awesome! I am going to add this mod to my MKI for sure I was thinking of doing a ridiculous aluminum stiffener with all kinds of screws...your mod is a much better idea! Thanks!
     
  4. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,123
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Location:
    Leesburg, Florida
    Yep, tried the aluminum route myself some time ago and it just didn't work out. Can't believe what a difference it made doing it this way.

     
  5. janbjorn

    janbjorn Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    130
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Sweden
    I haven't been able to find a metric equivalent of the yardstick (I live in Sweden) so I had to improvise a little. I sawed a 2.5cm (1") wide strip of 6mm (1/4" ) mdf and glued it to my phlatprinter the same way as Flash. I can't say that it works as good as the yardstick since I don't have one, but it was a MAJOR improvement!
    Now it works to mill pockets on my 3mm depron indoor planes!

    Thanks Flash for sharing this clever and easy mod!
     
  6. TigerPilot

    TigerPilot Well-Known Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    1,578
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Jan, solid wood will be better because of the grains. The mdf has no strength the way you've installed it. I'm sure you can find lots of 2.5cmm wood in various length and thickness. If it is only 3mm you can glue two together.
     
  7. janbjorn

    janbjorn Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    130
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Sweden
    Yoram, that's true. But even the MDF strip I put there increased the strenght significantly. I'll change to some type of wood spar later on if I discover I need more reinforcement.
     
  8. 66tbird

    66tbird Moderator Staff Member

    Offline
    Messages:
    431
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Deserts of Arizona
    The yard stick mod works great :D on that side of the slot :girl_cray2: My problem has been the other side of the slot and it sagging. So much so it hits the gantry. I've tried a few things like warping in a crown for a month, or CF strips, or flipping the top each month. Finally I'd had enough and searched my scrap pile for an aluminum window frame or door stoop frame. I found a nice piece of hard stiff aluminum and trimmed it up. Drilled a dozen holes in it and some shallow holes in the wood. Cleaned everything with acetone and Gorilla glued it down both maga clamped and with a tad of crown. So far its been a great mod.

    Attached files [​IMG]
     

Share This Page