Obsolete but not neglected...

With a bit of spare time I decided to get block lifter V0.1 a bit more assembled.  I'd still like to see how well or poorly this design works.  As noted, my drill holes are not super precise (and the alignment of a number of key parts was a bit skewed while they were being epoxied together), so my trusty hand reamer got some good use today.  Here are some shots of the assembled rack carriage as well as shot of the carriage held in the block (held together with a rubber band).

The vertical slide poles will be cut down to size (that is to say, there is a top to the block).

A view of the rack carriage as it will be when assembly is completed.

These screws are way too long, plus they're pan heads and to light in color.  If I can find them I'd like to get some black anodized countersunk screws.

Behold the ugly as sin panhead screws.  Just plain fugly.

The rack in all of its glory.

  

The Epoch of Epoxy...

The past couple of days have consisted of using a variety epoxy based adhesives to stick small bits of wood together.  Behold the result of JB weld, slow setting epoxy and fast setting epoxy...

In terms of adhesives I like the consistency and strength of JB weld, but it's ugly as sin where it oozes out on to the wood.  The fast setting epoxy (5 minutes) seems to set too quickly for the applications I am using it for.  The slow setting stuff is generally a nice compromise, but it's not tacky enough for some situations.

When the glue age comes to a close it'll be time to move on to drilling out the parts...

Laser Cutter = AWESOME!!!

First of all, I'd like to thank the guys at the WiESEL group again for the use of their laser cutter, you guys rock.  +Andrzej F thanks for taking the time and lending your expertise to help me get the cutting done.  The cutting went really well (with the exception of me forgetting to include a part on the 1/8" sheet of wood, gotta go back an cut that part tomorrow).  Now the work of gluing and bolting it all together starts.  I loosened up the part tolerances (from what I've done in previous projects), it makes things easier to fit together, BUT in some cases I went too far and aligning the pieces while they're setting up (with glue) is going to be a pain.  Check out some of the videos and pictures of the cutting process and results.

(the first 1/4" sheet of plywood)

(the 1/8" sheet of ply wood, faster to cut)

(The outer portion of this prototype assembly)

(The rack and pinion, hope the hold together during testing)

(The block itself)