All Aluminum bed with T-Slots

[skipmcdonald]

Edit: I did this and it worked even better than I expected. two extrusions, received precision cut to 500mm -- it made the bed and makerslide square to each other by tapping the extrusion and using an existing hole in the stock Shapeoko 2 bracket!! The bed was trivial to level as well and didn't need any shims.

-- Skip


Has anyone tried using this part for a Shapeoko 2 bed?
Misumi HFSQN4-15250-500 it is a single extrusion 15mm x 250mm x 500mm. it has 8 x 8mm T-slots on the "top" side and 7 x 6mm T-slots on the bottom and 1 x 6mm T-slot on each of the edges. 2 of them would cover the entire bed nicely I believe.

Although they are not cheap they beat all the other options I researched, 2 pieces, all in under $60 usd (plus shipping)

The 15x250 extrusion is available in longer lengths (1000mm and longer) for you upgraded shapeoko 2 guys too.

So has anyone else done this. I put my order in but have not received the material. I will probably back it with solid MDF, plywood, or diagonal cross braces to make it more rigid/level under clamping pressure. Any thoughts? concerns? things i need to consider?

Here is a link to their US website.
http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/11 ... -15250-500

Shapeoko b.JPG (131.58 KiB) Viewed 8209 times

Skip

[Enraged]

Did you know about the Reddit $150 discount?

I didn't know they carried this, I may order some when I upgrade my Shapeoko. Thanks!

[Brian]

Did you know about the Reddit $150 discount?

I didn't know they carried this, I may order some when I upgrade my Shapeoko. Thanks!

reddit discount? Do share

I've actually been toying with the idea of a nice tslot table and this material should do the trick. I don't like the MDF mounting solutions at all, tried the inventables threaded insert board and the inserts just pulled out with any pressure applied.

[WillAdams]

More on the reddit discount from a Misumi company rep no-less in this thread: http://shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... 620#p19857

Post on reddit here: http://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comm ... y_company/

[skipmcdonald]

This extrusion works perfectly as a replacement of the wood spoil boards. One hole in each bracket lines up perfectly.

A small 4 hole plate fastens it in the middle. I'll put details in my build log soon.

http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2381


Skip

[samc99us]

Nice setup, but priced out of my league. 3 x 250mm x 1500 mm sections equates to $240 + ~$20 shipping. That leaves me with a 100mm gap in my spoilboard. A 3/4" thick piece of MDF set me back $35, cut to length. Add another 1/2" thick section as the actual spoil board ($30) and 300 insert nuts plus the tools to drill the holes, and all in I'm at about $110. With the Misumi $150 off offer going on right now, it probably makes sense to go the aluminum route, especially if you have the stock machine.

[skipmcdonald]

Yes,for larger and longer beds it gets a bit pricey but not unreasonable given the price of comparable machines.

It fits the "precision by design" ShapeOko philosophy very well, and for my money it is worth it because cutting and drilling large spoil-boards may be beyond the ability of many hobby builders and if the bed is off, then the precision suffers. with these extrusions the slots are parallel to the axis with virtually no error and the ends are parallel to the other. But if you got skillz a wood torsion box would be great for a large bed.

For a stock ShapeOko it's seems well worth it.
you must use scrap under the work-piece as spoil anyway, unless you want to resurface or replace your wooden bed.
It simplifies the process to precisely fit jigs, fences, etc.
5/16 carriage bolts fit the slots quite well for hold downs, and nuts can be turned into knobs by inserting them into some easy to mill or 3d print parts.

[criznach]

Mine is made of 20x80 but I'm loving the clamping options it gives me. And it will be super easy to slide a new MDF waste board onto the T slots when I need to.