Angle on cutting

[me]

Has anyone mounted their whole shopbot on an angle up against the wall or on a tilted stand to save room and reach to the middle of the cutting area? Do all the axis still work o.k. doing this? I am thinking of doing this because all my pieces to be cut are small and there are many hold downs for each piece. I would be able to reach easily every hold down clamp but I don't want to go through the trouble of building a stand etc. and find out that I should have left it.

[Gerald D]

The gravitational direction is important. If you took a standard PRT96, and tilted it up 45 degrees in y-direction, the y-car will keep on dropping to the bottom when the motors are off. Cutting up (y+) will be weaker than cutting down (y-). The z-axis springs will probably have to be reduced because there is less gravity in the z-direction.

Of more concern is the V-grooved track rollers on the x-axis rails. It is mainly the weight of the moving carriages that holds the rollers centred on the V's. When these V's are tilted over, then it will want to start falling apart.

Have you considered a long(x), thin(y) ShopBot that will allow easier access to the centre of the table? Alternatively, how about "removable" table tops that could be pre-packed at an incline?

I suppose it would be possible to build a tiltable ShopBot that is inclined for loading and flattened during cutting.

[rgrim]

I have a table that is made to tilt also it is on 8" wheels so that it can be moved. If you tilted it to load you would need help to tilt it back. The y-axis make it top heavy and hard to tilt back level. To get clearance to tilt the table is also high. But because of the way it is built I don't have to worry about the table being level. I can move it about the shop.

[davidallen]

I'm waiting for the company to release an upgrade to the new angle-iron rails so that I can mount the system vertically. I've heard mid-Feb., but....

da

[Jay Wiese]

It seems to me that if you were to mount your machine vertically or at an angle, you could counter balance the weight of the moving y axis with a few pulleys and some weights. You would still have to solve the problem of the problem of the v-grooved track rollers falling out of the track. Maybe a second rail to hold everything in place?