Now more frustration!!
I have had a heck of a time finding a local supplier of PVC Sheet stock. Another thing I am having trouble with is the Aluminium Store Front Channel.
Time to drop John's design and go with relatively standard items for the slides.
Thanks to "Tom" on eBay I was able to get two THK 15" slides for around $70 CDN. These slides were mounted to two pieces of 3/4" MDF as can be seen in the photos.
In order to mount the slides an MDF carrier was manufactured to fit the existing gantry unit. The carrier had a bearing and motor plate mounted on the ends. Mounting holes were elongated to allow for minor adjustments during lead screw alignment.
Alignment was not too difficult although it took a couple of tries to get it just right.
Once everything was setup, it was dissassembled and painted with three coats of light gray Tremclad paint.
I would highly recommend using manufactured slides rather than building it out of the aluminium store front channel. It is more expensive but saves time and frustration. Sometimes time is money, and sometimes saving the frustration is worth spending the money.
That concludes the construction info.
