Those who have built or are building a McWire, Please read!

Ok this is getting old. I am trying to design the rest of the McWire Parts in Alibre design and can not find any info on the dimensions of some of the components. I spent 4 hours this morning trying to find the correct dimensions of placement of mounting holes and actual part dimensions and came up empty. I have loaded the sticker .DXF files as well as the stage src files into Alibre, Sketchup, 3 autodesk viewers, 2 other cad programs and a universal cad viewer and every one of them shows the actual drawings to be hundreds of inches long. Just on the rail lengths it showed the first mounting hole to be 18" from the end of the rail. I tried scaling things down but it never came out right. (meaning I could never get the rails to match up to the known dimensions.) Can someone who has build a McWire please take some measurements for me? I will draw up a complete set of technical drawings with accurate dimensions and host the files for all to download. I don't need you to create a technical drawing for me. The simple things like hole locations on the aluminum channels, angle, ptfe bearings, bearing arms and base pipe hole locations can be described with text. More technical things like the X, Y, Z and vertical stages can simply be described in quick sketches or even copying the .jpg image and using ms paint to dimension them for me.

The measurements I need are as follows.

*Mounting hole dimensions from the end of the x, y, and z rails.

*Mounting hole dimensions for the Aluminum angle peices for x, y, z, extruder mount, and bearing arms. Also the mounting location dimensions for the opto endstops.

*Bearing arm dimensions including mounting hole locations

*Verticle bearing arm Dimensions including mounting hole locations.

*X stage plexi dimensions with mounting hole locations

*Y stage plexi dimensions with mounting hole locations

*Z stage plexi dimensions with mounting hole locations

*Verticle plexi base dimensions with mounting hole locations

*PTFE bearing dimensions with mounting hole locations

*Hole locations from the end of each base pipe.

* Extruder plastic parts Dimensions including mounting hole locations.

I plan on doing a full set of 3d rendered parts and 2d technical drawings. 3d Files will be saved in both .STEP and .SKP formats and technical drawings will be saved in .DXF, .DWG, and PDF for all to be able to view and use.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2008 10:25AM by SCphotog.

Yowza! Sounds like you're up for a fairly tough task. The reason I say this is that it appears that due to the lack of information on the build page, everyone's McWire is a little different. Not trying to discourage you, believe me, I think its a great idea. I just have a feeling that you may get conflicting information. Builder A's center to center for the PTFE bearings may be different from Builder B, etc. For instance, I gave up on using the pipes as a base and used a piece of plywood...so mounting hole dimensions for the X Stage rails didn't really matter for me. I'll be glad to send you the dimensions for my McWire, but bear in mind that mine may be different from everyone else's...including the build on the site...just my 2 cents...

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- Rick

A chicken has a head the size of a walnut. Yet, even it has the sense to come in out of the rain.

Have you tried dividing the dimensions by 25.4?

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Rick, are your x, y, z, and vertical stages the same as the ones listed in the McWire sticker pack that can be downloaded from sourceforge? If so I would love those dimensions.

Nophead I will give that a try.

ok I had to divide the dimensions by 25.37 to get the correct measurement with an accuracy of .001. Well here goes a long night. I have nothing better to do anyway.

Found out what the problem was. Alibre was importing the .DXF files in inches rather than mm. I switched the default unit to mm and all is fine.

I am dimensioning the technical drawings with both Metric and Standard dimensions so it will be easy for us Americans and also the rest of the world to read.

That would be really nice to have. I am going to be building a McWire as soon as I'm done putting all the electronics together. The PCB's and Arduino are supposed to be here today

I have been working on the tech drawings over the last few days. It has been on and off and only when I got bored of visiting with the family. I am here for 5 more days and I am going to try and finish with the drawings and 3d renders by then because when I get back home I have to begin marketing heavily for the upcoming wedding season.

Hi Rick,
I am also planning to use a solid base owing to not being able to get hold of the pipe as specified in the UK.
How did you attach your upright, and what did you use for the upright and the overhanging (previously pipe) at the top?

I've found the piccie on your blog now, and see you still use the flange - how is it held up? I can't quite make it out in the photo'.

All help gratefully received,
Hazel.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2009 07:35AM by MotorAssist.