Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Waihao Forks....what lurks beneath...


Am_Fet expounds:

In designing the baseboard supporting structure, I was keen to produce something that would be simple yet strong as well as providing suitable attachment points for the MMW module ends to be screwed into.  Being a curvy baseboard doesnt make life easy either....but thats the shape of the station, so it is what it is.

The design I finally came up with is:


Effectively there are 2 quarter circles CNC routed out of 12mm plywood with right angle bends to suit the MMW endcaps.  I did 4 in all so they could be laminated together for a total thickness of roughly an inch (I said roughly....).  The pieces on the inner edge have a 3mm slot cut in them (just visible here) so that 3mm MDF can be used as a layout fascia at a later date.  A smaller crossbrace is added to provide a bit of stability for both the baseboard surface and the fascia.

Here are the parts being routed out on the Atomik Design CNC machine.  BTW, I have seen it do 1mm brass, I'm thinking one day I might try a simple chassis on it...


Also starring in the picture of the leg components, of which more later....

One momentous club night, the components were bought together and securely fastened.  Tip it on its side and it looks like this:



The more clever amongst you will notice the distinct lack of endacps.  The reason is purely practical:  As it stands, the board can still quickly be flicked upside down/stored sideways/flown like a frisbee.

Next up, baseboard is reunited with track.

2 comments:

Kiwibonds said...

Golly, that's worryingly impressive. Scenery all over this magnificent engineering will ruin it.

Good work those people!

beaka said...

Looks like someone's eye. Lol! Needs eye lashes.
Looking good. My DA body was done on a CNC cutter. It might not have been 1mm Brass, but fairly close. Had to do a fair bit of sanding/filing, but it came up alright.