LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

Hi Chad- Tim is incommunicado but I believe he got the head directly from Russ- not sure what the current status of those are but if you leave Russ a message in the comments of his videos he will get back to you. If you leave your email he will delete it promptly and return it. Gene

Dave Vigness wrote: Sat Jun 20, 2020 WARNING :

I have a China Red with 12mm rail bearings and small diameter X axis pulleys. Russ' sliding mount for either head from Cloudray will NOT fit under the drive belt. He gave me the drawings, and I have manufactured a different sliding mech. but still has the same hole pattern for the new light weight head. Will do final assembly and test in a week or so. The real world won't let me get back to it until then.

Dave, How did the testing go? I've also got a small diameter pulley.

Been slammed with work, so it's fabricated, but not installed / tested.

I had two challenges really. The lack of height between the belts, and a lack of a mill / lathe to make one of the parts.

For the height, I swapped out the single triangle to three L shaped pieces.

For my lack of a mill / lathe, instead of the tab on the slider going down into the base, I put the slot in the slider and put two short set screws up from the base.

The base is a piece of 5mm aluminum plate, the slider and head mount are acrylic.

Mount up should be this week end or before depending on spare time.

Well, with a few minor tweaks, I got my slider installed, and I discovered something...

MY MIND DOES NOT THINK IN 3D !!!!!

Everything went good, but I left the top of the angle under the belt about two or three mm to high. The teeth of the belt were strumming it midway across the gantry.

So, I could take everything apart, put the old head back on, get everything aligned again, and cut some new pieces...

Or I could take an idler I had from another piece of equipment and swap the 15 tooth idler out for a 36 tooth idler. Had to put a spacer under the base, and thank god for ball end allen tips as two of the screws came out right under the idler. The drive side above the bearing rail is still flat, but the return is just a tad bit down hill. Okay, a bit more than a tad.

Everything lined up well but I was having a problem getting the beam centered in the nozzle opening. Decided to call it a night and work on it tomorrow.

Will take the last of the pictures and post them and the cut files when I know everything is working properly.

Well, it's installed and operating!

I have a few pics on my Google Mod Page about three quarters of the way down labeled MK3 slider assembly, and the cut files a word doc are at the top in a folder. There is a cdr, a dxf, and an rld. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

As I noted in my previous comments, I have some issues with thinking in 3D. The height of the tops of the angle brackets have been adjusted down in the cut files and should clear the return belt if you have 15 tooth gears, but double check.

See what you guys think.

Nice - by the way Gene was asking for a set of vendor setting for an RDC 6445 controller....like yours.
if you would be so kind as to share.

Here you go. I believe it is .19 firmware. I have an old .15 if I go looking.

Thanks...

I just ordered Russ' Mk 2 light weight head and Y-Z adjustable mount from Russ for my China Blue machine. He has made a few minor updates to the head and calls it the "Issue 2". I'll order the Series C tube and lenses from Cloudray after the head arrives.

If you play with his #2 mount, don't forget to ask for the aluminum mirror holders. I forgot when I ordered mine. You anywhere near Kansas City?