Epoxy optical table

Hi all,

I decided to create some bigger sample made with epoxy resin. I chose some optical table. I have some 20W laser in my workshop (that is still waiting to run it), so table will be helpful to end and show laser on blog. I checked in net how they are made and what will be needed to do it.
So first was mold. I decided to made rather small table 160 x 240 mm and 30 mm high. Mold was made from plywood 10 mm thick. As was tested before release agent was silicon in spray.

Next was inserts with thread. So I have a problem here, because there is difficult to get dedicated inserts. I used my lathe to create some sample inserts. They were ok, but it take over 15 min to create one. So I would spend few hours to create inserts only for this small form. That why I decided to search something else. And I found a thing: Ericson's nut. They are used in furniture creation, but it can be easily used as inserts in epoxy casting.

Vibrating table

Hi,

I work in new workshop almost for 2 weeks, but there was nothing to show. Until today :)
I made a vibrating table - to vibrate future epoxy resin CNC. Below some pictures how it was made.
BOM:
 - grinding machine
 - used tire
 - piece of plywood
 - some screws and nuts ( M8 and M4)
 - material for 2 wheels

 I bought this:

Workshop - more photos

Hi,

It is hard to keep clean workshop. After I moved in I start to work immediately. So it will not be clean, never. But I decide to show some photos.

 some panoramic view 

New workshop - again

Hi all,

There was a long period when I did not write here. But I had a lot of stuff to do and I took some holiday :)
Most important think is that, that I found new place for my workshop. It is 4 times bigger that last one. And I have big window. It is in poor condition generally, but if I stay there for longer time I will repair everything.

Epoxy

Hi all,

For couple of month I was reading different literature, science papers and forums about epoxy granite. I found very interesting topics in www.cnczone.com and www.cnc.info.pl about using it to build CNC frame. And I start to dig deeper. I check availability of epoxy resin in Poland. I found one, parameters of it are very promising: EPOLAM 2002. It is mainly used to laminating, but It can be used to create epoxy granite.
So I found aggregate to fill it. I used two type of aquarium sand:
- 0 to 2 mm diameter,
- 1 to 5 mm  diameter.
After I collect all elements I decide to create MDF mold, It was 150 x 50 mm and 60 mm high. I used wax as separator. I have create 4 samples.

  

1. I used 50/50 of sands and use resin 14,5% of volume, It was not vibrated.

Future & past

Hi,

FUTURE

Slowly I am preparing to move out. CNC from MDF was sold last week. I hope new user will be contented with it. I am building new shelfs to workshop because I was using owner of the place furniture to store my stuff.

I made them from dust board (18 mm ) and prepare to use bunch of box that I am using. They are really heavy.
 In plans there was some new CNC. I can not decide what to do (big plotter or small mill), but there was something that helped me to make decision. Wooden RACK box, that is used to send PC equipment was lying around in company that I am working. So I decide to use it. I will write about it more info soon.

Cyclone

Hi all,

I decided to build something that should be build long time ago - cyclone. Paper bags to my workshop  vacuum are incredible expensive. This is why I decided to used some plastic pipes (100 mm and 150 mm diameter)  and bucket, use some MDF and silicone for sealing everything. This is how it goes: