Part II: Carriage (incomplete)

	I cut off the sprue and filed the edges and bottom with an aluminum file. Starting to look much better. 2004/02/29. I moved the description of casting the carriage to a separate page.
	2004/02/28. After finishing the ways I filed and scraped the wear pads on the carriage so that it rides smoothly on the ways. This wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. The aluminum scraped off very easily. I also cut of a couple of sections of stainless steel bar for the clamps. They are a little thin (2mm), but I don't have any other material that will work right now (I suppose I'll go out looking around for something better eventually). I've also drilled the holes for the clamp screws and the gib screws.
	2004/02/29. I found a bit more time this weekend to continue work on the carriage. I tapped the clamp screw holes but I broke the tap in one of them. I hate it when I do that. I resisted the urge to throw the whole thing across the room and drilled and tapped another hole near the edge. I really need to find out how big I am suppose to drill the hole officially before tapping. I cut off a section of 4mm x 4mm square brass rod for the gib. I used a drill to make a couple of dents for the gib screws. The clamps ended up being a little too tight so I made a few (3) shims from 0.1mm brass sheet.
	2004/02/29. Everything is almost in place and ready to go. This is the bottom of the bed and carriage.
	2004/02/29. The clamps and gib are attached and the carriage rides smoothly on the ways. I was actually surprised. I didn't expect it to work as well as it does. I'll have to take it all apart though because I have to drill some holes for the cross slide ways. I drilled the clamp screw holes all the way through the carriage. They don't cause any problem and I have enough trouble trying to tap this kind of hole, never mind a blind hole. One of the projects definitely on the list is a tap holder.
	2004/03/19. It's been a long time with little progress, but I managed to put together a simple tool holder. For the first round I'll forego the swivel compound slide and settle for something that just works. It was a pretty simple casting. I filed the sides fairly flat and then dilled and tapped a bunch of holes. A couple of bolts should be enough to stick it to the cross slide.
	2004/04/10. I've started preparing the cross slides ways for the carriage. Obviously not very exciting yet...
Next: Leadscrew

Questions? Comments?