hi curtis...here are a couple of things to consider...i do plan to swap out longer pieces of the legacy rail to use for the vertical pieces on my "Z" carriage...this added height will allow more weight to be used as a counter balance...the linear bearings on the "Z" axis will help greatly here, as they will reduce the amount of drag that the router plate currently has from the legacy, black top hats...i also have an added plus in that i widened my carriage, so this will allow me even more space for a counter weight...a weighted pivot arm has some issues, i believe, as the dynamics of the counter weight changes as the arm goes up and down...and the plan is to have counter balance weights on the backside of each vertical aluminum rail...some preliminary calculations say if i put a "brick" of steel on the backside of just one of the vertical risers, measuring 3 3/4" wide(remember, i widened my "Z" axis) by 3"(for example) by 12" high(again, i am lengthening the vertical rails), this will provide a counter balance of 40 lbs...add the same brick to the other side and i have a total counter balance of 80 lbs...if i switch to lead, the total counter balance is 106 lbs...so i believe there is room to make the counter balance even smaller than what i have laid out here...even with the fact that i have that big porter cable, variable speed router and the rotary, tilting table i added a while back...i will weigh the router assembly soon to better refine the counter balance needed to do the job...and to address something that others have brought up in regards to climb cutting when following a template...i think it is unrealistic to think that a pattern can be followed from one end to the other(using the "X" axis lead screw) and expect the follower(most likely a small ball bearing of some sort) to follow all the ins and outs any particular template might have...certainly going down hill is not an issue, but climbing up a particular pattern is not doable...i have a vega duplicator mounted on my oliver pattern maker's lathe and it works very well, but it is a two handed job...meaning that, one hand will control the cutter going in and out while the other will control left and right cutter movement...this way you avoid any climb cuts with some coordination between both hands...i think the same technique would have to be used on the legacy...one hand controlling the router going up and down, while the other hand controls the router going left and right...and i have to say this is doable because i have the linear bearings on the "X" axis as well...don't think it is realistic to think that you can just set a feed rate on the "X" axis lead screw and stand back while the router follows a template...maybe if the template has very gentle curves...and thinking of setting up some kind of hydraulic or pneumatic system is not something i want to consider...want to keep the operation and machinery modification as simple as possible...also a two handed control method opens up the possibility of combining the use of the legacy template follower(along the "X" axis) , the now set up template follower along the "Z" axis and the "Y" axis...a bit funky to execute, for sure, but doable...anyway, some fun stuff to contemplate and possibly execute...let's see how far i might get on this one...thanks for the response...joe
> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Legacy Ornamental Mills" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to legacy-ornamental-mills+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to legacy-ornamental-mills@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/legacy-ornamental-mills. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
