Reassembling the Rockler bearing...

A few weeks ago I received my Rockler bearing which I immediately disassembled as I intend to replace the Ball Bearings with Acetal Bearings.

Daniel, asks me on an almost daily basis what parts have come for R2? and more specifically whether the frame has come (I keep telling him that its going to be a long time for that one still) Anyway, He really wants to help and at this point there hasn't been anything for him to do, so I decided to have him help me reassemble the Rockler. Problem is, Although I have the Acetal Bearings, I havent cleaned the grease out of the bearing yet. So we reassembled it anyway...with the same ball bearings I removed previously.

The Bearing disassembled

Daniel, Ready to begin

Dropping the bearings in

Screwing in the plug. First time using a real screwdriver, he was very happy!

I guess it doesn't count as real progress, but he enjoyed it and felt like he was helping. When it comes time to replace the bearings again with the Acetal bearings, I will probably have him help again. Ill just tell him I changed my mind and want to use different ones.


In other news, I received my utility arms this week. These were a Junkyard find from adam.scott Thanks Adam!

Started cutting out the inner dome.

After removing all the burrs from the inside of my outer dome and sanding it down, there were still a few gaps, especially around the bottom edges of the pie panels so i decided to cut the top off of the inner dome.

I started by marking a circle all the way around the inner dome, about an inch below the bottom of the panels. To do this I made a compass with a sharpee attached.

Its nothing fancy but it marked a perfect circle and only took about three minutes to put together.

 

Next I used a pneumatic cut off wheel to cut the top off along the line.

 

I put the bottom half aside and started working on the top. I taped the cut off piece in place, then used a compass as a gauge and marked the inner panels. Leaving a slight lip for the outer panels to rest against when closed.

And finally , used a dremel to cut out the pieces.

And lastly, I filed the cuts smooth. Still needs more filing and sanding, but the edges are smooth enough for now!

New parts

Restraining bolts

Holoprojectors

Logic Display Surrounds

Worked on the dome

Finally Ive accomplished something! I was able to get the remaining panels removed from the outer dome, as well as deburr, File and sand both the panels and the dome.

All of the Dome panels, and the tools I used to remove them and to clean them up.





One of the panels was not cut completely by the laser (Daren made this very clear to me before selling me the dome) So I had to use a Dremel and finish cutting it out myself.

The view from inside the Dome, clearly showing where the panel is uncut.

 

On the left I have 2 sides of the panel cut, on the right, I have cut all the way around.

 

 Before and after filing

Outer dome finished