Aluminum Caster Backing Plates

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Rando
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Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:24 pm
Location: Boise, ID
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Aluminum Caster Backing Plates

Post by Rando »

All:

A while back I did a nice, quick project on the Shark, to help me construct roll-around carts that will LAST. I put them together using the Kreg pocket-screw system in table-saw cut plywood. But, when it came time to put casters on the bottoms of them, I wanted something a little special. They were going to be pretty heavy, and I drives me bonkers when I see a caster, years later, all bent and misshappen because they didn't attach it strongly enough. To solve this, I designed a simple backing plate that takes the place of the washers someone might use. The larger area helps keep from crushing the wood, but still gives lots of strength to keep those 4 bolt tight.

Design on this on is like most others: Fusion360 to BobCAD to Shark. Here are some of the resulting parts. 1/8" thick 6061 aluminum, 3" wide, cut into 2.625" long pieces, then machined using a 3/16"D 2FL 0.625LOC 0.020R stubby endmill, over a scrap piece of acrylic for waste-board. Came out way better than good enough, but still some flaws.
Two more sets of four.
Two more sets of four.
Cheers and Regards,

Thom
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ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

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Kayvon
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Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:46 pm

Re: Aluminum Caster Backing Plates

Post by Kayvon »

How long does it take to cut 1/8" aluminum?

Rando
Posts: 757
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:24 pm
Location: Boise, ID
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Re: Aluminum Caster Backing Plates

Post by Rando »

The inside cross and four holes takes 4 minutes. I do two corner-roundings at a time, and each is about 2m, since I work my way in from a "maximal" part, so there quite a bit of air-cutting on the final profile cleanup. Figure about 8-9 minutes per part total. On a big machine that would take nothing, since it can be done in a single pass with a decent-sized bit, allowing for more aggressive cutting. The biggest added time was that the vise wasn't on the bed, so I had to use traditional clamps and a bit of spoil underneath. Which meant it was no longer a one-run process. Either way, fast and easy. In Aluminum, the 3/16" end mill is "just right" for our machines.
=====================================================
ThomR.com Creative tools and photographic art
A proud member of the Pacific Northwest CNC Club (now on Facebook)

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