Wanted :: Aluminium Base plate :: Dichro Mounts X 2

[laserLips]

carmangary, when you say punch do you mean somthign with a point that you put where you want to hole and then bang it with a hammer?

[JimBo]

carmangary, when you say punch do you mean somthign with a point that you put where you want to hole and then bang it with a hammer?

That's right, you can also get them spring loaded so you don't need an hammer,

Jim

[buffo]

It's nice and neat to drill and tap the holes, but don't forget the other option of drilling the holes and using nuts and bolts. Providing you leave enough clearance underneath the plate for the bolts to stick through you won't have a problem.

I agree Jem. This is exactly the route that I took with my projector. Though I had floating tables for each of my lasers which complicated matters somewhat, I still decided that having to leave clearance for the nuts on the underside was preferable to tapping all those holes.

You don't need special equipment to drill and tap a hole. <snip> The end result will be so much nicer than fooling around with nuts.

I would have had to tap a minimum of 22 holes to avoid using nuts on the underside of the baseplate. (16 for the 4 floating tables at 4 a piece, 4 for the 4 mounts at 1 each, 1 for the galvo block, and one for the shutter.) Given that I would have been tapping those holes by hand, I decided that using stainless steel nuts with nylon locking inserts would be easier.

My only mistake was in using those same locknuts for the adjustment nuts on the floating tables. Sure, it made everything really stable and vibration-resistant, but it also made the chore of aligning the tables an absolute nightmare. (*Everything* had to be adjusted with a wrench. You can't turn a locknut with your fingers.)

I'd use nuts on the bottom of the optical plate again in a second. But I'd switch to regular nuts and lock washers for the tables if I ever had to do it over again...

Adam

[Lampy]

Has anyone got any experience with using a clinch-nut tool? I used one to install the steel bulkead into my van. I'm not sure if they work with thicker plate metals thought.