pic: Tensioning is easier than it used to be!

[Richard Wallace]

loading photo ...

[asid61]

Cool! It's nice to see a simple picture of how the WCP tensioner system works.
I have a couple questions about your machining process:
1. Do you have a digital readout (DRO) on your mill? It makes slots very easy to do.
2. What made you put the dimensions on the drawing by hand rather than in CAD? I'm interested to see the benefits of this for new/ old members.

[Monochron]

Noob question:
How does that bearing block hold itself in the slot? I understand the cam tensioning system, but with the VersaBlocks the block is affixed to the tube via bolts on the top and bottom. How is this?

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Monochron

Noob question:
How does that bearing block hold itself in the slot? I understand the cam tensioning system, but with the VersaBlocks the block is affixed to the tube via bolts on the top and bottom. How is this?

There is a square boss on the side of the diamond-shaped plate that you can't see in this picture. It fits squarely (!) into the rectangular slot.
The square boss has some nice radiused corners too.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by asid61

Cool! It's nice to see a simple picture of how the WCP tensioner system works.
I have a couple questions about your machining process:
1. Do you have a digital readout (DRO) on your mill? It makes slots very easy to do.
2. What made you put the dimensions on the drawing by hand rather than in CAD? I'm interested to see the benefits of this for new/ old members.

Yes, our mill has a DRO. We were fortunate to have very nice sponsor donate that a couple of years ago.

A close look at the drawing will reveal that it is full dimensioned in CAD, and the paper copy is marked-up by the machining team to help with DRO references.

In a perfect world, machinists would never need to mark-up engineering drawings. In the FRC world and many others, iterating toward perfection requires a lot of on-the-fly tweaking.