CNC SERVING MACHINE- an improved bobbin carrier.

by John

Just a quickie.

I had decided to make another top plate of the bobbin carrier out of metal because the 3D printed top was slightly rough and had a tendency to fluff up the serving thread. Metal could be polished more smoothly. Also, to seize deadeyes, (see pic below) the thread hole needed to be extremely close to the edge of the top so it almost touched the deadeye held in the chuck.

So, I made an entirely redesigned version of the carrier. The body is 3D printed, the top is cast iron; it has thread holes in the center of the top plate and on the extreme edge. Also I decided that the carrier could be narrower, enabling longer lengths of rope to be served. That was achieved simply by positioning the bobbin vertically, and 3D printing a new frame.

The new bobbin carrier on the left, old one on the right. The 3 small bobbins might be used to see if the machine can manage to do worming. Not tried that yet. The new one has a metal top (under the Lexan). The 3D printed frames are great to quickly test new ideas, but in fact are so rigid that they will continue to be used longer term.

First attempt at seizing a deadeye, using the new carrier. magnified photo is not great, but the seizing is a bit lengthy. There is a learning curve.
Deadeye held in the ER chuck, and the 0.8mm rope seized in 2 positions. Room for improvement but not too bad.