Clank-Stretch: Wide Aspect Manufacturing
This variant is aka’d the giga clank: by default it has a 620x420x30mm (24x16.5x1") build area (with extra Z retract to get spindle tools out of the way). I wanted something that could responsibly mill plywoods and engineering grade plastics, and might also serve as a motion platform for pick-and-place applications, or knife cutters, pen plotters, imaging platforms, whatever.
Keep in mind that the bed size is not at all fixed; take a look at the CAD and you’ll see that increasing the size merely requires you recalculate some extrusion lengths. I believe this design is robust enough to be built out at up to 4x8’ size, but our lab is out of space.
CAD Access
First thing you’ll want is to grab the most recent CAD files for the machine. The -stretch model is BOM-complete, meaning that everything you need to build the machine is modelled in the CAD: you’ll want to consult the model to figure out which screws go where, etc.
I’m also throwing this embedded CAD right here. You can fullscreen this (it’s actually pretty performant) and even explode the model, inspect the part tree, and open it in your own instance of Fusion 360.
You can also download the CAD in a few different formats, right here:
Download Clank-Stretch in .f3z Fusion 360
Download Clank-Stretch in .step Interchange Format
Download Clank-Stretch in .3dm Rhino 3D
If you love git, I have a repo on github - you can poke back through commits to see older CAD, and you can read the dev log.
About the -Stretch Bed
I’ll be honest, I cut my bed on our lab’s Zund. I don’t want to put it in the BOM because I’m still kind of working that part out, and I’m convinced that a 3D printed part(s) could do the trick, so it’s omitted for now. Choose your own bed adventure, it’ll want to be different things depending on which process you’re building clank for anyways.
The BOM
Clank was designed to have a minimal BOM. Besides printed parts, everything can be purchased easily from McMaster, Misumi, Amazon, and Digikey. The purchase parts total around $400.