Building Hints and Tips
From Wiki
This page has details of hints and tips not covered in the manuals or user submitted notes.
Contents |
Before you start
Your new kit has arrived and you can't wait to get started. Open the box and take out the bits and check that you have everything..... then..... Pause!!! don't start yet! Sit down with the acrylic parts on a table and carefully remove the "low tack" film that keeps all the parts in place but leave the (blue) protective film in place. With the page of the manual that shows all the part numbers and a CD/DVD marker or an OHP pen carefully transfer all the part numbers onto the (blue) protective film on each of the parts. OK you will need to peel this off as you assemble the RapMan (don't try to remove it after assembly as bits get left behind) but it is a very useful double check that you are using the correct parts as some of them look very similar. Then put the "low tack" film back on to keep everything together. ONLY remove the parts from the sheet as you need to use them! If you keep the acrylic sheets on top of the polystyrene packaging it keeps all the parts together, you can move the sheets around without anything dropping on the floor.
Label each bag of nuts and bolts with the bin number (again with a CD/DVD Marker)
Loctite
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use loctite to secure nuts and bolts when building your RapMan.
Quote from the BfB forum by Chylld "I only wanted to build my Rapman 3.1 once, so along with following the instructions to the letter (hand-tight plus half turn) I added a dab of Loctite 243 threadlocker to the bolts before I threaded the nuts on.
Less than a week has passed and now EVERYWHERE where the loctite came into contact with the acrylic, the acrylic has fractured and in some places cracked right through"
See forum topic
Bolt length gauge
It is difficult to tell the difference between M3x16mm and M3x20mm bolts at first glance, so... A useful gauge for measuring the length of bolts can be found on the edge of the struts that are used to measure the distance between bars and diagonals.
(I didn't notice it until halfway through the build and I needed to use the strips to set up the diagonals and bars ... doh!)
Hex key for grub screws
The best tool for tightening the grub screws is a ball ended hex key (allen key). Even better are the ones shaped like a screwdriver. However they are quite expensive and may be difficult to purchase from local shops. I modified an ordinary hex key be reducing the small side down to 11mm using a Dremmel and a cutting/grinding disk... not a perfect solution but it worked and really helped.
