I am re-setting up my FarmBot for the year. It sits in a pretty harsh mountain environment with the T-slot rails mounted on a wooden frame. The frame while once proudly square is definitely not any more. Last year I shimmed it out with some standoffs from McMaster. I could do similar this year, but I was trying to find something more serviceable to my laziness.
Shims/standoffs, while they work, take a lot of fidgeting and re-mounting. I was thinking something adjustable in the middle that you could just turn like a dial to move it in and out would be best. I have an XL, so there’s four main large rails overall, and would need an adjuster at each end, totalling eight. The other nice thing with an adjustable system is it could be turned during the year, with small quick tunings.
I haven’t quite figured out what would be the best way to do this though. Maybe a fat spring over a bolt that could be tightened? That could also give a bit of “play” which could help.
Does this sound like a good way to go? Any suggestions? Thx.
I am curious to see any solutions the community comes up with here, as track alignment over long periods of time is indeed a pain point for owners of Genesis bots mounted to wood. A good solution could likely make its way into future versions of the kit!
Surfing around looking for ideas/brainstorming this is all I got so far:
Two clamps with heavy springs in middle, with bolts running through them.
There’s various gate hinges of different shapes that are adjustable. This could be mounted to the top of the wooden frame, then the plate mounts to the adjustable hinge.
Mount small segments T-slot on top of the wooden frame perpendicular to the main rails at the ends. Remove the plates at the end, not the middle. Then the rail is mounted on the perpendicular rail, and can be adjusted there. McMaster has various adapters (e.g. 3136N168): McMaster-Carr
Similar to above, but instead of expensive T-slot parts, use a PVC pipe and contrive a hose clamp to hold it in place. Then just loosen the hose clamp to slide the rail.
I’m not too sold on any of the above ideas though.
Maybe a slotted bracket (Lots of them available on Amazon…even stainless steel for harsh environments). This would give you adjustability on both axes. You would need stainless bolt assemblies to connect to your existing frame and your track. They also make knobs with bolts that would make adjustment really easy. However, I don’t know if you would be able to tighten a knob as strong as a hex head bolt. Good Luck!
