I’ll start by saying that since this last crossed my mind late in 2018 our lovely dining table has seen it’s share of memories made. The “WE WANT DESSERT!” chant while stabbing the table with the backs of our forks (yes - the whole family was in on the chant, not just the six and nine year olds), the strip right down the (perfectly measured) middle of the table that the painter’s tape peeled off after “the joke was over, she gets it…her elbows are always on ‘my’ side of the table”, the curious little holes where I was sure I’d be able to use my Jedi senses to know when I was through what I was drilling through and surely I wouldn’t hit the table, the splotches of spilled paint, stains from the legit pysanky dyes and the shiny bumps of “we can make resin jewelery without laying down paper”…So many memories made and a life well lived.
My wife, not long ago said “wouldn’t it be nice to get a new table someday soon”? to which I recounted all the above memories in defense of the table and hoping it would add to the “we should keep it a while longer” case I was going to be making. So, this coupled with my reconnection to the V1 world with the lowrider and naturally thoughts turned to the ZenXY again. (Am I the only one that pronounces it rather than spelling it out? Zenxy - like Banksy but Zenxy.)
The printer is running right now and the controller has been ordered. It said 8-10 days but I’ll not hold my breath on that one. If you care to review the Advice thread linked above feel free but I’ll summarize it here.
- Large ‘canvas’ - 58" X 30"
- Functional dinner table so the glass must be up to the task of holding steaming pots of mashed potatoes and giant roast beasts
- Would like to continue exploring the possibility of middle support from the top through the base material
- Will explore the possibility of breaking the canvas into two side by side drawings and possibly quadrants if side by side works out
Back in 2018 there was discussion about leaving a middle rib in the setup with one, two or three “mouseholes” to pass the ball from one side to the other. This would still be great but understandably a challenge. Current thinking has me wondering if I can’t leave enough of a “rail” - like an inverted “T” in the middle of the table to both hold the glass edge but then also give me something to run a machine screw (or two) through to the bottom to help support the span. The added bonus is that I may be able to find a cheaper source for glass than I had in 2018 where I was quoted about $300 for the piece I’d need. @SupraGuy mentioned to me how he found his glass through unconventional means and it was great (Ikea shelf I think? Or something like that.)
Anyway, that would make each piece of glass 30" X 23" give or take. In fact I’m open to being flexible on the size if it means an easier/cheaper source for the glass which will ultimately make it much more probable that these new 3d prints don’t suffer the same fate as the last ones will. A side bonus to the smaller pieces of glass of course is also that they should be much stronger while possibly thinner? I’ll need to figure out how to avoid the spot(s) where the support drops down. And I guess I’ll need to make sure the ball has enough clearance to make it under this rail. It means I’ll have to prep the “holes” from the top and then flip the table to remove enough from the bottom of the rail section for the required clearance.
Now that I think-type it occurs to me that it doesn’t matter how I poke holes through the table. I could do it any number of ways and all would be pretty cool. If the “support rail” thing works (and I’m speaking to the top of the table and the glass support only at this particular moment) then I could have all kinds of fun with four pieces, with six, seven, eight rectangular pieces etc (see doodles in following post).
This though does not cover the concern as shared by @barry99705 in the Advice thread where his 36" X 48" build showed signs of sagging in the middle using 1/8" hardboard for the base. So I refer back to the thought of some method of supporting the bottom from the top.
How much of a mess will this support plan make as far as the little big marble is concerned? Has the software evolved any since 2018 such that we could program the ball to run a labyrinth if we needed to in order to “get to the other side”?
