blocks of metal, calipers, drill presses… haven’t done this since mechanical engineering at uni in the nineties.
top photo is me verifying the modifications required for the carriage to fit the baton, the belt bar, and the controller. 11 holes from m3 to m6, some with recessed heads, some tapped.
i spent a long time figuring out what was best to run the led bar up and down. roller wheels on a solid bar came out best, as roller wheels are fast and being at the corners good for torque, and if what they’re running on is incompressible then the carriage should hold square. after asking some specific questions about the various item linear bearing parts to their staff, got a duff answer and what came out the box had ball bearing races. this part was chosen as being aesthetically the neatest, so there’s still good in having them, but there’s more friction than i’d like, and ball races have turned out to be fragile. if there was to be a tekton one three mkii, this is something i’d change.