I mentioned that I started with the Y axis first

There was a convenient ledge on the side of the bed casting which allowed me to add a parallel to get the backing plate up to the right height to mark for drilling the mounting holes. The 123 block is just holding it in position.

I added some engineers blue and marked the holes with a scriber then punched the centre.

Drilled, tapped and cleaned up with IPA

The backing plate in place, so far so good.

A trial fit of the scale to work out where the reader needs to be fastened to.

At this point I realised that I would need some packing pieces behind the mounting plate to make it stand off due to the useful ledge that I referred to earlier and allow the reader a clear track without being forced to run at an angle and to allow the fitting of the chip shield which didn’t quite fit when flush against the table.

I used a slitting saw to cut down some sheet material which some bar stock had been attached to to stop it being bent in the post. It’s quite interesting material in that it is two layers of thin aluminium bonded either side of some plastic material. Being layered it’s remarkably strong and light and I thought it too good to throw away so it went into my useful bits box.

You can just make out in this shot where I slotted the vertical mounting holes in the angle bracket, again to allow the reader to track without adding undue pressure. You can also see the packing strip between the mounting plate and the edge of the table.