Just specced up a suitable (fuly loaded!) machine on the Romaxx website - My total tips the £4000 scale Oh well, if I do end up spending that sort of money on one, it will pay for itself. I'll make sure of that!
Hey guys, I did a live streaming test tonight on a dry run. I was having mic issues that have since been fixed. I was also experimenting with a dual webcam setup just to test it's feasibility. I'm not sure what I'll do with a second cam, but as you see, it's certainly possible to use one. http://www.livestream.com/losiastechnologies/video?clipId=pla_06b67ff8-9601-4a51-bfd2-6283ae9d8f69
I quit worrying about the table area and homing after a while. You don't have any homing switches on this thing anyway, right? I tend to park the machine on the zero point of the work if I'm doing a multi-session cut. When you re open Mach3, the machine coordinates will be zero. To get everything back to normal, you just hit the zero X,Y,and Z buttons. (I hope my lack of proper terminology doesn't throw you off.) The homing only comes into play if you have homing switches, and only becomes necessary if you have a power failure. As long as the work fits in the cutting area, you're good. If you're like me, you will be running the bit around the perimeter of the cut before you start anyway. Edit: You have a router. Can to add T-slots to the MDF like this rig?
No, there are no homing switches. I know technically it doesn't matter where the machine thinks it is, as long as I start at the zero point of the work piece. However, I've got this compulsion to make the machine coordinates right. I just like having the part in the preview to sit where it should. However, I can't find a way to reset the actual machine coordinates to a defined point. Maybe I'm just missing it... Damn, I do need to let it go though... Hey, those slots are a nice idea! Thanks for the link!
Okay guys, since I have a habit of never being satisfied... I made a few changes to my CNC router. After my dry run with the picture in picture webcams, I started thinking about how cool it would be to add one of the cameras near the spindle itself. I thought it could capture the mill bit working as I machined. Well, in order to make this happen, I went ahead and got a $10 camera from newegg, and set out to find it a home. I knew I had to get it as close to the spindle as possible, yet there could be no interference in the machine operation or safety. This was a must. The machine comes first, and these little extras second. So, as I was poking around with the cam, one thing became clear. My new mister bracket wasn't going to cooperate. I could either ditch the idea of a camera, or redesign the bracket. Well, I chose to make a new bracket. It is greatly simplified over the other one, but required the flexible metal shaft from a donor lighter. This shaft was the key to making everything work, as only this, a piece aluminum angle were going to be used in the new design. After a short while, the new bracket was in place, and I could move on the mounting the camera. This was even easier. I just needed a small aluminum triangle and a rubber washer... I removed the camera's original mount, and attached the aluminum. I then bolted the bracket to a free hole behind the spindle, and I was in business. So, shall we get on to a few pics? Here you can see an overall pic of the machine. The new mister bracket, and the webcam behind the spindle are visible. A little closer... A few more closeups... As you can see, there are no clearance issues of any kind. The machine is still just as easy to maintain, and I don't foresee any issues. Now all I need to do is get something cut!
Thanks guys! It will likely be next week before I make my first real cuts. I've ordered a new vacuum table for the machine, and might wait for it to arrive before milling.
Toooooooo close! I can see the lens getting covered with crud already. Also if you get in too close, it will not be as interesting after a few seconds. -Think extreme porn closeup. Edit: That may be the most exploitable thing I've said all month!
Lol, I've got clear plastic 'tubes' that will go on there when cutting. It shouldn't affect the clarity much, but are easy to just clean or throw away when done. Sure it's close, but since I'm using two webcams, it still should be a pretty cool effect. The overall bed will be the main pic, the spindle cam will be the inset pic in the lower right hand corner. Well, wanna know the sad part? For a lot of us, this is porn.
I was thinking the same thing. Craig, reading your fix with the clear tubes, see if you can mount a stepper motor to the end of the tube. Then you can rotate the tube while cutting! It can even have a small wiper on it so it's self cleaning.
Haha! The world's first 3D worklog! I guess I could stream another one just to pass time until the vacuum table arrives. Maybe tonight. Now that's thinking man! Probably a bit of overkill for what should be a simple camera, but I really like the idea!
I managed to make a few cuts today guys. I was having a z-axis plunge problem which you will see in the first video in particular. (I've got videos 2 and 4 linked below). Apparently it's an occasional problem with Mach 3. I did manage to get it sorted though, and got all my cutting done. Take a look! http://www.livestream.com/losiastechnologies/video?clipId=pla_8804960c-6617-45ac-9489-a1e822fd22be http://www.livestream.com/losiastechnologies/video?clipId=pla_0aaba4ad-01c2-422b-9d44-c4d584e05332
Lol, no errors on my part. The z-axis was doing a sudden plunge just as the g-code would start. It would go down as far as the table although the start point was about 16mm higher. It was baffling me as I didn't have any issues in dry runs, and I knew the code was solid. I did a little research, and it seems I'm not the only person who was having the problem. There were a few posts about it on the Romaxx forums as well as the Mach 3 forums. I don't know what the true solution is, although I may have narrowed down why it happens. It seemed to happen after I would change the z-axis jog speed in order to get zeroed in on 0,0,0. That's one thing I never had to do in my dry runs... I'll do more testing tonight to see if I can fix the issue. It does seem to be a Mach 3 problem though.
