Dismantled Hehe, now I have the tabletop bolted down, I have noticed the z-axis is not quite perpendicular to it. So it had to be dismantled to fix the problem. It's not a big deal really, looks worse than it is, but it's just time consuming when I should be up and running by now. The problem is a simple one, the original holes I drilled to attatch the z-axis back plate to the cross plate were out of position by about 1mm. You can just about make out the tapped holes at the back, you can see they are out! I will get it back together tomorrow as it's bloomin' freezing now! Spyder, once I get going, I will shoot off a few emails to some different companies to see if I can drum up some business. It would be great to do it full time, but time will tell I guess.
Well, it could have been worse and atleast you know what needs fixing. I'm a complete n00b to CNCs but whats the blue stuff allover?
I think its for marking the aluminium.... I'm sure Kong tells us what it is somewhere... Looking ace dude, even in pieces!!
Yep, it's a marking fluid called "engineers blue". It stains the ali, then I can use a scribe to get accurate markings. You ever tried writing on aluminium?!
Doh, I decided to read the thing from the start and just came across this yes, but on hard anodizd stuff, my mechanical pencil works fine for me lol! edit: Mr. Smith, that really blows me away. I can spot some custom bread board stuff in there and alot of 'other stuff' LOL... Those couple back boxes (with blue headers) are those the encoders or the geko thinggies? Think you would explain the stuff inside in detail some day for the rest of us?
Nice use of fans in that little Alu box... . Oh, and the CNC is nice as well j/k totally awesome...shame I'm new here so didn't get to read it from the start. I will, however, read it all now...it looks worth it.
Mr Smith now eh?! Ok, the little ali box of magic... The little black boxes with blue headers are the gecko drives, these are motor controllers. The controller software, currently "mach2" running on windows 2000 interprets the g-code file I send it and sends out pulses through the parallel port to the home-made breakout board. This is configured for two parallel ports, I have an extra one on a pci card. Some of the signals get sent to the geckos, which then interpret them into movements of the motors. Some of the pulses control solid-state relays which are on the right of the box. These will control the router on/off, coolant on/off and dust extraction on/off. There is a large relay also on the right, with yellow leads going into it. This is part of the power system and emergency stop system. To power the whole box, I need to press a green button on the front of the case. If I hit the e-stop, it switches everything off, until the green button is pressed again. Erm, what else.....the limit switches I mentioned earlier are also hooked up to the breakout board. If I run the machine into a switch at the extent of its travel, a signal is sent to the pc to notify the software a crash has occured which then promptly tells the geckos to stop the motors. To be honest, it is very difficult to explain in plain english what it all does, but if you got questions, then fire away!
Just noticed this.. but on the box with all that circitry stuff, You have three fans, with space for one more. I was wondering, since they are all placed in for exhaust, did you switch the PSU fan around? Can't remember if you said you did or not...
The single one at the bottom (which was going to be two, but I couldn't find the fourth fan) is an intake, and the two at the top are exhaust. The psu is also exhaust. I don't need t oworry about them at the moment as the wiring box is still open since I'm still adding stuff to the insides!
oops.. missed that.. LOL sorry. and for learning what everything all does in there. could you post schematics? I don't mind deciphering those... and it makes a bit more sense in my head for stuff like that. Don't know about others though... How close are you to getting the z-axiz perp. to the tabletop? I hope you don't have to remake anything. This is sooo sweet. That rendering earlier... I not sure, but were you gonna make it with the cnc router or was that for something else? My brain is either on a brake or is... welll on a brake I suppose, to put it nicely.
I integrated a few schematics that I found on the CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO Yahoo group You will probably need to register, but if you can go into the file section, take a look at gecko err/res manager, gecko e-stop circuit, and gecko-wiring. That will give you some idea as to what I used. I got the machine back together today, so I can draw up some plans for the router mounts tonight, and will get them cut tomorrow. Then it's just a question of tramming the router in with a dial indicator to ensure everything is square and true, and it's table making time. If all goes well, the machine will be finnished by friday, so I should get something cut on the weekend. Mind you, I've said that before!
Finnished??? Don't you mean Virginiaed???? Sorry... I just couldn't help myself.... BTW... Me thinks that maybe a little air nozzle/ coolent nozzle... near the bit to clean the unsightlyies might be of some practical consideration and a drop hole in the table that allows flushed chippies/coolent??? to be easily cleared from the setup into a nice little 5 gallon bucket underneath... and that might even be useful for a sump coolant resivour (Yes I know SP!!!)... But Align those dang holes... If you were in the military and your gig line were off that far... they would have you swinging by a yardarm before lunch.. But seriously, Awesome work there...
Never give up, never surrender! Looking forward to seeing everything up and running. Maybe we can get video? You said the software has controls for coolant pump/dust extraction, how does it know when to turn them on? I haven't seen (or maybe I glazed over) where you set them up.
Points for the obscure Sci-Fi film refrence Looks very cool Kong, but were you not thinking about using a linux distro to control this entire thing? If I'm reading this correctly, you're currently using Win 2000. When would you be considering switching, and what are the advantages? I don't know if I can stand all these Sci-Fi refrences Live long and prosper, kong. Edit: made that smilie just for this post
Yoduh, yep I just made the switch form Linux EMC to Mach2 running on Windows 2000. EMC is a pain in the butt! It's gonna cost me $149 US, but it will save me plenty of time in config. No other real advantages, the EMC will either work for you "out of the box" or be a real pig. Bender, yeah I'm sort of planning some holes, just haven't got that far yet. The coolant pump isn't even set up yet! Starbuck, you haven't seen it coz it's not in place yet, but the controls can be switched on/off via the software (g-code) that I create. At the start of the file, there will be a M03 (spindle on) and at the end of the file, there will be an M05 (spindle off), there are other codes for the other two relays, you can plug in anything you like and turn it on off with code. I guess I may have "stereo off" at the start and "stereo on" at the end! I think it is M7 and M8 to turn the relays on, then M9 turns both off.
Props?! What you mean, like piccies? Of course the nozzle will need to go right by the bit, so it shoots onto it, but I really have desire to set it up yet. To be honest, I don't think most people will appreciate it too much anyways, I think just seeing the router built is enough without going overboard if you know what I mean!
It is not just for good looks... It clears waste material out of the bits way, prolonging bit life, and reducing breakage and jamming...
