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What will I make Is the popular question...
After reading many posts and spending lots of hours on CNCZone and other sites I've started my first CNC machine.
My friends all think I'm nuts but my girlfriend is so far supportive as she will get come finely cut craft wood.. (assuming that I am successful). I'm just a builder and currently the machine is my goal...
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The Z-Axis had alot of re-manufactured parts..
Well, I pretty much designed and fooled around with a small z-axis, Building from the top down... I've learned a few lessons about using a router to cut the plastic (Including sending a peice sailing across the garage)...
Here is near the finished peice... I'm now working on the gantry section and
mounts for the z-Axiz...
Currently I'm using a section of 1/4 threaded rod with a tapped block of
nylon for the nut. I'm not sure how this will hold up. For the remaining screws I'm switching to the popular 1/2-10 Acme screws..
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Beginnings of a gantry...
Tonight (while hiding from the snow.. near portland).. I got the basics of the Gantry put together...
Looks like the finished product will allow a width of about 18 inches... I've not worked out the length.
Here is a question for all the CNC fans out there.. Which axis typically is represented by the carriage sliding on the gantry... Y or X?
I also need to get to work on the electronics, but am eager to complete the mechanism first.. I'm not too worried about the electronics part.
Miller
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What's a few more hours...
Well I was able to spend several hours on the Gantry mechanism over the weekend.. It looks like I'll have about a 20" x 30" travel for y, x respectivly,
Give or take an inch...
I have learned the desire to have a machine in order to spit out parts for a
second machine, I think all of the error that is introduced in this mechanism
so far has been done so by me and my router...
As a result I took a 2 hour side bar and slapped together a router table
out of the MDF, I'm using my old Craftsman workhorse as a base.. This
Thing is a real time and error saver, I think I've only taken the router out
of the table once since I built it.... So now I'm kicking myself for not
building one years ago..
I've always looked at them in the store and thought it would be useful... Well it cost a whopping $4.00 to build... (*add a few screws,
some glue, a few biscuits, and two C-clamps to hold the fence in place..)
On a sad note, Cutting off some bolts caused my Dremel to die. The one
I've had since high school (20+ years I think)..
What's your opinion, Do I add the cost of a new fangled Dremel tool to
my running total that I attribute to the machine? Or are tools overhead
that get accounted with rent, lights and Kerosene (to make the garage
not freeze).
Wire Insulation Protection
Quote:
Originally Posted by
milhead
I think the concern is that if the wires get around the edge of steel
tape it will be a short time before it cuts through the insulation...
To protect the wire insulation you might run the wires through some "split plastic loom" that is taped to the Fat-Max blade.
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Several hours and More Progress
Well, I deviated from the all wood system for the base, I took some scrap
iron from the nasty garage and a rented Home Depot welder and welded a
square to hold the two end peices and to support the table.
Aside from converting four spots of my MDF jig into char with appropriate
flames the resulting frame came out very true (Or at least as much as I
can tell with my good carpenters square).. The folks in the other apartments probably dont see alot of welding in the mini garages here...
Oh well.
I put the base and the gantry drive together.. There is a tad of rack
possible but I have to tweak pretty hard to get a barely noticable movement..
I know that any visible movement will spin the dial on my caliper.. But for
my first attempt an any of this apparatus I'm pretty stoked.
I now have the motors and drives attached for all three axis..
My last box from All Electronics also came this week so I thinking of
starting the electronics but am still having fun building so I worked a
bit to template, rough cut and route out the palstic for the cutter mounts.
I need only now to reassemble the Z axis and the basic mechanism will be
complete.
I've got a long list of honey-do's so my Saturday may be CNC-Free :(
But the electronics, limiit-switches, e-stop and motors will soon be
assembled...
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Wires and a large mess, but progress is good
I've got the Z and Y axis wired an operating but am having pretty severe noise
issues with the limit switch circuitry.. Straight wires are not going to work and my
vision of a nice single wire bundle is a joke.
I think I'll have to run the 8 limit wires (x, y, and z, limits as well as the
emergency stop button) through a sheilded cable and may even have to use
some common-mode rejection circuits in order to get clear signals.
Tonight I'll focus on the noise it to see if it's a grounding problem or if
I really need to add some circuitry to reject it. I have added capacitors on the
controller end and while it works great for a single wire, when I have all 3 motors
running I will get false limit switch firings.
My girlfriend is starting to hint that there will be a limit to the amount of house
space that I consume with the thing.. It's back inside for wireing and nearly
consuming the 10x6 foot table... Suddenly I'm on a timeline, The garage is a very
cold place and kerosene is expensive to heat it.
The amount of wire I'm adding to the thing is kinda daunting...
but... It's eating through most of the wire I've beem packing around for years which
may not be a bad thing.,
In the photos below I'm able to move my test tool (18V DeWalt Drill) around pretty
well at lower speeds (< 75 IPM) but at higher speeds The motors loose steps or
stop all together...
The next steps are to complete the electronics assembly and then mount my Sharpie
felt tip marker (not so damaging test tool) for a real test...
Mil