[ynneb]

After looking at your your gecko pictures Pat, I have come to the conclusion that
it would be great if Rutex and Gecko took some tips from each other.

If gecko had the running specs of Rutex, and Rutex had the nicely packaged look of Gecko.

Its tempting for me to make and sell my own drivers with the best of both and cheaper than both.

[Ken_Shea]

You can see and purchase these motors at the lower link, they are $10 apiece great price huh!

Looks like the CNCzone gave them too much positive press, they are now $17.95 .

Still a bargin though

[Patrick2by4]

Hey Ken, I just looked at their site and the motors are still $10. Maybe we are looking at differents sites? here is the text from their webpage, I copied it a minute ago....

The original price of these heavy-duty precision DC motors was $90. We are currently offering these motors to our customers for the incredibly low price of $9.95 plus shipping and handling.

We would like to emphasize that these are NEW (never been used) motors. Order now while supply lasts!

The shipping and handling charge is $4.50 for 1 motor and an additional charge of $2.00 per motor thereafter.

We ship via UPS ground to locations within the continental U.S. For orders outside the continental U.S. please email us at: [email protected]

http://www.automec-direct.netfirms.c..._dc_motor.html

[Patrick2by4]

I have a updated drawing of my machine in AutoCad (I'm getting a little more proficient in it now) I still haven't drawn it out completely but I'll draw up a complete set once I finish my machine.

There is a little more detail in this drawing

[Patrick2by4]

Hey benny, I keep hearing about rutex... how good are the rutex drivers?

[marvinstov]

Hi Patrick,
I thought they were still $10.00 too. Click on the order button and the prices says &17.95.

I have two of these motors (double shaft). Anyone know where I can get encoders for them?

Marv

[metlmunchr]

If you go to their site and then refresh the page you'll probably see the $17.95 price. Thats what I saw today when I went there for the first time. Your browser is probably pulling up the page from stored pages. A while back I somehow got mine set to never check for new pages, and anything I returned to always stayed the same, even if it had been a couple days since I was last there.

[Patrick2by4]

you're right, I refreshed my browser and it showed the new price

Annnyway... Marv, you can get the encoders at www.usdigital.com.
Look for the E2-250-250-E (the E option is the encoder with the extended cap which will cover the entire mechanism).

(update 8/8/04 - After getting the encoders, I realized it was going to be more differcult mounting the E option over the G option. Although I can get the e option to work well with the addition of fender washers, it is less work to just get the g option part #E2-250-250-G)

For a futher discussion of encoders I recommend you read the following two threads before you buy anything... very informative
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...ight=usdigital discusses resolution count
and
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...ight=usdigital discusses which encoder to get for the clifton motors

Note: you also may want to get shielded wire with your encoders because I hear that motor electrical noise may interfere with the encoder signals.

I hope this is helpful

:cheers:

[marvinstov]

Ok thanks Patrick.

[ynneb]

Hey Benny, I keep hearing about rutex... how good are the rutex drivers?

Pat I wrote a review here.
http://www.cnczone.com/modules.php?s...ticle&artid=15

I am not bagging your choice. I have never had an opportunity to use Geckos so I don't know first hand much about them.

The reason I did choose Rutex though, was because I had seen a few posts in the forum of how some had used Geckos and then decided to switch over to Rutex. I had not seen any posts doing the reverse. Rutex are slightly more expensive though, but they also have higher voltage and amperage specs too.

I am sure your Geckos will drive those Cliftons with ease.

[Patrick2by4]

well, I ordered the encoders today as well as the capacitor and bridge rectifier. I'm approaching the point that is giving me the most trepidation, the electronics.

If not one hears from me in the next two weeks, it means I died of a heart attack... or maybe a exploding capacitor (those puppies are huge!!!)

[Patrick2by4]

Well, I finished the first half of the z-axis today. I still need to pick up the short linear slides and lead screw to finish the other half of the z axis. I will drill out the holes for the slide blocks tommorrow and then mount it.

note: I plan to put alum blocks on the top half where the motor will go to prevent the z-axis carriage from racking and to give support to a top plate that will be added later (for the motor)

[Patrick2by4]

I had a chance to install the linear slide blocks to the z-axis today. It slides smoothly and with no play.

At this point, I will start constructing the table to hold the x-axis. I will be using steel angle from all the bed frames I find. (dumpster diving time!)

[Moondog]

Hello Patrick.

On one of your previous posts that shows the pic of your rails. Are your bearings and rails the Drylin T Linear System?...

Just curios.. how have you found them?..

[Patrick2by4]

hello moondog,
the linear rails that I have are from two different manufacturers.
the x-axis rails are 72" long and are from NSK; the slide block is #LAS15. the y-axis rails are from star tech and are 37" long and the slide block is # 1632-114-10.

Neither one are from the Drylin T Linear System. I have noticed a slight resisitance in the star tech blocks because of a dust prevention shields pressing slightly against the rails. I think once the machine gets moving, the tension in the shields should loosen. But both slides move smoothly with no discernable play. I would purchase them again.

[danialsan]

Your machine looks great so far :cheers: . Could you tell me where you managed to find 3x5 aluminum tube, all the suppliers in my area say they do not have a source for that size.

Thanks,
Dan

[IJ.]

Patrick: Looking great! In the next pic you post could you include a common item (maybe a soft drink can) sitting on the cross beam for scale?

[Patrick2by4]

Hey danialsan and IJ,

Thanks for the compliments, it helps to motivate me.

The Aluminum rectangular tube was a extra piece that was left behind after a general contractor finished installing a aluminum and glass entrance to a building.
There is a place online where you can purchase a piece as well as all the plating http://mymetalconnection.com/
Look under 'tube & pipes' (by the way, they sell aluminum plating through ebay for about $3 a pound; since I live so close to them, I buy all my stuff from them)

IJ, tommorrow I will put a ruler next to the gantry (I will also put a cola can for good measure)
Get a load of the capacitor in relation to that coke can.
See how big I am in relation to that coke can

Also, I got most of the electronics in the mail today, I look forward to this weekend.

[starCNC]

very nice looks like you still missing some encoders or they are in one of those bags.
$$$What's the damage?$$$

[satchid]

Patrick,
Your machine looks wonderful, also the clarity of your postings on this (your) tread is very understandable and clear. For the first time I rated a tread, and I rated the maximum. I also want to thank you for this.

I am designing also my first CNC machine. I design the machine in aluminum plates and make it in MDF from the same thickness, later when every problem is solved, I will replace the MDF with aluminum. I hope to be able to make some aluminum parts on the MDF machine.
Questions:
What is the effective cutting area of your machine?
What is the free cutting height?
What is the spindle that you will be using?
Are you using stepper motors or servo motors?


A request: You gave the permission to have this machine as open source. Therefore, could you make photos of your machine in such a way that the dimensions are as real as possible, and therefore scalable? You can do this by putting your lens as far as possible away from the machine in the center of the view that you want to make a photo of, zoom in so that it fits the screen. A piece of cardboard or a stick of say 1’0” X ¼” vertical close to the centre of the machine makes it easier to scale the different views,
Then I can make a rough drawing of the machine and modify it to my needs and sizes.

Satchid