[photomankc]

Nice build! Where did you get these nice v-blocks from?

Thanks! Got them from Shars. Been pretty pleased with most of what I get from them other than DTIs. The steel setup tools from there all meet or exceed what I need from them.

[photomankc]

On tramming and locks. I locked my Z and trammed it that way. Manual milling I never milled with it unlocked as vibration would allow the handle to wiggle its way down. So I always trammed it to the conditions it would be set up in when doing most operations. Try as I might I never could get it not to shift a thou or two when the locks were set. No adjustment ever removed it completely.

CNC removes that issue as the motor holds the screw and thus it can't vibrate in a cut and start working its way down.

[Connor]

I had an idea for the vise mover. Just use an eccentric cam on the rod that the vise will grip on with a flip over lever on the cam. Then you swing over to the vise and clamp down. Then swing over the lever to lift the vise maybe .250" and now you can swing it over out of the way. I also like the idea of small pins to go into the heads of the SHCS that hold the jaws on for that extra safety of not dropping your expensive vise on the floor and turning it into a back yard melting project.

I had the same thought, I'll have to make the eccentric cam though.. Not sure If I'm up for that just yet.. But, I'm going to give it a try.

Something I read recently on the tramming aid that made a lot of sense. If you make it so that the tips of both indicators only protrude maybe .030" you won't have to worry about bending the shafts of them when swinging as not enough of the tip will protrude to catch anything. Just an idea. I don't see a problem with trying to make any tool to be accurate and make shafts be 90*. It's something you are going to use often and when people are over and see it you want to be proud of it.

Well.. It's good enough for what I'm doing.. I need to polish it up a bit and what not, but, It's good enough for now.

[Connor]

OKay, So here is this weekends project... Vice End Stop. Not as nice looking as the Edge Technologies one.. but, It works! I cheated by using some 80/20 I had. But, this is a good and easy way to do it.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I made my own copy of the Edge Technologies vise stop about 6 months ago, and I cannot believe how handy it is! It's one of my favorite tools!

Regards,
Ray L.

[Connor]

I made my own copy of the Edge Technologies vise stop about 6 months ago, and I cannot believe how handy it is! It's one of my favorite tools!

Regards,
Ray L.

Pictures? I always like to see what others come up with.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Pictures? I always like to see what others come up with.

Photographic evidence attached...

Regards,
Ray L.

[Connor]

Photographic evidence attached...

Regards,
Ray L.

That looks really nice! Since I'm still manual, and didn't have the extra stock around, I just used the 80/20. But, I'm still happy with the results.

[pete from TN]

that looks beautiful man.... That part is pretty impressive as well. Nice work there....peace :cheers:

Pete

[Connor]

Electronics and Stepper motors on Order! Going with the Keling 3-Axis kit found here: cnc stepper motor kit Automation Technology Inc

This is a Phase 1 conversion, Been putting it off for a while, but, I'm ready. Most of the conversions in that I've seen use Mach3 as the CNC controller. I'll be using EMC2. I have a DIY CNC router I built a year or two ago, and will be "sharing" the controller between them since I'm not using the router that much ATM.

[Connor]

Question, what size and type of wire are people using for the power buss? For the steppers? I think last time I used 4 conductor 18Ga Stranded alarm wire for the steppers. My other machine was smaller and ran much smaller steppers and lower voltage.

[Connor]

Just got my order in! Man, These 540oz-in Nema 23's are the same size (length wise) as my 354oz-in I used on my CNC Router... and for some reason, I was expecting the drivers to be a bit larger than they are. (Looking at them in pictures etc etc) Guess it's hard to judge size in photos sometimes.. Time to play!

[Connor]

OKay, Now that I have my electronics, I'm getting ready to install them. I have a really nice Rack mount PC case that's big enough to hold all the electronics, Plus a stand PC power supply, and Mini-ITX Mainboard. So, I have a few questions.

1) How much spacing do I need between the controllers? This case has 2 40mm fans, and I have the option of adding a 3rd 80mm fan.

2) Power distribution: How do most people wire up the power buss's in their enclosures? I.E. Buss bars, terminal strips, etc.

3) Cables: Dressing the wires etc.. Gauge of wire to use for power and for signal etc?

4) Connectors: I've got 4 Pin CB Style connectors for the Steppers, what about other stuff such as limit switches, E-STOP etc?

5) Mains Power: I need 1 for the PSU for the PC, 1 for the 48v PSU, and 1 for the BOB. What is the best way, just use separate power cords ?

Thanks, Connor

[Connor]

I have the X and Y axis working!! Z to come soon along with pictures and video.

I have the enclosure built and most of the electronics installed, but I had a few questions on some things.

Charge Pump. Not sure how many of you all use them, but, I went ahead and purchased one. I didn't use one on my CNC Router, but, it's fully enclosed, and I wouldn't potentially have my hands anywhere near anything, but, the mill is different. So, How do most of you all wire them up?

This is what I have:
C10 BOB
C43 PWM Speed Controller
C4 Charge Pump
3 x 5056 Keling Stepper Drivers.

I currently Have the BOB wired as follows
pin 1 for charge pump
pins 2 and 3 for X
pins 4 and 5 for Y
pins 6 and 7 for Z
pins 8 and 9 were reserved for A, but, ended up using 9 as the Amplifier Enable
pin 14 for CCW Relay
pin 16 for PWM
pin 17 I originally wanted to use for Amplifier enable, but on boot up it floats, so it wouldn't disable the drivers.

I have pins 2-9 on common. I have 5v wired to all the enables and then they're all connected to pin 9 and is driven or held low to disable the stepper drivers.

Thanks, Billy

[LUCKY13]

There is quit a few ways to use the CP, when it looses the signal from Mach it will trigger the relay on the CP board. This could be used to trigger the err/res on the Gecko's, or to trigger a relay for the power supply, or to trigger a relay added to the E-stop circuit. Or any other way you can come up with to shut down the system by using the relay on the CP board.


I think it would be good to use it to trigger the err/res wire on the Gecko's. This way is Mach looses its signal to the CP board the drives get shut down no matter what else happens.


My CP is built into the BOB so I use its relay to control the relay going to my power supply ( shuts the A/C line down if CP triggers). I already have a circuit for my err/res on the Gecko's so I didnt do it this way. One problem with the way I did do it is there is some left over voltage coming out of the power supply and when the CP does trip the servo's do still move alittle because of this until the power bleeds down. I do plan to build a circuit so in intergrates with my err/res circuit so I get instant shut down but this will be a little work for my system ( not bad but I have other things to work with for now).


ANyway I would run a system without a CP circuit even if it was enclosed. What can happen is Mach shut down on yuo and the system keep cutting. Parts & tooling are worth more than letting something like this wreck them ( all though thinking of your own safty first is a good way to be about this stuff).

Jess

[Connor]

There is quit a few ways to use the CP, when it looses the signal from Mach it will trigger the relay on the CP board. This could be used to trigger the err/res on the Gecko's, or to trigger a relay for the power supply, or to trigger a relay added to the E-stop circuit. Or any other way you can come up with to shut down the system by using the relay on the CP board.


I think it would be good to use it to trigger the err/res wire on the Gecko's. This way is Mach looses its signal to the CP board the drives get shut down no matter what else happens.


My CP is built into the BOB so I use its relay to control the relay going to my power supply ( shuts the A/C line down if CP triggers). I already have a circuit for my err/res on the Gecko's so I didnt do it this way. One problem with the way I did do it is there is some left over voltage coming out of the power supply and when the CP does trip the servo's do still move alittle because of this until the power bleeds down. I do plan to build a circuit so in intergrates with my err/res circuit so I get instant shut down but this will be a little work for my system ( not bad but I have other things to work with for now).


ANyway I would run a system without a CP circuit even if it was enclosed. What can happen is Mach shut down on yuo and the system keep cutting. Parts & tooling are worth more than letting something like this wreck them ( all though thinking of your own safty first is a good way to be about this stuff).

Jess

Hey Jess,

I'm not using Gecko's. I'm using Keling stepper drivers.. any not that it maters, but EMC not Mach. Attached is some photos of my my machine now and the enclosure!

Thanks, Billy

[mmprestine]

I use EMC and you need to have a 12.5k update or less otherwise the output to the CP will not meet the min. required by the board.
Matt

[Connor]

I use EMC and you need to have a 12.5k update or less otherwise the output to the CP will not meet the min. required by the board.
Matt

I have it working. Just not sure were best place to put it at as far as what signal to turn off.

[LUCKY13]

I would turn off the main A/c to the power supply off.But I guess a lot as to concidered and much depends on the system your intergrating it with. Example like if someone had a brake on a Z axis servo.. Yuo would not want to kill power to such if its there becuase its needed. But in my case a complete shut down would be best so the A/C mains is what I shut down.

Now mine has the CP built into the BOB so I didnt have to intergrate it, but yours you might have to add a second relay to do such. Now if your BOB has a err port or such it could be done there which should shut down whats already been designed.


It could be installed in the trigger line for the relay that you already have for the A/C mains. Which is probably the controlled by your E-stop circuit.


The main thing is if a CP signal quits transmiting, then the controller has already lost any control so it may be best to hook it so you get a complete shut down which is why I suggest cutting the A/C mains. What ever relay is contrtolliing this for you is more than likely triggered by a low load D/C signal so the onboard relay for the CP board could handle that without adding a nother relay.

Jess

[Connor]

I need to give a shout out to pete from TN for helping me with the Z axis shaft adapter. I spent over 4 hours using my mini lathe attempting to turn down 1.5" CRS for the shaft, only to turn it down too far by a few .001's.. Enough that it was going to cause issues. On top of that, I didn't have the correct boring bars for my lathe.. so I had no way to complete the part. Pete lives about 30 minutes away and I asked him for some help. The part turned out really nice and looks good. Just a hint for those of you doing Phase 1 conversion, take a measurement of the Jam Nuts on the Z, Hoss specifies 1.1000" for the ID, but, Mine ended up being around 1.1160" in some places, enough that we had to rechuck the adapter and turn the ID down some more. (I didn't bring the nuts with me, so, I ended up having to drive back in the next day with the Z screw assembly in had so we could fix this and test fit while in the lathe.)

Anyways, All I have to do now is drill the holes for the set screws and mill the flats on the shaft and I should have my Z working by the end of this weekend! Pictures and Video to follow!

Thanks, Connor