[craigjh]

It's been slow, but I thought it may be time to start my own build thread.
Decided on the JOES 2006 due mainly to the DIY MDF aspect and the great reports/threads from JOE & others on this forum.

The imperial/metric thing was troubling me at the beginning but once I downloaded the plans and played around in sketchup, I realised it's not such a issue as long as you keep an eye on what measurement changes effect what, an adjust accordingly.

I have no access to any cnc machinery and keeping multiple parts accurate has meant making/utilising jigs and taking my time. Not to mention that I have a 5 and 2 year old apprentices that don't deserve to be ignored!!!

I'm lucky to have an array of power tools including Slide compound saw, circ saws, bench mounted saw, bench & hand held routers, power/cordless and bench drills, and (most importantly) an old barrell vac called "Sadie" to clean-up all the mess along the way!!!

Enough of the talk, here's some pictures so far......

[craigjh]

Some more photos. Gantry bottom torsion box, Z axis carriage & X axis components so far.......

[craigjh]

For those who may have just begun looking on this cnczone and aren't aware of the JOES 2006, here's a photo of a nice completed version (not mine).......
My appologies to the CNCer whose machine this particular photo is, but I can't remember your name! It's a nice looking machine! Obviously a huge thankyou must go out to JOE for creating and documenting his machines. Thanks JOE. But also a big thanks to the rest of you for sharing thoughts and images.
All 12mm MDF except for top & bottom Z carriage (19mm). Cutting area will be aprox 1150 x 615mm, overall machine size about 1500 x 850mm.
I have completed all individual parts now (not all shown) and hope to start "gluing-up" very soon. Will post some more pic's......

[gmfoster]

Looking good , You will enjoy the trip and the destination....

[voltsandbolts]

Wow great job especially concerting your cutting all the parts without a CNC.

[gully]

Very nice work Craig.
Hmmm! Ability with hand tools, tidy work shop, cleans up all the dust before taking photos.
Clearly you are setting the build bar far to high. Will be following with interest.

Gully

[craigjh]

My little "apprentices" have contracted me to build a cubby house this weekend..........maybe while the power tools are warm & noisy they won't notice if I happen to do a little bit of "JOES" work too............
I'll see how I go.......hopefully photos will follow soon...

[Eclipze]

Very nice work Craig.
Hmmm! Ability with hand tools, tidy work shop, cleans up all the dust before taking photos.
Clearly you are setting the build bar far to high. Will be following with interest.

+1... well said!

[craigjh]

Although I haven't progressed too far in the last couple of weeks, I did manage to put some pieces togethor tonight just for a bit of a "dry run" to see how things were going.

The kids cubby house is almost complete (maybe I should post a photo of that too.......), so maybe they'll give me some time for "dad's toy"!!!

I'm real happy with how it's (the CNC) come togethor so far. I used a 12mm router bit for the slots and they fit real tight with the 12mm MDF. I just need to make the adjustable bearing blocks for X & Y. JOES uses HDPE but I'm considering just going with MDF........hhhmmmm, will that be ok? Guess I can try and see how it goes.

Also shown is a picture of my motion components. I'm going with 1/2 inch acme thread and have purchased some fittings from dumpster to suit.
Not sure how the steppers will go. I bought them from a great little surplus store in Singapore but they all have slightly different specs. I'm really wanting to get a controller now to play with. Thinking towards the HobbyCNC Pro driver board primarily for cost.

My PC also may require some "attention". It has a P3 1gig processor which I think is the min required for mach3. What's people's experiences in that regard? Should I keep an eye out for a cheap P4?

Anyway, here's the photos.

-Craig.

[gully]

Very nice workmanship Craig. It is coming along very nicely and is a tribute to your skill with hand tools. (your kids cubby must be awesome)
Looks like you are also well on the way with the odds and sods.
Im still in the looking / tire kicking phase for steppers and contollers.

If you dont want to use MDF for your bearings, you can purchase UHMW polyethylene in small pieces around 100 x 600 x 20mm from Carbatec.
One piece might just be enough to get all your blocks from.
I think it is around $60 a panel

Gully

[ImanCarrot]

Awesome work! thanks for sharing.

[craigjh]

Thanks Guys.

Gully - cheers for the carbatec suggestion. I've also seen 380 x 510 x 19mm commercial grade chopping-boards for sale on ebay for around $35 (inc postage). They are HACCP plastic which I guess is same/similar to my requirements?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1x-WHITE-HACC...item3a55e794b2

Better get the glue out soon......I'm starting to procrastinate.....

-Craig.

[craigjh]

Been 3 weeks since my last post so figured I'd better make an update!

My (limited) cnc time recently has involved some sanding. Gully tells me I need to prepare well before painting............I hate sanding.......but gully's paint job shows the rewards........can you paint mine Gully?:cheers:. Also been constructing a suitable bench/table. My machine footprint is 900 x 1540 and I intend putting swivel casters on the table legs to manouver it in and out of it's intended living space in a corner of my garage.

The casters will be able to be rotated out of the way so the legs take the weight for stability during operation. I think this would be a good idea? Happy to receive any advice if anyone has some thoughts. I imagine it's paramount to have the bench/table as solid & level as possible?

I've also been looking into the control/electronics. Managed to acquire a (better) PC to use. Compaq P4 2.6gig. So that should hopefully handle things a bit better than the older P3 1gig that I had originally earmarked for the job.
I'm steering towards a hobbycnc pro 4 axis controller kit at the moment (meets my current budget), as long as it's suitable for the steppers I already have. Further research required.

Have ordered some 19mm HDPE for the adjustable bearing slides which should arrive in the next couple of days.

So progress is happenning and I'm still enjoying the ride. I read somewhere that this becomes an addiction.........?

Will post some more photos soon.

-Craig.

[gully]

Good to see you back at it Craig.
Great minds must think alike. I spent the last couple of nights drawing up a trolly for mine as well. Plan to make it from 40mm SHS with adjustable feet and a set of raised wheels at one end so it can be moved around as needed like a wheel barrow.
I also took your advise and purchased one of those 19mm PE cutting boards from ebay. They aren't HDPE just plain old pollyE, but they are very stiff and machine well (more than good enough for bearing blocks etc.) I even cut my router mount from it to see how it goes.

P.S. I really hate sanding as well, but I hate doing a crappy paint job more. (hammer tone finishes hide a lot of sins)

gully

[gully]

Hi Craig,
Just thought I would drop by and see how you are progressing with your Joe's.
Any new pics yet?

Gully

[craigjh]

Thanks for asking Gully. Limited CNC time lately due to the cubby house project "distraction" (as pictured). Who could resist a 2yr old in a fairy dress wanting to help Dad?.
Anyway, progress has been in the form of bearing slide construction. That PE chopping board is pretty good stuff to work with, but hows the "snow" effect! White crap everywhere! Happy with how it's turned out though. The bearing block slides real tightly inside the 4 x sides.

The pipe I'm using for X axis is 34mm heavy wall Black pipe. Bit of an overkill with the thick wall stuff but was nice and smooth and not much difference in price to the standard. Gives the bed a lot of extra weight!!!

On the Y axis carriage, must admit I was a bit sceptical with how the "nut in a hole" method would work for bolt adjustment, but I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm real happy with how the Y axis carriage slides, and it's great to see it coming together.

You'll noticed I haven't glued the skins on those torsion boxes yet, plan on hopefully doing that at work this week. We have a 2mx2m slab of granite at work so I'm considering utilising that super-flat surface whilst gluing-up.

It's slowly coming together.......

[gully]

Mate...
Both projects are comming along a treat. Tip with the cubby. Make sure you clean the spiders out on a regular basis. Once my girls saw their first huntsman in their cubby it was game over and abandoned for good. Ended up selling it because they wouldnt go near it again.

Make use of that big flat granite surface, with some weight on the skins while they dry will remove any twist you may have in the box.(think the call that pre tensioning..)
Did you end up getting the Mactek router ? Or are you hinting for Fathers Day

Gully

[craigjh]

Thanks for the tip with the spiders, will definately give it a spray! Maktec router for fathers day.......possibly! Have pointed it out in the catalogue......

Any tips for glue? Normally I just use Selleys Aquadhere (pva), but if anyone has any other recommendations/tips for MDF, I'm all ears.

[gully]

Craig,
I have been using a commercial MDF glue, I think Bostik actually make the one I'm using.( its yellow in colour) I have seen it at Bunnings is smaller size containers.
Never had a glue joint failure with it if the parts fit properly. If you are a little gappy I would suggest you use a polyeurethane glue as it will expand (foam) to fill out the gap
You dont need a lot of it as it really fills out. It also sticks like pooh to a blanket to just about anything. (If you have never used it before, test it on some scrap first to get an idea of how much to put on, you will be amazed how good and strong it is)

Gully

[javarik]

Beautiful work Craig!