Only my second post, but have been lurking for quite awhile taking everything in. I started building from Joe's 2006 plans tonight.

First of all, many thanks to Phooddaniel, Joe, and everyone else for their time and effort. I followed along at www.buildyourcnc.com (http://www.buildyourcnc.com) to get started, and I'm using that machine to make the parts for Joe's.

Glued up the Z axis tonight.

One question if anyone knows...looks like the plans call for black gas pipe on the x and y axis, but drill rod on the z. What's the reason for the drill rod? Would it be ok to use the 3/4 gas pipe on the z axis also?

Well, first off, 3/4" gas pipe has a Dia. of around 1.058" where as the 3/4" drill rod has a Dia. of .750". Might not fit inside U-bolts after bearings are put on. The smoothest surface is what your after, stainless steel 3/4" being the best I would think.

Cheers
dewalt58

Oh ya, I guess that would be a problem. I thought I read a post somewhere that all diameters specified were OD. Must have misunderstood. Thanks

Only my second post, but have been lurking for quite awhile taking everything in. I started building from Joe's 2006 plans tonight.

First of all, many thanks to Phooddaniel, Joe, and everyone else for their time and effort. I followed along at www.buildyourcnc.com (http://www.buildyourcnc.com) to get started, and I'm using that machine to make the parts for Joe's.

Glued up the Z axis tonight.

One question if anyone knows...looks like the plans call for black gas pipe on the x and y axis, but drill rod on the z. What's the reason for the drill rod? Would it be ok to use the 3/4 gas pipe on the z axis also?

Personally the drill rod is nicer anyways. It comes practically flawless, it is harder and the diameter is correct for the bearing slides designed for the z axis. The only reason I really see why joe didn't use drill rod or anything like it for the x and y is because it is rather expensive. Gas pipe isn't 100% "great" but with some tlc and polishing you can get it pretty consistent; not to mention it is much of a bargain compared to any other linear slides you could pick up on ebay.

Well, trying to order it...looks like Enco is having problems with their site though. Keep getting...

"Internal Server Error Cannot read script output pipe."

On another note, I read that a few have upgraded the drive screws with the 1/2"-8 2 start acme. McMaster-Carr has 1/2"-8 8 start for about the same price. Fewer TPI = slower spinning steppers = better correct? Any reason not to get that instead?

Maybe a dumb question here, but I'm fairly new to all this. Regular 1/2" acme nuts will work no matter what "start" screw you have?

Only managed to get 1 Y axis horizontal rib cut tonight. Took about 2 hours to cut lol. Have to run the current machine at about 10-15ipm or it wants to vibrate itself apart. I have pretty bad bends in the lead screws (plain old threaded rod from home depot) and it's made from scrap plywood and mdf.

I really only built it to have something that moved so I could learn the inner workings of mach3, vcarve, driver board settings, etc. I figured I wouldn't care how slow it was anyway, as long as it worked. But now it just won't do...man that cnc bug bites hard. I'm loving it.

Looks good so far, that is a nice build a machine to build another... :)

Thanks Joe. I bet these build logs are getting old for you by now! Any idea how many Joe 2006 machines are out there?

Got the Y axis torsion box pieces almost done. PC blue screened cutting the last vertical rib, and just locks up randomly now. Oh well, it was kinda old anyway, just a reason to finally upgrade :)

Cut the Y axis bearing brackets, and got the holes drilled. Now to come up with a way to make the notches.

Lookin good lucan. Build logs never get old, every single one has a unique part to it. Many of the people that have build logs here have made their own kinds of modifications after they have the machine running or how to build it; the more documentation the better. I couldn't have gotten my machine where it is today without watching others build theirs and documenting it.

Making some progress on the gantry. Not as fast as I'd like, crazy week at work.

After cutting and gluing up the right side gantry pieces, I realized I forgot a tool path for the hex nut recesses. Found some 1/4" t-nuts, so hopefully that will work out ok.

You could always just drill in something a little smaller than the nut and then tap them in place, I've done it before. Should hold well.

Started work on the bed. I see most people call this the X axis, but I'm calling it the Y now. This seems to follow the labels in V-Carve, and Mach. The default arrow key definitions in mach also make it move in the directions you would expect.

Anyway, ran into a slight problem. I pulled the "X Axis Torsion Box Long Run Braces.dwg" into V-Carve, which had the brace split at a point that I could cut. I didn't catch the fact that the center cutouts weren't there though. I didn't notice until I already had most of the torsion box glued up.

I didn't think it would be a problem, but once the top and bottom skins are on, I'll have no way to get at the ends of the bolts that hold the end supports on to put the washers and nuts on.

At this point, I figure I can either cut access holes in the side with a jigsaw, use t-nuts on the end piece, or just bolt them on and then add the top skin with just brads and no glue in case I need to take the gantry off for some reason. Think the top skin will be strong/stable enough without glue?

It will prob. be strong enough with the bottom glued and the side pipes, which the bearings ride on anyway.

Joe

Lucan, I'm glad to see my video build log came in handy to build Joe's machine. Do you have any pics of the machine you are using? I'd love to post it to the website.

I'll take some pictures this evening. Keep in mind that aesthetics was not my primary concern when building the first one. :)

Lucan,
Where in KY are you? I an in Louisville.
I plan to build a Joe's 2006, but may build a modified Jgro first.
If our shop ever slows down enough for me to use our Weeke CNC
I can build a Joe's 2006, if not I will have to build the Jgro.

I haven't seen a CNC machine yet that has the slightest aesthetic properties. :rainfro:

Please give me some feedback on the aspects of the machine you have found that are issues the need improvement. You have done quite a bit of work with the machine so you may have experienced obvious properties of the machine that need improvements. What parts need to be reinforced? Are there any alignment issues? How is the mechanical drive (any binding?)?

Your Joe's build is looking great! I can't wait to see the finished product. You can't get much better than Joe's build with that impressive reinforcing.

Here are the pictures.

I already had most of it together when I saw your modification about doubling up the MDF on the base, and I left it as is. That is one thing I wish I had went back to do because the weight of the gantry causes quite a bit of variations in the Z depths from the front to the back of the machine. When cutting parts for Joe's, I tried to make any toolpaths that aren't complete cutouts run along the Y axis to minimize it.

Cuts in the X and Y direction seem very accurate (tape measure accurate, haven't checked it with a caliper or anything), and I have no anti-backlash mechanism setup at all..just using the standard threaded rod from home depot.

I decided to use 1/2" though on the X and Y, and couldn't use your method of drilling through the edges since the holes would be too large, so I shifted the gantry to the front of the side walls, and mounted a block to the back with the nut in it. I lost alot of travel doing this, but I really wasn't concerned at the time since my goal was to just have something that moved so I could learn on.

If I were to do it over, I'd make the sides of the gantry like an upside down L shape, to make enough room for the lead screw bearings to hang off the back. Or maybe a bolt on extension would work. I can draw it up in sketchup if I'm not making any sense.

The aluminum angle is starting to show some signs of wear where the bearings ride too. I think I saw some steel angle at home depot or lowe's the same size that might hold up longer..not sure.

That's all I can think of that I changed or would change. I was really shocked at how accurate it cuts (excluding the Z problem I mentioned earlier, that you already solved). I threw it together with scraps of plywood, mdf, and I think even some 2X4's lol.

I lived on these forums for a few months throwing around ideas with 80/20, linear rails, just buying a commercial cnc, etc. but they all came down to a hefty investment up front for a hobby I wasn't sure I'd stick with. Then I saw your site, and realized it was possible to build something with inexpensive materials, using common tools. Well, I did use a table saw, miter saw, and drill press for alot of it, I can't imagine cutting it all by hand like you did.

Glad I did it this way too, once it was done I loaded up the roadrunner file, turned the router on and hit go, then watched with excitement as it positioned the bit....and then plunged it like 2" deep and tried to destroy itself. So glad that mach's default key for e-stop is escape :)

Lucan,
Where in KY are you? I an in Louisville.
I plan to build a Joe's 2006, but may build a modified Jgro first.
If our shop ever slows down enough for me to use our Weeke CNC
I can build a Joe's 2006, if not I will have to build the Jgro.

I am in Louisville also. South end...the area where neighbors like to complain about high pitched squealing router noises coming from garages late at night lol

It's alive!

I threw a short video up on youtube just jogging it around. Running at 50ipm, and it seems really smooth. I ran it at 80, and had some slight vibrations, but it wasn't bad. Got a lot of lead screw whip at 100, and it refused to move at 120 lol (had to try). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCFxjXW0Fyg

The last pic is my attempt at a cheap way of mounting the motors, but it didn't really work as planned. It vibrates loose. Since I already had taken the motors off the old machine, I cut up a wal-mart cutting board on the table saw and tapped the ends for the mounting holes instead. It's not quite 1/2" thick, so I used #10 screws instead of 1/4" through the bearing blocks. Gave me a little extra play to position the lead screws with no binding too..bonus.

The router mount was sort of an experiment. It's MDF with 2 coats of polycrylic. I wanted to see if it would soak in and "seal it up". It hardened up really well. I didn't paint it since I'll remake it from HDPE once I get some ordered anyway.

I still haven't attached the top skin on the torsion box yet either. I'm kinda thinking about leveling the bed by taking about 1/16th inch off the top of all the ribs. Not sure about that one yet though...

Something else I was thinking about, since I forgot to cut the holes in the torsion box long runner pieces, is that the box itself will be airtight once the top is on. If I cut a few holes in the sides, inserted some pvc, tied them all to the dust collector, and drilled small holes in the top it might have enough suction to hold down 2' X 4' stock. Not sure about that either...may give a try though.

Good to see you got it going. I will have to come by and see it in action.
What is the dimensions of your sheet goods that you will be able to cut.
I have a modified Joe 2006 drawn up in autocad and would like to get it cut out, I can not cut it here at work, so I may get you to cut my parts out for me. I can supply the MDF and the vcarve files.

Just finished my first test piece on the new machine.

Sorry for the shaky camera work...using a little handheld deal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWu_E1Ceb0s


Travisc, 24" X 48" is roughly the cutting area. Home depot on Preston sells 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" MDF precut to that size. Not sure if I can cut the parts for you though, I think I saw a post where Joe mentioned he didn't want people cutting parts for others. Not sure though, have to search for it. Did you get my PM?

Nice piece Lucan. Where did you get that skinny bit. Is that a router bit, or a rotozip bit? I have a bit like that but I feared that it would snap under the load.

Yes, it's a 1/8" rotozip bit stuck in a 1/4-1/8 adapter. First time I used it. It did flex a little, especially toward the end when it was doing the profile cutout. Alot of mdf dust trapped in there. I slowed it down a bit for that part, but it never broke. I think there's room to raise the bit a little higher in the adapter. Should be fine after that.

I wouldn't use those bits. I saw it flexing and cringed. In MDF buy only solid carbide cutters, upshears/downshears, compression spirals if you ever do anything that is going to make you some cash. With MDF I usually cut it with either a 1/4" or 3/8" whiteside solid carbide upspiral. I'm suprised it didn't break. Anyhow, I would be a little hesitant to run a bit that long that narrow in diameter. Longest 1/8" bit I have has a 1/2" overall cutting depth. Nice sign though.