for fourth axis all you need is a additional drive i know some one who deals with the chinese directly and i'll ask him

jim mcgrew

it's in your controler the chinese may not even know what it means at this level


I don't know if this is considered "thread hijacking", but since it came up in previous messages, I will post it..... if people want a fourth axis, there is an easy way to do it. Just substitute the X or Y axis for the rotary axis. The stepper or servo on the X or Y axis is disconnected, and an identical stepper or servo is used on a rotary fixture and connected to the X or Y axis connections. Obviously, you must connect up some sort of limit switch you can home the rotary with. You will also have to know how many steps per degree there are on the rotary fixture (might not be the same as the stepper itself if there is a gear or belt reduction). At a given diameter of workpiece, the artwork will be an exact number of inches in circumference. The ratio of steps per inch of circumference to the number of steps per inch of the old Y axis will tell you how much to compress or expand your artwork in the Y dimension to make the final image look right.

I know this sounds complicated, but a little thought will make it clear. Many CNC mills (including Haas) have this as a standard feature. No special software or controller is needed. It is called an axis swap. The C axis is swapped for the X or Y axis. The only calculation needed is how much to compress or expand your image in the X or Y dimension.

Note that this is not true 4 axis machining; you are just wrapping one of the axis up into a cylinder. The spindle on your router will move in only two axis... Z and X (if you are using Y for a rotary.)

Mark

Mark

I don't think you should consider this as "hi jacking" since the topic has been discussed earlier.

I knew about the trick, but it implies the need of positioning the Z axis in a given X or Y fixed place where the rotating axis is placed. If the reference "place" is in the left or right corner of the XY plane, then you manually need to place the Z axis in it's zero pint over the rotating axis before you nick the cable of and fix it to the C axis. If you could "reset" the position to be over the C axis, this would make things simpler.

It should be mentioned that this is a "problem" I have been thinking on without having a machine to play and over come it with. It could be that this is as easy as nothing in practical terms on a Excitech ?

K

thanks
i learned something as i am having a great and i must say i have not been this fired up about new business or even machinery in a long time !!

fellows i went to shop today and ran the machine with only one mistake

never load a file that you donot know what it is with a v carve 60 degree bit
and click run!!


drilled it self a little hole and proceeded to stay right there while it was being told to go somewhere dumb and a little humbling

i am sure it wont be long we'll all be telling stories

mark please chime in on this thread, while the name is "excitech" we seem to have come full circle with identifying machines purchasing and now importation
soon there will be more machines coming out of crates and begining the real work "APPLICATION" thanks for your input

jim

i forgot to take the camaera tonight

Mark

I don't think you should consider this as "hi jacking" since the topic has been discussed earlier.

I knew about the trick, but it implies the need of positioning the Z axis in a given X or Y fixed place where the rotating axis is placed. If the reference "place" is in the left or right corner of the XY plane, then you manually need to place the Z axis in it's zero pint over the rotating axis before you nick the cable of and fix it to the C axis. If you could "reset" the position to be over the C axis, this would make things simpler.

It should be mentioned that this is a "problem" I have been thinking on without having a machine to play and over come it with. It could be that this is as easy as nothing in practical terms on a Excitech ?

K

I would just position the axis you are going to disconnect over top dead center, and shut the machine off. Then switch cables. after that, the "dead" axis will stay where it was put. There is enough friction that it is unlikely that the "dead" axis will move from side cutting pressures. You could always make some sort of stop or clamp.

Mark

Mark

Ooops, I did a double post and had to rewrite one.

I think both of us have done the same thought on the 4th axis subject, but as mentioned I'm not able to test it out. For me I would prefer to have a SW which could go the the correct C position without the need of doing any cable switch. In this way I'm able to define a area of cut out and another for 3D sculpturing on the XY plane. This is beneficial if you have a large router and likes to have a multi purpose setup without the need for manual configuration. But then I guess that if the SW is capable of adding a "fixed position" at X=C axis Y=C axis it would be just to hit "go to C axis" button and then disconnect the 3rd axis and connect the C axis? I guess this is an option in Mach 3 or any other SW? I'm still on a thin ice since I'm not able to play with these thing:-(

Good post Mark and thank's.

Have to call it the night since the local time is 02:55...

See U all tomorrow
K

yep I certainly got screwed big time when I imported my router. You complain and its a case of pay up or you dont get your machine then they go and slam extra warehousing fees on anyways just to be super understanding !! Guess they get thousands of shipments coming in every day though....

Kent Norway: I know excitech offer to upgrade their machines to run with mach 3 thus doing away with the dsp controller. Maybe ask them if they have the hardware to support a 4th axis running mach :)

Did a basic test on my SHG0609 today, and.. it worked :)

It's about 80 mm x 100 mm.

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/3717/itworksno2.jpg

howzat, that looks fantastic.

Looks like you did the words as raised lettering. Is the stick figure raised as well?

Did you design it with the supplied software? How long did it take to make ?

Rocket.

Did a basic test on my SHG0609 today, and.. it worked :)

It's about 80 mm x 100 mm.

Well done mate :) . First cut is a buzz hey? I was s%#ting myself when i first ran mine, now i do it casually almost with my eyes closed

Looks like you did the words as raised lettering. Is the stick figure raised as well?


Optical illusion. Neither are raised. :)

it looks like the light is coming in from about 10:45 at upper left hand corner

when you say optical illusion? explain

jim

At first glance, it looks like it's raised, when in fact it's not. The figure is recessed, and the letters are v carved.

a second glance i can see walls in carving

hope to have a post soon showing mine working on it now
jim

Yeah ger21 got it right, the parts aren't raised, just a trick of the light. The "person" is 2 mm recessed.

Rocket, wasn't hard to make at all, just a bit of clip art and a standard font. I used one of the supplied 1/8" end mills and the v-bit.

Esmae, thanks, you're right it was a buzz and scary! It will be good when I get used to the noises and know what's normal. Didn't make too much dust either :)

today wil use full graphics tommorrow
jim

Looking good cabnet.

How are you finding the " learning curve ' as far as the software is concerned?
See that you bought the V Carve Pro. Are you using it to do the designs that you posted?

Rocket.

Esmae, thanks, you're right it was a buzz and scary! It will be good when I get used to the noises and know what's normal. Didn't make too much dust either :)
Excellent. I'll be buzzin tomorrow too when i get the laser:rainfro:

Excellent. I'll be buzzin tomorrow too when i get the laser:rainfro:

Awesome, would love to see pictures of that when you get a chance.

Discovery of the day: when cutting out profiles use tabs or something to stop the work piece from flying out just before the cut finishes!

Awesome, would love to see pictures of that when you get a chance.

Discovery of the day: when cutting out profiles use tabs or something to stop the work piece from flying out just before the cut finishes!

I use double sided tape. I'll post some photos tomorrow night. Plus some of the work i've done on my exitech
Scott

v carve pro has great tutorial videos and tony has done an extremly good job with this.

my problem is i was on even much simpler software and need to break mental block of comparison!!

will work more with it today
jim

Good to se some nice stuff produced here. You are getting there :)

I'm still in the phase of discussing with the factory and my decision stands between a SHM0609 or a SHG1212.

I have received information that the factory CAN make an upgrade of the DSP so it would support a 4th axis:) The same goes with MACH3 which would be supported so now it's all about finding a good 4th axis which could fit under the Z axis. I guess looking at a SHM0609 is pushing it since it's just 100mm clearance... Any news in you're en Jim?

Kent

Good to se some nice stuff produced here. You are getting there :)

I'm still in the phase of discussing with the factory and my decision stands between a SHM0609 or a SHG1212.

I have received information that the factory CAN make an upgrade of the DSP so it would support a 4th axis:) The same goes with MACH3 which would be supported so now it's all about finding a good 4th axis which could fit under the Z axis. I guess looking at a SHM0609 is pushing it since it's just 100mm clearance... Any news in you're en Jim?

Kent
That's fantastic news kent, it's great to see that they will diversify to suit peoples needs. When i bought mine i didn't even think to ask about options i thought it was WYSIWYG. I'd definitely get a higher gantry.:)

today finishing internet hookup and dust collection mostly logistics

wil carve tommorrow

actually had to put christmas lights on trees

priority's!!!!
jim

SANTA ARRIVES ON THURSDAY


Bewdy mate, Ripper, Cool, Great stuff, Fantastic, About Bloody Time!

Rocket.

and man was it tough gettin that router in the sleigh!!!

G`day cabnet, We have been advised that the container will be brought to our premises on Thursday.
We actually close tomorrow at lunchtime for our xmas holidays, but 6 of the guys have volunteered to come in on Thursday to help unload the machine.
It is in a 20 ft container. How are we going to get the crate out of the container? Hopefully like this - Lift up front of crate with forklift, slide 2 dollies under crate. Tie rope around crate and pull out with forklift.
Machine size is 1500 x 3000 ( 5ft x 10ft ) so crate will be pretty long.

Any other suggestions on how to get crate out of container?

How is your machine operating?

Rocket.

on a flat surface?

this is approx one ton of weight and small dollies will crush

i suggest get two 4x4 and bevel ends to act as a skid and use fork lift. space the 4x4s apart with other wood liked a sled if necessary

i moved ships around in the navy and still got cut by my router!!

or get 3 or 4 pallet jacks (we can rent them in us for 10.00$ day)

once we had it down on flat surface we rolled it around with pallet jacks with ease!!

do not and i repeat do not think you can control the rolliing weight of this with a human body or two!!!!!

slooooowwwww!! sloooowwwww!!!
and you will not go wrong

G`day cabnet, We have been advised that the container will be brought to our premises on Thursday.
We actually close tomorrow at lunchtime for our xmas holidays, but 6 of the guys have volunteered to come in on Thursday to help unload the machine.
It is in a 20 ft container. How are we going to get the crate out of the container? Hopefully like this - Lift up front of crate with forklift, slide 2 dollies under crate. Tie rope around crate and pull out with forklift.
Machine size is 1500 x 3000 ( 5ft x 10ft ) so crate will be pretty long.

Any other suggestions on how to get crate out of container?

How is your machine operating?

Rocket.

Rocket my machine was of a similar size and I think you may be expecting to much of the crate. Mine was flimsy! The router had shifted during shipment and fell through the bottom of the crate. It is not a US crate (used to make houses in some parts of the third world) it is more like a cardboard box made of ply.

http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/move00.jpg
http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/move01.jpg
http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/move02.jpg
http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/move03.jpg
http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/move04.jpg
http://www.cnczone.com/gallery/data/500/medium/move05.jpg

If your's is packed like mine then one pull on the rope and all you would have is a crunched up pile of ply. The Hiab guy chose not to lift the crate but lifted the machine straight out of it from the back of the truck. The crate was held together by nuts and bolts and it did not take long to take it apart. My machine was positioned over the "joists" that provided lifting points for a fork. When it moved off them it dropped through the floor like 800 Kg through 3 ply.
My machine came with the gantry flat on the bed and it was just sitting there. We were moving it up the stairs and when the incline was sufficient it started sliding back to China. Luckily we could drop the front end before it got any real momentum up. My gantry must be about 80 kg. I don't know how containers are constructed. Can you open them at both ends? If it were me I would take the crate off. Jack the machine up and get castors under it. Then get some sturdy planks under them and roll it out. One man can easily move the machine when it is on castors, just make sure it doesn't get too much speed up because they are not easy to stop quickly. If you need to you could take the end cover of the machine off and crawl under the machine to access the back legs. I can't remember what the thread was on the 3/4" castor bolts only that it was very common. Have Fun. Good luck.

Thanks for that great info.

cabnet - your ' skids ' idea sounds good. The dollies that i wrote about are heavy duty items that we use to move cars around the workshop.

ksealey - great photos, now we know what we are dealing with.

We now just about have the new room ready, we are flushing the gyprock and hope to paint it during our holidays. The walls are insulated to try to keep the noise down a bit.

We will take lots of pics of the container and machine tomorrow and will post them straight away. LOL

Rocket.

I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO THANK BILL GLENN ENOUGH
HIS HELP HAS BEEN INVALUABLE!!!!!!:wave::wave:

Thanks for that great info.

cabnet - your ' skids ' idea sounds good. The dollies that i wrote about are heavy duty items that we use to move cars around the workshop.

ksealey - great photos, now we know what we are dealing with.

We now just about have the new room ready, we are flushing the gyprock and hope to paint it during our holidays. The walls are insulated to try to keep the noise down a bit.

We will take lots of pics of the container and machine tomorrow and will post them straight away. LOL

Rocket.

Rocket you haven't boxed yourself in have you? That door looks a bit small and the window looks a bit high to be getting such a big machine through? Is there an entry on the side that I can't see?
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=48805&d=1198024192

SANTA ARRIVES ON THURSDAY


Bewdy mate, Ripper, Cool, Great stuff, Fantastic, About Bloody Time!

Rocket.

Good stuff rocket, hope it all goes well!

ksealey, There is a roller door at the opposite end of the factory so getting the machine inside will not be a problem. Our concern is more to do with how to get the crate out of the container. From there it will be easy.

howzat, thanks mate - we are so glad that the long wait is nearly over.
Still waiting to see how you are getting on with your machine.


cabnet, Thanks for the photos, You seem to have very high regard for Bill Glen, he must be a very decent person.

We have just arrived home from our xmas function and a few people( including yours truly ) are more than a little bit pissed. There will be quite a few sore heads in the morning as we extricate the machine from the container.

Rocket.

Our sh-cnc Excitech cnc Router has arrived.

We are absolutely impressed with the machine, the crate and the packaging. Well done sh-cnc

Everybody was rather hung over from last night`s function, but showed up at work today to help out. It was a team effort to get the machine into position. It all went very smoothly with no injuries to report.

The machine looks extremely well built and sturdy. If it operates as well as it looks- We are going to be very happy!

Rocket.

Rocket great to hear of your success. That is one big cutter. I am sure that you will both be very happy together.

crank it up !!!!
jim mcgrew

Great news rocket, thanks for the photos.

Hope you can get it working asap.


Did you end up getting the laser Scott??

well done rocket, feels good doesnt it :) you will be routing in no time!

Only just a squeeze in that container wasnt it...

Just done the first few jobs on mine yesterday, have to say im very impressed with its accuracy and quality. Theres a sign shop next door who came round to watch it and say I can do all their signs they normally buy out now>>BONUS..

Happy xmas everyone

Thanks everybody. We are as proud as can be with our machine.

It was very hot in Adelaide this morning - so there was quite a bit of sweat coming out of our pores.

The container arrived at 8 am and was gone by 9 am. The crate was very strong. It had 4 bearers running the full length underneath. To get it out of the container we drilled 2 large holes in the bearers and connected chains to them, then we lifted the crate up and slid 2 dollies under the bearers about half way. Then we dragged it out with the forklift. cabnet was right, we broke 4 wheels off of the dollies.

To move the crate into the factory we had the forklift on one side and the pallet jack on the other side, and it moved quite easily. The hardest part of the operation was to get the bottom of the crate out from under the machine. After a few failed attempts we lifted one end with the forklift and the other end with the pallet jack after we nailed together some bearers to get the height. We had to use a circular saw to cut a bit of the floor away so that we could get the pallet jack into position. After that it was easy to lift the machine and push the floor out.

Before we can operate the machine the electrician will need to come and connect the power. He did not want to do it before he saw the machine and now it is xmas holidays so it may be several weeks before it is up and running.

Everybody was hot and tired after we unpacked the machine so they all went home. I will go to work tomorrow and clean up ( if i can get a leave pass from the missus LOL )

Rocket.

Did you end up getting the laser Scott??

Yep, lovin every minute of it too. I have tested everything within arms length. This thing absolutely flies. The main axis runs at 2 metres per second, it's a blur to watch. So now everyone that knows i have it are checking my samples and saying stuff like "cool, you could make me an awesome keyring" or "cool, you could make me a sign for my house" of course they don't want to pay for it even though i just paid 40 grand to make their keyrings for them. I am gonna enjoy playin with it.

Still love my exitech though.

Scott

fortunatly we do enough business with other trades and have wired alot of machines that we were able to get ours wired quickly.

dude i feel your excitement, i have been listening to bill about these routers
and will probably get another one early next year.

dougie the sign shop next door has brought me two jobs,
one an apartment complex with 400 building and apartment signs.
1" sign foam relief with raised letters i priced my material figured priming cost
and bid based on a internet price i saw on some website, showed him my bid
he looked troubled as most do when they see my numbers so i left it with him.
yesterday he comes to see me with another one, and tells me that my price was too low and what he has paid before was 60% higher and would pay that.
shock,shock, (me the expert) that extra bit on as saturday job away from my normal work will pay 1/8 of the price of the machine.

gee fellows them numbers i can understand.

cabnet

Scott, Congratulations mate - Looks like you are thrilled to bits with your laser. How about some photos?

There is a common link with all of you blokes who have machines. It seems that it only takes people one look at the machines to get them thinking about what can be made with them. cabnet is getting enquiries from sign writers, dougie appears to have picked up work from the sign writer next door to him and scott is also experiencing interest from potential customers.

I sure hope that Kustom Koncepts can get the financing to buy a machine. Have you all read his thread about it?

cabnet, i just read your post. That is fantastic to pick up the extra work from the sign writer. That is the sort of "cream" that makes us all smile.

Kustom Koncepts - You NEED a machine! Sell those cd`s ( whatever they are? ) and get routing!

Rocket.

[/QUOTE]
Kustom Koncepts - You NEED a machine! Sell those cd`s ( whatever they are? ) and get routing!

Rocket.[/QUOTE]

I can't sell the cd's, they are design programs and patterns that allow me to create the backround textures and colors you see in my work.

yes they are expensive but it like telling a mechanic with a 10K tool box to sell that and get a $100 Craftsman tool tray and fix my car.

the programs and cd's and files I have are paid for and I just ordered more, they are like my tools that I need to create digital graphics.

I also got Rhino, Photoshop CS2 and CS3, sign lab, Illustrator, Digital firestorm, Print craft and much more. It is the old adage that I have to keep growing and diversifying to stay in the game long enugh to play.

I just got off the phone with the banker after 2 weeks of being afraid to call him back I find he was waiting on me to get him 2007 financial reports, so I think after I get him those I will get approval on the loan. Cross fingers.

Ksealy, I think you where like me thinking that that first picture Rocket showed of framing and sheet rocking that room was for the cnc,and you said (that door looked small and the window was high to get the cnc in there) in later pictures I think that new room is the office and the cnc in going to be in the shop. am I right on that rocket?

Rocket I was confused, I though you ment the Aurora, Digital Fire storm, Juice drops and stuff to sell those. those are tools, Program fill file cd's DVD's.

you ment cash in my CD certificate of Deposit savings cd's.

yes I will if so be it but I think the bank is going to give me the loan. 35K full finaced 878mo 48 months. 0 down fully collateralized and they are putting a lean on my business that does not bother me. Failure is not a option.

KustomKoncepts, you are correct. I would never suggest that you sell the tools of your trade. I had the impression that the cd`s you wrote about must be some sort of savings deposits or bonds. Please be careful not to over commit. Our machine cost us $20,000 all up and it is a bloody ripper. If you bought something similar and put $5,000 of your savings in as a deposit your monthly payments would be very low.
In your thread you wrote of people that "leach" off of you. Get rid of them! They are holding you back! People who have little to do in life have no consideration for people who are busy. The best way to get rid of " hangers on " is to give them some work to do - watch them disappear.

You are correct about the room that we are building in the factory. The idea is to have a " dust free " environment where we can program the machine via computer. ksealey made a great suggestion of wiring an emergency stop through to the room. We will be doing that. You may notice a " Bricked in " area to the left of where the machine now sits. We will knock that down as it leads into Franks ( the painters ) area. So we can take panels straight into the paint shop.

Rocket.

I decided to start a new thread about the Laser so i don't disrupt the flow of this thread, if you want to see it or ask me questions please check it out here http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?p=382541#post382541

And here's some of the work i have done on my router. Don't forget to take photo's to show your customers, because it's very hard to describe how awesome a job looked without visuals. That's what i have found anyway i'm forever forgetting to get the camera out.

by bill glenn today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJU_diVEJP4

cabnet

It is most unusual for us to have rain this time of year. Fantastic!

Scott - You really have the " knack " of making great items on your router. Really like the Ned Kelly items, I am going to make some of them.
Saw your new laser machine on your thread. Looks great, can`t wait to see what you make with that one.

cabnet, That video looks cool - The machine cuts very quickly and smoothly. Saw your bullshead sign, i guess that that was from the V Carve pro trial. How are you finding the software?

Rocket.

Scott - You really have the " knack " of making great items on your router. Really like the Ned Kelly items, I am going to make some of them.
Saw your new laser machine on your thread. Looks great, can`t wait to see what you make with that one.

Yep I'm a big fan of the old outlaws (aussie ones) especially Ned, he had good reason for doing what he done and if he'd have pulled off the train wreck as planned i'd say he'd have been one of the most iconic men (some say criminal(chair)) in world history.

Clocks can bring surprisingly good money. I'm mainly doing laminated plastics on the laser but will trial a few different things.

Thanks everybody. We are as proud as can be with our machine.

It was very hot in Adelaide this morning - so there was quite a bit of sweat coming out of our pores.

The container arrived at 8 am and was gone by 9 am. The crate was very strong. It had 4 bearers running the full length underneath. To get it out of the container we drilled 2 large holes in the bearers and connected chains to them, then we lifted the crate up and slid 2 dollies under the bearers about half way. Then we dragged it out with the forklift. cabnet was right, we broke 4 wheels off of the dollies.

To move the crate into the factory we had the forklift on one side and the pallet jack on the other side, and it moved quite easily. The hardest part of the operation was to get the bottom of the crate out from under the machine. After a few failed attempts we lifted one end with the forklift and the other end with the pallet jack after we nailed together some bearers to get the height. We had to use a circular saw to cut a bit of the floor away so that we could get the pallet jack into position. After that it was easy to lift the machine and push the floor out.

Before we can operate the machine the electrician will need to come and connect the power. He did not want to do it before he saw the machine and now it is xmas holidays so it may be several weeks before it is up and running.

Everybody was hot and tired after we unpacked the machine so they all went home. I will go to work tomorrow and clean up ( if i can get a leave pass from the missus LOL )

Rocket.

Looks like in the process of moving house I missed a fair bit of excitment around here!

Good to see the beast made it in Rocket!

Don't wait for a sparky- grab some 4 core and earth 4mm SQD cable and a plug and stick it in a power socket in the factory somewhere else. Terminals on the machine are clearly marked, 3 Lines, neutral and earth. Sounds like your electrician is fairly critical (yes, his licence and liability are at stake so do understood) so you may need to shop around. I can tell you that the machines are not certified for mains connection in AUS. Can almost garauntee that they comply but they do not have the magic peice of paper from the factory so technically you should have it independently tested and certified prior to legal connection.

Cheers,

Jimmy

Thanks Jimmy, hope that your house move went smoothly.

Our electrician will not be a problem. He is an older Chinese bloke and does all of our electrical work. We call him at short notice to wire up the roller shutters that we sell. Small problem right now is that his wife is very ill and so we do not want to push him to get it done. Out of loyalty to him we are prepared to wait until he can get some spare time to do it.

As far as certification goes - he is not a stickler to government regulations, but he always does top quality work. He wanted to wait until the machine arrived so that he could be sure of what is required - something about it being 3 or 4 wire ( ? )

Rocket.

Thanks Jimmy, hope that your house move went smoothly.

Our electrician will not be a problem. He is an older Chinese bloke and does all of our electrical work. We call him at short notice to wire up the roller shutters that we sell. Small problem right now is that his wife is very ill and so we do not want to push him to get it done. Out of loyalty to him we are prepared to wait until he can get some spare time to do it.

As far as certification goes - he is not a stickler to government regulations, but he always does top quality work. He wanted to wait until the machine arrived so that he could be sure of what is required - something about it being 3 or 4 wire ( ? )

Rocket.

4 Wire + earth.

You should have four transformers in the control box (two per frame) that require neutral and 1 phase to power the axis controllers (two for X axis). The spindle inverter is 3 phase.

VAC pump and dust extraction are 3 wire + earth.

You will need a motor start rated breaker on the machine- pulls a high current on turnon- I expect that is the spindle inverter inrush.

Hope your sparky's missus comes good.

House is great- built in 1926 so needs a fair bit of work but nothing major.

Cheers,

Jimmy.

Jimmy, Stone the flamin crows mate! That is superb information.

We can ring him now and let him know what is needed. He is the sort of bloke who will just turn up out of the blue to do the job. So who knows, maybe we will get some practice during the holidays after all.

You are a bloody champion.

Thanks.

Rocket.

Yep, lovin every minute of it too. I have tested everything within arms length. This thing absolutely flies. The main axis runs at 2 metres per second, it's a blur to watch. So now everyone that knows i have it are checking my samples and saying stuff like "cool, you could make me an awesome keyring" or "cool, you could make me a sign for my house" of course they don't want to pay for it even though i just paid 40 grand to make their keyrings for them. I am gonna enjoy playin with it.

Still love my exitech though.

Scott

Wow I was thinking "2 m per second, that's not much faster than the router" before realising its per second, not per minute!

Thanks for the pictures of some of your work, I was thinking of doing some clocks but thought the market might be saturated, nice to know it might still be worthwhile going after.

Wow I was thinking "2 m per second, that's not much faster than the router" before realising its per second, not per minute!

Thanks for the pictures of some of your work, I was thinking of doing some clocks but thought the market might be saturated, nice to know it might still be worthwhile going after.
If it's got a bit of shape to it instead of the old round clocks you'll get some interest

If it's got a bit of shape to it instead of the old round clocks you'll get some interest

Would like to see how you go making some timber gears and an escape assembly- Interesting you are thinking clocks, I have an old all timber clock (gears and all) that uses a weight hanging below to power it. Only one hand and not real accurate but thought it may prove an interesting challenge to replicate.

Here are some clocks I am doing with a table saw and 45 degree edges.

when I get a cnc I want to add some shape to the clocks instead of being stuck to the straigh square edges I have to work with now.

Man indoor pictures look blurry and bad. these clocks look better than this, shinny stuff is hard to photograph indoors, it reflects the flash and the backround!!

mdf and use a hand held router with a top bearing flush bit and build that curvy clock tommorrow. make that template out with your software print trace and cut then you'll have a template ready for your new router!!

make that money

cabnet

what is nice about these is that a racecar driver will buy 10 or more of these at a time for sponsors, fans, and pit crew. I like the square shape these are 11" w 22" tall. the problem is I can maybe get $40 for them.

Wood 1.25 ea
vinyl print $1.00
primer and clear $4.00

so it is about $6.00 materials but takes 3 Hrs to do one of them.

I could do 10 in maybe 8 hrs. It just is so hard doing One 1 off design, Quantity repetability is the key.

Nascar Dale Jr clock same size is only $65.00 on the web. local fans won't pay $65 for a local driver clock.

The biggest problem was I had to clear coat and wet sand this thing 3 times them I just 1000 grit wet sanded it and buffed it today.

I was having a reaction with the vinyl and the clear coat. I would shock the vinyl and it would outgas and create a ton on small bubbles in the clear. (not a sellable product)
I used a CWVR vinyl with a laminate but then it is that much thicker to burry with the clear but no bubbles.

there is a 2 part epoxy mix that they use for funiture called Enviro tex or something.

I tried it with moderate sucess. also got bubbles and runns.

a guy at Back to the 50's Minniapolis MN sells classic furniture and uses this stuff on his furniture. he layed dionond plate on a coffe table covered it with envirotex sanded taped off a maltees cross and reverse painted it making a diomond plate malteees cross on a coffe table. looked realy cool but was very expensive. He was not there last year. that is why I feel a guy has to figure out how to be more efficient and have moderate prices instead of insane prices and can't sell anything. IMHO

use a hair dryer or propane torch

just whoosh across at a distance during the first fifteen minutes then cone bach 5-10 min later i have done bars, one was 6 inches thick layered in to look like the bottom of the ocean 7 days 24-7 pour with constant mixing
60.000.00 cost rember the stuff will crack if put on too thick, had an owner get impatient and tried to pour it himself in a 3/4" deep inlay overnight
the resulting splits from heat seperation cost him 15000.00 in a redo

cabnet

what is too thick, 6 " is thick!!! but do you mean do it in small layers at a time??

say 1/4" per pour, 36 pours and dry times to get ti 6" thick?

I am looking for 1 pour to cover these racer clocks.

it took 3 sprayed clear coat and wet sand seccions to get this clock really thick and cool.

I will try the envirotex on the next one and see if it is easier and can get done in one pass.

the vinyl edge I am burying is only 3 mil thick.

yall sure are into some wild bicycle racing over there!!!

cabnet

Would like to see how you go making some timber gears and an escape assembly- Interesting you are thinking clocks, I have an old all timber clock (gears and all) that uses a weight hanging below to power it. Only one hand and not real accurate but thought it may prove an interesting challenge to replicate.

I know that somewhere on this forum a guy made a clock from mdf, gears and all. It only kept time for 24 hrs then needed winding but still pretty cool to replicate

Bill Glenn of www.camaster.com has figured out how to get his videos out there on you tube, he has been invaluable to me in all of this learning curve that i would like to post them here. bill is the dealer for his addition to the chinese machine here in the south east and builds his cobra routers as well.

rocket, i will be posting more of my carving soon, i am going thru a learning curve and have a problem with a letter repeating it self over and over so i have sent a file to vectric to tell me what i am doing wrong. i can tell it's going to take a little time. but the guys did make a lot of last minute christmas presents today (little signs)

cabnet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDqzrdZwWJo&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7aWgmay0X8&NR=1

Jim that pour on envitortex is awsome stuff. I will be able to get a resulte with one coat instead of the 3 coats and a 3 day project with the spray on automotive clear.

I don't know what I was doing wrong a couple of years ago when I first tried it.

I have very little problems with it and it can be bought locally, ace hardware, Menards, Hobby lobby Ect.

here is another plaque I am doing for a sample for the Tintmaster Street Legal Drags, they want to do 36 plaques like this selling sponsors on the bottom that is the reason for the 2 different sizes.

This looks cooler in real life.

Is this stuff strong? I am feeling kinda funny, it is either that stuff or the snowmobile fumes but I am light headed.

or ask your local paint dealers, if you buy that stuff at hardware local you
are paying 150% mark up we buy it wholesale @ 40-60 a gallon less in 55 gallons etc.

jim

check
http://www.dickblick.com/zz029/18/
and
http://www.eti-usa.com/wheretobuy/consum.html
and actually heres the forrunner to it
and a good product look at prices
http://www.creative-wholesale.com/Crystal%20Sheen.html

this was $22.50 for a quart kit.

the one thing I see is some dust that landed into it now but I was not in the paint booth and was not being to careful about raising dust around the area. I am pretty happy with the results on this first try.

what stuff do you use?

check this
http://creativewholesale.com/

yall sure are into some wild bicycle racing over there!!!

cabnet

Hi cabnet, Not quite sure what you mean. Are you referring to the Tour Down Under that we host in Adelaide in late summer. Adelaide`s very own Stuart O`grady normally comes home from Europe together with the top European teams. It has major event status and a "carnival" atmosphere.
In Adelaide we needed a couple of major events each year to replace the formula one grand prix which the buggers over the border in Melbourne pinched off of us. We also have the Clipsal 500 Touring car race which is very popular.

Rocket.

is a massive bicycle wreck at a race in aus pretty dramatic
cabnet

i think here
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&from=msnhome

is a massive bicycle wreck at a race in aus pretty dramatic
cabnet

i think here
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&from=msnhome

Yeah, pretty amazing there were no broken bones..

Back on topic for a moment, what does the display/control thing on the left side of the control box do, and do we need to mess with it?? We haven't had to play around with it so far but I'm curious and the Chinese manuals are no help :)

that looks like my spindle controller
get a face on shot with camera

on/run green off/stop red
fwd/rev seed up/down ????

all have you perused the vectris forum for v carve pro
http://vectric.com/forum/
go to gallery, they use thier gallery for thier support and have been responsive

rocket saw this and thought of your now growing closet furniture biz
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/show.cgi?tpc=17997&post=46512#POST46512
jim

Jim No I mean what one do you use,

the Envirotex Lite Is what I got at ace hardware last night but on this site there is, crystal sheen. Ex 74, EX 88 Ect

What are the differennces in them other that price, Ex 88 seems to have a UV protector against yellowing but I am doing indoor palques. Lite should work right?

all of them my supplier some years ago moved mr top evtex lite i had used crystal sheen before that. no noticeable difference.
i believe it is all made by the same company
jim

i al ways wonder where rocket and the aussies are and then i rember there asleep

i see its cold in fargo, are you still set on a tool changer? theres a machine
in california bill built and said it's built like a tank on ebay for 5000.00

jim

No I gota have a ATC as a one man opperation I need automation, I don't have someone to sit and baby sit the machine. It is going to just be more convinient for me to have a New machine and a ATC.

processes have changed now that i actually have the machine, with what i know now i would have made a bigg $ mistake to get tool changer it aint like
having to watch the machine although it is a lot of fun ( i am sure that will wear off) i just have yet to see in your work where it would be needed, i am sure theres somthing i cannot see, i guess you can expect high production or intense 3d carving and at that time the possibility you will need an empolyee
is strong.

jim


ps i am finding these "aint set it and forget it machines" the probability you will be watching it is high

i guess i also should say i donot consider this automation more so than programed tooling and machining

cabnet, Interesting to see your comment about the auto Tool Changer.My understanding is that it will take up to 3 tool changes to make each of our patterns. I have not yet had a good look at the spindle on our machine.
How long does it take to do each tool change?


I have already joined the Vectric forum and have seen your post. Did you get the problem sorted out? Vectric have an excellent gallery to browse through.

Keep those photos coming and thanks for all of the links that you put up. They are full of good info.

And remember - It is already tomorrow here in Australia, so by the time that you wake up we have already put in a full day`s work.

Rocket.

at moms and will be home soon would like to post more about process.

oh and when doing mdf or routed doors that is the prime application for a tool changer, multiple tooling within the same sheet repeated many times in various sizes doors doors doors i have a door supplier just ten minutes from me and his pricing is so competitive that i out source all doors to him
in your case a tool changer will be an advantage but not necessary.

roy of www.royswoodproducts.com is a good friend and a supplier to me
i've spent aot of time in front of his cnc machines and his operator has convinced me that they only use tool changer on mdf routed doors.

http://www.royswoodproducts.com/index1.html

you can change a bit in just two to three minutes and set z hight accordingly
just use same xy and start your next rout with the second tool run,

i hope we will discuss this further and explain our applications so we can begin to tune these machines

and rocket i believe if you got a decent size market you are about to blast off

bada bing bada boom

cabnet

check this out bill glenn has gone you tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDqzrdZwWJo

jim mcgrew

That's pretty cool ! If Bill can get the word out he can sell some routers. What are they cutting out on the video ? I'm thinking about adding V Carve Pro soon. Is it easy to use ? I downloaded the demo but haven't had a lot of time to check it out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL YOU GUYS, GIRLS, BLOKES, AND SHEILAS ON THE THREAD !!!

cabnet- Nice to see that you visit your mum.

Thanks for that info. I have had a good look at the camaster video. The machine looks great. Upon looking at the videos at the bottom of the camaster video i noticed that Factorynew.com have put up a video of their version of the Excitech machine. They call it Cam Wood. Take a look at the video. I would put up the link if i knew how to. ( no disrespect to Bill Glenn )

My wife is dragging me down to the shops now. Back Later.

Rocket.

That's pretty cool ! If Bill can get the word out he can sell some routers. What are they cutting out on the video ? I'm thinking about adding V Carve Pro soon. Is it easy to use ? I downloaded the demo but haven't had a lot of time to check it out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL YOU GUYS, GIRLS, BLOKES, AND SHEILAS ON THE THREAD !!!

Thanks KeithG, Same to all you yanks and poms and kiwis.

Rocket.

i have spent a lot of time on the phone with him, his experience has been immeasurable to say the least. i am hoping he'll pipe up here on the thread i know he reads it. the router in the video is a demo to sell the router to a client. he was very happy about his son josh doing the video.

yes i have bought vcarve and at 600.00 it's a must have, i am learning it now and aparently i set somthing wrong and its repeating the same letter over and over (operator error) join thier forum and look at gallery in v carve

http://vectric.com/forum/index.php?sid=2bd0eda2ae294d4def6646f59e6a51b1
jim

rocket
camwood is same machine just a lot more money, somebodys got to pay for the advertising, may as well be the uninformed and unwilling sad but it's the american way
jim

just follow the video tutorials a couple of times, carve the bullshead sign you'll be an old v carver in no time
jim

here are some door programs

this one when scrolled down has a method of using single bit for carving doors
http://www.siskiyouproducts.com/dpro.html#General%20Features


and
http://www.kcdw.com/cnc.htm

thought this was cool as it says it's manufactured in aus
http://www.procamcnc.com.au//index.php

kustom i am sure you know why you need a tool changer a lot more than i ever will, this video is pretty cool
http://www.procamcnc.com.au/viewStory/Video+Demonstration
just how cold is it in fargo?

What's up Jim you at the shop on a sunday too?

I am here for a couple hours then Going to load up My sled and go snowmobiling!!

as far as the tool changer goes. I feel It is more of a want that a need but I really want it.

I will use my snowmobile as a example.

I bought my sled 2 years ago it was already 5 years old but like new 800 miles.

I had the newest fastest biggest sled and could kick my friends around. (800cc Polaris XC) now this year they all bought new 2008 sleds.

4 stroke 3 cyilinder 1000cc Snow cross sleds. Now I have the slowest least advanced sled and they kick me around.

my sled is worth about 1,500 though I payed 3K 2 years ago for it and the new sleds guys got this year are 12K.

My point is I want to get the most I can with what is availibly to me at the given time. No matter what I am buing because once you buy something (other than a house) it is never worth what you paid for it origionally.

So I want a ATC because I don't want to think I will add it later or Oh I'll get it on the next machine.

So if I don't get approval by the bank I will consider a used machine or drop some of the bells and whisels.

there is a saying "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear"
the key for me is to be teachable and willing

dude i got an ezgo with john deere motif and i would love to have you do it!!

about pricing on harley, the artist was showing me what he wanted to do
i looked at him an smiled asked him for his invoice it said 2300.00, so i took the invoice and wrote "artist has my full approval to do this work in what ever he chooses" he looked astonished then i pulled out 25 100.00 dolloar bills and said do it right!!


http://www.ajartwork.com/

i have to be real careful not to judge my inside by others out sides
you an artist theres a spiritual nature to that

i would not take on more than you can handle, although i would find out how many machines are in your town (i can see from google earth that fargo does not have competing towns) so find the machines find what they are doing
cut parts for other cabinetmakers, sign makers cut products for gift shops

make it pay i do have a feeling a atc is not a necessity and i would not let it stand in my way, i am already planning my next machine!!!!!

on another note i have figured out my problem with vcarve i was asking for real bold lettering with small step passes within each letter that means it was
having to make a lot of minute passes to achieve on letter

i am at home and am heading to shop to carve christmas (as if i had the power) jim

i am going to post some photos of my many excesses in tool purchases
and mistakes jim

Yes fargo is small 150,000 people, Grand Forks is a hour away 90,000 and Minniapolis BIG is 3.5 hrs away.

There are big cabnet shops here, Brotten Cabnets, Custom Cabnets ect.

Sign pro, Indigo and newman have machines but no imagination.

the cnc is just another tool needed in the process of creating what I vision. For those wondering, the graphics you see as the vinyl print on my clocks takes about $40,000 worth of programs printer and laminator to make them, I am able to make the shape on a table saw right now but can make curves and shapes if it was on a cnc.

I really hope the doors will start opening once I get it. I can't belive the responce I am getting on these racer clocks and plaques!!

I did one for a girl who wanted to give the clock to here brother who's car I letter. set the bill down at $45.00 and she looked at it and said you have to charger more than that!

wrote it out for $60.00 (this was the Reinke Racing clock that took me 4 days and 3 coats of clear. I figure it took about $50.00 to do that clock!!)

I think that the automation of cutting the shape and recesses with the cnc and using that Envirotex Lite instead of automotive clear I will get it done faster and under $12.00 material costs. so I still need to sell these at $60+ to still make something.

on another thread
http://www.machinetoolhelp.com/PurchasingCNCmachines/Beforeyoubuy.html
will get back on at shop
jim

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/120304.html
jim

some of bills machines
the blue one is an ice carver

G`day all, Been busy with xmas preparations and have also been at work and painted the new room.

howzat - how are you finding your machine? Made anything else yet?
Looking forward to seeing some photos.

I have taken some more photos. Trouble is i do not know how to load them. Have joined photobucket and will spend some time tonight trying to learn how to do it. My son has put the other ones up but i can`t rely on him all the time, he is busy with his own family.

leef and jubee should be very close to receiving their machines - any news yet?

Had a good look at the machine today while i was polishing the legs on it and i am still amazed at the value for money. Opened the "goodies box" to see plenty of bits, cd`s and other gear. We will work out some dust extraction similar to Jimmy`s mounted from the ceiling. The vacuum pump is extremely heavy. I do not know whether it should just sit on the floor or should we fabricate a stand for it?

We are hoping to get the electrician in on friday to wire it up.

Rocket.

Yeee haaa!!

I got my machine delivered this morning!
Really is a christmas present for me!
Got a couple of the sides of the crate off. but thats all.
Gotta make christmas festivities the priority ya know.
Will post pics when i can :)
Merry christmas to ya'll!
Christmas eve 11.30pm here, got a big day tomorow.
Cheers guys!
Lee

Congratulations lee.

You could not have timed it any better.

Can`t wait to see your pics.

Father xmas starts his rounds in New Zealand. When we crack open a few coldies at 9.30 in the morning we can tell our wives - Its already midday in NZ.

Merry Xmas.

Rocket.

in australia?

rocket try a program called piccasa (free by google)

its amazing i have been using it for years, last night i showed it to bill glenn and we were emailing and uploadind pics in minutes, as well as cleanining them up and making disk for marketing.

its on google it will ask you for permission to retrieve your pics on hard drive
let it, it will put them in folders, after create a file on "c" drive called photos for web or email then go back to piccasa, select photos then goto file pick export to folder resize to 640 or below when prompted (for uploading) then choose photos from your file on c drive bill told me you can upload directly from piccasa (i hav eyet to do that)

solved my carving problem and will carve away today its christmas eve here

G`day cabnet, It is 12.46 A.M. Christmas Day!

I have been messing around with photobucket. I am almost there! Have uploaded images without a problem - now i am trying to work out how to get them from there to here. I like photobucket because when you click on the image it will expand to take up the whole page. Will the picaso do that?

Is your wife really going to let you go to work on xmas day? I would not stand a snowball`s chance in hell of getting away today!

Glad to see you solved your problem, are you using V Carve pro?

Rocket.

is simple and what i had done was to expand the fomt to bold and then set a set a a real minute passover (where it cuts each pass so it had to repeat many time just to clear the material in the letter.

wife is sitting here and we are at home, she say's i do damn well what i want,
she says dosen't mater whether it's on this computer or at shop which is 30 minutes away "it's too much"

i dont think so, and it's not christmas day until tommorrow it's 9:31am dec 24
here. i am so looking forward to where we go next with the routers

of attention to this thread from others in brazil and around the world

have you guys got the machines (Commercial,chinese or other wise)
please feel free to post photos and post with us i for one need all the help i can get

jim mcgrew

Well you don`t have to worry about the world ending today, it`s already tomorrow in Australia!

You are right. Now we have to "walk the walk". Fair dinkum mate i am absolutely sh....ng myself. Fortunately, we have some good computer people around us, so i think we can work it out. We are going to be saving 4,000 per month once we are up to speed. My missus reminded me about the dovetail drawer machine which we have not even used yet, so we have to make this work!

Rocket.

G`day all, Here are some more photos of the excitech

Rocket

some big router, carved yesterday and will become more profecient as time rolls, there is a leasrning curve to this

prepare to burn some bits and scare the sh%#@!!t out of yourself and those around you,

but its worth every minute of it

jim

G`day cabnet, Xmas festivities finished finally.

We had a good look at the software this morning. The type3 and ucancam supplied with the machine looks a bit daunting. My son has been practising with V Carve Pro for a few weeks and thinks that he can do ok with it. If so, we probably will not need the other ones.

Do you like my method of painting the wall? ( Just take the missus to work ).

Will go to work in morning and unwrap gantry and take some photos of spindle. Think i can upload photos from photobucket now, so i will post plenty of them.

We needed the big router as our panels are quite often 9ft x 4ft.

Rocket.

G`day cabnet, Xmas festivities finished finally.

We had a good look at the software this morning. The type3 and ucancam supplied with the machine looks a bit daunting. My son has been practising with V Carve Pro for a few weeks and thinks that he can do ok with it. If so, we probably will not need the other ones.

Do you like my method of painting the wall? ( Just take the missus to work ).

Will go to work in morning and unwrap gantry and take some photos of spindle. Think i can upload photos from photobucket now, so i will post plenty of them.

We needed the big router as our panels are quite often 9ft x 4ft.

Rocket.

Your a patient man Rocket- I had the wrapping off my machine before I even had the crate fully away from it :-)

Have you had a go at getting the shipping grease off all the running gear? I used a heap of rags and so called enviromentaly friendly degreaser- probably not an easy job before you have him powered up as you cant drive the gantry around.

Id have a look at sourcing a small grease gun also, you will find most nipples will take a few pumps (mine seemed virtually dry on delivery.

It may pay you to go for a crawl around underneath the table with a screwdriver and check the tightness of the clamps on the VAC hoses- mine leaked first time I fired him up.

must be reading this i just got a copy of "making wood signs" for xmas

we have traditionally used mineral sprits to remove the packing grease from tools, and i believe this is usually the method in manuals such as delta jet and powermatic, we usually wipe with wd-40 after cleaning on friction steel surfaces and clean only on paint surfaces. and absolutly grease all bearings and fittings before using rourter and after an hours use check again as grease will fix in where there was none before.

rocket can you paste taneys email for me or see if you can find price on wave board software shown here for me, this is something i need
i think i want ucancam !!!!
http://www.ucancam.com/list.asp

well my wife just put a pig in a blanket with honey mustard sauce in my mouth so i gotta go !!!!

merry christmas
cabnet

Hi Guys, you are making me hungry cabnet. Sounds delicious.

I have some wax and grease remover on hand and will give all of those surfaces a good clean. Will also make sure that all nipples are well lubricated. One query that i do have - Jimmy you and Scott both wrote about using machine oil on the slides. Are you using this in addition to greasing the nipples?

I had deliberately left the wrapping on the gantry as we still needed to finish off the flushing on the gyprock wall and the finishing compound is very fine when it is sanded. But we have finished painting the outside wall now so it is time for it to come off.

My son has already been crawling inside the machine to check all fittings.
When the machine arrived there was a small electrical box inside the machine which had come adrift in transit. The screws had worked loose so he fixed that back into position and checked everything else. The only other issue that we have is with the adjustable feet. A couple of them had come unscrewed and the thread is damaged. Should be an easy fix.
The feet can be seen on the top of the table in the photo of the gantry.

Rocket.

tomhua_1@hotmail.com
or
taney@sh-cnc.com

looks like it has v carve and many other functions, i wonder if wave biard is in software or is it an addittional component software?
jim

G`day cabnet, I am browsing through the user manual. There is a chapter dedicated to Wave Board. It is within the software.
The sub-headings are - Texture, Straight Texture, Curvilinear Texture, Wave, Silk Texture, Texture Trimming.
The user manual is quite good. It has 245 pages of text including illustrations, and is easy to follow. It is all in English.

Hope your xmas celebrations went well.

Rocket.

rocket, you are not going to believe what that will allow you to do or at least in my world it is a real big deal

check this
http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/01/14/cool-materials-mdf/
and
http://www.interlam-design.com/

i want that software

jim

Looks Cool.

I do not have my price list here but from memory the ucancam/ wentai software is about $300

I can recall seeing a desk made with the wave pattern on the vectric forum.

Rocket.

windows xp compatable???

have you loaded it yet??

jim

check this
http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/01/14/cool-materials-mdf/
and
http://www.interlam-design.com/

i want that software

jim

We had a job that spec'd Interlam panels. I made them myself just using AutoCAD.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11996

man i feel like such a newbie to all of this and i wish i understood half of the methods described in programming, with all the learning curves going on i am obviously looking for the easiest way out. i have been quoted such a low price for the software i look at it like buying a template
jim

aussies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny0dp8xgEYU&feature=related
cabnet

Got around to unpacking, put it on a couple of
desks.
Originally I thought it was gonna fit on
one desk. Totally underestimated its size!!
Pretty mini compaired to some of your machines tho.

just checking how the picture attaching works.

Hi leef, Your photo works fine - you got it first go.

Your router looks great. What are your first impressions of it?

Rocket.

yeah very solid machine. very impressed.
Cant wait turn it on and see the thing move!

Few things im not quite clear on. I hope you guys can help.
Picture B, Are there any bearings not sealed on your machines?

Picture D, should anything be connected to the earth terminal
if ive already got 3 pins connected on the power plug?

Picture E-F, I ordered a voltage regulator with my machine to change
the voltage down from 240v to 220v, anyone with a little electical
knowledge would be able to tell me if ive wired this up ok?

Picture G, Just a cool picture :)

Any info would be appreciated.
Cheers Lee

Hi leef, that's great you got your machine in time for Christmas.

As for your questions, I'm pretty sure my bearings look the same as yours.

I'm just using my machine plugged into a regular 240 V power outlet.. shouldn't 220 V devices be able to tolerate the slight extra voltage? Nothing has blown up so far anyway!

leef, sorry to write that i cannot help you with the electrical connections, i think that Jimmy and Scott might know a bit about them.
Those bearings would need to be greased. Is there a grease nipple on the other side of them? If not, maybe you will need to grease them from the exposed side. Surely they would fill with wood chips and mdf dust if not protected.

rocket.

cabnet/ Jim, i found my old price list from sh-cnc and it shows only $150 for the software, but i do not know if the price is current and also whether it would be that price on its own - maybe it is the cheap price as a package including a machine purchase.
The software is designed for Windows 2000/ XP.
Have you found any good ideas in your " Making Wood Signs " book that your wife gave you?

Saw the video from Greolt - He is a very clever bloke, i bet he made that machine himself. It looks to run very well.

We have loaded the software onto my home computer only so far, we are trying to pick up another computer to use exclusively for the machine software. Hoping to find a bargain at the after xmas sales.

How are you going with V Carve pro? Have you made some goodies to show us?

Rocket.

yeah very solid machine. very impressed.
Cant wait turn it on and see the thing move!

Few things im not quite clear on. I hope you guys can help.
Picture B, Are there any bearings not sealed on your machines?

Picture D, should anything be connected to the earth terminal
if ive already got 3 pins connected on the power plug?

Picture E-F, I ordered a voltage regulator with my machine to change
the voltage down from 240v to 220v, anyone with a little electical
knowledge would be able to tell me if ive wired this up ok?

Picture G, Just a cool picture :)

Any info would be appreciated.
Cheers Lee

Hi Leef,

With respect to bearing sealing- those depicted in your photo's arent sealed on the machine I ordered so I expect no seals are installed by factory. I would think that for any machining operation likely to provide for the large volumes of dust to reach those areas (particularily the one under the table) you would employ some means of dust extraction in any case.

As you pointed out earthing of the control cabinet is provided for by the supply cable (your photo of the step down transformer connection shows the earth connection looped through). I would consider running a seperate earth from the designated connection point on the control box to the machine frame. The machine will run perfectly without this connection but it will provide an extra level of electrical safety.

Your wiring looks good so far as providing for intended function of the appliance but I dont like the way the cabling is exposed, (you should provide for some means of mechanical protection to take the strain off the cables and a housing to protect the terminals from accidental contact). Personally I would run the machine without the step down transformer. Have you measured the available supply voltage at the machine? It is likely within 15% of 220v. The spindle inverter controls motor speed by varying the output frequency- a side effect of this that works in your favour being that the electronics employed will provide for the correct output voltage for the spindle over a large range of input V variation. The stepper motors and related drives should have no issues.

cabnet/ Jim, i found my old price list from sh-cnc and it shows only $150 for the software, but i do not know if the price is current and also whether it would be that price on its own - maybe it is the cheap price as a package including a machine purchase.
The software is designed for Windows 2000/ XP.
Have you found any good ideas in your " Making Wood Signs " book that your wife gave you?

Saw the video from Greolt - He is a very clever bloke, i bet he made that machine himself. It looks to run very well.

We have loaded the software onto my home computer only so far, we are trying to pick up another computer to use exclusively for the machine software. Hoping to find a bargain at the after xmas sales.

How are you going with V Carve pro? Have you made some goodies to show us?

Rocket.

Rocket,

The UNACAM software supplied to me won't run on any PC I have tried, XP 2000 or VISTA. I suspect a dodgy instal disk as it hangs during instal. Any chance you could burn me a copy of the DVD and stick it in the post (before anyone gets all narky about copyright issues I have the dongle so no issue here).

Cheers,
\
Jimmy

Hi Guys, you are making me hungry cabnet. Sounds delicious.

I have some wax and grease remover on hand and will give all of those surfaces a good clean. Will also make sure that all nipples are well lubricated. One query that i do have - Jimmy you and Scott both wrote about using machine oil on the slides. Are you using this in addition to greasing the nipples?

I had deliberately left the wrapping on the gantry as we still needed to finish off the flushing on the gyprock wall and the finishing compound is very fine when it is sanded. But we have finished painting the outside wall now so it is time for it to come off.

My son has already been crawling inside the machine to check all fittings.
When the machine arrived there was a small electrical box inside the machine which had come adrift in transit. The screws had worked loose so he fixed that back into position and checked everything else. The only other issue that we have is with the adjustable feet. A couple of them had come unscrewed and the thread is damaged. Should be an easy fix.
The feet can be seen on the top of the table in the photo of the gantry.

Rocket.


I pumped MolyDisulphide grease in the nipples and applied manually to where the gears run, a bit on the ball screw also. I also applied a light machine oil to all rails.

Rocket,

The UNACAM software supplied to me won't run on any PC I have tried, XP 2000 or VISTA. I suspect a dodgy instal disk as it hangs during instal. Any chance you could burn me a copy of the DVD and stick it in the post (before anyone gets all narky about copyright issues I have the dongle so no issue here).

Cheers,

Jimmy

No worries mate. Can you PM me the address that you want it sent to and i will send it tomorrow.
Do you have the User`s manual? We were trying to install the software with the dongle in position, but it would not work. Then we read the manual to find out that the dongle is not used until step 11 in the set up procedure. The old story - When all else fails read the instructions.

Rocket.

I'm just using my machine plugged into a regular 240 V power outlet.. shouldn't 220 V devices be able to tolerate the slight extra voltage? Nothing has blown up so far anyway!

+/- 10% in voltage is fine for you 220 device. 240 will work, power levels go up and down all the time anyways, measure at the outlet to see what you are actually getting.

I was on a long post conserning the voltages and single/3 phase wiring, I learned a lot from it.

If it works now it would have smoked almost right away if it was wrong.

+/- 10% in voltage is fine for you 220 device. 240 will work, power levels go up and down all the time anyways, measure at the outlet to see what you are actually getting.

I was on a long post conserning the voltages and single/3 phase wiring, I learned a lot from it.

If it works now it would have smoked almost right away if it was wrong.

The biggest issue likely for Leef would be the storage capacitors on the input of the spindle inverter. If they see an overvoltage for a short period they will likley fail in a spectacular fashion (explode/catch fire). It would be very unlikely that the voltage difference here would take those CAPS outside spec.

If the opposite applied and we were running below voltage rating I would be concerned about motors (particularily VAC pump) as undervoltages can cause windings to exceed rated current for a given output.

Lee if you have any electrical questions,you should hire an electrician to make sure it is safe.I have many machines from China and Taiwan and you should be careful at first as they sometimes miss something.I purchased a shaper and it would not run.The starter was wired wrong.Check all bolts that they are tight.Every machine I have from China has issues which were easily fixed.I am not complaining and would buy again but expect some problems.Again check all the bolts and security of the wireing.
Larry

taney emailed me the price for ucancam and i will order it, bill and i are moving my controller from dos to wincnc this week and i will be windows based only after i finish that i will be back on software, tomorrow we will run cabinetparts nesting amd machining test. and does your ucancam require dongler or is that for your control software, i have dongler's of all sorts for my cabnetware and 20/20 and they have always been required after software install
cabnet

Thanks for help everyone.

Ill think ill just plug it straight in - without the step down transformer
as howzat has. I would have thought it should handle a little extra
voltage too.
When discussing it with excitech they said it will run ok at 240v but
it will be "better" using a 220v voltage regulator. Thus i ordered it.
I just figured if all the electrics in the machine were built for a particular
voltage, maybe they would fail prematurely if run long term at above
that voltage. The stepdown tranformer is for 240v down to either
220v or 110v so maybe its more necessary in a 110v situation.
When i see my electronics mate next ill ask him about my wiring job.

As for the bearings. All others on the machine are covered/sealed.
I cant see any grease nipples anywhere on the machine.
Im assuming a grease nipple is a hole with a rubber cap in it?

Im gonna go de-grease / re-lube and power on!

Cheer! Lee

Igalla, Thanks for joining us - Seems to be timely advice. When our machine arrived there was a piece of mdf with it that has some patterns routered on it, I presume that it is meant to be a test piece to show that the machine operated correctly when it left the factory. Did any of you blokes receive this piece with your routers?

Jim, Taney is great. Even at xmas time he is on the ball. He always follows through.

Regarding the dongle, yes i believe that it is required to use software - Jimmy may be able to let us know it`s precise use.

With so many machines arrived now we need to know how to use the software before we can use the machines. We have 3 different software types - V Carve Pro, Type3 and Ucancam. Which one should we learn first?

Rocket.

lee, the grease nipples are the same as the ones underneath your car that you use to grease your ball joints.

Rocket.

Rocket are these machines cast iron?Looks like it from the pictures.If so A +++.Cast iron has excellent damping qualities.
Larry

The machines are very sturdy. The frame is RHS steel and has welded construction. The welds on our machine are top quality. The gantry is cast aluminium. It is all very strong and heavy. The chunky appearance of these machines is what made us take a good hard look at them when comparing machines.

Rocket.

the tutorial in v carve for the bulldhead sign is a great first carve and is well directed to the first time user

cabnet

Hello cabnet,
If you're going to talk to Bill tomorrow how about ask him if they have a solution for my depth problem. Seems like you've got his attention. I've got a big job to start next week and I sure would like to get this issue resolved first. It's a software thing not a machine thing.
Thanks!
Keith

Here's some photos of a few more tests I've been able to do. *

I learn a few more lessons each time we use it.. should probably be writing them down cause I'll forget them quick enough :)

I just got a 4 mm ball nose bit in the post today from eBay so I'll have to try some 3D stuff next.

*I got the outline for that address sign from something I saw on line somewhere.

howzat, They are excellent signs.

You are catching on real quick! I especially like the middle one.

Rocket.

Igalla, Thanks for joining us - Seems to be timely advice. When our machine arrived there was a piece of mdf with it that has some patterns routered on it, I presume that it is meant to be a test piece to show that the machine operated correctly when it left the factory. Did any of you blokes receive this piece with your routers?

Jim, Taney is great. Even at xmas time he is on the ball. He always follows through.

Regarding the dongle, yes i believe that it is required to use software - Jimmy may be able to let us know it`s precise use.

With so many machines arrived now we need to know how to use the software before we can use the machines. We have 3 different software types - V Carve Pro, Type3 and Ucancam. Which one should we learn first?

Rocket.

Yep, mine was like a half finished door panel pattern rout- maybe it was meant to be a practice run for your machine Rocket LOL!

Thing that was more amusing was the VAC pump plonked centrre of table on the test sheet with nothing to secure it. Was yours like that?

Here's some photos of a few more tests I've been able to do. *

I learn a few more lessons each time we use it.. should probably be writing them down cause I'll forget them quick enough :)

I just got a 4 mm ball nose bit in the post today from eBay so I'll have to try some 3D stuff next.

*I got the outline for that address sign from something I saw on line somewhere.

Nice work Howzat.

What bit did you use?

Spindle speed?

Feed rate?

Total machining time?

Happy to see you are having fun.

Hello cabnet,
If you're going to talk to Bill tomorrow how about ask him if they have a solution for my depth problem. Seems like you've got his attention. I've got a big job to start next week and I sure would like to get this issue resolved first. It's a software thing not a machine thing.
Thanks!
Keith

Keith,

What are your 'depth problems'?

wow howzat youre a fast learner! They look sweet!

I got my machine working today. did a some manual routing.
Been playing with it all afternoon. Great fun!
Managed a little toolpath file with artcam.
Nothing worth posting, made it too shallow.
Im amazed how effortlessly it carves thru MDF.
Gonna get a dust shoe done asap. That MDF dust is rough!
I was surprised how long the spindle took to get up to speed.
Sounds cool tho!

Im a bit concerned about the lubrication of the rails and screws.
Should they be constantly visibly wet with oil?
When moving the gantry around manually at speed they
seem to quietly whine. Is this sound normal for the ballscrews?

hello ,every one, glad to meet you here.

G`day leafft, Happy to have you join us. What is your interest in cnc?

Jimmy, Our test piece had the small door rout pattern also - and yes the vacuum pump was sitting on top of it. That pump is one extremely heavy item. Do you have yours sitting on the floor or should we make a stand for it? One of my sons is a boilermaker so welding/fabrication is no problem for us.

A WORD OF CAUTION TO ALL. MDF dust should NOT be breathed in. It contains formaldehyde. Be sure to always wear a good quality dust mask and use dust extraction.

Rocket.

Thanks guys.

Jimmy, I've just been using the supplied bits, mainly just the 6 mm and 1/8 inch end mills and the 32 mm v bit.

Is there supposed to be much difference between the engraving bits that have the little red caps on them? They all look the same to me..

I've just been running the spindle at what I think is flat-out.. the VFD says 4000 when it's going, but I haven't a clue about how that thing operates.

Feed rate has mostly been the default 3 m per minute. We've just slowed it down slightly using the controller when it sounded like it was struggling in the material.

Should the machine pay attention to feed rates and spindle speeds that are set in the G. code file? So far it seems to be ignoring what I specify and we just have the feed rate control through the controller..

Total machining time was not much, I'm only cutting small things at the moment so they all go pretty quick. Probably those Celtic tests took the longest, but still only five minutes each or so.

Yes, having fun! I just need more bits so I can get to the detail I want.. I found this eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com.au/North-Shore-Industrial-Supply-Co_Carbide-End-Mills_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ15QQftidZ2QQtZkm
which has cheap carbide bits from 1/64 inch up to 3/8 inch. Look good?


leef, I'm still not sure about how much lubrication is enough either. My machine whines not-that-quietly when in use.


Rocket, thanks for the warning about the MDF dust, we hadn't been wearing dust masks and will be more vigilant in the future!

Mmmnn I still havnt figured out how to skip the parameter settings just before you run a program and make it run the feeds and speeds in a program. I am sure you must be able to do this as some programs I use have wildly different speeds/feeds in the same program!! An email to Taney is in order I think...

As far as ucancam goes I have spent the last couple of weeks learning/using it and its a great piece of software BUT I still havnt got the import files problem sorted and the manufacturer wentai cant help so im scrapping it and sticking with mastercam. (if I import a .dxf directly from autocad it doesnt want to know or throws it all in wrong which is quite franky impossible to work with). Dont know if anyone else has any problems with it??

Good luck with your new machines, doing some really complex things on mine now and its behaving very well :)

G`day Dougie, Glad to see that you are going well with your machine.

I am finding the software very difficult to come to terms with. Last night i printed out all 119 pages of the "help file" on the V Carve Pro software.
Hopefully i can study it and make some sense of it. Our routered patterns are quite straight forward but i am not having any joy in drawing the patterns. Maybe we will be well advised to use a program like "Corel Draw" to draw the patterns and then import them to V Carve Pro.

Are you using the "Type 3 software at all ?

Rocket.

no I havnt used the type 3 software yet, it looks more complicated than ucancam. Maybe I ought to give it a shot. The programs I have created via ucancam work perfectly with the excitech machine but the darn program just wont import files!!

From the jobs I have done the vac pump filter fills up really quick if you are milling through or leave a tiny gap in the gasketing material. It sucks like hell literally.... ( + carbon dust is just about the worst thing in the world, super fine, deadly and electrically conductive have wrecked many a motor)

Will post some more pics when I get a chance of the dust foot I made and stuff we have been doing, I always think photos explain stuff so much better :)

Christmas has been taking much of my time so I had to spend some time catching up on the posts here.

My last answer from Taney gave me the possibility to buy either a custom DSP for a 4th axis or a MACH version supporting a 4th axis. The prices was the same.

However, could you friends out there running these machines correct me if my understanding (below) of this is wrong:

" Having a DSP system makes me able to dump my G code in to the DSP either through a USB stick or a USB cable from my machine. Doing so, I have a limited amount of memory on the DSP (128Mb) which limits the machine possibilities to handle a laaaarge desing in 3D. This would however most likely work for 99% of us. Using the DSP system I would be able to use e manual controller (joystick?) to manually control the router head and manually set Z=0 point according to the materials mounted.

Having a MACH3 setup includes a controller box (hardware) which runs the XYZ in it´s directions depending on the PCs control signals coming from MACH3. MACH3 has also the possibility to control a 4th axis (up to 6axis). But how about manual control? Is there provided a joystick type of thing to control the machine manually or is this extra which I would need to purchase. Using a MACH3 setup would never limit the possibility to process larger files since these are controlled by the PC and streamed through the hardware controller? "

I´m just trying to sort out what to go for since I would at some point be milling 3D rotating objects which could be compared to I guess the "Tower" on a chess boards.

I have got a recommendation on the SHM1312 from Taney, but at present time I simply can´t make room for it :-( The biggest I could fit would be a SHM0609 or in worst case SHG0609... An emergency solution would be to buy a SHG0609 while I wait for more room.

Lee: If I buy a SHG0609 I would for sure try to buy some kind of sealer to protect the Y axis ball screw and barring, pretty much like the SHM0609. Even if we add vacuum cleaner hoses above the mill, it would for sure be a dusty environment we end up with.

K

Hi, my depth issue was that everything was showing -0.25 for my dado depth but my machine was cutting about .032 shy of that. When I had a cabinet with two finished ends my face frames were just a little short. Two dados just a little shy of 0.25 was making the boxes come out bigger. I could manually edit my files in Win CNC but it slows me down too much. Try standing there and editing 25 or 30 files! That or either cheat the software and that will catchup with you sooner or later. Fortunately, Josh Glenn called me today and got on my computer by remote access. He was able to work with my Win CNC files and got it corrected. Thank goodness I went with Bill and Josh when I bought my machine! They are always there to help.
Anyway, I'm percolating again!

Thanks Jim McGrew ! I appreciate the help.

Thanks Josh, you're the man !

I came there just want to make friends and talk somthing about machine

i have got some experience about laser cutting machine and plotter, if you need help, please ask.

josh is setting up my wincnc controller to run my machine and feel much better knowing they have the ability to keep me running this way.

i am moving slowly to absorb the curve as we are still able to operate with the equipment we have in place,

i will try to carve more today as we have a big display for the new home show in columbia mid january hope to show off a bit

leaft do you have a machine? what type? if you are looking, what would be use for it?

jim

G`day Dougie, Yes - photos certainly make it easier. I will post some more shortly.

Regarding the Ucancam software, looks like you are quite happy with it other than the importing of files. I think that i will concentrate on trying to learn Ucancam and see if i can draw our designs in it and leave the V Carve Pro for my son to learn. He is finding it easier to learn and has already drawn some designs in it.

The carbon dust that you mention is probably similar to brake dust.Do you have your vacuum pump sitting on the floor or have you made a stand for it? If the filter needs to be cleaned regularly it probably should be at a height to make it easy to access. I hope that you are not breathing that dust into your lungs.

Rocket.

Here are some more photos of our machine.

The first photo top left is a close up of the controller on the front of the control box that howzat mentioned.

The next one is taken with the cover removed from the control box and as you can see - the wall has been painted. Then there is the contents of the " Goodies Box" which has plenty of cutters to get started.

The last photo shows the test piece that came with the machine. Somebody had thrown it into the bin and now it is broken and dirty.

Jimmy - Which is the piece that had come unglued on your machine?

Rocket.

Nice pics Rocket bet your dying to get it up and running. I have the vacuum pump sitting just behind the machine on the floor, it lines up well and is easy to just unclip the top to clean the filter (see page 24 of this thread)

Jimmy warned me about the tool sensor clip when I got mine so I stuck it back on properly and its all good.

Yeah I do like ucancam and the whole layout a lot, guess if your creating the drawings and such all inside the package then it will be fine for you. Just that importing from autocad is pretty fundamental to our product design so we are stuffed :rolleyes: !! might get back onto wentai

Ooh another small thing I found you might wanna check was where the DSP controller cable plugs into the electrical cabinet the clips dont actually grip properly so its free to unplug easily when you accidentally trip over it mid program (which I did).. Dont know if you guys have the same problem.

Kent

I think with the DSP controllers you can have it plugged into the computer via the usb and run the program with it all connected so you can have unlimited file size, I know they can get pretty long if you have a complex program. With mach 3 you can connect a joystick (kinda like a regular games one) but I find it easier to just use the keyboard keys to jog it around.

Its good that excitech are willing to be flexible and customize your package to suit :)

i learned in school about cutting plotter and laser engraver. my friend in a company sells this kind of machine.

Hi leafft, Do you have any idea how to do this to help dougie?

Rocket.

Dougie, Interesting to note that machine can be operated by either method. I assume that it is easier to use DSP controller. What would be the pros and cons of each method?

Thanks for the tip on the controller cable plugs - I will check it out on our machine.

I will see if i have a photo of the tool sensor clip and if so i will post it.

Rocket.

sorry, i want to give help but i don't know the machine.

Leafft, no worries mate. I see you are from China. We are looking forward to seeing the Olympic Games in Bejing in August next year.

Do you work for a living? If so, can i ask how much you get paid each week? We believe that you have very low wages in China.

Rocket.

Did some testing on some foam and some rigid PVC today.
Fascinating watching the machine work.

First program was on a foam brick, dunno what type of foam it is,
bought it from a superstore. The foam bricks intended use is for
resting your hands when doing yoga. Sweet, I just thought the foam
would be good to test CNC on :)
First half of the program I used a conical bit, then after
seeing the finish was too rough I changed the bit out to a slotting bit.
Thus one side is smoother than other. Took about 1/2 hour.
(the design is a sort of conical spiral, a height map
based on greyscale bitmap) 70mm wide.

The grey PVC ''twincam'' I carved in far too many passes(about 5)
took about 1.5 hours on the machine!! argh! (I was watching the whole
time, hahaha) Used a 3.2mm slotting bit for the roughing passes,
then at conical 3mm approx (needle point) bit for finishing.

All in all had a very fun day!!

Note: Ive noticed when touching my fingers on the theads on the
drive screws the oil has tiny metal shavings in it.
So maybe we should be cleaning and changing the oil on the
threads for the first few jobs?
Scott or Jimmy, do you still have metal shavings in the oil on your
screw threads? Or maybe its just me, howzat?

Cheers
Lee

G`day Lee, For somebody who has only just received your machine and to be able to do that already - You can go to the top of the class.

Only problem is that i would associate the words " Twin Cam Turbo " with rice burners!

Ford Mustang Rules!

I don`t know about those metal filings. Are they decreasing?

I believe that we can now officially declare it -

CARVINMARVIN IS A WANKER! ( Hope you don`t mind ger21 . Anybody who does not know what this is all about should read pages 7 and 8 of this thread. )

Rocket.

Nice pics Rocket bet your dying to get it up and running. I have the vacuum pump sitting just behind the machine on the floor, it lines up well and is easy to just unclip the top to clean the filter (see page 24 of this thread)

Jimmy warned me about the tool sensor clip when I got mine so I stuck it back on properly and its all good.

Yeah I do like ucancam and the whole layout a lot, guess if your creating the drawings and such all inside the package then it will be fine for you. Just that importing from autocad is pretty fundamental to our product design so we are stuffed :rolleyes: !! might get back onto wentai

Ooh another small thing I found you might wanna check was where the DSP controller cable plugs into the electrical cabinet the clips dont actually grip properly so its free to unplug easily when you accidentally trip over it mid program (which I did).. Dont know if you guys have the same problem.

Kent

I think with the DSP controllers you can have it plugged into the computer via the usb and run the program with it all connected so you can have unlimited file size, I know they can get pretty long if you have a complex program. With mach 3 you can connect a joystick (kinda like a regular games one) but I find it easier to just use the keyboard keys to jog it around.

Its good that excitech are willing to be flexible and customize your package to suit :)

Hmm, I don´t have it perfectly clear what the difference are in between MACH3 and DSP ? I guess the DSP setup has a controller circuit-board inside the machine and can be operated with the keypads pictured here. The MACH3 setup requires a separate controller box but is this the only practical difference?

With the DSP setup, do you "stream" the G code file directly into the DSP controller, where using MACH3 the G code file is "