Jimmy and tumutbound, sure does feel great! Just got home from work and the crownies are smooth tonight!

The " control room " painting is now finished so we can move in tomorrow.
We still have not totally overcome the z-zero issue but it can`t be anything other than a minor setting.

The Photos -

1) The view from the room
2) The machine now has the dust extractor ready for use. We will rig up a better system later
3) Jeremy`s test piece.
4 &5 ) Our first sign - imported from V Carve Pro Gallery.
6) Machine with spoilboard in place.

Tomorrow we will attempt to rout a panel for production.

Rocket.

Thanks guys, good to know it's not just mine at least.

Would be good if they could do a software update to allow the filename to scroll across the screen like it does for menu items.

Ok- this this is interesting....

Excitech tell me they can't supply a probing sensor for my machine- I was unable to understand exactly what the issue may be but expect for this system to work the software building the point cloud would need control over the axis movements so expect it would need to be either implemented in the DSP internal control memory OR would require that the machine could be externally controlled by a standalone system (am almost certain DSP system will not except real time control info and provide feedback).

Any ideas?

Jimmy, that's a valid point. For the users having a DSP this would be a problem since the touch probe must be controlled in real time. My impression is that the DSP just chews on the G code supplied, so a MACH3 /WinCNC setup would be ready to play on this topic I guess. It should be as simple as adding the SW and attaching the the probe through the system and off you go.

However, I have not seen this mentioned to work with any 4th axis.

K

G`day Jim, Early Monday morning in the US of A. Wincnc connect day!

Have you made any cabinets with the dos controller or are you waiting to fire it up with the wincnc first?

For those who are considering changing over to wincnc what would be a rough price on buying the hardware?

Rocket.

G`day Jim, Early Monday morning in the US of A. Wincnc connect day!

Have you made any cabinets with the dos controller or are you waiting to fire it up with the wincnc first?

For those who are considering changing over to wincnc what would be a rough price on buying the hardware?

Rocket.

Hey I have had a few beers but this is weird.... When I view your post rocket all I see is 'BOO!' then when I hit quote to reply I get to see all this other text.... Arrrggghh!

Whats going on?

Now that I can see the text I might as well add a comment- Exitech ship machines with Mach3 as an option so maybe we should follow up on a price- we already know they ship type3 at a bargain price compared to distributors in other countries..

In case anyone is wondering what I was going on about with my last post refer uploaded image...

I was clowning around. I am sitting in my study doing loads of paper work and keeping an eye on the forum. There are 20 people watching but not posting so i thought i had better break the ice.

Fire up people!

Due to my ignorance i did not think to get a price on the mach3 upgrade.
A month or so ago i had a look at the manual for it and it was so big that i figured it would have been too much for a novice like myself.

cabnet posted a picture of the interface of wincnc and it looked to be user friendly. Then when he posted the photo of the kit it did not look too complicated ( only 37 wires to connect.... yeah, no hope for me )

And Alicia Molik has just won in the tennis. One cute sheila!

Rocket

Jimmy, that's a valid point. For the users having a DSP this would be a problem since the touch probe must be controlled in real time. My impression is that the DSP just chews on the G code supplied, so a MACH3 /WinCNC setup would be ready to play on this topic I guess. It should be as simple as adding the SW and attaching the the probe through the system and off you go.

However, I have not seen this mentioned to work with any 4th axis.

K

Thanks Kent,

Sort of like running numerous instances of the tool sensor routine to build a point cloud.

Would really lke some more info on the DSP board.

I have confirmed today that the current 2 wire connection to the spindle inverter only provides for RUN and STOP commands, more connections are required to control spindle speed. Thing is there are several other available connectors on the terminal block on the card so I have to wonder whether connecting a few more wires would allow the DSP to instruct the inverter to alter output frequency.

I am considering connecting my scope to the spare terminals to look for any output waveforms if I run some G Code with speed change commands in it.

I was clowning around. I am sitting in my study doing loads of paper work and keeping an eye on the forum. There are 20 people watching but not posting so i thought i had better break the ice.

Fire up people!

Due to my ignorance i did not think to get a price on the mach3 upgrade.
A month or so ago i had a look at the manual for it and it was so big that i figured it would have been too much for a novice like myself.

cabnet posted a picture of the interface of wincnc and it looked to be user friendly. Then when he posted the photo of the kit it did not look too complicated ( only 37 wires to connect.... yeah, no hope for me )

And Alicia Molik has just won in the tennis. One cute sheila!

Rocket

Cheers Rocket,

Was starting to think I must have got some methanol in my home brew- LOL!

Couple of quick questions?

What grease did you end up with on your rails, gears and ball screw to replace the transport Gunk?

What speed did you run the spindle at?

Was it louder than expected?

When you get a chance could you please toggle the spindle inverter display amd note the current draw at no load 300hz- mine shows 7.8 amps which appears high for a 380v/3phase motor with no load.

What process speeds were set in your DSP as delivered?

Thanks Kent,

Sort of like running numerous instances of the tool sensor routine to build a point cloud.

Would really lke some more info on the DSP board.

I have confirmed today that the current 2 wire connection to the spindle inverter only provides for RUN and STOP commands, more connections are required to control spindle speed. Thing is there are several other available connectors on the terminal block on the card so I have to wonder whether connecting a few more wires would allow the DSP to instruct the inverter to alter output frequency.

I am considering connecting my scope to the spare terminals to look for any output waveforms if I run some G Code with speed change commands in it.

Jimmy,

I have been discussing a lot with Taney regarding the DSP vs MACH3. The feedback I got was; "The other difference is Mach3 could control the rotation speed of the spindle by the software, but DSP could only control by the Frequencey Inverter Panel." I guess you would need to dial in the speed by turning the frequency knob to have it changed?

Doing so (using the frequency inverter) is this a "stepless" or continuous change in speed, hence you could use 10000-10001-10002 or is it just "high" and "low" ?

K

I am a hypocrite! The machine bits and pieces kit had a small plastic grease gun in it which contains a " whitish " grease. So i gave the nipples a quick squirt. I did not clean the original gunk off but it squashed down nicely on the rails. Frank noticed this today and is going to clean it all off in the morning. I will go and get some decent grease and a grease gun on my way to work tomorrow. Then i will try to find some slideway oil that you wrote of.

I am not sure what the spindle speed was but it was not overly fast. I was in the office most of the day and Ramon and Jeremy were operating the machine. I will check on the speeds tomorrow.

The machine runs a whole lot quieter than i thought it would but the vacuum pump is fairly noisy.

The process speeds i believe are 3000mm/ minute for the gantry but not sure of the others. Will check them tomorrow. Machine and spindle operate very smoothly.

Will check the inverter display for current draw and let you know.

Rocket.

Jimmy,

I have been discussing a lot with Taney regarding the DSP vs MACH3. The feedback I got was; "The other difference is Mach3 could control the rotation speed of the spindle by the software, but DSP could only control by the Frequencey Inverter Panel." I guess you would need to dial in the speed by turning the frequency knob to have it changed?

Doing so (using the frequency inverter) is this a "stepless" or continuous change in speed, hence you could use 10000-10001-10002 or is it just "high" and "low" ?

K

Hi Kent,

It's not stepless but likley greater available resolution than we may have a practical application for.

Inverter output resolution =.1hz therefore you can theoretically adjust spindle speed in 6rpm increments (for a 2pole motor).

I think I can easily survive without DSP control over spindle RPM ATM- it's only a minor inconvenience to key in an output frequency on the inverter keypad. If I had a tool changer I think it would be almost mandatory.

Will likely order the big Excitech machine with ATC mid year- will be intereting to learn what control system they run on that one. It looks to be a different species of machine to the other family members.

I am a hypocrite! The machine bits and pieces kit had a small plastic grease gun in it which contains a " whitish " grease. So i gave the nipples a quick squirt. I did not clean the original gunk off but it squashed down nicely on the rails. Frank noticed this today and is going to clean it all off in the morning. I will go and get some decent grease and a grease gun on my way to work tomorrow. Then i will try to find some slideway oil that you wrote of.

I am not sure what the spindle speed was but it was not overly fast. I was in the office most of the day and Ramon and Jeremy were operating the machine. I will check on the speeds tomorrow.

The machine runs a whole lot quieter than i thought it would but the vacuum pump is fairly noisy.

The process speeds i believe are 3000mm/ minute for the gantry but not sure of the others. Will check them tomorrow. Machine and spindle operate very smoothly.

Will check the inverter display for current draw and let you know.

Rocket.

Well I have settled on a lubrication schedule for my machine now.

Apparently Moly Disulphide grease is old hat- a mate of my old mans is a grease and oil expert.

He's got me on two products (Amglomoil Brand) 1) Uniplex NLG12 which I pump into the bearing blocks and smear on the gear tracks and 2) A spray on product called PRO-LON. This stuff is great, doesn't seem to grab the dust like the other stuff I had on there but sticks to the guides nicely.

As far as spindle noise goes mate mine is LOUD! You have a 6kw HSD on yours don't you? It's probably not as loud as my 3hp hand routers but hard to tell as I never used them without wearing can's- (I cannot afford to have hearing damage).

My VAC pump and dust extractor combined do not approach the SPL of the spindle and the noise appears to be all cooling fan generated.

wincnc today bill is driving here as we post and is expected @ 11:00 am got some plans to finish will speak with bill about controllers

jim

jimmy007 watch pm

there are lots of videos on operating mach three on this cnc zone
the website and forum is thier support
the software is 160.00 US+/-
bill just prefers wincnc as it's what he has spent years learning
he has and is studying mach 3
i just chose to go with most experience
mach 3 is widely used and well supported
jim
i think its artsoft .com

found it
http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?action=activate;u=8260;code=8b24231e61

Well I have settled on a lubrication schedule for my machine now.

Apparently Moly Disulphide grease is old hat- a mate of my old mans is a grease and oil expert.

He's got me on two products (Amglomoil Brand) 1) Uniplex NLG12 which I pump into the bearing blocks and smear on the gear tracks and 2) A spray on product called PRO-LON. This stuff is great, doesn't seem to grab the dust like the other stuff I had on there but sticks to the guides nicely.

As far as spindle noise goes mate mine is LOUD! You have a 6kw HSD on yours don't you? It's probably not as loud as my 3hp hand routers but hard to tell as I never used them without wearing can's- (I cannot afford to have hearing damage).

My VAC pump and dust extractor combined do not approach the SPL of the spindle and the noise appears to be all cooling fan generated.

Now i think i am psychic. This is important info. Thanks. I will google it and see if i can find a local distributor.
I would think that you need excellent hearing in your line of work. Our spindle is 3.5KW so that probably explains the difference. The vacuum pump is not excessively noisey but probably double the noise of the router. Have not even heard the noise of the cooling fan yet. Our next machine will have the 8KW spindle so maybe water cooling is the way to go for the bigger spindles.

Thanks again. Rocket.

wincnc today bill is driving here as we post and is expected @ 11:00 am got some plans to finish will speak with bill about controllers

jim

jimmy007 watch pm

Ripper Jim, off to bed now . Hope to read about it in morning. Photos?

Rocket.

bill is going to machine a bracket for a spindle out of aluminum while he's here will video
jim

i may have already utilized it on a computer here check it, if not working properly let me know i'll gett another
jim

here are videos
http://www.machsupport.com/artsoft/videos.htm
jim

bill has used wincn for many years and has become proficient with it, he tells me mach3 is just new to him and he likes it, hes just alot more used to wincnc.

wincnc 1200.00
mach3 160.00

wincnc provides mother pci card with daughter board for connecting 25 or 37 pin cable to controller box (drivers, spindles, power supply limit switches, probes and estop)

mach3 is pc software that uses existing printer cable and you set pin match up with software

jim

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13072&page=2&pp=15

jim

G`day Jim, how did it go?

Those links that you put up are great. I had not seen the " show and tell " thread before. Lots of excellent photos of things that people have made with their cnc machines.

The price of the wincnc controller seems reasonable at $1,200. I bet that you are going to have some fun with your machine now.

Waiting in anticipation.

Rocket.

Hey everybody! I have another problem....

The actual cable for the DSP unit... We were looking for another one, perhaps 10m in length so that we can walk around the machine while using the handheld unit. The only problem is that we are having some issues finding one! Its a 50 pin SCSI cable... does anybody know where abouts we could locate one in Australia? Cheers!

I am using a 10Hp fancooled HSD spindle and have a hard time knowing if it is on.Mindyou I am deaf from 25years of Makita hand routers!The 25Hp Busch vacuum deaf-in-ately blows away the spindle in deaf-a-bells and the 3Hp cyclone deaf-in-ately blows away everything in SPL'S.These two units should be outside.Spindles are amazing.Worth the $ for the low noise.
BTW,spindles should be warmed up for 15minutes for the bearings to reach operating temperature to ensure long life.
If you drill lots of holes a drill on another Z axis is a worthy investment as spindle bearings are not designed for drilling forces or plunging.A long ramp is advisable on plunge cutting.I found this info on spindle sites and is really pertaining to routers running 24/7 or worst case.
Larry

The others in Aus are having some issues getting on to CNC zone ATM, hopefully the mods can sort it out soon.

Shannon.

HSD MANUALS/INFO
Does anyone have any info written in english on these HSD spindles,as far as servicing/operating goes.

I have heard/read .....Wait xx minutes prior to using......oil the spindle etc etc.
and have nothing to go by.

I have a new 2.0kw and have ,no manuals no CD etc
Any Info would be great
Regards
Jubee

Check out this site, The manuals cover everything. far more than you will ever want to know :D
http://www.hsd.it/prodotti.asp?ente=1&co_id=1080

The link should take you through to the product search but if it doesn't Click on 'English' for your language if it isn't already then search 'products' for your particular spindle. Just put in your particular spindle details and you should be able to find the manual.

It seems to me that apart from the warm up cycle they are virtually maintenance free.

Shannon.

The others in Aus are having some issues getting on to CNC zone ATM, hopefully the mods can sort it out soon.

Shannon.

Appears things are up and running for me........

I did have difficulty getting the main page up during the day though.

Appears things are up and running for me........

I did have difficulty getting the main page up during the day though.

Thats great, let the games begin.. or is that from something completely different.

Shannon.

HSD MANUALS/INFO
Does anyone have any info written in english on these HSD spindles,as far as servicing/operating goes.

I have heard/read .....Wait xx minutes prior to using......oil the spindle etc etc.
and have nothing to go by.

I have a new 2.0kw and have ,no manuals no CD etc
Any Info would be great
Regards
Jubee

Try www.HSD.it

You will find it here.

All manuals are available in english- english version of the site is very nice.

Google is your friend.

Why has rocket67 been banned from this site ???
I hope this is a mistake or could the moderator give us a reason for this:confused:

bill came and got me not only running but FLYIN we did some carving and the relief of getting off that dos controller was felt by all, i have some video and will post later today.

have some business to do am am going to meet bill and "joey" another camaster tech "knows his stuff" at kiethg's shop

thanks to all at cnc zone, rocket, jimmy007, howzat,dougie, big s, esmae,
ger21 and all of you. in august 07 we were featured in cabinetmaker magazine, on of the sub articles was about how facinated with my little carvewright "carving machine" on that day i would have laughed if some one would have told me i'd be involved in cnc machining

all of you have helped me change that
jim

Why has rocket67 been banned from this site ???
I hope this is a mistake or could the moderator give us a reason for this:confused:


He was erasing all his posts, look through this thread and see all the posts that he deleted. He has only be temporarily banned. I will not allow, members to just go and deleted all their posts for no good reason. If you want to discussion this further don't do it in this thread! Do it here- http://www.cnczone.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6

Thanks Guys for the links
Regards
Jubee

Thanks Guys for the links
Regards
Jubee

Jubee, I meant to ask yesterday- which 2kw HSD do you have?

I note from looking for the manual for you yesterday they make a lot of liquid cooled 2kw spindles.

bill came and got me not only running but FLYIN we did some carving and the relief of getting off that dos controller was felt by all, i have some video and will post later today.

have some business to do am am going to meet bill and "joey" another camaster tech "knows his stuff" at kiethg's shop

thanks to all at cnc zone, rocket, jimmy007, howzat,dougie, big s, esmae,
ger21 and all of you. in august 07 we were featured in cabinetmaker magazine, on of the sub articles was about how facinated with my little carvewright "carving machine" on that day i would have laughed if some one would have told me i'd be involved in cnc machining

all of you have helped me change that
jim

Nice when things run smoothly- happy to hear you got up and going without any hassles Jim.

Just read the article in cabinetmaker. Nice setup you have there.

Looking forweard to seeing how you manage to work the CNC into your current operation.

Jimmy oo7

The spindle I have is a 2kw SEV HSD MT 1073-070.

I couldnt find the manual on the website,I think because its
a SEV model (smaller made spindles ?) dont know.
Anyway emailed the SEV company, hopefuly they will send something.

Have you had a chance at putting a scope on the unused pins on the DSP
Breakout board, I am sure they are for control voltage on the VSD,
I would be very interested in using this function.

I wanted to convert to mach 3 ,as its more flexible.
I spent the good part of the day discussing (if you could call that) converstion to mach3,
on messenger,Limited english ,limited knowledge ,AARRRHHGGG!!!!!!!
I would of been better banging my head against a brick wall.

what ever you find out would be good.
Thanks
regards
Jubee

I intend to convert mine to Mach3..as soon as I get one :D

I have a fairly good idea how to go about it, PM me for my MSN and I will do my best to help.

Shannon.

I intend to convert mine to Mach3..as soon as I get one :D

I have a fairly good idea how to go about it, PM me for my MSN and I will do my best to help.

Shannon.

If you have your heart set on Mach3 why not order from Exitech set up ready to go. I know it is an option- they quoted for my 1325 to be supplied Mach3 ready.

So far as limitations go I am interested, we all know now about the spindle speed control issue- what are the others for non tool changer equipped users?

I find no inconvenience with adjusting spindle RPM using the inverter keypad, in fact I backed off the speed a little yesterday mid cut as I was routing 25mm MDF with a large 90deg bit (3 passes) and on the last cut it was burning a little....

I can say that I am yet to find any significant limititation (for my purposes) in the DSP. Yes, I am very new to the whole CNC game and may well be missing out on something but all is proceeding nicely so far.

I didn't realise that they could a do mach3 setup, I will look into that.

I need the machine to be as flexible as possible as the work I will be doing will cover a wide range of materials and job types and need a fast response time.

i am also considering getting an ATC spindle and building my own tool changer (12 + places)

Shannon.

If you have your heart set on Mach3 why not order from Exitech set up ready to go. I know it is an option- they quoted for my 1325 to be supplied Mach3 ready.

So far as limitations go I am interested, we all know now about the spindle speed control issue- what are the others for non tool changer equipped users?

I find no inconvenience with adjusting spindle RPM using the inverter keypad, in fact I backed off the speed a little yesterday mid cut as I was routing 25mm MDF with a large 90deg bit (3 passes) and on the last cut it was burning a little....

I can say that I am yet to find any significant limititation (for my purposes) in the DSP. Yes, I am very new to the whole CNC game and may well be missing out on something but all is proceeding nicely so far.

machine is kickin butt bill's a genius and he's got another tech i hope we'll see more of here. machine is doing more than i magined at on point bill showed me what these things can run at. faster than i need and my machine is 8 years old. began to talk about new machine,

gotta go home i have had to get back to work and will post some video and pic's hopefully tonight

jim

I didn't realise that they could a do mach3 setup, I will look into that.

I need the machine to be as flexible as possible as the work I will be doing will cover a wide range of materials and job types and need a fast response time.

i am also considering getting an ATC spindle and building my own tool changer (12 + places)

Shannon.

Ok Shannon, so it would appear to the extent currently understood the principal limitation is spindle speed control and only likely of any great importance where a tool changer is installed. Given requirement to alter spindle speed would likely correspond with a tool change I think I'm quite happy just to spend the 4 seconds it takes to enter an output frequency on the spindle drive when I change my tooling.

machine is kickin butt bill's a genius and he's got another tech i hope we'll see more of here. machine is doing more than i magined at on point bill showed me what these things can run at. faster than i need and my machine is 8 years old. began to talk about new machine,

gotta go home i have had to get back to work and will post some video and pic's hopefully tonight

jim

Make sure to send me a link

Ok Shannon, so it would appear to the extent currently understood the principal limitation is spindle speed control and only likely of any great importance where a tool changer is installed. Given requirement to alter spindle speed would likely correspond with a tool change I think I'm quite happy just to spend the 4 seconds it takes to enter an output frequency on the spindle drive when I change my tooling.

I was under the impression that the DSP will not support a tool changer either, maybe someone can enlighten me on this.

Shannon.

I was under the impression that the DSP will not support a tool changer either, maybe someone can enlighten me on this.

Shannon.

Pretty sure it doesn't......

Thanks to our Good Friend Mr Cabnet I am now in a position to have a play with Mach3....

Need to perform some fairly extensive cabling on my machine to fire it up (intend to keep the DSP as a backup/alternative so will need to build a board with relays to configure drive and feedback switching).

Should be able to comment late next week on the pro's and cons (from my perspective).

Jimmy 007,

Yes there is heaps more to just changing spindle speeds,(for me),which I think is pretty important
at the cam stage anyway (isnt that what we are after ,automation?)How do you remember what feed rate/ spindle speed for the jobs you do ? trial and error each time?

.......Turning relays on/off ie dust extractors,coolant,vacuum tables,etc etc
Dwell time,spindle counter clockwise,peck drilling,directly edit G-code,etc etc...
endless amounts of flexibility with g/m codes.
Not to mention being able to view what is or going to happen with you axis,(view the tool path)
no where the job is upto etc etc etc I could go on and on.
Google G-codes ,you will be supprised ,all so have alook at the mach 3 website (No ,I am not trying to sell it ,I have been using it for awhile on my mill and find it hard to beat.

The reason I didnt order Mach 3 ,was that I thought the DSP controller used all the G/M codes that I was using with Mach,my fault.I should have asked,but I am asking now and they cant even tell me???
Dont get me wrong though, I am happy enough with the DSP for what it does,and I am sure it can do alot more,given the right requests to the right people(something as basic as spindle speed through g/code,would be a good start) but because I cant get a clear answer or any information for that matter, I am best to stick with what I know/use.

I hope this makes some sort of sense.
I will continue to use the DSP until I can get the electronics sorted.

Regards
Jubee

Jimmy 007,

Yes there is heaps more to just changing spindle speeds,(for me),which I think is pretty important
at the cam stage anyway (isnt that what we are after ,automation?)How do you remember what feed rate/ spindle speed for the jobs you do ? trial and error each time?

.......Turning relays on/off ie dust extractors,coolant,vacuum tables,etc etc
Dwell time,spindle counter clockwise,peck drilling,directly edit G-code,etc etc...
endless amounts of flexibility with g/m codes.
Not to mention being able to view what is or going to happen with you axis,(view the tool path)
no where the job is upto etc etc etc I could go on and on.
Google G-codes ,you will be supprised ,all so have alook at the mach 3 website (No ,I am not trying to sell it ,I have been using it for awhile on my mill and find it hard to beat.

The reason I didnt order Mach 3 ,was that I thought the DSP controller used all the G/M codes that I was using with Mach,my fault.I should have asked,but I am asking now and they cant even tell me???
Dont get me wrong though, I am happy enough with the DSP for what it does,and I am sure it can do alot more,given the right requests to the right people(something as basic as spindle speed through g/code,would be a good start) but because I cant get a clear answer or any information for that matter, I am best to stick with what I know/use.

I hope this makes some sort of sense.
I will continue to use the DSP until I can get the electronics sorted.

Regards
Jubee

Thats what I was after Jubee- you have highlighted some advantages I will directky benefit from.

I should have Mach3 running by end of next week if all goes well with my soldering and machine conversion.

I am trying to work out now whether the delta inverter and stepper drives have opto isolators on the inputs, will simplify the complexity of my DB25 breakout board if they do.

All good.....

I have been reading up and looking at the Mach3 interface and it is looking better by the second...

I have the Mach 3 demo installed on my laptop and its pretty interesting all the things that can be changed. I have yet to use it on a machine though. I am with you guys when you say you can use it to switch the vacuum etc.

Shannon.

lets see some machine

left laptop charge cord at shop, so gotta download video before batterie dies

phots my machine kiethg's
jim

check out photos from shop, jim

will try video next

of camaster in camden sc

joey how do i upload video
downloaded in wmv format using windows movie maker
jim

The files most likely too big to post here. You'll need to upload it somewhere else, like YouTube, and link to it.

lets see some machine

left laptop charge cord at shop, so gotta download video before batterie dies

phots my machine kiethg's
jim

Them photo's are a sight for sore eyes- nice looking setup!

I'm close to going Mach3, looking for a solution to keep computer side dust free while close to the machine. How do you go with that?

eyes heavy bill done wore me out

gone to sleep

do you want to post on forum?

Here are a few pics from the machine at work. The vacuum bed is a series of holes in the T-slot alloy section. I think the holes are the shape they are so that the vacuum is spread out a little but doesn't let to much air flow when a hole is uncovered. We use a 4mm and 2.5mm sheets directly on top of the bed for for a waste sheet.

Shannon.

If you want the cheap vac option
Go Vac clamp.see pic below
Bought them yesterday ,excellent product $70 each.
holding power is great ,all you need is a compressor ,so there is little noise
and thats only when it turns on, which is about every 5 minutes.

Jimmy007, are you making your own breakout board,can you pm me with
your wiring diagram when you can.
sounds like you are up with the electronics side of things,
I have a breakout board I used years ago(picture attached) I am going to try,
not familiar with stepper motors though,the x/se,y/se,z/se etc etc what the??
Servo`s and encoders are the way to go, but not this time.

If you want the cheap vac option
Go Vac clamp.see pic below
Bought them yesterday ,excellent product $70 each.
holding power is great ,all you need is a compressor ,so there is little noise
and thats only when it turns on, which is about every 5 minutes.

Jimmy007, are you making your own breakout board,can you pm me with
your wiring diagram when you can.
sounds like you are up with the electronics side of things,
I have a breakout board I used years ago(picture attached) I am going to try,
not familiar with stepper motors though,the x/se,y/se,z/se etc etc what the??
Servo`s and encoders are the way to go, but not this time.

That looks like a nice board, voltage regulated 5v supply, optical coupled with auxilaries which would likely address the bus on a spindle drive for incremental speed adjuatment.


If I had that board I wouldn't need to do anything- found out today that all stepper drives are optically coupled so in theory could just wire straight to printer port of computer and Mach3 would be up and running.

To do it nice I would like charge pump circuit so that spindle doesn't fire up and things move during PC power cycle, also need to figure out PWM input to delta inverter so I can have spindle speed control.

My other requirement is to be able to run the DSP system as an alternative with a flick of a switch.

And yes, VAC and extraction control from the PC would be nice luxuries also.

Yep, thanks a LOT Jubee- was more than happy with the DSP and now I'll be up to my elbows in solder flux fumes- LOL!

Thanks Cabnet also- you know why :-)

That looks like a nice board, voltage regulated 5v supply, optical coupled with auxilaries which would likely address the bus on a spindle drive for incremental speed adjuatment.


If I had that board I wouldn't need to do anything- found out today that all stepper drives are optically coupled so in theory could just wire straight to printer port of computer and Mach3 would be up and running.

To do it nice I would like charge pump circuit so that spindle doesn't fire up and things move during PC power cycle, also need to figure out PWM input to delta inverter so I can have spindle speed control.

My other requirement is to be able to run the DSP system as an alternative with a flick of a switch.

And yes, VAC and extraction control from the PC would be nice luxuries also.

Yep, thanks a LOT Jubee- was more than happy with the DSP and now I'll be up to my elbows in solder flux fumes- LOL!

Thanks Cabnet also- you know why :-)

If I understand things correct, you rip out the DSP card and still use the YAKO as front ends to the steppers? Then the YAKOs has to be collected together with a board to connect to the PC? Why not rip out the whole ting and buy one of these :http://www.geckodrive.com/product.cfm?pid=19

You can then connect you're PC through USB or Ethernet which is rally nice.

I have attached a drawing I made, is this how things are connected ?

K

Hi Kent,
The diagram you have ,I think may be a little incorrect.
My understanding (which is not much) is the handset is the DSP,
and it is providing the drives with the info pulses etc
The yako`s are the drivers ,so regardless of what you are using mach 3,DSP etc
you still need the drivers,and how you interface them with the motors is what we are
on about.
So to sum it up ..
1/ DSP ---Chinese breakout board----Yako----stepper motors.....MOTION (sold unit)
2/ Mach3 ----cnc Parallel breakout board ----Yako ------stepper motors......MOTION
3/mach3-----grex G-100-----Yako-----stepper moters.......MOTION

so you see you still need the drives,(you problably Know this ,and I have misundersood
you comments,so feel free to say......,,,you f,,.,,wit,I know this.

Anyway My two cents worth (which may not by right).

Regards
Jubee.

Thank's

I guess the green and yellow (lead connectors) picture shown earlier is just the Chinese breakout card and you have 3 of the Yakos then?

I'm about 99% there to buy a 1312 now with the custom 4axis DSP where I'm at a later stage would see if I need a MACH3. The factory is sold out of MACH3 setups which I read as that the external controller needed to support this is out of stock. So if you and Jimmy manage to solder something together I would be really interested.

Have some one gone for the mist cooling system?

K

Thank's

I guess the green and yellow (lead connectors) picture shown earlier is just the Chinese breakout card and you have 3 of the Yakos then?

I'm about 99% there to buy a 1312 now with the custom 4axis DSP where I'm at a later stage would see if I need a MACH3. The factory is sold out of MACH3 setups which I read as that the external controller needed to support this is out of stock. So if you and Jimmy manage to solder something together I would be really interested.

Have some one gone for the mist cooling system?

K


G'day Kent,

Actually there are 4 YAKO's, two for the Y axis steppers which are both fed by the same output on the DSP card.

I intend to retain the YAKO's, not fully up on the Gecko drives but given the size of the card in comparison to the YAKO units with thier large heatsinks and fan colling would say its fair to assume the YAKO's provide higher current output capability (8A @ 110V).

There is a monumental amount of Mach3 info on the net. I could easily connect the steppers straight to the printer port on a spare PC and be running- it appears very straight forward.

I now know there is so many products ready to implement the solution I need that it is unlikely I will build anything- all hardware freely available and at very reasonable cost.

If you want the cheap vac option
Go Vac clamp.see pic below
Bought them yesterday ,excellent product $70 each.
holding power is great ,all you need is a compressor ,so there is little noise
and thats only when it turns on, which is about every 5 minutes.

Jimmy007, are you making your own breakout board,can you pm me with
your wiring diagram when you can.
sounds like you are up with the electronics side of things,
I have a breakout board I used years ago(picture attached) I am going to try,
not familiar with stepper motors though,the x/se,y/se,z/se etc etc what the??
Servo`s and encoders are the way to go, but not this time.

Hey Jubee- what reading did you end up getting for table runout with the dial gauge?

Mine is that close to level I am tempted to flycut the vac table surface and be done with it.

When I mill my spoil boards I find that first cut to level surface all over is .4mm so pretty happy there.

It may likely be coincidence but lowest point on my table is right where the VAC pump was sitting when the machine was shipped.

how many days till new machine???

you sure can tell wnen rocket and the austrailians are asleep!!

jim

how many days till new machine???

you sure can tell wnen rocket and the austrailians are asleep!!

jim


Hey Jim- round here it is you Yanks that have the rep for being loud LOL...

I'm like a kid with a new toy- excited about seeing my machine fire up with Mach3. Am doing my best not to rush it, best to get it right the first time.

Did you have any luck working out how to get your video uploaded to somewhere and linked here so we can all have a look?

Hey Jubee- what reading did you end up getting for table runout with the dial gauge?

Mine is that close to level I am tempted to flycut the vac table surface and be done with it.

When I mill my spoil boards I find that first cut to level surface all over is .4mm so pretty happy there.

It may likely be coincidence but lowest point on my table is right where the VAC pump was sitting when the machine was shipped.



I am a little embarrassed to tell,
3.5mm over 1 metre, pretty ordinary,hay??
I am thinking of re-doing the whole table top,with something better /stronger,
and mounting the vac clamps inside somehow.

Yes,same deal ,lowest point right where they sat
the Electronics box,(bloody heavy) and the dust extractor(which I
have to get another motor for,as they sent me a 3 phase motor with a single phase
setup?????? Anyone want/need a 3 phase motor?
Kent.... Be advised with my SHG1312 the Pwr/electronics box is seperated,with about 2-3 m of pwr cable etc to the main unit,some photos on their website show this some dont,
maybe you can ask to have it attached to the side like the bigger ones,dont know (if I knew/or had the option ,I would go for the latter).


regards
Jubee

learning newer things
learning curve has yet to straighten out
jim

Jim, That is one great setup that you have, can`t wait to see the video.

Any person who buys a machine with the side mounted control box beware! It may save space by having the box sidemounted, but the DSP controller cable is in a terrible location - As Jimmy has already mentioned.
We have already encountered problems with it. Somebody stepped on the cable which dislodged it from the socket and bent the pins. Our fault as we had been made aware of the problem , so if you are getting this setup make sure to put some kind of securing device around it to prevent this from happening.

On the bright side of things - Ramon is taking to V Carve Pro like a duck to water. He is designing our panels on it and we hope to router some panels today.

Rocket.

Jim, That is one great setup that you have, can`t wait to see the video.

Any person who buys a machine with the side mounted control box beware! It may save space by having the box sidemounted, but the DSP controller cable is in a terrible location - As Jimmy has already mentioned.
We have already encountered problems with it. Somebody stepped on the cable which dislodged it from the socket and bent the pins. Our fault as we had been made aware of the problem , so if you are getting this setup make sure to put some kind of securing device around it to prevent this from happening.

On the bright side of things - Ramon is taking to V Carve Pro like a duck to water. He is designing our panels on it and we hope to router some panels today.

Rocket.

G'day Rod...

Nice to see you back Mate, your presence has been missed.

DSP cable connection location is a nightmare! You may like to buy a longer cable and route it back inside the control box and bring it out in a less vulnerable location.... Plenty of space inside to relocate the DSP board.

Cheers,

Jimmy

Hi Jimmy, that sounds like a plan.
Any idea on where we could procure a longer cable? Ramon tried to buy one yesterday but had no success in finding a business that can supply it.

Rocket.

Hi Jimmy, that sounds like a plan.
Any idea on where we could procure a longer cable? Ramon tried to buy one yesterday but had no success in finding a business that can supply it.

Rocket.

Haven't tried myself yet. Will have a sniff around and post here with success or lack of.....

I am a little embarrassed to tell,
3.5mm over 1 metre, pretty ordinary,hay??
I am thinking of re-doing the whole table top,with something better /stronger,
and mounting the vac clamps inside somehow.

Yes,same deal ,lowest point right where they sat
the Electronics box,(bloody heavy) and the dust extractor(which I
have to get another motor for,as they sent me a 3 phase motor with a single phase
setup?????? Anyone want/need a 3 phase motor?
Kent.... Be advised with my SHG1312 the Pwr/electronics box is seperated,with about 2-3 m of pwr cable etc to the main unit,some photos on their website show this some dont,
maybe you can ask to have it attached to the side like the bigger ones,dont know (if I knew/or had the option ,I would go for the latter).


regards
Jubee

Jubee,

I have now dropped Taney a final mail to hear if the powerstuff could be side mounted. However, I'm not sure this would be a problem for me. As Rocket and the other's have mentioned, the DSP cable is placed in a horrible position on the other machines, which again leaves me in trouble.
As I could see on the picture you sent me, the cable seems to be leaving the machine in a good spot under the machine, or was this possible not the case ?

I have also asked if I could have the self cooled HSD spindle with the same 2Kw which is used on the 1224. Is this a option I should consider? Would it be more quiet (the self cooled) ?

Dougie329, you where happy with the self cooled HSD, was'nt you? Is it quiet even if it has 24000RPM

I'm in one way excited as a child but then also afraid of doing the wrong decision since it's a lot of money for me...

K

photo of both ends of the dsp cable

kent its a lot of money to all of us
jim

is this helpful
http://www.diycnc.co.uk/index.html

photo of both ends of the dsp cable

kent its a lot of money to all of us
jim

is this helpful
http://www.diycnc.co.uk/index.html


Hi Jim, Will take photos in a couple of hours.
Rocket.

bill is deliivering in wilmington nc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-2o3k34H84

still learning
robert and tony (cabinetmakers)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWhmaAjp6fA

kiethg's camaster cutting vanity parts with cabinetpro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Lih3lZtp4

and some training

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83rhQ6oehIc

kieths machine, bill glenn and joey

and finally my machine carving rooster
jim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQdo3nCyHds

Kent I have the standard 2.2 Kw water cooled spindle it came with.

Its running just fine, quiet as a mouse. Left it on the other day by mistake and stuck my hand in to change the tool bit, a near disaster but the cutters are so small you cant tell if they are rotating or not!! (mind you vac pump was making a racket)...am now profficient with adjusting the speeds as required on the inverter, pretty easy to do.

Jim, you are a champion. The videos are superb. Thanks.

Rocket.

Hi Fellas, we have just routered a 4 panel door. No worries.
Tried to buy a grease gun today to grease the small nipples but having trouble finding a small enough connector to go on the nipples. Any particular item i should be asking for?

Jimmy, i contacted Anglomoil today and they sent prices.

Photos coming.

Rocket.

Hi Fellas, we have just routered a 4 panel door. No worries.
Tried to buy a grease gun today to grease the small nipples but having trouble finding a small enough connector to go on the nipples. Any particular item i should be asking for?

Jimmy, i contacted Anglomoil today and they sent prices.

Photos coming.

Rocket.

The grease gun I am using came bundled with the lawn mower (1952 Ransom's rotary drum model)... Yes it still cuts the front lawn well and only been re-ringed twice :-)

The Anglomoil rep claimed that if I use the pro-lon spray I shouldnt need to pump any grease into the bearing blocks- as is often the case with me and things that don't make sense I rejected this advice. If the scrapers on the blocks perform thier role of keeping the dust out then maybe they will serve to keep the lube out also, yes lube is more likely to get in than dust but I'm using both just in case.... Can't do any harm.

Tried to buy a grease gun today to grease the small nipples but having trouble finding a small enough connector to go on the nipples. Any particular item i should be asking for?

If you know someone with a lathe,ask them if they can machine a couple of
mm of the grease gun nose, Thats what I did and works well,
Nice to hear things are going well ,look forward to seeing some pic`s

regards
jubee

jubee, that is a neat looking nozzle.
Unfortunately i do not know anybody who has a lathe - but i do have a bench grinder in the garage. My nozzle will not look pretty but i reckon it will do the job. Thanks.

We did not want to run the machine without lubrication today so i bought some molybdenum di sulphide grease and smeared it on the teeth of the rails. That is awful looking stuff! Then we also smeared 10w motor oil on the slides. This will suffice until we can get the Anglomoil and Uniplex lubricants.

The DSP connection at the control box is quite loose so i went to the hardware store and bought some clips to secure the usb cable to the leg of the machine. The idea of this is to get the cable off of the floor as people keep standing on it.

Ramon`s design work in v carve pro is quite good. The panel that we routered today looked just like a bought one.

Rocket.

Rocket ,,,go carefully with the grinder,you only want to take a couple of mill off.
It should work ,as the gap is so close.
The grinder should work,, If not I`ll machine one for you and
send it down or I `ll drop it off when I am popping thru South OZ,as I do ..

Just keep checking the clearance,(put the tip back on the gun when you check,
big pain in the a_se ,trying to get the tip of the nipple without the gun).

I dont no what grease gun you have,
I have a super cheap model ,with the tip that I machined costing me a whole $2.50,

Regards
Jubee

I have now got the option of having the power and control "thingys" on the side of the machine. Doing so they don't have to stack the external box on top of the bed when shipping so hopefully it would not get unleveled.

However if we have the DSP cable issue, is there any room in on the side of the machine? I was thinking on milling a new feedhole for the DSP connection, cut a larger hole on the side and mount the DSP connection on the side in case.

Ho ha, scary to make the final move... Will try to order tomorrow :)

K

Kent I have the standard 2.2 Kw water cooled spindle it came with.

Its running just fine, quiet as a mouse. Left it on the other day by mistake and stuck my hand in to change the tool bit, a near disaster but the cutters are so small you cant tell if they are rotating or not!! (mind you vac pump was making a racket)...am now profficient with adjusting the speeds as required on the inverter, pretty easy to do.

Dougie

Is you're HSD spindle a 24000 Rpm one ?

K

jubee, thanks for your offer, but i think i can do it ok on my bench grinder.
If you come to SA feel welcome to come and say hullo and check out our machine. We are located at Pooraka.

Kent, i have included a photo of the problem DSP location. It should be easy to move it to another location in box. I hope you buy the machine. Ours works great.

Jimmy, you could sell your grease gun as an antique. Should bring big bucks.
The Anglomoil prices seem ok. We have to buy in boxes of 12 tins.
For a box of Uniplex grease - $68.72 incl GST
For a box of Pro-lon $ 198.01.
Quite happy with the prices but they will not arrange freight outside of Sydney? So i will arrange freight myself tomorrow. Jeremy is going to Sydney this weekend for the Mustang Show at Castle Hill, perhaps he can pick it up if they are open on Saturday.

The Photos 1) Ramon settling into the control room. 2) The troublesome usb cable. 3) The DSP area. 4) Just testing program. 5) Testing.
6) Going for it. 7) The routered pattern. 8) The internal mounting of the DSP. 9) Front of control box.

Rocket.

it looks like on end clips to board while the other screws to connect
am i correct

this is what i expected you wanted to secure main box end with eye bolt
then wrap cable with wire to make "eye" and use rubber surgical tube as a sping to take load off of connection or secure wirw to leg and create a post of conduit and make a cradle for the controler that you could stand and operate it while keeping wire off floor

jim

routing looks great are you having to size each door or are they pretty standard width and height

i believe id create a pulpit, maybe a base with alittle weight to it, a post of some 2x4 (as we say here in US) and a top to house the dsp and may be a clipboard (if job paperwork is involved) kinda like a preacher stand, i gotta feeling once you get used to this you probably wont walk around with the dsp in your hand jim

Hi Jim, My 50 year old eyes are having trouble counting the pins. Ramon took that photo. I will ask him tomorrow. The screw in end goes into the DSP controller. The other end is supposed to clip in but the screws holding the DSP card to the box appear to prevent the clips from working.

I have bought some clips to secure usb to table leg. Will try to get time to fit them tomorrow. We have become extremely busy this month and it is difficult to find time to set things up properly, but we will get there.

Every robe that we supply is made to measure so yes we have to make each door size individual. This is where a " parametric " program will make things a lot quicker, but do not want to fork out 6,000 for En-Route software.

How are you getting on with the McGrew flying machine?

Rocket.

drawings and contract paperwork, truth is i have been so ingulfed i got clients (new work) stacked up and it took acouple of days to just get, or begin to get caught up so no router time in the last two days snowed and iced here last night we are not used to it and it brings alot to a standstill.

hope to rout today jim

enroute routercad (now the same company) and cabinetpro last night

am looking at next software move and will let you know what i find

jim

drawings and contract paperwork, truth is i have been so ingulfed i got clients (new work) stacked up and it took acouple of days to just get, or begin to get caught up so no router time in the last two days snowed and iced here last night we are not used to it and it brings alot to a standstill.

hope to rout today jim

We all know that you cannot take your eye off the ball for too long. That pile gets very big very quickly. We have the same problem. We so much want to get this project sorted out but the customers have to come first.

I like the pulpit idea. Every body tells me to stop preaching all the time! Kinda fits. You are correct in suggesting that we do not need to walk around with the DSP.

Please keep us informed of the software developments. Your needs are quite complicated compared to ours. Are you still checking out the $250 program? i think it was cabinetpartspro?

Bedtime. Till tomorrow.

Rocket.

Fairly confident now the vulnerable link between the hand controller and the DSP card is a HONDA SCSI 50 way Male to HONDA 50 way Male cables.

Found an australian supplier here http://www.unitechelectronics.com/scsicables.htm

3m length for around $40 (our money).

Better get a spare so I can be confident the one on the machine wont get damaged......

you could change mounting screws on controller box for screws that are threaded and bolt on inside of box and have the female threaded end on head of bolt.

this is common look on the back of your computer you might have to get a cable that has screws on both ends
i think i can provide a photo at work today (its 7;30 am here)

i learned alot watching bill doo this very thing jim

there you go bada bing bada boom

if your gonna switch switch to screw on connectors

jim

jubee, thanks for your offer, but i think i can do it ok on my bench grinder.
If you come to SA feel welcome to come and say hullo and check out our machine. We are located at Pooraka.

Kent, i have included a photo of the problem DSP location. It should be easy to move it to another location in box. I hope you buy the machine. Ours works great.

Jimmy, you could sell your grease gun as an antique. Should bring big bucks.
The Anglomoil prices seem ok. We have to buy in boxes of 12 tins.
For a box of Uniplex grease - $68.72 incl GST
For a box of Pro-lon $ 198.01.
Quite happy with the prices but they will not arrange freight outside of Sydney? So i will arrange freight myself tomorrow. Jeremy is going to Sydney this weekend for the Mustang Show at Castle Hill, perhaps he can pick it up if they are open on Saturday.

The Photos 1) Ramon settling into the control room. 2) The troublesome usb cable. 3) The DSP area. 4) Just testing program. 5) Testing.
6) Going for it. 7) The routered pattern. 8) The internal mounting of the DSP. 9) Front of control box.

Rocket.

I really don't know the retail prices- distributor is a family friend and would rather drink my beer than go into detail on price :-)...

I do know the grease is in a 20kg bucket... The pro-lon is in an aerosol can so handy just to give things a quick squirt.

Very happy to see things are working well with your router Rod.

Looking Great!

there you go bada bing bada boom

if your gonna switch switch to screw on connectors

jim


Thanks Jim,

I'm looking to relocate the DSP board further inside the control cabinet and sealink off the existing connector location. I will route a cable (need longer than 3m so will get my son to hone his soldering skills) out through the back of the control box to a McGrew styled preacher stand on the other side of the machine where I hope to have the PC gear running mach 3.

jubee, thanks for your offer, but i think i can do it ok on my bench grinder.
If you come to SA feel welcome to come and say hullo and check out our machine. We are located at Pooraka.

Kent, i have included a photo of the problem DSP location. It should be easy to move it to another location in box. I hope you buy the machine. Ours works great.

Jimmy, you could sell your grease gun as an antique. Should bring big bucks.
The Anglomoil prices seem ok. We have to buy in boxes of 12 tins.
For a box of Uniplex grease - $68.72 incl GST
For a box of Pro-lon $ 198.01.
Quite happy with the prices but they will not arrange freight outside of Sydney? So i will arrange freight myself tomorrow. Jeremy is going to Sydney this weekend for the Mustang Show at Castle Hill, perhaps he can pick it up if they are open on Saturday.

The Photos 1) Ramon settling into the control room. 2) The troublesome usb cable. 3) The DSP area. 4) Just testing program. 5) Testing.
6) Going for it. 7) The routered pattern. 8) The internal mounting of the DSP. 9) Front of control box.

Rocket.

Hey Rod I'm thinking it wont be long before your looking to replace the plastic dust shoe surround with some type of brush arrangement- big priority for me also.

Let me know if you find a source first....

Btw- for those who were greatly interested in spindle speed control through DSP there is a great photo above showing the 7 terminal green header on the right, note only two wires are connected which head under the table to the delta spindle inverter. We know the inverter is MBUS capable so I can't undersatnd why the DSP manufacturer would use a 7 pin connector if only two terminals are utilised. This remains a mystery to me.

Looking forward to see what you get up to when you have some time away from the paperwork with the machine.

Do you recall what speed your spindle was running- seemed fairly quiet compared to mine.

What power rating is it?

at one point we were filming kiethg's machine and you can hear the message notice on my cell phone go off on tape, my dust collection ans vac motor are right at table and we were having conversation, kieths dust collection and vac are out of the working area as mine will be, one of my big next moves is another building as i sold this one last march and can stay but we will have to move eventually. jim

mcgrew pulpit photo

i expect with just a dsp you would not need all of this and we have multiple computers in office with which to design jim


note the foot bridge tony built for passing cable from wall to machine
last photo

To all who have worked with you're machines ;

As mentioned, I'm in the phase of closing a deal now, but I had a little panic here in respect of the following:

Doing really intricate pocketing and cutting matching designs to inlay using a really small bit like 0,3 -0,5mm, which processing speeds do I need and which spindle speeds do we need? The movement part is not an issue, but is for instance 18000 Rpm on the mill enough? Milling that small, should you use high movement speeds and slow mill speed or is it slow movement and 100 000 RPMs on the mill which is the best ? In other words, the more RPMs the better ?

K

http://hubpages.com/hub/Learn-CNC
jim

You blokes are bloody legends!

I will be on the dog and bone first thing to organise a new cable. Thanks.

We do intend to make a perspex dust shoe with hair type brushes so i will start looking for a supplier. It takes the fun out of it when the solid type dust collector is in place. We want to see what is going on.

The uniplex grease that we are getting is in 450gram cartridges. Works for us as it will keep things tidy. There are 12 cartridges per box so it should last a long time.

We have not yet altered our spindle or machine speed. It is going quite slow but is cutting nicely and has not bogged down.

I do have a question regarding x and y zero. When we routered the panel yesterday we used the centre of the board as the zero point, but i do not think that this is the correct procedure? Is it better to rout a scribe line into the spoil board across both x and y in order to use these as reference points to ensure that board to be routered is square to table and to use as the x, y zero point at top left of table?

Keep those links coming - they are fabulous information.

Rocket.

I do have a question regarding x and y zero. When we routered the panel yesterday we used the centre of the board as the zero point, but i do not think that this is the correct procedure? Is it better to rout a scribe line into the spoil board across both x and y in order to use these as reference points to ensure that board to be routered is square to table and to use as the x, y zero point at top left of table?

Keep those links coming - they are fabulous information.

Rocket.

To pilfer one of your pics, The multicam here has the arrowed corner as the home.

Shannon.

Thanks Shannon, i would call that the top right of table.
How do you ensure that your board is square to the table? Is my theory correct - to scribe a line with router and use the lines as reference points?

Thanks Shannon, i would call that the top right of table.
How do you ensure that your board is square to the table? Is my theory correct - to scribe a line with router and use the lines as reference points?

My machine runs as close to sqaure to the bad as I have been able to establish, I routered a cross and referenced back to machine front and edge.

I set my origin at front left- find it a convenient location to set Z0 as it is right near machine home position and when I have a job that requires both sides of the material to be machined makes it easy to reset origin to edge of material so everything is in register. I intend to instal a fence on front of machine so I can square things up quick.

at one point we were filming kiethg's machine and you can hear the message notice on my cell phone go off on tape, my dust collection ans vac motor are right at table and we were having conversation, kieths dust collection and vac are out of the working area as mine will be, one of my big next moves is another building as i sold this one last march and can stay but we will have to move eventually. jim

mcgrew pulpit photo

i expect with just a dsp you would not need all of this and we have multiple computers in office with which to design jim


note the foot bridge tony built for passing cable from wall to machine
last photo

Thanks Jim- just what I needed..... Here I am trying to resist the temptation to tinker and focus on jobs at hand and now you yo have made me want to start wiring things up.......

I'll get there.

Hope to take pics today of my overhead VAC hose mounting- Rocket will soon get tired of the supplied 'curtain rod system' when his machine starts to tru and remodel the VAC hose ;-)....

My machine runs as close to sqaure to the bad as I have been able to establish, I routered a cross and referenced back to machine front and edge.

I set my origin at front left- find it a convenient location to set Z0 as it is right near machine home position and when I have a job that requires both sides of the material to be machined makes it easy to reset origin to edge of material so everything is in register. I intend to instal a fence on front of machine so I can square things up quick.

We use two aluminum blocks the fit into the T slots and lock in place, one has a corner that the sheet fits into and the other just sits parallel in the T slot, I can get some pics tonight but I left my camera at home(nuts). I recently made a new set so that the corner one butts up against the end of the T slot and gives an accurate sheet location each time.

Our home position is around 138mm x ,50mm y away from the home sensors too. edit.. or something random like that.


Shannon.

at one point we were filming kiethg's machine and you can hear the message notice on my cell phone go off on tape, my dust collection ans vac motor are right at table and we were having conversation, kieths dust collection and vac are out of the working area as mine will be, one of my big next moves is another building as i sold this one last march and can stay but we will have to move eventually. jim

mcgrew pulpit photo

i expect with just a dsp you would not need all of this and we have multiple computers in office with which to design jim


note the foot bridge tony built for passing cable from wall to machine
last photo

Meant to ask yesterday Jim about some of the finer details of your setup.

First up I accept that while there is likely no issue detailing software, base machine and core components clearly there has been substantial time, effort and experience invested by Bill and his team in getting the machines to this level so it may not be appropriate to go into every aspect for commercial reasons.

I would be interested to learn if there is a recommended breakout board? Whether you have spindle speed control implemented? AND What if any reasons were provided for electing not to offer the machines for local sale with the Chinese supplied DSP setup (can't find the post but recall you were going to enquire).

I note also that your spindle inverter appears to be same model range as mine and you have a scrolling display- is it providing detail of any specific paramaters during operation?

Cheers,

Jimmy

photos doing it wrong
doing it right
bridge over wire
wire management

I knew that it would not take you long to get rolling. Let me know if i can help I will try to get here more.

Mr. Bone

shop

bill is a walking encyclopedia of cnc, he's been at this a while and came from the sign business, he has a passion for it, i feel that way about my trade it makes for a good working footprint between us.

i am sure he'll answer you questions just ask he's bgcnc on this thread he wrote the document on vaccum we saw awhile back and i for one was able to finally get an understanding of how it works.

i see joey (cut to the bone) is here, joey glad you made it home i am carvin now AND NOT LIKE MARVIN

joey can you answer jimmy007' question

jim

company of one of the best software guys i have ever met

gentlemen meet
cut to the bone
aka joey

back later

jim

G`day Joey, welcome aboard and greetings from Australia!

Between youself, Bill Glenn and Josh Glenn and KeithG you have assisted greatly in getting Jim up to speed in cnc routing. The rub off for we Aussies is the amount of info that Jim has kindly put up on this forum thread. We greatly appreciate all of your efforts, and hope that you will stick around and help to guide us novices.

Thankyou.

Rocket.

Jim, your photos look great. It is fantastic that we are now able to use our machines.
Your friendship and assistance has become very important to us.
Kustom must be due to get his machine and it will be fun to see what we can all do with them.
We are growing in confidence each day. Fixed the DSP cable problem today. Photos coming.
Rocket.

Found a source today for brush strip likely to do the trick for a dust shoe..

Australian Brush Co (02) 9570 2401

They tell me that they had a brush profile specially manufactured for Corinthian for thier CNC machines (one of the largest door manufacturers in AUS) and have it available as a stock item.

Should know what it's like next week..

Didn't seem to matter how I configured the VAC hose with the Excitec supplied 'curtain rod' solution it seemed to sooner or later get squashed between the spindle mounting plate and gantry side.

Although not the best shots you should get some idea how I got around it.

Mount is flanged exhaust pipe welded to plate with car stub axle bearings. Hose suspended by shock cord.

Need to tidy it up now I am satisfied it works as hoped.

photos doing it wrong
doing it right
bridge over wire
wire management

Looking extra good Jim.

How long did the machine spend on the most detailed carving?

Hi Fellas, had a productive day with the machine. The troublesome DSP cable is no longer a problem. I went to the hardware store to look for something to fix it. In the plumbing section i came across some clips which are used to screw copper pipe to framing. They have 2 screw holes and take a 1/2 " ( 12mm ) pipe. Saw possibilities. Eureka! they are ideal. Painted them grey to match machine and screwed them onto leg of machine, then we cut a block of wood to go from floor to underside of cable. Glued block of wood to floor and screwed cable to the block of wood with one of the clips. Worked like a charm but cable was still on floor so we fixed another hook for DSP controller on other side of machine. Problem solved!

Ramon had his first screw up today. We put another board on the table and he figured he could just start program. Wrong! The board was thicker than the previous one. End result was a big gouge in the board. Moral of the story - Always z zero board!

Routered some more panels without further problems. We are very impressed with the way the Excitech works and especially the arch that we routered, came out superb.

Forum member Branchy sent us a file for our queen anne door and it worked like a charm. Thanks mate!

Rocket.

Didn't seem to matter how I configured the VAC hose with the Excitec supplied 'curtain rod' solution it seemed to sooner or later get squashed between the spindle mounting plate and gantry side.

Although not the best shots you should get some idea how I got around it.

Mount is flanged exhaust pipe welded to plate with car stub axle bearings. Hose suspended by shock cord.

Need to tidy it up now I am satisfied it works as hoped.

That looks like a great solution. You are spot on. The supplied curtain rod setup does work ( sort of ), but looks second rate and i keep watching and waiting for the hose to get caught. It is also getting grease all over the hose from moving across the gantry and rubbing against the rails.
Exhaust pipe, stub axles and wheel bearings are in plentiful supply in my garage so if you don`t mind we will copy yours.

If the brush strip is good enough for Corinthian then i reckon that it is good enough for us! Jim`s dust skirt is a great looking unit so we will copy his design on that one - unless camaster sell them as stock items?

Thanks for all of this great info. And by the way, Your lawnmower is just about as old as i am. They built them well in the fifties. We are on our 4th Victa since we married 30 years ago.

Rocket.

That looks like a great solution. You are spot on. The supplied curtain rod setup does work ( sort of ), but looks second rate and i keep watching and waiting for the hose to get caught. It is also getting grease all over the hose from moving across the gantry and rubbing against the rails.
Exhaust pipe, stub axles and wheel bearings are in plentiful supply in my garage so if you don`t mind we will copy yours.

If the brush strip is good enough for Corinthian then i reckon that it is good enough for us! Jim`s dust skirt is a great looking unit so we will copy his design on that one - unless camaster sell them as stock items?

Thanks for all of this great info. And by the way, Your lawnmower is just about as old as i am. They built them well in the fifties. We are on our 4th Victa since we married 30 years ago.

Rocket.

Would be happy with the metal part of the supplied shoe if the cutout for the spindle nose wasn't so close to the back....

I've got my eyes on Jim's setup and a few others also looking for inspiration definately need to build something soon- need the catcher for the mower so thats out of the question...............

*Edit- forgot to ask Rocket- in your search for an acrylic solution did you find something good to stick it together with of were you thinking of tapping and using machine screws?

I have only given it passing consideration so far but i was thinking of small aluminium angle and machine screws - but if it is possible to buy something that is moulded then that would be our preference ( dollars permitting ).
Don`t know whether your lawnmower grass catcher is a good idea, but what about a sheet from the back verandah roof?
Rocket.

:banana::banana::rainfro:WIRE MANAGEMENT!!!!!!:rainfro:

jim

:rainfro:IT WORKS!!!!

Jim, the usb cable is shot. It is very loose in the fitting This method enabled us to make a solid connection and the cable cannot move.

We will be buying a new one and then will put best practice in use.

Crikey, i have not made a slingshot for 35 years. I don`t know where to buy surgical rubber

Rocket.:rainfro::rainfro::rainfro::rainfro:(nuts)

Wow this thread just keeps growing and growing..

I still have to get a dust shoe for my machine, first thought was to try and cannibalise a Tupperware container. That brush strip sounds good Jimmy.

Anyone thinking of buying Vectric's Cut3D might be interested in the deal at the bottom of this page:
http://www.vectorart3d.com/starter-coll/
you get the software and a small 3-D clipart collection for $323. I think I'll probably buy that.

I keep hearing the word " Parametric " from Ramon. I told him he will need to get used to designing our doors individually as we do not want to fork out thousands for a program. He says there must be a better option.
I do recall seeing a program for $250 somewhere - so if he will take a pay cut maybe we can get it for him. Whaddyareckon Ramon?

I also saw a free door program on the Shopbot forum.

Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions about this.

Tighta..se Rocket.

what a rainfro is!!!

i paid 299.00 US for my cut 3d alone i want to buy the flourishes but as i learned from my carve wright there are only so many of these i will use

so i buy enough to get over the 100.00 and get the 20% off or 5 for the price of four there are other carving file available as well just so far vector is best

rocket your there and if your cable works now move on. although you guys might want to show taney whats up with this conection issue simple enough to fix

v carve programs run in 3 to 8 minutes carving can take a little longer, i am learning a lot and am not there on all of it yet. i can tell bill is going to be busy building machines, i believe he goes to fla with a tool changer next.

i am going to try to get cabinetparts pro cutting today and look at cabinetpro
another member and i have had some conversations about cabinet software . i have done "high" custom only for years and want to move in some other directions as well

i found a closed lumber yard with great buildings yesterday so i will be in with them some to if we can find a number..

bill has showed me some software i want baddddd so i am proceeding with the new machine

jimmy all i really know is bill and many other us table builders use win cnc as the tech support is available to them as it has a primary commercial use base
he did notice i had minimized wincnc and was on internet while machine was running he told me i would not be able to do that with mach, he likes mach
and just said he is many years used to it as well "josh" his son can communicate by web with the machine to trouble shoot and save costly site visit time, he also told me that when it came to warranty support he has only had to replace a few motors in all the 13 years he has been building machines, he told me he gives two years or more on warrantys. i can understand most cabinetmakers give one year commercial warrantys, i give 5 years, i don't believe he has changed all of the chinese machines he has sold from dsp. where i am concerned he found my need and suppled accordingly i believe he treats every one the same.

person-application-need

i understand he has sold better than 900 machine for all kinds of uses.

gotta get to work back later jim

jimmy i'll get you a better answer from bill on conversion and why jim

oh an rocket

surgical tubing------pharmacy :):)lol

like i said what you have done will probably serve well jim

carvin

not like marvin


i did this by importing basic clip art and vcarve pro jim

comes in tif jpeg bmp formats and is available at barnes and noble or online

15-20 bucks

http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-art-dover-electronic-clip-art-series--cd-rom-.html

these have 500-1500 images on disk dont bur them all up front jim

DOORS DOORS DOORS



http://home.centurytel.net/bwclark/

ROCKET YOU WERE NOT KIDDING

http://home.centurytel.net/bwclark/getting_started.htm

dude this is unreal

http://home.centurytel.net/bwclark/Using_Free%20Doors.html

Jim, Thankyou for that link. You are routing like an experienced pro already. Must make you very happy that your wife and Kellie are taking an interest in cnc routing.

Kent Norway, did you do it?

Rocket.

Jim, i do not know how you find all of this info so quickly.
It is great stuff. I can see some answers to other questions that i have about cutters/bits.
Could this be the same B Clark that has posted in this thread?

Rocket.

a friend took me in his helicopter while shooting a pan am commercial in st. thomas about 25 years ago, we were literaly sideways flying thru mast of ships and mountains, inches off the water etc. (he had extensive combat experience in vietnam) after we landed i was rattled i can still rember how my body felt gettin out of that copter i asked him the same thing " man how in the world do you do that??" i'll never forget his response "man that ain't nothing, you oughta see what i can do when they are shooting at me"!!!!!


off to work i go back soon jim

I would be interested to learn if there is a recommended breakout board? Whether you have spindle speed control implemented? AND What if any reasons were provided for electing not to offer the machines for local sale with the Chinese supplied DSP setup (can't find the post but recall you were going to enquire).

I note also that your spindle inverter appears to be same model range as mine and you have a scrolling display- is it providing detail of any specific paramaters during operation?

Cheers,

Jimmy[/QUOTE]


Jimmy,
Sorry it has taken me so long Bill & I have just got back and I am digging out of this hole 4 days away put me in.

Break out board if you are useing wincnc or mach go to http://www.cncbuildingblocks.com/
Ed is great he has made boards for us and they are seamless

No Jim does not have spindle speed control implemented


DSP is fine we have put them on some low cost units. the reason we do not use a great deal of them is support we use U.S. software and it is a trick working from inch to metric. we have done it but rather not. the cost of having the DSP is not a savings over the PC with cat5 cable you can sit in the office and send all the code from there. with DSP a cable is needed. Also if you use wincnc you can multi task on the pc. edit code on the fly is another big reason.

Jimmy I hope this helps.

Joey

posting to test jim

joey i posted this at 10:21 am est


jimmy007

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mach1mach2cnc/

i can implement spindle speed if i were to choose right?

jim

yes. but not needed the TC will have it.

I will be back on latter tonight
Joey

Kent Norway, did you do it?

Rocket.

Well I guess you mean if I ordered?

I was %99.99 there but just to be sure, I made a detailed list which I was expecting in the "package". I have asked for support of a 4th axis and was quoted a amount for this. When I however was ready to have the final quote I learned that there was no motor drive in the price... So if I had not asked, I would have got a machine shipped all the way up here with a DSP supporting a 4th axis (I guess this is just a firmware upgrade) but no place to connect any steppe, if I understood the wiring we discussed. So I had to add $X for this. If I have not asked, how easy would it be to apply a commercial Gecko or other driver after words? I guess I would have been stuck. I have not found the Yakos available for us enduser on the net.

Then the quotes was not including shipping which I got the impression of, adding $Y.

So then I had to run through all the different options I was interested in to be sure that there is not any other "dark holes" which I have not been informed about. Does the mist cooling system actually include a pump, rubber hoses and a movable front end? Or is it just a moveable metal front end ? Would I need a special option X to have the tool sensor working with the custom DSP for the 4th axis?

Taney is for sure doing his best and I guess we have talked over each other, but before I hit any kind of "GO" button to my bank, I would need to get these things sorted. At the moment my budget is cracked so if there is any other issues, I go for the 0609 and not the 1312.

Hopefully I join you soon :)

A little bit frustrated at the moment but I'll be there :wave:

K

Does the mist cooling system actually include a pump, rubber hoses and a movable front end? Or is it just a moveable metal front end ? Would I need a special option X to have the tool sensor working with the custom DSP for the 4th axis?


From what I have seen of the mist units, I think they are the same as the one on my work machine.

I think the mist unit runs off compressed air and the liquid container is pressurized a little. The mist is created at the nozzles by compressed air and liquid. There is no pump as such in the units. The mist unit is a plastic semi movable unit.

Shannon.

Has anyone done cutting of letters in vinyl with some kind of knife attached in stead of the spindle? How about engraving? Or is it just cabinets which has been done ?

Was just wondering if it was possible to expand the work :)

K

Has anyone done cutting of letters in vinyl with some kind of knife attached in stead of the spindle? How about engraving? Or is it just cabinets which has been done ?

Was just wondering if it was possible to expand the work :)

K

They should be fine for engraving, with the right engraving bits, I think Roland makes a special knife kit for retrofitting table routers for sticker cutting. I haven't done either myself but have looked into it a bit.

Shannon.

did the deed and got the software we talked about today, will finish signing up with bill on monday for new machine, joey i will look at software monday and fedex it to you we have 30 days to evaluate
jim

Lets get cracking. I have been looking at it online. Will no more when i can spend more time on it monday.

joey:banana:

I would be interested to learn if there is a recommended breakout board? Whether you have spindle speed control implemented? AND What if any reasons were provided for electing not to offer the machines for local sale with the Chinese supplied DSP setup (can't find the post but recall you were going to enquire).

I note also that your spindle inverter appears to be same model range as mine and you have a scrolling display- is it providing detail of any specific paramaters during operation?

Cheers,

Jimmy


Jimmy,
Sorry it has taken me so long Bill & I have just got back and I am digging out of this hole 4 days away put me in.

Break out board if you are useing wincnc or mach go to http://www.cncbuildingblocks.com/
Ed is great he has made boards for us and they are seamless

No Jim does not have spindle speed control implemented


DSP is fine we have put them on some low cost units. the reason we do not use a great deal of them is support we use U.S. software and it is a trick working from inch to metric. we have done it but rather not. the cost of having the DSP is not a savings over the PC with cat5 cable you can sit in the office and send all the code from there. with DSP a cable is needed. Also if you use wincnc you can multi task on the pc. edit code on the fly is another big reason.

Jimmy I hope this helps.

Joey[/QUOTE]

Thanks Joey- that is a great help and head start.... Know where I am heading now, will follow up to get prices shipped to AUS on Monday.

From what I see on the website the HS OPTO with the precision homing function is looking like a good starting point.... Along with a relay board to look after handly switching of contactors for VAC and extraction.

Cheers,

Jimmy

i have not used that board we do more with wincnc, and one of the boards we worked with Ed to design. but he (ED) stands behind his product as will i. if there is any questions just e-mail him hes a wiz at this stuff and knows mach 3 like the back of his hand. I use him for my tech support on mach.

Joey

i have not used that board we do more with wincnc, and one of the boards we worked with Ed to design. but he (ED) stands behind his product as will i. if there is any questions just e-mail him hes a wiz at this stuff and knows mach 3 like the back of his hand. I use him for my tech support on mach.

Joey

Thannks Joey- I'll keep researching and get my condensed questions off in an email next day or so.

I don't wish to restrict myself to Mach, intend to look at win CNC as an option also.

Cheers,

Jimmy

for the em rocket, done daytona, if you make it to the states, it's a very serious party, myrtle beach is just 2.5 hour from here.

some day i'll tell you about meeting evel knieval.

gonna wait until monday so i can get $$$ out the door but i got some new news coming

kustom just how cold is it up there the news here reports that it is way below

i see your here, i will try and run cabinetparts pro in a bit i was getting syntax error on my first try so i maqt call you in a bit jim

i am online right now while running a file on router and i like that about win cnc

kustom shop sabre uses wincnc right?
jim

i also realize at this point why one would like a hand held dsp

sure would make joggin a lot more easy when carvin!!

G`day Jim, I have been checking out the $250 cabinetpartspro site and the shopbot discussion. Appears to be great value for money. There are a couple of videos to watch that are quite interesting.
I sent them an Email requesting more info but have not heard back from them yet. When you purchase the software is it just a download or do they send a cd? They ask for Paypal payment which i do not use but Jeremy does so we will purchase it tomorrow.

The more we get into this the happier we are with our Excitech purchase and i am thinking that maybe we will buy a 600 x 900 machine that i can play with at home and another 1300 x 2500 machine for work. ( Taney - If you see this can you sharpen up that pencil for me? ).

After seeing those videos i am quite excited about the possibilities of different applications of the machines.

How are you finding the software?

Rocket.

is very simple and it is going to make your life better

back in a bit photos and such

jim

download

heres how you can pay for them


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

but i'll let yall be the judge of that
jim

Jim, That looks sensational!

Looks like your local signwriter has some competition!

Rocket.

Jim, The dover clip art is obvously what you used in the decorative feature. How does that work?
And the board that you routered the pattern onto - is it melamine or did you pre-finish it? Are we looking at the routing straight off of the router or did you paint it?
Rocket.

that is maple door/drawer front display from a cabinet display we had. it is pre finished and you are seeing the rout right off the machine.


for file
tell v carve pro the size of door, in this case without the drawer, made the math a little easier, set xyz at 0 on lower left hand corner.
draw text "McGrew" and place on door. -close- draw text "architectural woodwork" place on door -close- then import bitmap from "Dover" cd (use a clear image, more on this later) size it where you want it then select and choose "fit vectors for tracing" after this, position all in size and scale where you want them, (remember where stiles and rails are) and select all
go to material setup, then v-carve engraving toolpath and select bit etc.
calculate run simulation and save toolpath to file, open control processor and run

i put a sheet of mdf on table and practiced drew imaginary doors for sizing and bit depth, exercise, Screwed up and forgot z settings
(see Photo) unit stuck a vcarve bit thru material and proceeded to lift the entire sheet from table when i lifted to remove bit (a totaly self embarassing moment) kinda wierd when you do somthing stupid and theres no one to show it to!!!

falling asleep more later jim

Yes, the old " forgot to do z zero " will get you everytime!

We did the same thing on friday.

Rocket.

that is maple door/drawer front display from a cabinet display we had. it is pre finished and you are seeing the rout right off the machine.


for file
tell v carve pro the size of door, in this case without the drawer, made the math a little easier, set xyz at 0 on lower left hand corner.
draw text "McGrew" and place on door. -close- draw text "architectural woodwork" place on door -close- then import bitmap from "Dover" cd (use a clear image, more on this later) size it where you want it then select and choose "fit vectors for tracing" after this, position all in size and scale where you want them, (remember where stiles and rails are) and select all
go to material setup, then v-carve engraving toolpath and select bit etc.
calculate run simulation and save toolpath to file, open control processor and run

i put a sheet of mdf on table and practiced drew imaginary doors for sizing and bit depth, exercise, Screwed up and forgot z settings
(see Photo) unit stuck a vcarve bit thru material and proceeded to lift the entire sheet from table when i lifted to remove bit (a totaly self embarassing moment) kinda wierd when you do somthing stupid and theres no one to show it to!!!

falling asleep more later jim

The observation seat definately needs a stubby holder ;-)

Nice routing Jim-guessin you are getting on top of driving the machine.

Couple of things.... Running around on the spoil board to see where things turn up... That worked good for me todar when I took some parts off that hadn't had the cam lock dowels drilled. Ran a .2 deep cut in board, stuck part inside route and ran file.. All good.

The more I read the more I'm thinking go win CNC an be done with it.

Want to come along for the ride rocket?

Make it easy to drive your beast from the office :-)

G`day Jimmy, Nice to know that you have been cutting cabinets on a sunday. Jeremy was at the Castle Hill Mustang show today. It was held on a roof top carpark. Started at 10am with blue skies, but it was all over at midday when it started pouring down. Can`t get the Stangs wet! That may explain why you were indoors working?

I would like to change over to wincnc, but the extent of my soldering experience was with stick solder and an oxy set in my youth. And my electronics experience is restricted to turning the computer on and off!
In any case until we get a second machine i am going to stick to the theory " If it aint broke - Don`t fix it!" A major concern that we have right now is that if anything goes wrong with the machine we will be in deep sh.. . I figure that within a week or so we will be routing all of our own panels and when our current supplier realises that they have lost 4 grand a month in turnover ( labor cost only ) they won`t be in the mood to help us out if we run into problems. Therefore we may order a 1300 x 2500 basic machine as a back up, and then sell it after we get the Auto Tool Changer machine around June. It would only cost about 10 grand all up and could be good insurance. I figure that we can get our money back when we sell it.
We routered a right angle guide line into our spoil board to use as a reference for lining up our panels square to the gantry and seems to work well.

Rocket.

i thought i'd note to jimmy that during the rout of the door i saw it was taking to long (original rout was 53 min running) which means i had to much stepover % (will explain that later) so i stopped program while running corrected file, calculated new, saved called updated file into win cnc and ran

it took off and file now needed only 10 minutes to run and ya'll see results.

i do believe you cannot edit file on the fly with mach we need to ask the mach guy's

which bring's me to this we got 15 to 30 people watching this thread at pretty much anytime and many of them have been on this forum a long time

so my question is this, what about operating mach in the applications described on this thread??

G`day Tony Mac. Thanks for the V Carve Pro software, we are using it with our machine and it is great.
A question. Every robe that we build is made to measure, therefore every set of doors is a different size. Is there a way on your software to have standard designs and just enter the different sizes and the software will make the calculations keeping everything in proportion? I think it is called Parametric?
Rocket.

a good question i need to do carvings in various door sizes

and actually i am sure the answer is yes i believe i just did it




and i belive we need to ask on vectric forum jim

i see tony's here with us

and i must say i have spent a lot of money on software and i have gone back to my v carve pro every time

oh and tony bill glenn needs a inch.tap path for camaster
and will need on for atc as well as i am having him build me a new machine

will you show at IWF in atlanta



jim

i see tony's here with us

and i must say i have spent a lot of money on software and i have gone back to my v carve pro every time

oh and tony bill glenn needs a inch.tap path for camaster
and will need on for atc as well as i am having him build me a new machine

will you show at IWF in atlanta



jim

Jim, i saw that Tony was here and hoped to catch him. If that function can be done on V Carve Pro it will definitely make our work easier.
I think you are correct in suggesting that the appropriate place to ask is the vectric forum.
Rocket.

we can study it two ways
1 tony has posted a lot on zone
and vectris forum jim

http://vectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2579

here
jim

G`day Jimmy, Nice to know that you have been cutting cabinets on a sunday. Jeremy was at the Castle Hill Mustang show today. It was held on a roof top carpark. Started at 10am with blue skies, but it was all over at midday when it started pouring down. Can`t get the Stangs wet! That may explain why you were indoors working?

I would like to change over to wincnc, but the extent of my soldering experience was with stick solder and an oxy set in my youth. And my electronics experience is restricted to turning the computer on and off!
In any case until we get a second machine i am going to stick to the theory " If it aint broke - Don`t fix it!" A major concern that we have right now is that if anything goes wrong with the machine we will be in deep sh.. . I figure that within a week or so we will be routing all of our own panels and when our current supplier realises that they have lost 4 grand a month in turnover ( labor cost only ) they won`t be in the mood to help us out if we run into problems. Therefore we may order a 1300 x 2500 basic machine as a back up, and then sell it after we get the Auto Tool Changer machine around June. It would only cost about 10 grand all up and could be good insurance. I figure that we can get our money back when we sell it.
We routered a right angle guide line into our spoil board to use as a reference for lining up our panels square to the gantry and seems to work well.

Rocket.

Yeah- doing a bit on sunday to try and get ahead of myself so I can create some free time to tinker with the machine...

Looks like we are going for the ATC around the same time...

Which model are you looking at?

I'm guessing the right angle rout provides for shhet repositioning and repeatability- I'm hoping your table is true to the machine X,Y axis's.

i thought i'd note to jimmy that during the rout of the door i saw it was taking to long (original rout was 53 min running) which means i had to much stepover % (will explain that later) so i stopped program while running corrected file, calculated new, saved called updated file into win cnc and ran

it took off and file now needed only 10 minutes to run and ya'll see results.

i do believe you cannot edit file on the fly with mach we need to ask the mach guy's

which bring's me to this we got 15 to 30 people watching this thread at pretty much anytime and many of them have been on this forum a long time

so my question is this, what about operating mach in the applications described on this thread??

From what I have read Jim Mach is pretty well supported by and CAM package's I'm likely to use. Plenty of readily available post processors.

Was looking at my cabling requirements yesterday- hope to relocate the spindle drive off the machine as you have and mount an additional E-Stop close to the PC location.

How do you go setting your Z? have you a time delay so that you can get over to the machine and stick a tool sensor on the job?

Clearly some type of remote handpiece to allow jogging is needed, hope to hang this on shock cord above the machine front so it is handy and out of the way.

G`day Jim, Checked it out. It appears that Ramon is on the ball as well. He has already put the question up in the general section of the vectric forum.

Cutters/Bits. What would be the ideal cutters/bits to obtain to get up and operational? I am not talking about suppliers - Just the type required.
As a newbie to all of this i am not sure. We will need to carry out the following operations and we want absolutely minimal fur.
1) Cutting board to size.
2)Cutting Rabbet for inlaid mirror on back of board.
3)Cutting through front of board for inlaid mirror - including bevel.
4)Trimming thickness of board around perimeter to fit inside our aluminium frames.
5) Routing actual pattern in panels.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I have had a look through many catalogues and i am quite bewildered by the huge choice, but to buy the incorrect items would be quite expensive.

Rocket.

Yeah- doing a bit on sunday to try and get ahead of myself so I can create some free time to tinker with the machine...

Looks like we are going for the ATC around the same time...

Which model are you looking at?

I'm guessing the right angle rout provides for shhet repositioning and repeatability- I'm hoping your table is true to the machine X,Y axis's.

G`day Jimmy, We are looking at the same machine with ATC, which will cost around 25,000 , although i do like the look of the big bertha machine that you had mentioned.
The right angle rout is for board positioning and we used the gantry and spindle to do it which ensured that it is square to the machine.

Rocket.

G`day Jimmy, We are looking at the same machine with ATC, which will cost around 25,000 , although i do like the look of the big bertha machine that you had mentioned.
The right angle rout is for board positioning and we used the gantry and spindle to do it which ensured that it is square to the machine.

Rocket.

Solution for you may be ATC retrofit to existing machine and move current spindle to a 1325 supplied without spindle.

A question. Every robe that we build is made to measure, therefore every set of doors is a different size. Is there a way on your software to have standard designs and just enter the different sizes and the software will make the calculations keeping everything in proportion? I think it is called Parametric?


Just lay out your door design sized to suit the largest door you will want.

As well as the design also make a rectangle to represent the overall size of the door.

Keep this file as "Door design one" or whatever.

Select all vectors and "Scale".

Set anchor point to lower left or wherever you want. Uncheck "Link XY"

Then simply enter the new height and width.

It does not matter that the material size stays large. Starting point "0,0" remains the same.

Recalculate the toolpath excluding the outside rectangle vector and start cutting.

Sounds complicated but will happen very quickly once you have done it a couple of times.

Attached is a simple example door.

Greg

at this point and knowing me i will be ordering a new machine tommorrow from bill so we will be going much further than i thought, i will take delivery right after the IWf show in atlanta GA USA august 08
http://www.iwfatlanta.com/

i know its a big stretch but if you can come to this show it will make a difference in your business i first went 12 years ago and was dumb enough to try and see it on my first time in one day and i went on the last day.
it's too big to do that your first time two to three days is truely neccessary,
i always have taken the guys and my shop has always improved as a resuly of the techniques and tooling they see there.

bill will build my machine for me and use it at the show and i am going with the auto tool changer, and all of the best we have disscussed here with a few other goodies that i'll wait to comment on, one of my best local friends
makes these http://www.bossrockers.com/ and he is preparing to come down the cnc world with us he'll be here soon

biggest news of the day is i got a 27" monitor wow what a difference!!
feel like i am in your face

jimmy now that i am moving on with files i spent a little time in type 3 and will have bobcadcam here tommorrow, type three is a really good program,

at this point it's foolish not to think the excitech is not a great machine it has a few quirks and i am sure with the strength of this thread they will fix those.



rocket take some photos of your doors for me and if you have a spare or mistake panel/door cut it in sections so we can see profile and depth we'll get you the right bits jim

now that was cool !!!!! jim

once you get the hang of it

at this point and knowing me i will be ordering a new machine tommorrow from bill so we will be going much further than i thought, i will take delivery right after the IWf show in atlanta GA USA august 08
http://www.iwfatlanta.com/

i know its a big stretch but if you can come to this show it will make a difference in your business i first went 12 years ago and was dumb enough to try and see it on my first time in one day and i went on the last day.
it's too big to do that your first time two to three days is truely neccessary,
i always have taken the guys and my shop has always improved as a resuly of the techniques and tooling they see there.

bill will build my machine for me and use it at the show and i am going with the auto tool changer, and all of the best we have disscussed here with a few other goodies that i'll wait to comment on, one of my best local friends
makes these http://www.bossrockers.com/ and he is preparing to come down the cnc world with us he'll be here soon

biggest news of the day is i got a 27" monitor wow what a difference!!
feel like i am in your face

jimmy now that i am moving on with files i spent a little time in type 3 and will have bobcadcam here tommorrow, type three is a really good program,

at this point it's foolish not to think the excitech is not a great machine it has a few quirks and i am sure with the strength of this thread they will fix those.



rocket take some photos of your doors for me and if you have a spare or mistake panel/door cut it in sections so we can see profile and depth we'll get you the right bits jim

Yep, Excitech machines are definately outrageous value for money.

Way I had it put to me and I can't think of a better analogy- you are getting a BMW for a Hyundai price.... So long as you don't expect the afer sales support to go with it and are prepared to do a little yourself you can't go wrong!

In talking about the service side- that is not intended to be critical of Excitech in any way- to have the luxury of round the clock support and assistance getting it running has it's own value and pricetag.

In any case I have found the Excitech staff, Taney in particular to be responsive and go out of thier way to assist with any query I have thrown at them.

Type 3 appears to be a very good program for the price so long as you don't have a true 3D requirement. I expect for any 2 or 2.5D job I will keep it as my preffered means to an end, fast and accurate for my needs.

Greolt, Thankyou so much for that info - Ramon is working on it right now.

Jim, I will try to get some photos tomorrow - Camera is at home.

Jimmy I agree - Excitech rules.

have you checked out page 255 of type 3 manual??

3d

jim

we figured out what was wrong last week i'll come by this week and get it loaded

oh website looks nice

jim

have you checked out page 255 of type 3 manual??

3d

jim

Yeah, certainly looks like 3D capabilities are there- don't doubt that. Issue is with getting drawings in there. Have not been able to load a 3D drawing for cutting in any format- 2D works perfectly though.

Can also get Type3 to produce relief engraving toolpaths from images no problem.

If you work out how to get it to load a 3D drawing then I will be VERY interested.

Great news, The formula that greolt posted works like a charm! We now have V Carve Pro set up with our different designs and Ramon only needs to enter the panel sizes then change the vectors accordingly to create a toolpath.

This cnc caper is the ants pants! Thanks to all of the superb assistance
from you blokes we are just about up and running already! After only 2 weeks of learning. It is fanbloodytastic.

Thankyou. Rocket.

Greolt - You are a legend! You saved me a week of looking around Vcarve for such a simple task - I can't believe i didn't see it earlier!

Hopefully now this all works out... and I don't put a gouge in the door where I Z-0 the board in the wrong spot :)

I'm sure I'll have questions that need answering real soon =)

Cheers everybody!

We knew you could do it!

We do not need that expensive software - We have Ramon.

Rocket.

Well, there did all my savings go in one big smack :D

I did the order today of the 1312 with all the bells and whistles needed so now I hope to be feeding some questions on own EXPERIENCE and not just from the top of my head.

Hopefully the machine would reach me before Easter, which in case would have me parked in the garage with some of that brown stuff, usually served chilled in bottles and goes smooth down the drain :cheers: No skiing on this boy....

Can't wait to get my hands on it.

K

we will be learning 4rth axis together brave and welcome

for this i am cabnet

jim

on this one 5x12 servo motors linear bearings, wincnc bill told me he built this machine

and it is big and well built just add spindle

jim

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140197724667

By the way. Since I have to wait for some time now on my machine I did a check on Amazon on CNC books. Has anyone bothered reading any CNC books and in case any thing to recommend ?

K

Thanks Jim !:rainfro: See you soon.
Keith

Good on yer Kent, i am sure that you have made very good use of your savings and will be more than happy with your excitech.You will make your pool cues to a great degree of accuracy and do it quickly.

The machine pretty well operates itself. The hard part is learning about the software. In my case i let myself down a bit because i did not spend enough time learning how to use it. I recall that you are probably going to use V Carve Pro? Did you see Jim`s post where he mentioned that he has some expensive software but seems to go back to V Carve Pro all the time? The best advice that anybody can give you is to study hard with your choice of software, and then you will be well prepared when your machine arrives.

Rocket.

Good on yer Kent, i am sure that you have made very good use of your savings and will be more than happy with your excitech.You will make your pool cues to a great degree of accuracy and do it quickly.

The machine pretty well operates itself. The hard part is learning about the software. In my case i let myself down a bit because i did not spend enough time learning how to use it. I recall that you are probably going to use V Carve Pro? Did you see Jim`s post where he mentioned that he has some expensive software but seems to go back to V Carve Pro all the time? The best advice that anybody can give you is to study hard with your choice of software, and then you will be well prepared when your machine arrives.

Rocket.

Thank's a bunch.

The plan was to spend some time reading and preparing my self for the big day. I'm not sure if Taney would ship the SW and the dongles before the machine arrives, but the plan is to start looking at OneCNC. It sounds like the SW provided is not full versions and just intended to be sold in China, or did I get this wrong? Which ever SW I/we use should at least be upgradable without problems, so have anyone checked for the latest version of Type3 or the other one (can't remember the name)?

I think there was someone here mentioning that a upgrade for a "decent" version was big $...

I plan to rip a part a small wood lathe which I plan to mount on the table so I could do CNC turning as well :) Nice to have some space on the table then, one area with 4th axis, one area for CNC wood turning and then one area for decoration cut out's.

Making loudspeakers and other fun stuff would be fun as well. Tons of ideas :D

I know OneCNC is supporting the 4th axis so this would be the preferred SW but I also had a look at Vcarve Pro 4-5 months ago. Looks god as well, I know a sine maker who uses it.


K

Kent, Taney sent us the software and dongles before our machine arrived.
Dougie found that he cannot import his existing files into Ucancam software, but is having success importing into type3.

Rocket.

Hey everybody... I have another question! I need to cut through a 9mm board to do an inlay mirror. Does anybody know what the best bit to use would be and how I should set up the settings in VCarve Pro? Do i need to cut the depth at 4 or 5 mm and do 2 passes?? I really don't have direction at the moment and any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks everybody!

I would cut 9mm in a single pass, I can't remember exactly what machine/spindle you have, but we usually cut 16mm in a single pass with a 1/4" bit. It depends if you can allow that size radius's in the corners.

Shannon.

I would cut 9mm in a single pass, I can't remember exactly what machine/spindle you have, but we usually cut 16mm in a single pass with a 1/4" bit. It depends if you can allow that size radius's in the corners.

Shannon.

Shannon, its the same machine that you want... the Excitech SHM 1530B with a 3.5 KW HSD spindle (Rockets Machine!) - Im working with Rocket on this project.

We have 4 different sized colletts and would prefer to use 1/2 inch bits where possible.

Ramon

I have been working on this WINCNC screen. please give me some feed back and hold no punches. but it beats looking at a all gray screen with stuff i never use.
Thanks
Joey

http://www.webxtremefx.com/wincnc001.gif

i love it and it will make it simple for my guys i want one jim

the code list and the chip guide is still under construction but all others work i send it to you now.

That sure is one good lookin screen.

Jim, are you going to tell us all about the new machine?

Rocket.

Kent, Taney sent us the software and dongles before our machine arrived.
Dougie found that he cannot import his existing files into Ucancam software, but is having success importing into type3.

Rocket.

That's great.
I did get a PW to download the Type3 manual in English, but it seemed to be out of date so I'm currently waiting for a new PW.

Since I don't have any designs, I do not see any problem with the import since I need to start from scratch on which ever platform I start working on :drowning:

Thank's for the feedback.

I really look forward to get the machine :)

K

it was a busy monday and i am nor even sure i walked in to the machine room
clients, freezing temps (we aint real used to that here) and have more contractd to do today, banks were closed due to mlk holiday so will get to bill today or tommorrow and will describe machine once all details are finished.

gotta feed the horses back today jim

got bobcad cam will call bill today and fedex software, got an email from wilmington he's pretty happy with machine and ya'lls install jim


ps i just realized is that what you and josh are working on??? wow

It appears my trick worked for you also.

I wouldn't follow the atcam one. As pointed out earlier in the thread allegedly contains pirate version of commercial software with lovely keylogger trojan as a bonus.

Big S, Jimmy;

The link you put on the web where you mentioned ArtCam had a key logger, this was not related to the Excitech home page where you get a PW to download ?

K

I like the screen but it needs commands to control travel speed (ipm's)on the fly. I have been using the insert and delete keys to do this. It's not something you do all the time but it sure is convenient when you want to speed up that final profile cut that's just removing the 'skin'. Will the 'Set Z' button actually set z ? Since we installed the boring head on our machine we have to type in G37Z to set each head.
Keith

I like the screen but it needs commands to control travel speed (ipm's)on the fly. I have been using the insert and delete keys to do this. It's not something you do all the time but it sure is convenient when you want to speed up that final profile cut that's just removing the 'skin'. Will the 'Set Z' button actually set z ? Since we installed the boring head on our machine we have to type in G37Z to set each head.
Keith

Keith,

Just what i needed someone to give me there needs. I'll get to work on it i also have some addons bill wants to see so it might be a few days. Jim has this one and all my files will overlap this one if you want to get it from hm if not send me your e-mail and i'll send it over.

Jim,
have you loaded it yet?
Joey

i can send mine to kieth but i did not want to load untill i was ready at machine with you, i am in office with paper work jim

Big S, Jimmy;

The link you put on the web where you mentioned ArtCam had a key logger, this was not related to the Excitech home page where you get a PW to download ?

K


Yes it was.

I cant verift the key logger allegation but the instalation of artcam was definately there in a directory named some other product.

i can send mine to kieth but i did not want to load untill i was ready at machine with you, i am in office with paper work jim

thats fine just give me a call
joey

Jim i now have Art CAM so i will be diving in to that and learn as much as i can. i'm looking forward to jumping in to bob cam aswell josh said there has been improvements with it and he is looking forward as well.

Joey

yes fedex today

How many passes does everybody do for a cabinet/wardrobe cut? So far i'm doing 2 passes, first one at 2.75 mm then it goes down to 5.5mm and the cut i get is very clean. Is it worth doing it like that or is it just worth doing it at the 5.5mm the first pass? The bit i'm using is similiar to a 20mm Ogee basic bit.

Your thoughts?

This Multicam video might help with some of the pass depths and speeds you can run on Mdf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sflJel9ye7Q

Shannon.

practice,practice

will tell all about router sent check yesterday,swamped with work back soon

josh and joey software will be in camaster shop today, i paid for full support so you can call them for tech jim

How many passes does everybody do for a cabinet/wardrobe cut? So far i'm doing 2 passes, first one at 2.75 mm then it goes down to 5.5mm and the cut i get is very clean. Is it worth doing it like that or is it just worth doing it at the 5.5mm the first pass? The bit i'm using is similiar to a 20mm Ogee basic bit.

Your thoughts?

If the quality of the cut is good enough, cut it in one pass. Provided the machine can handle it, but I wouldn't think that would be a problem. If the finish suffers, I'd make one pass at maybe 4.5mm, and a 1mm finish pass.

Mods please give me a rev up if I'm off topic but question relates to software supplied with Excitech machines so hopefully someone here knows the answer.

Ok- I am finding that I often have multiple operations on one sheet using the same tooling (i.e. I may have toolpaths for outside cut, inside cut, plotting and inside clearance engraving). At the moment I generate sperate output from type3 for each operation and run seperately.

Can I edit the Gcode in notepad to copy and paste all files into one?

Mods please give me a rev up if I'm off topic but question relates to software supplied with Excitech machines so hopefully someone here knows the answer.

Ok- I am finding that I often have multiple operations on one sheet using the same tooling (i.e. I may have toolpaths for outside cut, inside cut, plotting and inside clearance engraving). At the moment I generate sperate output from type3 for each operation and run seperately.

Can I edit the Gcode in notepad to copy and paste all files into one?

I was wondering the same thing. But the thing is finding the instructions for how to learn GCode- I'm finding it hard to locate a good source for reference. I know that the end of a GCode file is ended with an M30, but its not like any other language i've ever seen before. (I've been studying java)

What i'm concerned with doing that though is telling one program to run, but when you tell it to end it may continue in a loop because it may not realise the other code underneath it- That or it won't recognise the code at all, as the M30 might terminate the code from that point! Has anybody got experience with Gcode here?

explained in most controller manuals

http://www.wincnc.net/webfiles/CNC%20Windows/Manuals/WinManual.pdf

i knowv for example that in v carve pro if you have multiple tool paths you are givin the option to save them toghether at the save command
or are you asking the machine to act like an atc without changing bits

jim

Hi Jimmy,

I hope this helps, I did a little test with artcam (the keylogger one!!)
Saved the toolpaths separately then combined them using artcam.
By the looks you could just paste them in one after another,
missing out one or two lines.

check the attached. I havent tested this on the machine,
but cant see why it wouldnt work.
Keep in mind i know nothing about g code apart from looking at these files
for the first time tonight!

Cheers
Lee

Hi guys,

How do you judge how much you should tighten the cullet nut? I know we aren't supposed to overtighten them, but how fine is the line between not tight enough and too tight??

Hi Jimmy,

I hope this helps, I did a little test with artcam (the keylogger one!!)
Saved the toolpaths separately then combined them using artcam.
By the looks you could just paste them in one after another,
missing out one or two lines.

check the attached. I havent tested this on the machine,
but cant see why it wouldnt work.
Keep in mind i know nothing about g code apart from looking at these files
for the first time tonight!

Cheers
Lee

Gday Lee,

Thanks for your efforts Mate.

I took the plunge here and gave it a rip on my machine.

GCode I played with similar to yours with G30 & M30 & M5 at the end, return home, prog end and stop spindle (maybe not in that order). In any case I just lobbed that off the end and dragged in the instructions after the rapid position command in the other files- re pasted the end commands, save and run.

Worked nicely.

Cheers,

Jimmy

jimmy where you pasted i'd bet the machine went back to xy 0 and z at 15.5
(i'm gonna guess mm in your world) then ran the next run,

now thats gcode editing

bill's had me doing this all week
how do you set your machine control settings (softlimits, cut speed, traverse speeds etc,) i do it in my .ini file

jimmy where you pasted i'd bet the machine went back to xy 0 and z at 15.5
(i'm gonna guess mm in your world) then ran the next run,

now thats gcode editing

bill's had me doing this all week
how do you set your machine control settings (softlimits, cut speed, traverse speeds etc,) i do it in my .ini file

Will have to check the return point on the next run Jim, I didn't run with Lee's samples- tested it on an actual job- it appeared to continue from the end point of the last operation to the start of the next file I pasted in.

At the moment I am still runnin with the excitech supplied DSP controller so all machine settings (traversE and feed rates, acceleration etc) are through keypad entries at the machine.

Will be starting from scratch with progression to Mach3 which is delayed by jobs on hand- pretty well decided which hardware I need so will ask a favour of a US based friend to buy in and ship to me (shipping and handlig charges with short turnaround may easily exceed cost of parts).

The time these machines save makes me feel guilty (ALMOST). Supplied a piece of custom technical furniture into a job and the client enquired about having one made for someone else so I quoted a 2 week lead time, had the parts routed within 25 minutes after a quick edit to my CAD drawings. Have to think if the clients knew how much time these machines save they would be asking for a discount... ;-p

Hi guys,

How do you judge how much you should tighten the cullet nut? I know we aren't supposed to overtighten them, but how fine is the line between not tight enough and too tight??

Correct answer probably involves a torque wrench. Thread clenliness, lube, tool shank size, collet condition etc will all have an effect.

I nip mine up by hand to make sure everything is nicely aligned then just give it a nice even crank with the wrench- my machine pushes back (something wierd happens with the y axis steppers they make a noise) and I stop at that point.

would over tighten blades as they were afraid of them. most would never know but blade would deflect out of kerf best guys i ever worked with told me "tight, then 1/8 turn" jim

Is anyone else having problem with the site? I could not get cnczone to come up this morning. Got error messages.

Mark

DO NOT LOAD THE NEW CNCSCREEN.INI FILES UNTIL YOU TALK TO BILL OR JOSH. I DID AND NOW I CAN'T RUN MY MACHINE. I HAVE AN ADDITIONAL HEAD AND THE CODE IS NOT CORRECT FOR THAT.
KEITH

i got a message they were loading software

and while we are on thar note
lessons hard learned in cabinet trade "measure twice cut once"

or "save old .ini file before load new one"

sorry kieth i am sure they are gettin you right jim

wilmington george call me

would over tighten blades as they were afraid of them. most would never know but blade would deflect out of kerf best guys i ever worked with told me "tight, then 1/8 turn" jim

Good advice Jim...

You get a feeling for these things over time.

Sorta like when you change the oil in your truck- tighten the sump plug just tight enough so it doesn't drip or fall out, learn pretty quick it was too tight when you leave the skin from your knucles on the chassis next time you go to take it out.

Just changed a bit on macjine an 1/8 turn was pretty right- you feel the tension ramp up pretty quick and stop when its constant (yep, about an 1/8 past where it started to build).

Can I edit the Gcode in notepad to copy and paste all files into one?

Yes, you can even write it in Notepad from scratch if you want. It's a good idea to learn g-code as fluently as possible. It'll make troubleshooting much easier and allow quick changes right at the machine.

Mods please give me a rev up if I'm off topic but question relates to software supplied with Excitech machines so hopefully someone here knows the answer.


There are so many off topic post in this thread that I'm not going to stop anyone now. But here's a little advice. For everyone here. I think it's time to start some new threads so that anyone looking for Exetech info in the future will have an easier time finding it than having to dig through 1500 posts in this thread for any info.

Feel free to start a thread about using your Exitech machines. And Cabnet, you should be starting your own threads about your machine(s), since it has little to do with the Aussie guys Exitechs.

And regarding Vectric questions. There are a ton of VCarve users here with a wealth of knowledge, but you won't get many answers if you're asking in here. Ask in the Vectric section here and a lot more people will see your questions.

Feel free to keep posting here if you like, just making a suggestion.

Hi guys,

How do you judge how much you should tighten the collet nut? I know we aren't supposed to overtighten them, but how fine is the line between not tight enough and too tight??
If you're using a "real" spindle, as tight as you can get them with your hands and two wrenches. Especially if you have a 5HP or bigger and are doing serious cutting. A router bit is not a sawblade. It needs to be TIGHT. NO one wants to see a $70 router bit slide down, gouge your table, break in half and damage the workpiece. We have 10HP HSD spindles with ER32 collets and I tighten them as tight as I possibly can. In the 10 years we've had our machine, everyone else who's ever changed tools has had them come loose. Not me. :)

Thanks for the advice about tightening collets guys. I don't think we've been over tightening it then.

If you're using a "real" spindle, as tight as you can get them with your hands and two wrenches.

I was a bit put off from reading things like "DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN" when looking for more information about collets. I don't have a real spindle, just a baby 2 hp one :-)

Cheers.

If you're using a "real" spindle, as tight as you can get them with your hands and two wrenches. Especially if you have a 5HP or bigger and are doing serious cutting. A router bit is not a sawblade. It needs to be TIGHT. NO one wants to see a $70 router bit slide down, gouge your table, break in half and damage the workpiece. We have 10HP HSD spindles with ER32 collets and I tighten them as tight as I possibly can. In the 10 years we've had our machine, everyone else who's ever changed tools has had them come loose. Not me. :)

Thanks Gerry,

I have an 8hp HSD so I'll really lean on the spanners in future.

I have taken your comments re posting on board, will start to move out to other threads now that my principal immediate interests have moved to software and machine control.

Still like it here though :-)

this thread has a rating of 5 stars ?

jim

is right on bits and for tightening them we just had a shop helper plow though a laminate top

oh well jim

I have a 5hp spindle. I put everything my 260lb body can put on it !
Keith

http://www.woodworkerswholesale.com/Spoilboards_s/787.htm

jim

we making doors yet?????

jim

photos

That's insane !!!!! $15.00 for a sheet of 3/4 MDF. Tape edges, mill both sides. It's a spoilboard !

we making doors yet?????

jim

photos

G`day Jim, not quite. We have an issue with the spoilboard. The bottom of the table seems to have a dip. We are waiting on tooling including a spoil board bit.
We found a good set of cutters/bits at Whiteside tool and i sent them an Email to get a Quote but i have not heard back from them yet.
When we get the cutters/bits and straighten out the spoilboard we should be set to go.

Rocket.

G`day Jim, not quite. We have an issue with the spoilboard. The bottom of the table seems to have a dip. We are waiting on tooling including a spoil board bit.
We found a good set of cutters/bits at Whiteside tool and i sent them an Email to get a Quote but i have not heard back from them yet.
When we get the cutters/bits and straighten out the spoilboard we should be set to go.

Rocket.

I've had that problem since christmas Rod- suppliers that just don't seem to want business...

My excitech table was that close to level that flycutting the spoilboard is working great- you can always mill the bakelite table suface though if you are brave.

I don't understand why we have this problem, clearly the table surface is milled at the factory so should be true to the machine given it was used to mill itself.

Hi Jimmy, We have searched through a lot of websites and catalogues to find the specific bits required to make our patterns. Whiteside appear to have precisely what we need so i will send a second Email to them in a couple of days. If that does not work i will put in a phone call.
Had a local supplier`s rep call around on wednesday and he wants to sell us " replaceable insert " type router bits. I suspect that he may be trying to get maximum dollars out of us as they are very expensive and i am not sure that we really need that type of bit. He has not bothered to get back to us with a price as yet. Typical. So maybe a trip to Melbourne to see carbi-tool might be in order.
We have ordered a 1800 x 3600 sheet of MDF in order to make a one piece spoilboard. At one end of the table it seems to dip by about 2mm and because our patterns are only about 6mm deep we are not getting a consistent router line in our boards. The dip may well have been caused by the vacuum pump sitting on the table top during shipping.
Ramon is going very well with his design work so once we get the bits sorted out it is all systems go.

Rocket.

we have whiteside dealer here in cola with bits on the shelf. if it comes to it speak up jim

i ordered collets yesterday from
http://www.usshoptools.com/

this is cool

http://www.usshoptools.com/current_year/whats_new/tritech_head/tritech.asp

http://www.toolstoday.com/c-211-CNC-and-Insert-Bits.aspx

http://www.southernsaw.com/

http://www.amanatool.com/cncroutingdetails/aluminum-cnc-spiral-bit-51402.html

http://www.amanatool.com/retailers.html

http://www.cnclathecuttingtools.com/circuitboard/routerbits.php

http://www.router-bits-shaper-cutters.com/products/index.cfm?Product_ID=1610&Product_Category_ID=221&Product_Group_ID=15

wanna work in stone????

http://www.diamondtoolstore.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7&zenid=2093a1fe9e3ea51d099e0e9c23a7353a

Had a local supplier`s rep call around on wednesday and he wants to sell us " replaceable insert " type router bits. I suspect that he may be trying to get maximum dollars out of us as they are very expensive and i am not sure that we really need that type of bit.

If you'll be doing a lot of surfacing, than those are the way to go. They'll save you a lot of time due to their large diameter, and the replaceable inserts cost very little after the initial investment. Just don't crash it into something and destroy it. :eek:

Thanks Jim, i will have a good look at the links shortly.
Whiteside have this range of 7 bits that will make all of these patterns.
Rocket

a few years ago when we bought the edgebander we got insert bits in all the cutter heads and and it seemed like a lot of money at the time. the tech came to service it last year and said the bits were wore out so at 5 years old i said replace them. he came in the office and it was not on the bill for the bit replacement. ????

he said he only had to turn the replacement bit on the insert 5 minutes and ahex head wrench!!!! machine is 6 years old and is on the second set of four.

i can live with that!!!! inserts can be a real good idea!! jim

i purchased bits just like that at mann tool in cola sc yesterday

i bought CMT jim

http://www.manntools.com/

spoil board bit
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=8142

and most people do'nt know it but amazon is in the tool business big time!!

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=whiteside+bits&tag=mh0b-20&index=tools&ref=pd_sl_1zbm8and3r_b

he said he only had to turn the replacement bit on the insert 5 minutes and ahex head wrench!!!! machine is 6 years old and is on the second set of four.


You don't use your edgebander much. :) We change ours once a month or more. But then you probably don't use a lot of laminate either.

If you'll be doing a lot of surfacing, than those are the way to go. They'll save you a lot of time due to their large diameter, and the replaceable inserts cost very little after the initial investment. Just don't crash it into something and destroy it. :eek:

Thanks Gerry, the initial investment is around $450 each. Ouch!
The possibility of crashing the bits into something is extremely high for us as we learn how to operate the machine, so maybe we will start with standard type bits and get these more expensive ones after a few months.
On the subject of tightening bits in the spindle - our nut only tightens up by about 3 threads on the spindle. Is this normal or could we be doing something wrong?

Rocket.

i purchased bits just like that at mann tool in cola sc yesterday

i bought CMT jim

http://www.manntools.com/

spoil board bit
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=8142

and most people do'nt know it but amazon is in the tool business big time!!

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=whiteside+bits&tag=mh0b-20&index=tools&ref=pd_sl_1zbm8and3r_b

I have a CMT catalogue in front of me and i cannot identify those bits. Am i reading them incorrectly?

gerry, until this year now we are doing a lot of commercial and have called for another service from stiles, thanks i'll look at the bits, we have used our bander verrrry little when compared to the capacity it is capable of, the techs are alway amazed at how clean it is (everyone in shop spend 4 hours a week cleaning somthing)

rocket you could use a 1" or 1.5" flush trim bit, bill told me to do this until i get bit and i am purchasing flush bit today

if the bit aint tight you gonna know it real fast just donot cross thread it, it should thread on real smooth jim


1-1/2" diameter 30.00+/-
http://www.amazon.com/WHITESIDE-MACHINE-CARBIDE-TIP-STRAIGHT-ROUTER/dp/B000K2G1DS/ref=sr_1_272?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1201353240&sr=1-272

our nut only tightens up by about 3 threads on the spindle. Is this normal or could we be doing something wrong?

Rocket.

Make sure the collet is flush with the surface of the nut. With ours it's possible that the collet doesn't seat correctly in the nut, which will leave about a 3mm gap between the collet and the nut. The collet needs to be installed in the nut before threading it on to the spindle. There shouls be a small tab in the nut that the collet groove snaps into.

about asking gerry and cnc zone for a sub forum where we could start sub threads on particular subjects with out topic getting burried down the line of threads as is the case with this thread


under COMMERCIAL CNC WOOD ROUTERS
then sub forum
potential names CNC ROUTER PURCHASE for name
then
Excitech
camaster
shopsabre (kustom will be here soon)
and all others
vaccumm, bits, and so forth and so on

am i going in the right direction

my goal is to keep the info easy to reach as we are # three in interest under COMMERCIAL CNC WOOD ROUTERS

i think we are a thread were we ought to be a forum

let get some input guys

whoops # 4 under woodworking machines

oh and the new cnc zone software is nice!!!

As usual - fantastic info.
I think that we are fitting the collett and nut as you describe Gerry, but i will double check. It all seems nice and tight.

Had a quick look through Amazon - if i can find that range of bits in there and they will ship to Oz we are in business.

Rocket.

Jim, sounds like a plan.
You have not told us the specs for your new machine yet?
Glad to hear that Kustom is soon to get his Shop-Sabre. Have not heard much from him lately and i need to speak with him about some window banners for a mercedes sprinter that we just bought.
rocket.

i have sent bill money and we are discussing some things i want like heavier legs there is some prototyping going on with this. it will have all great features, stong servos, toolchanger, vaccum, wincnc and one other "real goodie" that we are working on, will be 4x8

my machine is going to be shown at iwf as at this point the cnc sales business is needing a better way to do the same old thing bigger companies are already doing it, the toy "carvewright" is teaching mulitudes of new potential customers how to cnc in begginer mode and i believe small and mid size cnc's will benifit from this

rocket you australians and europeans have bolstered the credibility of the excitech router and as a result this should translate into improvements for the machine and support, i feel the same about my camaster and bill in the end i need them tooo! and the support has been incredible we had a problem with cabinetparts pro and our translation to machine, one camaster owner "george" called "ryan" at cabpartspro got needed info spread it to us we got bill involved within 24 hours we are all routing away, kiethg had problem with new screen josh get's on computer with kieths machine bada bing bada boom he in cutting parts. i need to support my cnc company as i need them toooo!!!!! jim


rocket what were the numbers on whiteside bits i cant read them

is in -2 degrees man oh man

http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:USND0115

jim

he'll be back

All these can just be posted in the Commercial Router forum. There aren't a lot of posts in this forum as it is. You'll end up with a bunch of sub forums with a couple posts in each. There used to be a ShopSabre forum, but nobody posted in it. I've been a member here since this site started, and I've seen that there are very few members here that actually work with "Commercial" routers in a commercial setting.

Just keep using this forum for now, but feel free to start new threads with specific topics. If the number of posts warrant new sub forums, then we'll see about adding them. But I've seen countless forums be requested and added, only to be removed a few months later.

Jim, there are ±80,000 members here, but afaik you're the only Camaster owner here. Do we really need a special forum for a one member?

Jim, the support that we have through this forum is incredible. As more business and hobby people become aware of cnc routers and the things that can be made with them the industry is going to take off in a big way.

The real goodie on your new machine no doubt will be the fourh axis.
To have it on show at the iwf is going to be exciting - we hope to see lots of photos. When we first became interested in cnc routers we went to the Hobart working with wood show to see some in action but there was not one cnc router there. Sure is a big opening in Oz for an enterprising cnc business.

The router bit codes are - 5610,5620,5630,5645,5710,5720,5725.
Thanks.
Rocket.

my goal was to ask for one subforum "cnc router purchase"

at the location where dyna,k2, gorrila and larken are.

excitech, camaster and all would be a thread to that.

the other day i was directing alocal friend who is going cnc to this "thread"
and realized what you were pointing out about the volume of info etc.

oh and there are seven camaster owners that i know of here, kiethg and i are the ones you see, bgcnc,cut to the bone ans josh are with the company,

at 1400+ post how many do we need ?

jim

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/handle-buy-box/ref=dp_start-bbf_1_glance

sorry link does not work it was for dover clip art on cd's jim

my goal was to ask for one subforum "cnc router purchase"

at the location where dyna,k2, gorrila and larken are.

excitech, camaster and all would be a thread to that.


I don't see the need for a separate forum for that. It won't see many posts.



oh and there are seven camaster owners that i know of here, kiethg and i are the ones you see, bgcnc,cut to the bone ans josh are with the company,


So two owners that actually post here.



at 1400+ post how many do we need ?

jim

There's only one thread, and 75% of those posts are not related to actually purchasing a machine. Most are posts about operating the machines, which belong right here in this forum.

If there was even one person a week posting about purchasing a 4x8 machine, then I might agree, but there just aren't that many.

ok, i get it jim

check this,

http://www.ez-router.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=53&Page=2

i have ordered all of the bits tou described and with 4 more dover bits bill was
260.00 $ us

jim

i have sent bill money and we are discussing some things i want like heavier legs there is some prototyping going on with this. it will have all great features, stong servos, toolchanger, vaccum, wincnc and one other "real goodie" that we are working on, will be 4x8




Cabnet, I'd like to hear about this new machine as well. I will be in the market for a larger machine eventually, and it would help to find out what the problems are. Do you mind saying what the cost is? Which version of the Excitech is it?

Mark

rocket i ordered this today

http://www.amazon.com/WHITESIDE-MACHINE-CARBIDE-TIP-MORTISE-ROUTER/dp/B000K2C7C2/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1

mark bill has agreed to build me and one other member of this forum the router and he will build them at the same time i do know he qouted us both the same thing the other member has no machine yet and i do so i will wait for mine as it can be shown at IWF in atlanta, the other member will recieve his asap ,we are getting a pretty good deal i would ask you call him as i am grateful for what he is letting me do. i will say this the savings were well worth it, as for problems we were having set up and configuration ( i am reluctant to call it a problem) issues with language and xy directional setups
once you get bill on the phone he stays until it's solved jim

hope i answered your question jim

as well i bill sells the excitech under the camaster name but he builds his own routers as well jim

if i remember correct you got the small excitech and the really cool shop right jim

It just keeps getting better:banana::banana::cheers:!

Found the prices for those bits from Whiteside.They are listed at the Routerbits.com website.
But it still got better! Came across a site ( using Jim`s links ) called woodworking.com and found out that Hartville tool are offering 20% dicount on Whiteside router bits until March 31!

http://www.hartvilletool.com To get the discount use code ws1x8 at checkout. Cool bananas!

Rocket.

i went and ordered all of them from amazon oh well, i figured i spent about 10% over www.routerbits.com but it's done

jim

well i wish

but maybe someday



sorry i lost the photo but i'll find it jim

found it
if you are having trouble with size look at garage door behind it jim

x and y 20x 40 lin feet x 6.5'+/- z

Jim, This may be a dumb question! As we use the "metric" system in Oz do we need to buy colletts to suit the bits that we buy from the USA, eg 1/2" collett to suit 1/2" shank size? How many colletts do you like to keep on hand in your workshop?
We expect to use 1/2" bits almost exclusively, but am i correct in thinking that 1/4" bits are used for smaller, detailed carving?

Rocket.

i have been told by bill to get 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch collets as most smaller bits like a 1/8" ballnose (for carving) will come with 1/4" shank

so i have 2 of each (just the way i think)

i had a good conversation with the guy's at us shop tools about this and ordered the precision collets jim

before now my world has always been 1/2" collets with 1/4 insert collet sleeves in all our 20 or so routers, made it simple so as employees would not loose them jim

oh an yes 1/4" collet 1/4" shank etc. jim

Yes, i am looking through my catalogues and it appears to be standardised as they show 12.7mm ( 1/2" ) and 6.35mm ( 1/4" ) shanks.

Looks like we will buy the bits from Routerbits.com because they do send bits worldwide. Hartville tool do not.

Interesting to see the different websites. Routerbits.com site is easy to navigate and i had no problem finding the bits that i am after, however i cannot say the same about Hartvilletool. I know they are there somewhere.

There goes the 20% discount.

Rocket.

would be available in aus!! whats the deal? jim


oh an rocket hillary lost in sc tonight big time

http://www.woodworksupplies.com.au/category34_1.htm

Hi All,

I must say that I have very much enjoyed this thread.

Normally, I am vacationing in OZ or NZ this time of year. Unfortunately, the recent (OK 7.5year) mismanagement of our country has made that unaffordable.

I purchased a CNC machine made in Canada (AXYZ) in May 2007 that uses ER 25 collets and have discovered:

Using "on size" collets makes a HUGE difference in the ease of use and performance of my 3hp (2.2KW) high frequency spindle. These ER collets exactly match the shank size of my cutters rather than collapsing to hold them. I get mine from:

http://www.usshoptools.com/#accucollets

I get the "UP" ultra precision ones ($15 each)

If your software supports a tool changer option but are using an ER collet system, I have found a great method to allow multiple tools to be used for roughing/finishing/profiling operations.

I use an "on size collet w/ a dedicated ER nut to make a tool holder.

I clean the tool and collet w/ alcohol (methylated spirits) and apply shellac (2# to 3# cut) to the tool shank prior to inserting it into the collet/nut assembly.

This means that you have a tool/collet/nut assembly that comprises one toolholder.

This maintains the "Z" setting of the tool during tool changes if you are consistent in your tightening of the collet nut. The shellac "glues" the shank of the tool in the collet.

This is completely reversable and repeatable by immersing the tool/collet/nut assembly in alcohol. (real alcohol - not "rubbing alcohol").

The ER collet must be "snapped" into the nut before inserting the tool as the nut cannot be attached or removed while the tool is in the collet.

"O" rings on the tool shank can be used to help position the tool in the collet while the shellac dries.

I then clamp the nut/collet /tool in the spindle until the shellac dries. You can also use an ER toolholder for temporary clamping while the shellac dries.

Once you "qualify" your tools secured in this manner, the difference in "Z" will be consistent.

I get my ER 25 collet nuts ($17) and tool holders ($50) from;

www.maritool.com -

Very high quality - no balance problems at 18,000 RPM.

I hope this is some useful info - keep up the enthusiasm!

Best regards;

Art Pentz

North Carolina USA

would be available in aus!! whats the deal? jim


oh an rocket hillary lost in sc tonight big time

Jim, i have searched high and low to find the correct bits to make our specific patterns. The MDF Door bits from Whiteside show us precisely which bits to use to form our patterns. I assume that other suppliers bits will make these patterns but i do not know which ones to buy. Whiteside have taken the guesswork out of it and that is good enough for me.

Thankyou for finding the Aussie supplier - If they carry good stocks and the price is ok we will buy through them.

Obama won this round but we won`t give up on Hilary just yet.

Rocket.

Art, just make some more signs with your router and i am sure that you can generate enough dosh to be able to holiday down under!

We use ER25 collets on our machine too. The " on size" type looks to be the way to go. We will get some.

Ours is a manual tool change machine. Your method of securing the bits in the collet and nut makes a lot of sense.

That was a very informative post. Thankyou.

Rocket.

I'm looking for your first two given that one was a ripper....

Ran jobs today that required four tools and resetting the Z is a bit of a pain- was thinking there must be a better way!

I run an ER32 but no doubt the precision collets and nuts are just as freely available and I'll get a like solution.

Stick around mate, I need to learn some more stuff like that....

What do you make?

amana

http://www.amanatool.com/cnc-router-bits.html

https://www.onsrud.com/xdoc/wood

wonder what this little baby cost?
http://www.usshoptools.com/current_year/whats_new/tritech_head/tritech.asp

what are you doing with your router.
photos ??
jim

wonder what this little baby cost?
http://www.usshoptools.com/current_year/whats_new/tritech_head/tritech.asp

More than your machine - probably more than two of them. :)

Jim, the Amana tool replaceable insert bits look similar to the ones that the local bloke is talking about. Might be a bit too expensive to start with.
But thanks for the links. Trying to send an Email to the Aussie supplier but am getting funny messages on my hotmail. Might wait till Tuesday and just fax them. Australia Day holiday in Oz tomorrow.

Hi Jimmy, Have you heard of a business called Professional Woodworkers Supplies. They are in Melbourne and are the Aussie suppliers of Whiteside Router bits?

Rocket.

my current z hieght would not support it

might have to go out and dig up another sack though!!

offered asking price for this on friday

now we gotta fill it up. jim

It just keeps getting better:banana::banana::cheers:!

Found the prices for those bits from Whiteside.They are listed at the Routerbits.com website.
But it still got better! Came across a site ( using Jim`s links ) called woodworking.com and found out that Hartville tool are offering 20% dicount on Whiteside router bits until March 31!

http://www.hartvilletool.com To get the discount use code ws1x8 at checkout. Cool bananas!

Rocket.

I live just about 30 miles from Hartville and have bought many tools from them. The people there re very helpful and they have a very large selection of tools. I called them about a CNC machine and they do not carry any but they said they do carry bits for them.

Jim, if your offer was accepted - Congratulations!

Looks like it is the ex lumber yard that you wrote about. That is quite a large factory. To buy such a big complex is fantastic. Your workers will be happy as you can provide undercover parking for them.
Lots of land will make it easy to expand further as your business grows.
Well done mate.

Rocket.

several smaller companies

stone steel architectual products got 60% intents on leases jim

oh and may be machinery!!

if i remember correct you got the small excitech and the really cool shop right jim


Yes, after solving a few problems, I like the router. As far as the shop goes, I have been adding to it for about 30 years. (The latest is my fifth shop.) It kind of grows by itself... I keep having to get rid of stuff, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get past the front door! Collecting tools is a disease... it can take over your life. Ebay doesn't help.... :cheers:

Mark

Yes, after solving a few problems, I like the router. As far as the shop goes, I have been adding to it for about 30 years. (The latest is my fifth shop.) It kind of grows by itself... I keep having to get rid of stuff, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get past the front door! Collecting tools is a disease... it can take over your life. Ebay doesn't help.... :cheers:

Mark

He he he.

I have the same terrible thing. Surfing on web shops which has some kind of tools is called extreme sports for me :) I did however not just jump on my Exitech machine, it was many months of evaluation. Hopefully I don't have to much trouble when I receive my machine.

Still looking for that 4th axis...

K

i still want a laser, however with what i have spent and the fact that we will move shop (and for those who wonder, when you are in the business,you build new one, then move and remove whats left in old one!!) it will be good if i could calm down a little too!!!, i figure it will be in 90-120 days for move and are pretty well booked out with work, some on waiting list. jim


kent and kustom when are new machines arriving ??

Jim

I have no definite date, but I was hoping to have it before Easter. But shipping up here takes 4 weeks so we'll se how it goes.

Regarding laser. I read some where (I think it was on Technos pages) that lasers was OK for 3D scanning, but touch probes would be a cheaper and better solution due to some limitations with the laser focus points..

f you where talking about laser cutter, I do understand. I would have a look for a knife holder for my machine.

Is Bill building you a custom 4th axis or are you going for a commercial one?

K

4rth axis jim

4rth axis jim

Do you mind sharing? Would it be possible to buy one from Bill and in case which price ?

K

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/contact_us.html

be back in a bit jim

the router discussed here (for the most part) is availble here
http://toolpathcncrouters.com/index.php
in california
jim

4rth axis i am getting is attached to table jim

I live just about 30 miles from Hartville and have bought many tools from them. The people there re very helpful and they have a very large selection of tools. I called them about a CNC machine and they do not carry any but they said they do carry bits for them.

G`day fixtureman1, Thanks for joining us. I will take your recommendation on board and give them a try. Big question is - Will they ship to Australia.Can`t resist the idea of a 20% discount.

If you are looking to purchase a cnc Router then this thread is a great place to start. The choices that you have in the USA are incredible.
Good luck with your search and if you have any questions we would be happy to oblige.

Sending an Email to Hartvilletool right now.

Rocket.

Looking good so far. Hartvilletool just sent an automatically generated email to confirm that they will send more info.

UPDATE - No go. They are not interested in sending goods internationally.