NEW MACHINE BUILD - X3 CNC Conversion

[firestorm1284]

Hello Everyone, I just got my X3 on Tuesday! I spent the last two days building the bench for the mill and taking apart, and cleaning up the mill itself. Tonight I got it all assembled and ready to go to work!

I have also been working on the electronics enclosure over the past week or so. It is a used Hoffman Industrial enclosure I got from HGR Industrial out of Ohio. So far I have mounted an old motherboard with a 1.3 ghz processor, 512 ram, a 40 gb hard drive and a power supply. I plan to get the stepper controllers mounted this week as well as a few other things.

My next step will be to mill the stepper motor mounts. This conversion might take me a little longer than some as I am new to machining and also I have to buy the parts as I go along, VERY limited budget. So far I have purchased the mill, the steppers, the stepper controllers, BOB, a machining vise, and various miscellaneous things. The going is slow because everything I have bought I paid for with money from donating plasma.

If anyone has any comments, suggestions as this project unfolds, PLEASE chime in! As I said, I am a newbie, both in the machining world and the CNC world.

I hope you will enjoy this thread! I will update it as things progress.

[LeeWay]

It's looking great. The one suggestion I would have is to finish out that corner if this is where this machine will live. I would suggest using something like that siver backing stuff they use behind brick. Maybe chip board behind it. This will allow you to actually screw stuff to your wals where needed. It would help with any eventual chips and coolant spatters too.
Much easier to clean than open studs.
I look forward to seeing your progress.

[Teyber12]

nice work! i will follow this one. Mind if we ask what steppers, what controller, what psu et cetera? im interested.

Cheers

[firestorm1284]

Absolutely! I got most of the electronics from keling. I got the 640 in oz Nema 34 for the Z and 387 in oz steppers for the x and y. I got the KL-6050 controllers for the X and Y and the KL-8078 for the Z (I needed the higher amperage). I will be making my own PS with an Antek transformer. I also got a bunch of miscellaneous electronics, limit switches, limit switch board, capacitors for the psu and a few other extras from Hubbard CNC on ebay.

I am going to attach a copy of an excel spreadsheet, which lists everything I have bought (and a few things I plan on buying), their cost, tax and shipping listed. It may be helpful for new people just starting out their builds as a kind of "check list" and also to see what I am using.

[Crevice Reamer]

A nice start and great pics. Keep them coming.

MY! That's a strong bench--Looks like it could hold a bridgeport.

Don't forget to get some protective oil onto everything you cleaned so it doesn't start to rust.

CR.

[caleb105]

Don't forget to get some protective oil onto everything you cleaned so it doesn't start to rust.

CR.

I'm clueless about this stuff. Got a specific brand?

Also, it seems like the sides of the column had a bid of black grease (different than the protective red slathered everywhere). Should I re-grease the column? Didn't someone here polish theirs?

Thanks!

-Caleb105-

[Crevice Reamer]

Just buy a bottle of Mobil one synthetic engine oil to fill your plastic bottle with. If you want to use grease, then something like lubriplate is good.

CR.

[Matt McColley]

Nice job....
I'll be watching with interest as I am in the same boat.....
your bench looks solid as a rock!

I'd like to know why you chose to mount all the computer guts inside the NEMA cabinent instead of just keeping it all in a PC tower. Seems like a lot of extra work. Is there an advatage to it?

[cadmonkey]

Fogging oil also is good for short term open-air protection. I use a Rustlick product for extended duration protection as I encountered a rusting problem after an extended period of non-use and an unseasonably warm winter day when the roommate left the shop door open and the warm winter air (oxymoron but hey that's Ohio) condensed on the ice-cold mill. I don't recall the Rustlick number offhand.

[firestorm1284]

Thanks everyone for the interest! Just to answer a few quick questions -

LeeWay - Yes, I know I need to close that in . It is in my basement and its a room that I have been remodeling, but haven't finished yet. It's actually not where I plan on permanently having this, and the room will be drywalled so I think I'm just going to leave it as is for now. Thanks for the suggestion though, as I'm SURE you are correct about it being a huge pain!

CR and Cadmonkey- Thanks for the input! I did put a silicone spray on it. The can says that it lubricates and inhibits rust. Do you guys know if this will work over the long term?

Matt - I don't think that there is necessarily an advantage to it. In fact, some may say there is a disadvantage in that it may get hot in there. (I am going to use computer fans to prevent this.) There are a few reasons why I decided to do it though. I knew I was going to have the enclosure anyway, for the rest of the electronics. I figured that since it was going to be mounted on the bench anyway, I might as well see if I can get everything in there to save space. Also, this is a sealed enclosure, so no coolant or chips can get in by accident. Also, I feel like it will just look cooler to have all the guts in one enclosure vs. having two enclosures. Plus, it is a little bit of a challenge. And.. I like challenges!

Thanks everyone for the comments on the bench as well! In case anyone WAS wondering it IS solid as a rock, and probably COULD support a bridgebort! As i'm sure anyone can see from the pics it is a series of 5 vertical 2x4 support structures coupled with 2x6 cross pieces in all four corners and then just to stiffen it up REALLY tight and to finish it off, I enclosed it in 3/4" plywood and put a laminate top on it. It really seems to be working out GREAT so far.

[cjdavis618]

Glad to see you getting started with this fine X3.

I second what leeway said about the swarf though. I would at least put some visqueen or something around the wall to keep the chips from getting behind, and more importantly into the power socket.

That stuff will get in places you never knew you had. What is worse, my wife hates when I mill because I am constantly bringing swarf in on my shoes. And my mill is completely enclosed, the only swarf I deal with is cleaning the part of. This stuff can get real messy.

Base looks good so you should have no trouble with machining.

What software are you using for design and cam?

[firestorm1284]

Hmm.. well maybe I will have to address the stud walls, at least as a temporary solution. Maybe put up some plywood. I guess I can always take it down later. That is good info, as I don't have much experience with milling.

BTW, what is SWARF?

As far as software goes, I have a copy of Autocad and Solidworks for the design, Mastercam for the CAM software and Mach 3 for the controller software.