Crazy Canadian 1st build 34" x 60" steel

[archer3d]

It has finally come that I must stop lurking and start building. I have been following you all here for more than a year now, And I have to thank everyone who has contributed to these forums. The willingness to share knowledge is amazing, and greatly appreciated.

As for the machine I am planning it will be 34" x 60" +-, that is the size of a steel frame table that I acquired, this will fit what I want to do with the machine, rc airplane parts and cabinet door engraving. It must be able to handle a foam sheet 28" x 40" a 6" Z would be good. The material I am planning to cut is pretty much standard, foam, plywood, MDF, and aluminum.

I bought a HobbyCnC board about a year ago It has been soldered together and tested, I am planning to use Mach3 with a dedicated P4 computer to run it.

I have 3 small stepper motors the tag on them says Howard IND, P/N 1-19-4200,12.0V DC 3.6degrees, I am hoping that with some proper gearing they will be strong enough, I am not looking for fast speeds, more for repeatable accuracy.

I am planning belt drive for the X & Y Axis and 3/4" threaded rod for the Z, similar to Planekrazie's On to CNC #2 5'x4' Foot Print

I acquired a couple of pieces of new equipment to help me build this thing. I know you all like CnC Porn so I will try to provide as many pictures of my progress as possible for starters here is the new equipment being offloaded and set up in my shop

This will not be a fast build I am hoping to see chips flying within 4 months, thank you for staying with me

archer3d

[archer3d]

I purchased the bearings last night on ebay, 100 x 608zz . I was impressed only $12 to ship them from California . These are going to be used in the carriages.

I am going to make them similar to Ahren's http://www.cncrouterparts.com
only i will use steel instead of aluminum. They will run on 3/8" cold rolled plates.

the x carriage will be 12" long with an extra set of bearings in the middle, this should give me good stability for the Y gantry

I do have a tendency to overbuild things sometimes so if you see me getting to extreme Please say something, I am open to all criticism. This is a learning thing for all of us.

Archer3d

[Jesse B]

Those motors appear to be quite weak and have quite course resolution at 3.6* per step. For a table that size, you're definitely gonna need some significantly bigger motors.

[archer3d]

I finally had some time to work on the machine. Brother in law got the mill all trued up to within 1/2 thou . He tested it out by boring out some weld repairs on a bell housing for a buddies race car.

Tomorrow morning I am going to cut some key-way slots to be able to set the vise up easier. You can see the vise set up for cutting in the pic.

I acquired a small piece of aluminum that would be great to make the bearing carriages out of. Of course it is too big for my little band-saw to cut so I had to use the table saw. worked great a little wasteful.

Sunday I will cut the key-way and then face the carriages and get them all trued up and square. the bearing have been ordered and left California last Tues. We will see how long it takes to get here, they said 7 - 21 days hmmmm.

I will post some more pic's tomorrow maybe a video of the facing if I can figure out to do that here.

archer3d

[DIYaholic]

archer3d,
Nice chunk (now chunks) of aluminum! I look forward to watching your progress. Keep Posts & Pics coming (and I hope you learn how to upload your video)! Soon you will be making chips fly, with your very own CNC machine (much more fun than creating chips using the table saw).

Randy,

[archer3d]

archer3d,
Nice chunk (now chunks) of aluminum! I look forward to watching your progress. Keep Posts & Pics coming (and I hope you learn how to upload your video)! Soon you will be making chips fly, with your very own CNC machine (much more fun than creating chips using the table saw).

Randy,

more fun and uch more accurate

[archer3d]

On to day 2 of no smoking. I've made it through day one without killing anything
the wife was supposed to quit with me but she wimped. mind you I am using the patch and she tried cold turkey. so now I am off to the garage to keep my hands going
"dear have you seen the keys to my gun cabinet "

archer3d

[DIYaholic]

archer3d,
Congrats on "Day 2"!
You are probably over the hump as far as the need to smoke (while using patches), it is now about getting over the physical habit of lighting up. Changing your routine is one of the keys to successfully quiting. Keeping yourself busy is the best thing you can do. I have used the patch, my problem was I ran out in the middle of the program and bought a pack of smokes instead of the next "Step" of patches. My advise is to be sure to have as many patches readily available (if not all patches for the complete program available).
Now, get back to building your machine. I need updates with pictures!!!

Randy,

[archer3d]

Thanks for the encouragement

Why does news always come in both good and bad. Got the vice set up and dialed in surfaced all the edges true. started surfacing the aluminum blocks got 1 done completely, took some nice pic and video (forgot the camera in the garage duh) 3/4 of the way trough the second one we blow a fuse in the phase converter replace it and the 2 minutes later blow another. of course that was the last fuse we had on hand. so now I have to go out tomorrow get some more fuses and then start trouble shooting why it blew them in the first place

On a good note though I didn't have a smokeand my vocabulary is increasing

archer3d

[Jesse B]

Thanks for the encouragement

Why does news always come in both good and bad. Got the vice set up and dialed in surfaced all the edges true. started surfacing the aluminum blocks got 1 done completely, took some nice pic and video (forgot the camera in the garage duh) 3/4 of the way trough the second one we blow a fuse in the phase converter replace it and the 2 minutes later blow another. of course that was the last fuse we had on hand. so now I have to go out tomorrow get some more fuses and then start trouble shooting why it blew them in the first place

On a good note though I didn't have a smokeand my vocabulary is increasing

archer3d

Stupid fuses, always ruining everything At least you're making some progress though

Congratulations on your not smoking. I know how difficult it is to quit (I've been trying to convince my dad since before I can remember :P). Good on ya.

[archer3d]

I replaced the 30 amp fused disconnect with a 30 amp circuit breaker and fired up the phase inverter .... holy c.... this thing draws 28 amps no wonder it started blowing 30 amp fuses. back to the store and got a 40 amp breaker now all is running fine and within spec.

I finished up surfacing the blocks that will become my carriages when the bearings arrive hopefully this week or early next.

For some reason I am unable to upload any pics tonight I will try again in the morning

archer3d

[archer3d]

here are a couple of pics showing the facing and the plates, Lots of big chips

Archer3d