Moving Table Router: MDF contruction but stout

[mark9407]

grate pdf on the cnc there bradodarb.
trying to get plands to build a cnc for the first time some one have know were some free plands are for i NEW BE.



thank you mark

[bradodarb]

I have to believe that there are probably not too many people who would bother going thru an MDF build like this one(there are a lot more simple designs here in the zone that perform really well for their given task).

But plans were mentioned, and if nothing else this will give you a good idea of the work envelope you will be looking at with a moving table machine using one of those $500.00 thompson guide/ balsscrew sets from ebay.


Going home tomorrow to bolt on some plate!

[bradodarb]

Well, as it turns out building a machine from scratch is a lot of work! Even though I had plates made, it was no small tsk engineering it so all parts fit (and re-engineering it when it did not the first time....).

Plus there were a lot of other things to make. I could not just leave the frame as it got heavier and heavier sitting on my saw horses.

Naturally I had a perfect 1/4" wall welded base before I moved and thought I should scrap it so I wound up building a new base (1/16" wall this time but should be OK). I'm gonna save the invoice for the metal so next time the wife tells me I dont need something anymore I can remind her . At any rate, its nice to have a purpose built base that fits just right I suppose.

Since the actual machine will be black truckbed liner and aluminum plate, I decided to flap wheel the base and paint it with some clear enamel. I welded in some tabs so I can bolt in some black melamine later.

[bradodarb]

Another thing I mismanaged in the time budget was the electrics. Luckily for me I have been hoarding parts from this and that for years so it was not too bad on the other budget.

Just preparing to wire a panel cleanly took a lot more layout than I thought. I am trying to house EVERYTHING in one panel so it was especially tricky to fit things together in a way that will still allow good ait flow(I hope). The cab is fairly deep and a 15" Avantech touchscreen will be mounted. There is a 100cfm fan pulling air from the bottom about in- line with the drives and two 5" exhaust holes at the top right near the power supply. I hope that will keep things cool here in the desert.

Anyone that knows anything about cooling please feel free to let me know good, bad or otherwise.

My brother and I found some nice surplus heat sinks(I think old telecom stuff) from the local scrap yard. Those are mounted on some 5" angle brackets in an attempt to allow good air flow through the drives.

[bradodarb]

I bought an M400 usb 4 axis controller from Micro-Kinetics about a year ago. The reason I went with it (rather than a nice parallel board + mach/emc) is you can communicate simple IO and axis commands to it directly and it also has high stepper sample rate.

The main purpose for this machine aside from the obvious(making parts) is for me to have a development testbed for my machine control software. This controller allows fits the bill, I should just need to implement new axis, axisgroup and IO objects for the hardware and my existing software will be ready to rock.


ramble ramble .... I'll save software for a different forum


The M400 has an optional enclosure with switches and connectors, etc... but it looks a little light duty for what I want( like sherline styles ).

The only other option was bare circuit boards. I really wanted it to e a DIN rail mount, so I cut up some polycarb I had laying around and hacked some DIN rail spacers and wound up with a clean install.

[bradodarb]

You would think that after enough decades go by, they would get it..... For the most part I have been pretty happy with the whole shebang, but when I went to bolt the rails to the plates I got a little frustrated.

When I designed my plates, I measured the hole spacing of each guide length and found it to be 150mm. I bored additional holes to get the pitch down to 75mm and I marked the holes as 75mm from each of their existing 150mm holes.

I did all this because I made the assumption that these original holes were drilled by some sort of machine.... Not so I'm afraid, the original holes were all over the place(+- 4mm) and consequently my incremental holes were off as well. I had to do all manner of re-boring, reaming and filing to get things to fit. Turned a 30 minute job into a 3 hour tour.

After the frustration turned into anger and maybe a few slurs I actually felt good about it. It made me feel a lot better to know that if we ever went to war with them they would not stand a chance. I just can't help but see a vision of one of them making weapon parts in some dirt floored hut with one of their own machines.

I guess I should take the zen approach and thank them for teaching me how to deal with such problems.


Overall good value for the combo rail/ballscrew kits you see on Ebay, but just be careful

[Mountaincraft]

This is turning into a really sweet looking machine!

[bradodarb]

Thanks MountainCraft, I sure could use the work envelope yous has. Have you ben your to your will yet?

[bradodarb]

One of the first things I purchased for this build was the controller about a year ago.(M400 from MicroKinetics(MK)).

I thought I would be able to develop libraries for it in my software by the time I got the physical stuff built.

As I have said before the main reason for buying this one instead of a nice parallel breakout + Mach was so I could have a development platform for my software and also try out things for work. A few months after I purchased it I started stumbling across posts here that held MK in a very negative light.

I know sometimes things get misunderstood, so I kept moving forward and gave MK the benefit of the doubt. Did not really have a choice as I was already into them for about 350$ between the M400 and it's little breakout board.

So this weekend I finally got everything wired up in the cabinet and was feverish to get some family functions out of the way so I could finally make some motion.

Powered up the panel in my office with a single motor hooked up to play with.


Power supplies - Green light...
Gecko's - Red boot light then green.... looking good, no smoke thus far

Heard the motor coil energize and the shaft was locked.....


Where the hell is the green light on the M400??!!

I thought maybe it just needed the USB connection to boot, so I connnected it to a laptop that has their software loaded(MillMaster Pro).

Go to jog and I get the device not connected error. WTF


Test for power and I have 5v on the plug...... jiggling brings no green light.


Call tech support this morning( I think only calling works as I asked a communcations protocol question about 3 weeks ago and never got so much as a "hey you- piss off")


Talked to Norm over there and he was generaly helpful and seemed to have the patient demeanor of someone who deals with all sorts of basic technical support questions from the educational markets they serve.


I verified that though the pin-out diagram shows 12V pins in addition to the 5V pins that they are not used. They should be labeled NC, but they are apparently in place for future daughter board use...

I also had him check that the other pins are labeled correctly. One thing to note... the Pin labled "Ground" is actually -5v, not actually ground.......

He also stated that sometimes the LED does not work, so try connecting to it anyhow.


After verifying that I was in fact screwed I call him back to see what my options were:


1 send back card, if undamaged, it only costs me $50 bucks plus shipping(total around $75)

2 send back card, if minimally damaged I will only need to pay the above charges plus half the cost of a new board(total around $220)

3 send back card and if it is really bad I will need to pruchase a brand new card($289 + the charges from #1..... total around $350!!!!!)



I explained to him that while I am not an electrical engineer, I do work for a machine tool manufacturer and I can read a diagram. Without too many words he made it clear that I was not going to get another option from the above 3. I think should still be under warranty, but I'm not going to take the risk.


Buyer beware!!, not only is this an apparently flawed controller(search for "do not use microkinetics for plasma") but they are not prepared to support their warrantied products without gouging you.


Its a real pisser when you are near that point of getting some axis action and a product is a defect.

Really hard to take when your brother paid a third of the cost for a parallel BOB setup and is ready to cut parts.....


So long MK, I'm sure you'll die someday with product support like this

[bradodarb]

Maybe MK dying on me is for the best.... I stumble on the Kflop dynomotion card last night - and WOW!


Anyone using this card, the specs are outrageous, plus you can run C programs intermixed with RS274!!!!!!

And it can run with MACH until I get it dialed in with my software.



Anyone seen one of these in action let me know!

[Mountaincraft]

Thanks MountainCraft, I sure could use the work envelope yous has. Have you ben your to your will yet?

Not yet.. I basically took a few days away from it as I had family coming to visit, and had to do the spring cleaning thing before that...

I tried to cut out some parts again yesterday, and things came out all messed up.. Afterwards I noticed that the IJ mode in mach 3 was set to 'absolute' again... I don't know how or why it was switched back.. But that was what was causing things to be out of square before..

I'm feeling a little under the weather today (too much indulging this weekend)
, so I may or may not try again tonight...

But I got the replacement springs and shims and what not from cncrp, so once I get the new bases cut, I can install all that and see if it solves or helps the problems...

[mark9407]

well mr. bradodarb it looks grate from what i have seen


mark9407