Canuck's HD Metal Monster

[the_canuck]

HD Metal Monster is purpose designed for cutting AL wing molds for model airplane gliders. I wanted a machine that was compact and would still be able to cut at least 6 foot long molds out of AL accurately.

Here's my background: Since I don't post on CNC Zone very often, some of you may be interested. I'm a trained electrical engineer with little knowledge of metal working. I grew up on an Island off the east coast where my family has build fishing, sailing, and power boats for many generations. As a teenager I built my own row boat and grew up around the boat shop.

My first foray into CNC machines was a home build CNC Hot wire cutter. I learned a lot on that build. In fact 2 builds as the first attempt was abandoned. The second machine is still in production and has cut thousands of wing cores for my hobby business Canuck Engineering. Since I have a background in electronics I even designed and built the controller PCB assemblies from scratch using bi-polar drive circuit to drive Vextra Steppers.

Soon EPP foam plane design went by the wayside as I discovered higher performance glass and carbon gliders. Thoughts then went to some day having my own machine to cut molds. Inquiries to machine shops for molds was disappointing as the cost was far too prohibitive.

I decided I could build a machine for about the cost of 1 finished mold set and then build all the molds I wanted along with everything else. I made a decision to start down that path. I knew I had a lot to learn and still do.

First Step (3 years ago): Take basic milling class at local Community college. Next class was a G code class which was less useful but still needed if I want to understand G code well.

Next Step: (1 year ago): I started drawing up my plans and accumulating material. CNC Zone is a great resource for a newbie like me. After a couple of months I had a design and a living room full of materials. See picture. Who doesn't have 700lbs of steel in their living room.

Next Step: I joined the Club Workshop (Welcome to Club Workshop) in Denver to get access to their machine shop tools. 2 CNC mills, lathe, band saws, drill presses, welders, etc. I then took their CNC class to get certified and started learning CAM and making chips. I also moved my hobby business Canuck Engineering next door to the Club Workshop to have an excuse to be in Denver more often. (I currently live 80 miles away) The commute for work sucks buts its been worth it so far.

Basic Machine Stuff:
Chinese 2.2kw water cooled spindle
HIWIN linear bearings for all 3 axis purchased from www.automation-overstock.com.
700lbs of structural steel (all 1/4" wall)
AL bits are MIC6 3/4" and 1" plate
Machine cutting area 6' x 20" x 6"
Accuracy and Repeatability in the order of 0.001" is the goal.

All joints will be drilled, bolted, taper pinned, and Moglice similar to Madvac's legendary machine.

Electronics, 4x 7.2Nm Servos, Power Supplies purchased as a kit from DMM-tech.com

I'm planning on using Rack and Pinion for 2 axis with 2/1 reduction from cncrouterparts.com.

The z axis is a ground ball screw acquired of feebay.

Various tools, drill bits, taps, reamers, machinist level, straight edges, squares, etc. all had to be purchased.

Total budget plan is to stay under $10K. Profit from Canuck Engineering is funding the project as the machine will be used to expand the product line currently offered.

Actually first cuts and grinds started on 8/20.

I intend this thread to document the build from start to finish.

To be continued....

Andrew
Canuck Engineering |

[gurew]

damn thats a lot of steel in your living room!

[CNC Lurker]

Looks like it will be an interesting build, keep us posted.

[the_canuck]

More info on the DMM Technology router package:

Peak 7.2Nm(1015 OZ-In) high torque AC servo motor, 4 Axis CNC kit for MACH3

- 4 x Peak 7.2Nm(1015 Oz-In), rated 2.9Nm(408 Oz-In), Peak power 900W, AC servo motors
- 4 x Dyn2-H AC servo drives for very smooth, quiet, high efficient driving.
- 1 x DMB4250-8B breakout board, fully buffered Opto-isolated I/O, isolated PWM analog output
for spindle speed control,and charge pump. Hardware generated X secondary X' for CNC Gantry with
jump selectable motor turning direction.
- 1 x 6ft DB25 parallel port cable
- 1 x 6ft USB cable
- 3 x 120 or 220Vac input, 350w,+48Vdc, 7.3A output DC power supply
- 4 x 1ft cables between breakout board and drives
- 4 x 10ft differential signal encoder extension cable, 25ft cable available too
- 3 x inductive, non contact , LED indicated proximity Home/Limit Switches
- 1 x Emergency STOP Switch
- Necessary Cables, DMM software for tune up servo

I haven't tried to get the motors to rotate yet. I did notice the AC servo shaft size is larger 14MM than what the CNC Router Parts Nema 34 Rack and Pinion Drive CNCRouterParts is designed for (12.7MM shaft).

My plan is to bore out the pulley to fit the 14mm shaft. I have purchased a 14MM end mill of feebay to do the job.

[the_canuck]

HIWIN Linear bearing and Rail Data purchased from www.automation-overstock.com

Product ID: AGW15SB1TxxxxZ1H
Product Name: Combo, 15mm T Rail, 2 Bolt Flange Block, Specify Length
Quantity: 2
> Exact length (mm) : 370
--------------------------
Product ID: AGW15SBZ1H
Product Name: 15mm Bearing Block, 2 Bolt Flange, Thru Hole
Quantity: 2
--------------------------
Product ID: AGR15RxxxxH
Product Name: AG Linear Rail, 15mm, *specify length
Quantity: 2
> Exact length (mm) : 820
--------------------------
Product ID: AGW15CAZ1H
Product Name: 15mm Bearing Block, 4 Bolt Flange
Quantity: 4
--------------------------
Product ID: LGR20RxxxxH
Product Name: LG Linear Rail, 20mm, *specify length
Quantity: 2
> Exact length (mm) : 2130
--------------------------
Product ID: LGW20HAZ1H
Product Name: 20mm Bearing Block, Long Flange
Quantity: 4
--------------------------

Bearing blocks were chosen from those in stock at time of purchase.

[the_canuck]

Structural Steel Info:

All steel was purchased cut to size from a local metal and glass shop. It was a cold day in January when I picked up the lot in a Uhaul trailer.

Legs: 4" x 4" 1/4" wall
Long Axis: 2" x 6" 1/4" wall
cross beams and Gantry: 2" x 3" 1/4" wall
lower supports: 1" x 3" 1/8" wall

The reason for the 1/4" wall was to allow enough material to tap threads easily.

Club Workshop has a nice HD horizontal/vertical metal cutting band saw for any cuts I need to do. Plan before finding the workshop was to use a Harbour Freight bandsaw which was purchased but now is still in the original box as my shop is too small to have it taking up usable space.

Joints will consist of 2 - 4 hex bolts, 2 taper pins for alignment, and a home made mixture of West Systems epoxy, AL powder, and thickener if needed.

AL powder was found on feebay.
Most of the rest of the Hardware was also found on feebay including the taper pins.

Reamers, drill bits, and taps all found on feebay.

Machine feet also found on feebay. Bottom of the legs will have 1/2" welded steel plate tapped for the feet. I'm not a welder so this task I will have to get assistance from a local club workshop member. I have the plates cut to size after last nights build session. I will grind the cuts and drill and tap them before getting them welded.

One other note on tools. I picked up a Mag Drill off feebay for any drilling on the larger 2x6 steel parts. The smaller parts I'll use the mill in the workshop.

[the_canuck]

Some info on my shop.

The shop has moved several times in the last 5 years. Canuck Engineering was started in 2005 in the basement of my house at the time.

2 years later I moved it to a commercial rental space for 1 year while I was selling the first house.

I ended up trading houses with a friend and moved the shop into the basement of the new house (much smaller).

The latest move came 3 months ago to the Club Workshop Annex which just opened up.

I have approx. 175 Sq. feet of floor space. The shop is triangle shapped with lots of wall space for the amount of floor space. It's tiny compared to my other spaces but being next door to 16,000 Sq. feet of space I can use helps. I've also been forced to consolidate and store many of my tools, bulk material, and toys in an offsite storage facility. Move still isn't 100% done but the shop is usable as is. Shop is also used for an office. I have customers drop by to pick up orders and such. I have a couple shelves reserved for retail display of the smaller stuff.

The CNC Router will fit but I will also use it as a temporary build table when needed.

The pictures of the signs are some recent practice projects while learning the CAD, CAM, cutting process. The workshop has a ShopBot 5 x 8 wood router that runs on EMC2.

I have a full version of Rhino for CAD. I haven't purchased CAM software yet and am using Visual Mill at the workshop. The workshop uses EMC2 for all its CNC controls. I am still evaluating whither I'll use EMC2 or Mach3 for my machine.

I am working with the building electrician to run a 3 phase 208 drop to my space. This will be hooked to the VFD for the spindle.

[Arbo]

All right, I've been waiting on the build for this one. Will be watching as it goes along.

BTW, you might want to talk to hambone, I talked to him and was going to cut corian molds for some of his new stuff, but haven't heard from him in a while, and honestly lost interest. But it is certainly something you could do on the side when this thing is built.

[giz]

Can't wait to see progress on this. Reminds me a lot of this build:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/cnc_wo...ilt_steel.html

[the_canuck]

Can't wait to see progress on this. Reminds me a lot of this build:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/cnc_wo...ilt_steel.html

I wish I had access to a large surface plate. That would make this build a lot easier. I think getting my linear rails aligned will be the most annoying and time consuming part of the build.

[Mountaincraft]

Subscribed...

[the_canuck]

Drilled 40 holes today on the mill. Not a bad start to the drilling process.