Nevermind a 25hr day i need a 25month year

[robe_uk]

Hi All

Handsup who starts a machine and never gets it finished

Well my first machine I started in this thread
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...9&page=3&pp=15

is dead

I never could get a solution to the flex in the x-axis that was holding me up.

Well after getting some C-section steel at work and buying a cheap welder I got back to work and finally made my cnc router. Yiippe

I have posted some pictures of it (althrough not good ones)

[robe_uk]

A few more pics and also of the first cut made with the machine, the lady G-code was downloaded from this site (santiniuk had it, Thanks)
I used Turbocnc to control but find the start stop for each step very slow, 16 min to do this cut. Although it is 8mm threaded stainless rod I am using as lead screws.

[matsuura]

nice job!

[robe_uk]

The x-axis which killed off my first machine i used 25mm bright steel solid bar, I drilled and tapped holes (not all the way through)at intervals along the bar.
Then I used threaded rod thread locked into the holes which I mounted onto C-ssection which then provides full lenght support.
I put two nuts between the bar and C-section so I can adjust the rail. The threaded rod goes throught the c-section and is held inplace with another nut.

Hope the quick sketch give the idea, I also used the same method with the Y-axis.

[robe_uk]

thanks matsuura, that was a quick replay

[robe_uk]

ok, now I have my rail problem sorts I needed a bearing carrier to run on them.
I didnt like the way i used angle al to hold the bearings onto the rails on my first machine as i had to much flex and movement, so i got angle iron and fired up the welder to make my carrier.

Below another rough pic, refer to pic #2 above.

I have the top bearing directly on top of the rail the carry the weight of the gantery. The bearing is held on thread bar (love the stuff) and the bar supports a piece of angle which in turn carrys the gantery

[robe_uk]

as can be seen from pic #6 i decided to use dual screws on the x-axis to avoid racking when cutting at different positions on the y-axis.
MDF came in handy to make the bearing/motor mount simply because of the ease of use ( i was start to lose motivation again so quick progress of mdf was a quick pick-me-up)

Oh the controllers are PISTEP, fantastic work http://www.fromorbit.com/projects/picstep/

after I made the first board last year I thought it would easy to make the others, but as things never work out quite right the first few boards I exposed to UV once I put them into the devloper the resist washed off
But none the less I got four made in total,one spare or maybe another axis.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by robe_uk Hi All Handsup who starts a machine and never gets it finished

[Madclicker]

Originally Posted by ger21

Gerry,

You may not have finished yet, but I'm sure your work laid foundation for many others. I know I drew from it. That said, I don't think a diy router gets finished. I keep improving mine. Maybe a better milestone would be when it starts working properly.....or when it starts making money?

[robe_uk]

Originally Posted by Madclicker That said, I don't think a diy router gets finished. I keep improving mine. Maybe a better milestone would be when it starts working properly.....or when it starts making money?

I agree totally, I know I have a lot of work to do yet,
tiding the wiring
limit switches
fine tuning the setup moement.......

the list goes on and on ........

And I ready see things that ''if i was doing that again i would do this or that..''
I think these things have a life of their own and evolve

I only hope it makes money to pay for its own upgrades lol..

[robe_uk]

As usual things never move to much with me but one thing I did do was put together a PC suitable for MACH3
1.6GHz P4 512MB RAM with windows XP installed.
I downloaded MACH3 and retried the above girl g-code and it took less than 4 minutes which makes it 4 times faster than TCNC for this code. Made me really happy
Still loads of work to do, but I'll get there

Rob

[Mike F]

Rob,

I know the feeling - I started my build two years ago and not finished it yet!! At least you've got as far as cutting something. Maybe it's something the Brits have in their blood that makes us slower, or maybe it's that we, as a Nation, work the longest hours and therefore have less time

Let''s keep going together - we'll finish sometime.

Mike