New Obsession....

[Moondog]

At the moment I am CNC obsessed. Even wake up in the middle of the night with an idea.... I suppose I'm not too different from most people on this forum. How did I get inflicted with this CNC disease..lol..

The symptoms started some months ago. Firstly my main interest and passion is building wooden boats and there it started.

i had a design commisioned ( http://dixdesign.com/ch21.htm )that I started building last year. Earlier this year I secured the rights to produce Kits for this design. I then started on my quest to find someone with a CNC here in Australia to cut the kits for me. There a plenty of people with machines, however they were not interested, too busy or couldn't be bothered talking.

I then looked at the idea of purchasing a machine, too expensive in australia (starting $50k+) so I looked at the various US machines such as Shopbot, Shop Sabre etc. To land one here in australia was going to cost around the $20k. Too much for a small part time business.

Then Dave from CNC Teknix informed of this site (thanks Dave) and from reading the posts etc and meeting some wonderfully helpful people such as Ynneb I thought' I can do this'... Being a hands on type I believe this is achievable.

I looked at the plans/designs available, liked some elements from each and from doing research have decided to build my own. It's not rocket science (well, maybe the electrics )

Now 10 designs later I am happy enough to put metal to the grinder. When I put my pencil sketches into a form that is presentable I'll start posting them.

Basic machine details.

Table will be 3000mm * 1650mm to enable cutting of 2440*1220 sheets of marine ply. Base made from 100*100 steel channel with adjustable feet. MDF table.

3 axis with moving gantry also from steel (Ynneb please note.. ).

Reliance Servo motors and Rutex drives. Mach 2 software.

X Axis will be belt drive both sides driven through enclosed drive system located inside gantry.

Y & Z axis at this stage will be Lead Srews (1", 5/8"). Y axis motor located inside the gantry.

Seriously looking at the Drylin Linear Slide System www.igus.com for all axis.

The building all starts next week. I'll try and keep this log updated and hopefully include some photos of the progress.

cheers

[ynneb]

Great introduction Moondog. You have given us a good background.

Yes do post lots of pictures. Post all your successes and your failures along the way.
Post pictures of even insignificant things to do with your machine. Everyone here just loves pics.

If you find that you don't get lots of responses in this thread, don't lose heart, you can be assured that there will be a multitude watching you. Just note the views to your thread increase with every post you make.

Good luck mate.


EDIT: Oh and I like your thread title. "Obsession" is definitely the correct description.

[sixpence]

Obsession is where it all starts !
Beware before you know it you will "start" suffering from "bipolar" disorder. If you are lucky it will only be "unipolar".Embarking on this "rout" could "lead" to a downhill "slide". You will feel as if you have gone off the "rails" at times.When you have lost your "bearings" return to the zone and they will help you return to the right "path". Somedays it will be so bad it will feel as if the world has conspired to "backlash" against you personally. You may be "screwed" and pay too much for something to such a "degree" that you will really feel as if you are going "nuts".Maybe you now understand how what started off as an obsession could "lead" to a mental disorder reaching a fever "pitch".
Not to worry soon you will be "motoring" along happily,even though slightly mentally "misaligned".

[Moondog]

Thanks for your 'medical diagnosis' Sixpence. I'll pray that I don't get all of the symptoms you described.. ..my workcover won't cover me for that..

Pick up the steel for the bench tomorrow. Size has been increased to 3100 * 1700mm.

Ordered my Rutex R990H2 drives and the Servos are on their way from the US.

Also ordered the Drylin T Linear guides last week and they should arrive within a few days plus the ball srews should be here as well.

There will be lots of deliveries to my house this week, it's just like Xmas..

Still trying to sort out my Power Supply.

I have a full 2 weeks off to get this machine happening. Don't know how much I'll achieve in the 2 weeks. I guess there will always be something that doesn't go according to plan, that's how we learn. A saying that I apply to my business and personal life ' There are never problems....only solutions'...

I will get some pics of the progress. I look froward to sharing my project and I would like to thank everyone in advance for their help along the way.

Cheers

[Moondog]

Update.

Finished building the table. Overall took about 8 hours with the help of a friend. This thing weighs a ton.. al least 500lb without any MDF etc.

Still waiting on my servos to arrive (geez airmail is slow)

Received my Z rails and bearings. X & Y are on order from Germany and should arrive 3 days or so.

Completed most of my electrics except for the DC power supply (Ynneb ) .

Will post a number of pics in the next day or so when my friend copies them to disk for me.

Attached is a drawing of the Gantry setup (side view) and this week I'll start fabricating the Y & Z axis.

The goal this week is to totally finish the bench (painting etc) in readiness to start fabricating the gantry next weekend.

This is fun.. what better way to spend your 2 week vacation...

cheers

[Moondog]

Picked up this transformer for A$27.00. It is a transformer from 240VAC to 115V?. Not sure if it is AC/DC. The guy used it to run a battery charger.

I figured at that price I can't go wrong. If its DC it will run the servos, if its AC I can use it to power a router?...

Ynneb, don't stop with that PS quote.... I may need it.

cheers

[Moondog]

Another pic of the transformer

[Bloy2004]

hmmm ...I think you have a good 115 AC power source when you only have 230-240AC available.
When you rectify that you will have about160VDC. ...with only 150VA rating, you also might/will need a transformer with higher amp ratings.

If you apply 115VAC to the primary 240VAC, you will be outputting roughly 57VAC, rectified would be 79VDC(or so), but very limited in amps. I don't know your full needs yet, but I suspect this transformer will fall short of them.

..anyone. correct me if my overview is wrong.

[Moondog]

Thanks Bloy

The tranformer is 240AC in and 115V output?.. is the output AC or DC? and what amperage is that?

[ynneb]

Moon dog it is only 1.5 amps.
I will still order the other tranny for you.

You need 20 amps

[Moondog]

The following are some pics of the Rutex Drivers, motherboard and 1 Limit Switch (other 2 on back order). Also a 24VDC PS for the drives and Limit Switches.

I obtained a secondhand switch cabinet that also had an Insulated Board which I have used to mount the drives etc. The cabinet will also have a 120mm filtered fan.

[Moondog]

This is the pile of steel at 10..am Sat morning.