New Member: Nige Weeks

[nweeks]

Hi All!

I'm from Burnie, Tasmania, Australia.

I'm an A-grade sparky, qualified Instrument Mechanic, and have a degree in Applied computing(programming, basically).

I've been into robotics for many years, and tutored it at university, and recently discovered this site.

I've been collecting a few stepper motors, small servo's and have always planned to build a CNC machine.

But now the possibilities are becoming real.

I'm about to move into a house with a nice garage, where I hope to build a small CNC to begin with, gaining experience as I go.

Also, some very nice gear has become available to use as components for this build:
1x linear rail(extruded aluminium, belt drive), with a slidinig truck on it, driven by a servo motor with an optical encoder on the back. This rail is about 4 meters long

1x linear rail, as above, but about 2 meters long

2x servo operated lifting arms, bolted to each truck, with beautiful planetary gearboxes. No detectable backlash in the linkages or gearboxes.

2x 1.8m precision linear rails with acme drivethreads, again with servo+encoder drive.
about 8 stepper motors, all identical, and looks like bipolar motors
8 or so stepper drivers (similar to Gecko drives, but I can't remember the brand)
2x 1watt lasers, with fibre delivery to the lasing head
and the list continues...

Basically I'm going to collect it all, then take some photos, and upload them, and get some people's opinions...

...And somehow keep the wife happy, while quickly filling the shed with 'junk', as she calls it...

Hope to have some real info soon!
Nige.