Solsylva V bearing Expansion ideas and questions.

[keastab]

Great!! 1/4 inch drill bit?

yep, works great, use cutting oil and go slow to get the same or close to the same hole location
I usually get 5 bolts drilled before I can't get the nut to go on the next one or it starts to cut through the shank ruining the bolt.

[manofmanyhats]

The machine looks great!

What are you using for electronics?

[keastab]

The machine looks great!

What are you using for electronics?

Thanks

I'll be using a gecko G540 and (3) 3/8th shaft steppers for the X and Y axis and 1 1/4" shaft stepper for the Z. I'll be adding limit switches on all corners and E stops with resume/reset buttons also, if I can figure out how to wire them up on diagonal corners.

the machine basic setup is complete, Vacuum and other stuff still needs to be done. it is the fiddly stuff that will take me a bit of figuring out how/what I need to do.

[fretman_2]

Awesome...thanks!!!!

yep, works great, use cutting oil and go slow to get the same or close to the same hole location
I usually get 5 bolts drilled before I can't get the nut to go on the next one or it starts to cut through the shank ruining the bolt.

[keastab]

Just a little bit more done today . I'm trying to get it going but want to make it look decent and have a good wire routing system in place. so far I have a 3.5 " tray tacked into place to test if my cable carrier(if they ever come in) will fit the carriers. I have 1 Z limit switch mounted but I might have to make a block to mount it on to stay out of the way of the wires. here is some pic's of the wheels that I put on to move it into position and then use the leveling feet to align everything.
offsetting the wheels since the top of the piece will receive a cross brace for a lower shelf.


spin the legs up and it rolls, lower the feet down and it's stable,I love it!


my mail cable carrier tray, Hope it's wide enough. now to find one for the Z axis and router cable.

[keastab]

more done today.
top larger shelf welded in place and pieces cut for the smaller flat storage shelf going right over the wheels. both trays for my cable carriers are on and in place. My cabling came in for the stepper motors and I just got the E packet for my limit/home switches. I'm still waiting on my shielded wire for the limit switches and E-stop buttons

but it feels like I'm making progress (slowly)

[keastab]

Working in the garage since it's rainy and can't get outside to work, so I decided to cut down the trays and for my cable carrier to the axis that need it

X axis cable carrier tray mounted and shortened to let cable go into the electronic box



I still need to get some strain relief/hold down ties to screw into the cables in this area.


Y axis works as is but I will want to round the edges off so that the cables don't rub or get sliced.


before it was bolted down and set for length,


made some quickie limit switch carriers that are easier ti adjust with my fat fingers



getting ready to mount the switches and solder the wires on.

[manofmanyhats]

I need to do a better job of wire management like you did. I keep my machine in a plastic sheet enclosure to minimize dust in basement and wind up having a bird's nest of wires coming out from under the enclosure.

Are you going to use all of those limit switches? I noticed that cnc router parts uses limit switches on both sides of their long axis in order to compensate for any racking of the gantry. I didn't think of doing that before, but it seems like a neat idea. I haven't noticed any racking on my smaller machine, but I haven't looked for it either. I'm also at the limit switch phase.

[keastab]

Thanks for the compliment on the wiring (you should see my first one, birds nest ain't the word) if I did not do it while I was building it I would have a huge mess of wires and a moving machine,that is why I did it this way from the beginning of the build. I'm really bad about that so it had to be done before I got it moving.

I'm using most of them (3) on the X/A axis(hmm might wire 4 (1) on each corner), (2) on Y and (1) on the Z. I just made 1 of the holders without adjustments to jig up the hole pattern for placement. since I want them in an out of the way place so my shielded wire doesn't get run over by the cable carrier. The E-stops will run through the larger top tube and be placed on all 4 corners. There were a couple of times I had to run around half the old machine to hit the E-stop and if one had been closer I'd have saved the work.... so 4 corners and a bit more wiring plus an extra 20.00 for safety is not too bad since I just lost a nice slab of teak when I lost a X axis long belt on the old machine. And that fiasco convinced me to build this machine with smaller belts,better alignment,more precise, not as flexible and "Faster". it should be all of those things and more hopefully. I need to go to the hardware store and get some cable clamps for the limit switch wiring and to channel the top curved wires between the two cable carrier and the electronic box holes cut for the G540 and power supply mounted by Monday and then see some calibrations going on. yahoo Movement! oh and then take it apart to paint $%#@#$%@.

[keastab]

I just got done removing the G540 from the old machine and am in the process of setting up the new one. (I can always add it back if I need to cut a part for this one) I still need to mount and wire up my limits, E-stops and add a (2) fans to the enclosure along with running a 12v wall wart and 120v into it somewhere for the router. No relays on this one since I got a small enclosure, but I might add another box just for that if I decide I need to automatically turn on the router instead of switching it on and off.

basic layup started


I really have to figure out where to coil up the stepper motor cable. they are a mess and will be in the way.


e-stop temped in to check that I have enough room. (1) down 3 to go!


I'm mounting 2 fans in the door to evacuate the enclosure with a filter on a bottom cutout grid. I also have a small grooved piece of aluminum that will stick to the bottom of the G540 and extend into the air for extra cooling. waiting on the thermal adhesive to come in.



and yeah it's tight.

[keastab]

More done today!

it's going yellow!
Got my valves in for the 3 zones. now to plumb it (dang, it is upside down again!)



starting to color it "yellow"



keyboard, monitor and CPU tray made and mounted!




now to get the final 2 coats to cover all my missing . I need to finish the alignment tap the holes and take it all the way apart to finish painting.

[keastab]

I made some progress this week in getting the cnc running. I am currently working on the Vacuum piping and hope to finish getting it plumbed this weekend coming up. I used the new CNC to cut the holes and recesses for the pipes ... dang it's 10 times faster at least than the original CNC since the max was 35units VS 400 right now and it will go faster(but I'm chicken to try)



the pipe that will be glued together and installed in the recessed hole.



installed for a test to see how everything fits (might have to file the top a bit)


3 zones with 2 sections per zone or 6 zones if you want to get technical

this is the grid pattern I'll be doing after I take the pipes back out to glue them up.


I realized after I took the picture that the pipes were UPSIDE down (duh). I have fixed it and installed crossover pipes to the zones.

[manofmanyhats]

Looking great! Would love to see some video of it running.

[keastab]

here is the first test cutting of it ( short video and thumb in the way in some of it ) but it's cutting and quiet (fast too!)
https://www.facebook.com/kurt.eastab...06392366033324

[keastab]

well. I'm getting things done (slower than I want) but I'm making forward progress. got the vacuum grid cut, the grid sealed with white glue and the pipes glued together for the vacuum system. dang it's starting to look like a real CNC. I still have to permanently add support brackets for the vacuum pipes on the side of the table, skin the bleeder board and silicone it and the tops of the pipes in the vacuum grid but it does hold down the bleeder board when I hook up a little shop vac to the pipes.
there is a 39.5" x 60" cutting area on this machine which is almost double the size of my old one! ohh and did I say faster too!


https://www.facebook.com/kurt.eastab...6531454769805/
cutting the vacuum grid



sealing the grid



working with the pipes and gluing things together



pipes installed and tightened.



main valves on!


bleeder board laid on top and getting ready to skim cut it so it can breathe!

got tired and will have to wait till this weekend to finish up the cuts. but so far it looks good (after I lock tighted every set screw I had already installed had backed out one by one)(