My First CNC Machine, Mr. Chips

[Hobbiest]

Good out of the box thinking! My concerns would be; would too much flex be introduced to the router mount; what kind of a cutting head is that, and how is it so short; I think the rigidity of the gantry would be suspect, would be better IMO to have two beams, spaced apart. Keep going though, you're getting the progressive thinking idea! Doing good!

[anoel]

Remember that you are creating a longer "Lever" the further you put the cutting head out away from the Z plate. Too much and you'll bind your axis under cutting forces.
You're X travel is not really dictated by where your Z is located. (unless of course it hangs off the table at one end. ) It's dictated by the the size of the Gantry base. No matter where your spindle in located within the gantry's footprint, travel is the same as long as the Z is "within" the footprint. What you presented doesn't really gain you anything. But it does force you into having to make a really high gantry with a limited Z clearance. Which could be a poor trade off in gantry stability.

[High Seas]

Hager -
Just a thought here on the "economy" of scale so to speak. If you use 4 pieces of 80/20 (say 1515) vs 2 pieces of 1530, you'll be paying a bit more and not gaining a heck of a lot of increase in the mass moment of inertia (rigidity) - if the drawing is accurate. Just looking at Reid Tool prices - the 1515 is 54 cents, 1530 is 95 cents - saving you only 13 cents per inch for both upper and lower - but it all adds up. Now if you scrounged the rail already dumpster diving - GOOD ON YER MATE!
Jim

[Mr.Chips]

Thanks you all for comments, that's was what I was looking for.

Compressing the design in this manner didn't have any pros but several cons, so it's back to the drawing board.

The reason I was using 80-20 1515 was because I picked up ten pieces three feet long for seventy five centas a pound.

Still will try to work it into the design of the next machine, if it is practical.

Weathers been chilly here in Austin so not much headway in the garage workshop.
Hager

[Mr.Chips]

Here is a shot of the Z axis showing the alignment being measured.

[Mr.Chips]

It's all done and painted an oil base battle ship gray. Now just have to figure out the electrical connections and go for it. The electrical issues are what scare me. Have posted a question on the parallel interface between the PC and controllers.

I originally bought (3) XS-3525/8S-1 single axis controllers from Xylotex and (3) 116 oz/in stepper motors from them.

I see that the current 3 in one controller already has the parallel interface built into it. Does anyone know if it is optically isolated?

I’m pretty sure It would work with my existing steppers from Xylotex, if it won’t please let me know.

Thanks

[JLcnc]

silly question, but how do i start a thread, as you will have guessed this is my first time

[Mr.Chips]

Welcome to the CNCZone Forum.

This is THE place for CNC Want to be's, Beginners, and Experts.

Try the Icon "NEW THREAD" The system has recently been modified and I don't see this in places I used to. Just look around.

Good Luck

[JLcnc]

cant find that either, thanks for your reply

[Mr.Chips]

OK JL,
Here are a couple of screen shots.

Read both steps before you try it.

1st scroll to the top of this page and double click on the text shown in attached file Cnc1SML by the "A". (DIY-CNC Router Table Machines )

This will back up one screen.

2nd, now scroll down and you will see the new thread icon. This is shown in the 2nd file below.

Good Luck

He He

[Mr.Chips]

Here is a photo of my machine I started three years ago, but ran into electrical connection problems that I could not get answers to so I stopped in frustration.
Last week I decided to give it another try and this time I got help from people that was in simple newbie terms that I could understand, so now I’m back at it.
Thanks to the CNCZone members!

Hager

[project5k]

hey, thats what were here for... sharing ideas and info

[wcarrothers1]

Letting a machine like that sit for 3+ years..

Shame on you..

b.

[Mr.Chips]

It won't be long now!

1. I used shielded cable between the control boards and steppers. I am not grounding the shielding at the stepper end but I am grounding it to the metal control box. This is correct isn't it????

2. The PC I an planning to use only has a 350 MHZ CPU.
Is this too slow?
What would happen if I use it?

I like the look and feel of Mach3 will probally go with it.

What other software do I need?

[truman]

your pc could run turbo cnc but I think it would be slow for mach 3

[wcarrothers1]

I've been running Mach3 on a P3 355 with 360mb memory windows 2000 pro for a few months now with my mill conversion. Maybe it isn't perfect at doing all turns and super complex stuff (loading the wizards also could be faster but I milled all the pieces for my 4x8' gantry router with the old PC and did fine..

Some day when I upgrade I'll let ya know what I see different... But I do see a 150ipm limit with the incoders I'm using on the gantry in mach for the gantry which may convince me to update some time..

Didn't notice this limit on the mill since I only run a max 50ipm setting on that machine..

I think the key is having a dedicated machine and a CLEAN load of windows. Not letting it learn about other things (like the internet or networking) which would slow it down or make it forget and go off taking a dirt nap thinking about "something else" as windows can do.

b.

[Mr.Chips]

I've been running Mach3 on a P3 355 with 360mb memory windows 2000 pro for a few months now with my mill conversion. Maybe it isn't perfect at doing all turns and super complex stuff (loading the wizards also could be faster but I milled all the pieces for my 4x8' gantry router with the old PC and did fine..

Some day when I upgrade I'll let ya know what I see different... But I do see a 150ipm limit with the incoders I'm using on the gantry in mach for the gantry which may convince me to update some time..

Didn't notice this limit on the mill since I only run a max 50ipm setting on that machine..

I think the key is having a dedicated machine and a CLEAN load of windows. Not letting it learn about other things (like the internet or networking) which would slow it down or make it forget and go off taking a dirt nap thinking about "something else" as windows can do.

b.

Well it looks like it us worth a try.
Yes it is a dedicated machine, and not connected to internet. I preperation I have reformatted the HD and reinstalled XP Pro and checked everything for viruses. And nothing else is running to hog the memory.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Hager

[wcarrothers1]

I think I've read people have had better luck with 2000 then with xp on slower machines or rather there is/was some fix for xp to optomize it..

I'm a big fan of win2000..

b/

[Mr.Chips]

I think I've read people have had better luck with 2000 then with xp on slower machines or rather there is/was some fix for xp to optomize it..

I'm a big fan of win2000..

b/

The problem is I don't have 2000. Hmmm any more 2000 - XP concerns or information?

[bigz1]

I am no electrician. But from what I have read grounding the shielding at one end is correct. Otherwise it no longer acts as a shield.

Good luck with the electrics. This was the thing that was scaring me. Just the software to worry about now.