Has anyone built machinetoolcamp.com's routers?

[Flyin04]

Hi all,

1st off, I'm new here to this forum. I have been a machinist for 15 years now, and I am digging this killer forum I stumbled accross.

I used the search before I posted, and didn't find anything.
I'm looking at these two routers, The Mechmate, which has a load of info, plus there great forum. But, has anyone here had any experience with www.machinetoolcamp.com plans? They look like a great machine. Was looking for any feedback about these guys that some of you might have.

Thanks

[vid1900]

I was in the same boat as you, and I finally pulled the trigger to do the Mechmate. Its a proven design with lots of support both at Mechmate and Shopbott.

The fact that the plans and support are FREE did not hurt either!

[Flyin04]

Originally Posted by vid1900 I was in the same boat as you, and I finally pulled the trigger to do the Mechmate. Its a proven design with lots of support both at Mechmate and Shopbott. The fact that the plans and support are FREE did not hurt either!

Yeah, the machinetoolcamp machines are very attractive in many ways, but it seems like you can't go wrong with the Mechmates machines. How is your buildig process going so far?

[Adobe Machine]

I used Machine Tool camp for both my Tree Mill and Pratt Whitney Lathe CNC conversions. Scott answered all questions, their engineering plan is easy to follow for those of us that are electrically challenged,and the servos and Desk CNC system work great.

Adobe (old as dirt)

[Flyin04]

Originally Posted by Adobe Machine I used Machine Tool camp for both my Tree Mill and Pratt Whitney Lathe CNC conversions. Scott answered all questions, their engineering plan is easy to follow for those of us that are electrically challenged,and the servos and Desk CNC system work great. Adobe (old as dirt)

Very nice to hear...

My thinking is that the feedback is going to be a little limited on this, but I think that this is the best place to look.

Cheers

[vid1900]

Originally Posted by Flyin04 Yeah, the machinetoolcamp machines are very attractive in many ways, but it seems like you can't go wrong with the Mechmates machines. How is your buildig process going so far?

3 of us are each building one. So far, we have all bought Mach3, we are getting quotes from a few laser cutter houses. We are moding the stand to allow storage of sheet goods underneath. Going for the 203v Geckodrives, and don't know what motors yet.

[Shane McKenna]

I built a upgraded version of the machine tool camp machine, called the semi-pro machine (not listed on their site). I use it everyday for my furniture and product development company. I made many modifications to meet my own particular needs. The machine went together well (I have 15 years machine design, fabrication, and building exp.). Many of my modifications had to do with improving the fit and rigidity of the design.

The machine I built required quite a bit of aluminum plate machining. I could not find a shop that could do the work for less than about $4500, so I re-engineered the aluminum plate files to be cut out of mdf with nut inserts. I bolted up the mdf plates, then machined all the aluminum plates myself. Then I exchanged all the mdf parts with the aluminum parts. The cost for having the mdf parts cnc cut was only $350.

[Robert M]

Hi Shane !!

Look like your approach was interestingly more economical than anticipated.
Could you take some photos of your new set up and share them here ?
I would be grateful to see some of your mods and have a look at the complete set up !

Thanks in advance for considering !
Robert M

[Hyrum R]

I'd also like a little more info on what you've done, Shane. What materials are you cutting and what speeds are you getting?

My goal is to get a CNC that can cut out my cabinet parts from 1/2" and 3/4" melamine, single cut, and at a good speed (hopefully at around 200 ipm). I emailed Machine-Tool-Camp, and they said they're working on a new prototype that has ballscrews, vacuum table and an automatic toolchanger. They say about 6-8 weeks before they have it finished up, but it sounded really cool to me.

[Shane McKenna]

I set up my machine with servos, with 7:1 gear box reduction. With MTC’s design this gives a theoretical G0 of over 1100ipm.

If I had it to do over again, I would have used somewhere around 20:1 gear box, as I see no need to ever travel faster than 350ipm in my applications.

I have ran productions runs @ 120ipm, cutting .55 deep in MDF with a .375 end mill all day long for over a week, as fast as we could load material onto the machine. I tried to run faster/deeper on this particular project but the x-axis servo would overheat and fault out after about 20 min. of runtime. If I had used the above mentioned gear ratio of 20:1 I could have easily ran much faster/deeper with much lower current draw from the servo.

I have been designing some new modifications, that will further increase the rigidity of the machine. I notice that I start to loose edge quality at higher speeds. All I need is time and money to implement the changes.

I have been around production CNC routers for a long time, and in my opinion, if I were wanting to cut out cabinet parts at a production level I would find a used production machine. Even a machine with a lot of hours on it would be tighter and much more rigid than I will ever get my machine. I needed a machine that could work on single phase power (110), and that is going to be running at 150ipm or less carving prototypes, and molds, with the occasional sheet cutting task. So far the MTC machine with some modifications has worked well for my applications.

I should put together a picture diary of the machine mods, but that is so far down the list of things I have time to do right now, that to even hint at it is irresponsible!!!

[Flyin04]

Originally Posted by Robert M Hi Shane !! Look like your approach was interestingly more economical than anticipated. Could you take some photos of your new set up and share them here ? I would be grateful to see some of your mods and have a look at the complete set up ! Thanks in advance for considering ! Robert M

Yes! Please do share! Take a few pics for us when you have time? glad to hear that it is working out for you. What did you end up spending on the final bill to get everything running? Are you using a router motor, or a spindle?

[Shane McKenna]

Quote
Yes! Please do share! Take a few pics for us when you have time? glad to hear that it is working out for you. What did you end up spending on the final bill to get everything running? Are you using a router motor, or a spindle?

Her are a few pics, I am using a 2 1/4 hp porter cable. Here you can see a few of the mods; the router mount is cut away so that only the business parts are still used - the z plate is an epoxy bonded and bolted, build up that creates a sort of box frame that gives great regidity with less material than a solid plate - all of the plates I designed as buildups to avoid machining away large areas of material - the x-axis servo mounting plate is only a 1/4" plate with ribs epoxyed and bolted on to provide stiffness at lower wieght - I used regular drain tubing as dust collection, it is self supporting, and does not build up high levels of static like pvc based tubing. Plus it is very cheap! I have yet to install my 3 edwards industrial vacuume pumps for stock holding, I fear that the noise volume of those pumps my push my neighbors over the edge. The table size is just over 5ft x 10ft with about 6 3/4" of z travel. I ground off the pins on the router body to allow the router to slide up and down in the coller for quick height adjustment. My height adjustment procedur is very simple 1) position the dust collection brushes at 1/2" above the surface of the material to be cut (more or less) 2) place a 2" x 2" x .5" alluminum block on top of the material 3) slide the router into the coller until the bit touches the alluminum block 4) set the lock on the router coller 5) jog up, remove block, push go. I usually program all my tool paths to start and end at .5" above the material so the bit changes are a breeze to accomplish. Some day a tool changer will be a nice add on.

As far as cost, I have yet to add up everything. I was more concerned with getting the machine built and running than budget, so everything was purchased new. My finger in the wind cost with the vaccumes, servos rather than steppers, and all componants ordered new rather than part hunting on ebay and surplus is about 17k give or take.

I am including a few pics of small projects that I have used the router for.