Getting started, I have some questions ...

[FrankM]

Hi all ,

I'm fairly new to this site and reading some of the intresting projects I got the bug and started building my first machine . I have some questions for you guys

I bought 6' of Acme 1/2-10 lead screw, but machining it I noticed the metal is VERY soft , Should I use it like this ?

I mainly want the machine to cut foam (lost foam casting) and maybe some wood what size stepper motors should I buy ? and where is a good place to buy them ?


If you guys see anywhere that may be making a mistake I would really apreciate your advise

Thanks
Frank Martin

Here are some pictures of my progress I hope to end up with a cutting area of 12" X12" X 2.5"

[FrankM]

Well I made a little progress

Finished up some of the table

Made the electronics panel with a Xylotex 4 axis board and 2 solid state relays .

I downloaded Mach3 and and hooked up the X and Y motors and everything was working perfect , I then got exited and started to hook up the Z motor and thats when the sparks started !! .

I forgot to turn the power off on the panel and two wires touched my table , needles to say I cooked the driver board .
So I ordered another board

Here are some pictures , The cables need a better solution

[.xXACEXx.]

frank
thats pretty much what im wanting to build...but i cant make up my mind ive looked at alot of machines ,your looks pretty close to what i wanna build ,i was wondering about flex do you have any way to test for flex along your x axis? and what size rods did you use...are they hardened rods?.. hope you can give us some pics of what ever you plan to cut with it..great lookin machine !!!

[FrankM]

Measuring Flex with a dial indicator the Gantry Flexes .003" and returns to .001" . There is a small amount of hysterisis , but its better then I had expected.

The Shafts I bought as a kit on eBay from these guys
http://www.web-tronics.com/cncrodkit3.html

They are 20mm ,16mm and 12mm

The threaded stock I bought here:
http://www.dependableacme.com/about.htm

Glad you like the table , its been fun learning as I built it. I got another board from Xylotex and just bought the Mach3 software . I'll post some pictures of my test runs

Frank

[shashank ayyar]

whats that made of? aluminium? and what size motor did you use??

[edisonelectrics]

Hi there i've started a gantry type router, after collecting bits for 2 years i have finally started welding bits together. the plan is to have a tubular steel frame MIG and TIG welded and cross braced for total rigidity.
The spec of the machine:
3 Axis gantry miller with 280 x 900mm bed, 400mm Y travel, 1100mm X Travel, 400mm Z travel.
I already have 6 x 12 x 600 x 4mm ballscrews for the Y and Z (2 spare), 1 x 25 x 1100 x twin helix imperial pitch ballscrew.
the basic idea is to have the Y axis moving back and fore on the base of the machine, the X along the gantry as normal but for the Z axis the entire gantry will move up and down.
The problem i'm going to have is counterbalancing the 30Kg mass of gantry and spindle motor. my first plan was to have cables and counterbalance weights on the side of the machine, but this wouldn't counteract the movement of the spindle. so i think i'm going to use pneumatic assistance i'm not quite sure how this is going to work out but i have some spare linear air actuators so i may as well try!
I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time, in work they were scrapping of some old SMT placement equipment and this had loads of goodies in it including a kollmorgen brushless servo motor and complete drive system, altogether is will make an awsome spindle drive at 1.3Kw position and velocity controlled very cool.
The only bug bear is that the factory set limit on the motor is 1900 RPM the motor max is 3800 so i have to find a way to remove the speed limit.
Does anyone have any experience of kollmorgen bds5 servo drives?

[shashank ayyar]

eddi
mild steel?? very cool though moving the whole gantry. complicated. wtf!! do it! hope it works out

[FrankM]

Well I got it back running

I've been playing with the Mach3 processor , What a buy !! . As I'm sure you guys already know Mach3 is great.
I've also been trying out some of the sample CAM programs , this picture is a carving I did with Vcarve , its a neat program but the price is steap , I may still buy it .

I am intrested in Solidworks to CAM if anyone has any cheap Ideas.

[mvaughn]

Originally Posted by FrankM I am intrested in Solidworks to CAM if anyone has any cheap Ideas.

For 2.5 dimensions it is free to export your files as 1:1 drawings and save them as .DXF's. Then use cambam to generate gcode.

[FrankM]

Originally Posted by mvaughn For 2.5 dimensions it is free to export your files as 1:1 drawings and save them as .DXF's. Then use cambam to generate gcode.

I can't save Solidwork files as DXF , I'm using Solidworks 2003 .

BTW . i've been playing with CamBam also , I wish I knew enough to help with the development .

[rustamd]

Originally Posted by FrankM I can't save Solidwork files as DXF , I'm using Solidworks 2003 . BTW . i've been playing with CamBam also , I wish I knew enough to help with the development .

You might have to make drawing first, than you can save as .dxf Not too sure, but might work

[mvaughn]

Originally Posted by rustamd You might have to make drawing first, than you can save as .dxf Not too sure, but might work

Correct, make your part in solidwork oriented with x-y axis' then choose "file", "make drawing from part". You can then save the drawing as dxf. It seems a little counter intuitive at first, but it works very nicely once you get the hang of it.

Also, when creating the drawing you may have the use a custom sheet size and use a 1:1 scale for your drawing.