Up and running!

[maxxgraphix]

First homebrew, my plans and mistakes. Who cares? It works and I'm billing jobs already. Thanks for all the support!

Using Mach2 and CorelDraw plus NotePad.

System cuts at 7-10 imp at .5 thick material PCV or wood. Seems accurate enough. I can't tell, so no one else will. Cheap bearing blocks on rods, allthread screws, 270oz nema 23 motors, but at least it's a nice T-Slot frame. Can always upgrade with little mods. Computer case for drivers and power supply. PS is from Grainger 24V 7amp. I drew the plans in Corel, printed out cut templates and cut on a chop saw and drilled with a drill press. We adjusted the machine to .005 tolerance on 4 corners with a dial mic.

[JavaDog]

That is impressive! Good to see it is making you some dosh too. I think that is the goal for most of us. What do you use for Drivers? I see the motor specs, are they Servos or Steppers?

Nice looking sign too.

[maxxgraphix]

Stepper motors with something called B5005B drivers. Supposed to be 5amp driver boards. I think it's a chopper type drive like a geko.
The cut out you see is 13mm thick PVC. I set the Z axis depth to .5". An mdf board is used as a base. The bit just scratched the mdf evenly on the entire cut 1 pass @ 7ipm. 7ipm is not much, but it gets the job done. 15min for each piece. The neon tube is getting mounted to the cutouts you see. These are then mounted to a lighted sign cabinet with double faces. I think you can see this is not a hobby for me. I'm a total newbie to cnc, if it wasn't for this forum this machine would not work.

[ajwaverider]

Is that expanded pvc? I thought about using some for a project but wasn't sure what the core of the material was like.I know it's pretty popular for sighn making just not sure about anything else.What it like as far as machining? thanks

[samualt]

Wow, great looking machine maxxgraphix! Now I'm jealous. I'll have to get off my backside and finish mine. LOL.

[maxxgraphix]

The PVC is known as Sintra. It's made by GE. It has a solid core and cuts perfect. 2 minutes of sanding and you have perfect edges. I use it a lot as opposed to sign wood. On the down side it is $139 for a 13mm 4 x 8 sheet, so don't screw it up! The machine cost me about $2500. Considering the 3 long weeks to build it, I should have bought one of the 50x50 K2CNC machines.