Home shop machinist makes first all A/L cnc router

[rodjava]

Pandinus,
I live in the city by the bay.
San Francisco.

I wish I knew other HSM or anybody with a cnc router in my area, but don't.
The closest group or club I know is 75 miles away in San Jose.

If there are other HSM in San Francisco, I invite you to come on by and check out my machine to share ideas.

Rod
San Francisco

[mactec54]

Hi RodJava
The closest group or club I know is 75 miles away in San Jose.

Thats not to far for you,if you can ride your bicycle from BC to San Francisco (1,400miles) I think!!!

That would be like a 2 hour ride for you

Keep up the good work on your router

[rodjava]

Mactec54,
Thanks for the words of encouragement!
Rod
San Francisco

[rodjava]

Here is the completed Z. I forgot the specs on the ground ball screw and nut.
Please note that the 1.00 thick z plate was cut from a 18.250 round Mic 6 A/L plate. This is there reason for the the rounded top and bottom. I used the cut off sides for parts of the lower gantry. I plan to use every little cut off piece from this thick A/L for other parts too.

[rodjava]

Here are pics of the 25mm ballscrew and nut installed.
I plan to mount the X servo motor under the table at one end.

I made a adapter for my cordless drill and tested the X travel. It's Sweet!
Nice and smooth. As far as I can tell there is no backlash.

Notice also the huge bearing at one end of the screw.

[rodjava]

Everything is built except for the Y and X motor mounts.

It's time for some servos from http://www.dmm-tech.com/

In four weeks, they are planning to sell a new 400W servo not shown on their website. I planning on buying 3 of the same 400W servos and gearing them 2:1 to start off and mabe 1:1. They run 2500rpms. Whats great about these servos is the mounted 14 bit absolute encoders. I'm planning to buy a complete kit including drives, cables, power supply, EStop and a few other things. I have checked a few places and the DMM prices can't be beat. I think the specs on the DMM drives are better than Gecko.

From DMM: The rated torque is 1.23Nm, and Peak 3.4Nm, rated speed about 2500rpm, weight 2Kg, use Dyn2 drive (+24Vdc ~60Vdc input power) for the 400W motor.

Although the Dyn2 drive is cool or somehow warm only, a new aluminum base with more heatsink and easy mounting holes is designed and manufactured, will be used for the 400W drive.

The 400W ac servo motor will be available in 4 weeks.
end quote

Now that everything is built, I just have to wait 4 weeks for the servos. I probably won't post much until then.

Thank you to everybody that posted their comments and suggestions so far.

I will definitely need some help with the electronics since I will building the controller boxes myself.

Rod
San Francisco

[rodjava]

Let me first say that I'm a home shop machinist and not a electrical engineer. As you can see, I can build stuff. It sorta come natural to me to be around machines with chips flying around.

When it comes to electronics, I need some assistance from the kind membership.

I want to build my own controller case with all the gizzards that go into it.

I already placed an order for the following items from http://www.dmm-tech.com/Products.html The picture below is the kit EXCEPT that I ordered different servo motors which are 400 watt.

1 x DMB4250-8B breakout board, fully buffered Opto-isolated I/O, isolated PWM analog output
for spindle speed control,and charge pump.Hardware generated X secondary X' for CNC Gantry with
jump selectable motor turning direction.
- 1 x 6ft DB25 parallel port cable
- 1 x 6ft USB cable
- 2 x 120 or 220Vac input, 350w,+48Vdc, 7.3A output DC power supply
- 3 x 1ft cables between breakout board and drives
- 3 x 10ft differential signal encoder extension cable
- 3 x inductive, non contact , LED indicated proximity Home/Limit Switches
- 1 x Emergency STOP Switch

What I am asking for is a few good links where somebody built their own controller case with similar components and documented it. I plan to use an old pc case I have. I can normally figure out the wiring if there is lots of good clear pictures that I can use as a guide.

I need to know how the drivers, bob, etc are mounted inside a pc case and how all the wiring is routed from component to component.

I especially would like to learn how wiring and electrical connectors are used and mounted in the back of the case. I don't have much experience in electronics or wiring electrical components. I can follow schematics and other diagrams.

Thank you all in advance,

Rod
San Francisco

[rodjava]

I have this idea which I hope the membership will comment on.

I am building my electronics for my cnc router into a gutted pc computer case. I have everything wired inside the case except for where the 120 power enters the case.

Here is my idea. Please let me know if this is a good idea or not.

I would like to solder the 3 wires from the 2 x 120 or 220Vac input, 350w,+48Vdc, 7.3A output DC power supplys directly to the 3 contacts of the male power connector inside of the pc power supply box.

This was I can use the existing pc power extension cord. Hopefully the on/off switch on the pc power supply will turn everything on/off.

I can also use the pc power supply to power 2 pc case fans.

Am I missing something? It seems too easy.

Thank you all in advance,

Rod
San Francisco

[asuratman]

Have you received your DMM kits. I am interested to this kits also. PC power supply is small ampere, maybe you have not enough to power all controller needs, it will be hot. Its big power your controller. You can buy 5 VDC 10 Amps and 12 VDC 10 amps power supply very cheap. As big as CD, you can mount into PC slot.

[pfred2]

You mean you want to solder to the lugs of the IEC power receptacle inside the power supply?

If yes then be advised that some are internally fused. You have to look closely for a little plastic trap door on them. One lug will be the fused hot, and one lug will be straight through unfused.

Here is a picture of one of the sneaky fused ones half open.

http://www.binbin.net/photos/generic...ro-ch-plg-.jpg

Most aren't but some are, and if you do not know about it that might make things a little trickier for you. I gut power supplies and use these connectors on a lot of my projects and I remember the first time I ran into a fused one, I was like what?

So I figured I'd pass this information along to you. But maybe you're talking about something else entirely? I am not sure. But if these are what you're talking about I hope you can solder well, because the plastic these things are made out of isn't into people who can't! Especially with all the junk you plan on hanging off of one.

They're pretty much designed for one wire a lug.

[rodjava]

Have you received your DMM kits. I am interested to this kits also. PC power supply is small ampere, maybe you have not enough to power all controller needs, it will be hot. Its big power your controller. You can buy 5 VDC 10 Amps and 12 VDC 10 amps power supply very cheap. As big as CD, you can mount into PC slot.

Asuratman,
The kit comes with 2 power supplys which should be just right for the 3-400 watt servos. These new 400w servos are not shown on the dmm website yet.

Thanks for the info on the 12VCD amp power supplies. I will look into it.

BTW, you can't beat the prices at DMM and the customer service.

Rod

[rodjava]

You mean you want to solder to the lugs of the IEC power receptacle inside the power supply?

pfred2, later to day I will post pics of what I did, but basically, yes, I want to tap into the 3 connections on the back of the power receptacle inside the power supply.
You didn't mention if it was a good idea or not.

Rod
San Francisco