CNCROUTERPARTS/FLA 24 x 36

[dgates80]

Here we go, starting a new hobby / project.

Ordered the full kit from Finelineautomation.com . Should ship next week, a bit of a delay due to the Xmas rush, I expect.

Ordered the motors and cables from CNCROUTERPARTS.COM and they are here. I ordered the G540 direct from Gecko because I could get a military discount there, saved me $75 bucks.

In the mean time, I built a 36" x 48" MDF table to hold the project, see attached pic. I used 2 x 6 for the legs and 2 x 6 for the table frame as well. It is stout as all get out.

Went on to build the motor controller box. Looking around for a chassis, I found a 125 amp electrical load center at Lowes for $17. Discarded the breaker lugs, however kept the ground rail to use as a V- rail. Cut out a spot for the G540, and a fan. Used the knock outs to strain relieve the power cord. Mounted the 48V power supply. Used a 12v wall transformer power supply for 12V for the fan and a power on LED (had it laying around....). Used another knock out hole to mount the e-stop switch.

Hooked up a spare computer and successfully running the motors with Mach 3 (demo version, for now). Doing a lot of RTFM of Mach 3, the Geckodrive manual, and, of course, CNCZone.com forums!!

I will soon deploy to the Mideast (only for 4 months though, and to a "good" place) so my short term goal is to just get the basic machine assembled and achieve "first cut". I will spend the 4 months overseas playing with cad-cam software -- there will be a lot of "down time" while I am standing alert pilot watches.

More pix to follow!


Don Gates

[brtech]

Good luck with your toy.

The FLA product is really excellent. Nate is not so good about keeping shipping commitments sometimes. I do hope yours comes soon.

There is a thread on the cncrouterparts cables you should pay attention to if your setup results in a hot motor and/or hot gecko. Basically the motor current set resistor is on the motor side, instead of the gecko side, which Ahren didn't think would be a problem, but it turns out that it is. There are some suggested fixes in the thread, and Ahren has said he will supply a fix to customers who have the problem.

Hopefully you have downloaded the plans and the viewer for them. Get comfortable with the viewer; you will need it to assemble the kit - it's all the documentation you get besides the BOM. There are a couple of helpful videos and pictures on the cncrouterparts website that show how the Z goes together and how to adjust the carriages correctly.

And, there are several of us on the 'zone who have assembled a kit. I have an FLA-300, the 4 x 4 R&P version. It's easy to get some help pronto when you need it.

[dgates80]

Thanks, I read the thread on the current set resistor g540-end vs motor end. I was tempted to take one of Ahren's steppers apart today but decided to wait. My motors do get pretty hot in idle, though well within limits I;d think. Does make me wonder how they will do under load.

I am working a G540 vs. Mach 3 issue regarding the charge pump line on pin 16, I have a seperate post (on 3 forums) working on that. I am *really* starting to think it's a Mach 3 software race condition, and folks simply work around it, as it *is* fairly easy to work around.

Do you use a seperate relay power supply or do you use the 48v motor PSU? I can get relays with 48v coils, or I can get 5v relays and then have "utility" regulated 5v available. Hmmmm.

I have the Solidworks edrawing reader and have the 3d drawings. I did an apprenticeship program right out of high school in a short run job shop, running turret lathes, mills, drill presses (with *really* big drills, 2" - 4" drills on big steel) so I got schooled on speeds n' feeds then. This was back in the 70's though (I'm old....) so CNC just was not common then. I have worked in IT a lot, in scientific R&D labs a fair bit, and these days I do a little flight test work for the Navy, what the heck, it's a living. Oh, I was an ET in the Navy for 8 years (electronics tech) so, yes, I can read a color code on a resistor, pretty much.

The mechanical and electrical basics on this project seem well within my experience base, the steep learning curve is CAD/CAM, and I think just spending the time reading the books and doing the tutorials is going to help there. With the 4 month trip overseas giving me the time to spend studying I hope to be OK there. I bought BOBCAD-CAM to load onto my laptop, though I figure on getting Aspire (or vCarve Pro) eventually.

[brtech]

I have the charge pump working fine (Windows 7, mother board LPT port, nuthin special clone PC).

I have 48V relays, although I started with 12V relays and used a resistor divider at first.
I do have electronic (hall effect) home switches running on a 12V supply now, so I could use the 12V relays again with a proper PS.

I use Sketchup Pro, and I'm still testing Cambam vs Sheetcam for CAM. I tried Cut2D and decided both the others were better for me. At the moment, Sheetcam is winning, but there is a lot to like about Cambam. I've used 2D drawing programs like AutoCAD a while back. Sketchup is really, really slick compared to that style of drawing. Probably depends on what you plan to build. I'm mostly doing furniture and other woodworking projects, and Sketchup is the tool most woodworkers who do CAD use. You already got BobCAD, and the reviews on it are pretty good, so I'm sure it will work fine for you. Having an integrated CAD/CAM system is an advantage for sure.

Let us know if you need more help.

[CNC Lurker]

I'm currently building that machine also. Squaring it up will take some patience and it was a bit more of a challenge than I thought.

Below are 2 vids a fellow member on the Zone made (I can't remember who). It is worth the time watching it because it shows some important steps to take when assembling it, otherwise you will find yourself taking it apart to put some 80/20 economy nuts or carriage bolts in place.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auZLi1xp2-0"]YouTube - Fine Line Automation FLA-100 Build Part 1[/nomedia]


[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRM8iHxuM58"]YouTube - Fine Line Automation FLA-100 Build Part 2[/nomedia]

[dgates80]

Thanks for the links, I will watch them intently! I am sure that it will be a lot of help. I hope to be getting my boxes from the Toy Man (UPS driver) by the end of the week, nice to see the whole thing laid out like that.

[dgates80]

I just ordered a SuperPID speed / spindle controller. Should be able to control my PC690 router from Mach 3 with it.... waiting on parts to arrive still.

[CNC Lurker]

I'll be using a PC 690 also. Is a SuperPID kind of like a relay to automatically turn the router on and off?

Where did you order it?

[TSJ]

Not sure if this is the one but in the right hand corner of the screen there is an "Ad List" hot spot, click on it and then scroll down to the superPID advertiser. Click there and it takes you to their web suite. $139 currently.

[CarveOne]

I'll be using a PC 690 also. Is a SuperPID kind of like a relay to automatically turn the router on and off?

Where did you order it?

There are also Super-PID banner ads depending on which pages you are on. It is a closed loop digital speed control for routers that bridge the gap between a plain router and a spindle. It lets you run the router at 5,000 and up to the maximum rpm of your router, or to 30,000 rpm if it can go that high.

There are features that can work with Mach3 to allow the gcode S command to set the rpm to the correct speed for the cutter after tool changes and other useful things. There is a higher current version that can run 3-1/4 hp routers like the PC7518.

Click the Super-PID link above to go to the website.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Not sure if this is the one but in the right hand corner of the screen there is an "Ad List" hot spot, click on it and then scroll down to the superPID advertiser. Click there and it takes you to their web suite. $139 currently.

That's the one. Click on Super-PID.

CarveOne

[dgates80]

Still waiting on my FLA-100 to ship, sigh. I think I will rewire my G540 current resistor stuff tonight, cut off the ends of the CNCPARTS stepper cables and use the Geckodrive supplied DB9 connectors, using the current set resistor that's on the motor end. Anybody know if the resistor is inside the 'backshell' of the stepper motors, or is it embedded in the molded connector of the motor pigtail? I am hoping it's inside the motor, I will find out tonight.