Build Thread- I can blame this on Bush too if it goes badly!

[donnydanger]

This will be my first build, thanks to Bush's tax stimulus I had some spare cash and ordered some motors and lead screws, and I'm jumping in full swing - very exciting. Reading around the board here has given me so much good info about the CNC that I think it will go smoothly, so thanks to you all. Hopefully I can give something back by posting my progress.

Today I gathered materials and tools and set up shop, did some test cuts and taps on my materials, and full blown construction will start tommorrow. I'm ambitiously aiming to be done in a week, wish me luck, i'll post some questions here as soon as I run into them. I'm working on an expanded 6'x5' JRGO based design:





cheers,
don

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by donnydanger This will be my first build, thanks to Bush's tax stimulus I had some spare cash, i'll post some questions here as soon as I run into them. don

As G.W.B. says, "Its not Rocket Surgery"
Al

[donnydanger]

haha, it's like living in an episode of the three stooges where they get mistaken for dignitaries. which is awesome.

Here's the progress: gantry parts done and mocked up, x and z dry rolling smooth. The material is all out of scrap Oak Ply from other projects. It taps very solidly which I wasn't expecting, so that turned out good.

This monster was alot more work than it looked like in the diagram, haha, so I'm calling it a day, and will probably start work on the y and base tomorrow, as I won't get motors or leadscrews in the mail until after the holiday.

to the bar -
donny

[mlind]

Your project looks great. Nice Job.... When I built mine was easier than expected.

Originally Posted by donnydanger haha, it's like living in an episode of the three stooges where they get mistaken for dignitaries. which is awesome. Here's the progress: gantry parts done and mocked up, x and z dry rolling smooth. The material is all out of scrap Oak Ply from other projects. It taps very solidly which I wasn't expecting, so that turned out good. This monster was alot more work than it looked like in the diagram, haha, so I'm calling it a day, and will probably start work on the y and base tomorrow, as I won't get motors or leadscrews in the mail until after the holiday. to the bar - donny

[donnydanger]

thanks for the good words, not difficult yet, but definitely time consuming. got all the stock cut up for my support boxes today ( well over 200pcs! ), and started gluing and clamping, and gluing, and clamping, and gluing, and clamping, and so on. you're gonna need alot of clamps, the only expense i didn't forsee. see the photo. should have pretty much all the grunt work done on it tommorrow. then it's just the delicate matter of hooking up the motors and lead screws. i'm not as handy with the electronics as i am with the wood, so that may take a few days ( if i'm lucky) on it's own. i got a nice kit from xylotex that has 500 warnings on it telling me not to blow it up, so i'm afraid to go near the box for now. i'll sneak up on it with a multimeter when it's not looking. that's it for today, here's some more photos. feel free to leave any comments, cheers

-donny

[donnydanger]

here she is clamped together and mocked up, all the major construction is done. now it's just a matter of wiring, tightening, and leveling. i found some nice pieces to use for the adjustment blocks while i was passing through the electrical setion at lowes, check em out in the picture they work great, saved me alot of time making them myself out of aluminum. and only 3 bucks a piece:

[tajord]

nice going there, i am eager to see how it all comes out, you will need support for those pipes though, see how i did mine, post #117:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...=29024&page=10

[donnydanger]

thanks, yeah i plan to put in some supports on the x and y, haven't decided on an implementation yet. yours are nice though, i'll start sketching some stuff soon specific for my setup here. got my motors and lead screws in today, so it looks like i might make a few chips this weekend if all goes well. still have to load up the pc with cad software too.

-don

[donnydanger]

motors mounted, screws are in. the 6x8 table is together and the JRGO is just about assembled. i need to make a coupler for the Z axis, and there is some misalignment in the Y axis i haven't pinpointed yet, hopefully when i start cutting it will become more evident so i can make the adjustments. then onto the software!

what's the popular cad/controller software around here? i've been messing around with the Vcarve Trial, and like it alot for what i intend to use the machine... but $600 bucks is steep. if anyone has an a copy they don't use anymore and would like to resell it a little cheaper let me know, my email is don@donnydanger.com.

it's so big in the room i can get back far enough to get the full thing in one shot, here's some photos though





-donny

[donnydanger]

Spotted this old toolbox in my basement and drilled some holes... with a little sanding and paint this'll make a nice box for the power supply and controller board:

[donnydanger]

wired the JGRO up, set up the PC, and she's making chips. damn it feels good to get it running after all that work. i spent hours just jogging it around happily, haha. i ran some bolt patterns and keyways, and a little text writing, seems to be running well. with the router, the pc, the motors and the dust collector all running that little room heats up! besides a few fancy finishing touches, i'd say it's done. i'll start running some full size stuff this weekend... thanks for the wealth of info on this site, cheers.

any questions i'll be more than happy to fill you in from my experience as a first time builder. and here's some specs some more photos on my machine

Router: Porter Cable 2 1/2 HP
Motors and Controller Board: 3 axis 425oz.inch Kit from Xylotec
Screws: 1/2-10 2 Start from Roton
Cutting Area: 58'x68' inches

[donnydanger]

done with all the testing, the calipers tell me i've got tolerance and repeatability of about .001". better than i expected at this size, although i did use the calipers to make all the measuremeants while building, i'm surethat helped. now i'm letting it fly wide open and running my first full size piece, about 300,000 lines of g code so it might take the better part of the day. also added supports to those long y rails ( just parallel 2x4's with more adjustment screws through them ) and cut a painters tarp to size and put it underneath my machine along with a little craftsman dust collector, which is good enough to keep me from sweeping up all day. lastly, added a plastic guard to keep the majority of the dust off the PC and Controller Box. check it out.




anyone use any sinks to cool their motors? they seem to warm up quite a bit and i don't want em to burn out on me just yet...


i'll post photos of my first piece when it's done cutting, cheers

-donny