Joes 2006 Build in Brisbane Australia

[ClaudioG]

Well there's not much happening in my CNC world as I've been busy running my business and renovating my house.

After many unsuccessful emails and phone calls to MSC to try and get a quote to ship some Acme to Australia, I finally got a response.

To ship 4 x 6ft Acme weighing about 16lbs, they want to charge US$765.00 for shipping!! And that doesn't include the $204.00 worth of product. I guess they don't really want to ship stuff to Oz as UPS only charge about US$230 for the shipping.

Fortunately I managed to bring back some for myself but I was hoping I could line something up for current and future builders of Joes and other CNC machines.

I've just ordered a 4 axis HobbyCNC kit and will be buying one of widgitmasters midi routers to help try and cure my CNC bug while I don't have the time to build the Joes. This will be a good training ground for me and give me a very capable portable machine when the need arises. More info on the machine can be found here;

https://widgitmaster.powweb.com/midi-router.html

and he has very detailed logs of how he built them here http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37739 and http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21872

I will try and run a more beefy spindle than the Dremel or Proxxon though.

Cheers,

Claudio

[calgrdnr]

[HTML][To ship 4 x 6ft Acme weighing about 16lbs, they want to charge US$765.00 for shipping!! And that doesn't include the $204.00 worth of product. I guess they don't really want to ship stuff to Oz as UPS only charge about US$230 for the shipping.
/HTML]

Hmmm Maybe they wanted to deliver it in person .. wow hate to see what they would charge for Joe's Kit...

Glad to hear your still going to build one thought maybe you would be closer to starting ... all those part you got lying about ... It would drive me crazy I still need to lock mine down to the wall ,cut the lumber today. but had another project needed finished first. Making a stand for a swamp cooler going to try cool shop down next summer ... It should help but some days it will be to humid out. so I will just have to work with VCarve in the house

Let use know when you get started... so we can hound you to get it up and running

Kent

[ClaudioG]

Well still not a lot happening with the Joes but I did order a HobbyCNC 305 kit and I also ended up buying a WidgitMaster midi router as I couldn't bear to wait any longer. Yesterday was like Christmas as they both arrived and I bought some spindles to play with as well.

The Joes will still happen but time is a major problem for me over the next few months at least. And it will also give me a bit more time to decide which Joes I build, assuming plans for the 4x4 will be released. I should also be able to use the midi to cut some of the small parts.

More info on the WidgitMaster midi can be found here.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...834#post346834


Cheers,

Claudio

[ClaudioG]

It's been a while since posting so I am going to try and catch up on the last few weeks with the next few posts.

This thread started as a Joes log, but it's going to take a slight diversion before getting back on track with a Joes 2006 or 4x4 early next year. Most of what I post here will be relevant to the Joes anyway, with the odd bit of WidgitMaster tidbits thrown in.

On the 28th September I decided to start assembling the Hobby CNC Pro board. All was fairly easy given the great instructions provided and the only mod I made was that I used removable Phoenix connectors instead of the supplied blue screw terminal blocks. I believe using removable connectors is not recommended but I thought it would make testing and servicing down the track a lot easier. The only downside I can see so far is that the pinout etchings on the PCB for each of the connectors are covered up by these connectors.

Soldering the board took about 3 hours, with only one mistake at step 16 which was putting the LM317 in where the LM317HV was suppose to be. Even though the instructions VERY CLEARLY stated not to do this. So I probably lost 1/2 hour because of having to remove this component and soldering in the correct one.

I used a 12VDC 500mA power supply to test for +5VDC before installing the driver chips and was in range at 5.04VDC. Then once the remaining components were soldered in, I set Vref to 0.42VDC for each of the 4 Axis for the 305oz 3A motors I have.

Cheers,

Claudio

[ClaudioG]

Assembling the case and power supply was a bit more of a challenge as the recommended Pactec DM-4 is not easily sourced in Australia and expensive and the power supply needed to be a 240V model.

So on 7th October I went to my local Jaycar store and picked up an ABS plastic 3U rack mount case kit (HB5155), 12V+12V toroidal 12.5A transformer (MT2130) and a few other bits. I also got a removable IEC 240v panel mount power socket (PP4005), some plastic knobs to go on the unused ends of the stepper (HK7742), some molex style connectors for each of the motors (PP2024) and a 2A slow blow fuse to use instead of the supplied 4A (for 240V instead of 110V).

Assembly started as soon as I got home but would be spread out over the next week or so.

Once the main components were assembled on the case, it came time to test the power supply and make sure I wire up the 12V + 12V in series correctly in order to get me 24VAC at 12.5A.

So I hooked it up, stood way back and switched it on, measured the voltage and got nothing! Forgot to switch it on at the front panel so tested again and this is what I measured;

243.7VAC from power outlet at wall.
25.8VAC output from transformer connected in series
32.7VDC output after rectifier

I was happy with that so connected up the HobbyCNC Pro board and measured the following;

23.95VDC at fan output
5.05VDC on the board at +5V

vref was reset to 0.42VDC for my 3A 305oz kit

All was good.

So I put a removal power cord in, removable molex connectors on the motors (with nylon cable braid) and will be putting in a panel mount DB25 connector on the back with a short fly lead inside the case to the HCNCPRO board, and removable connectors on the front panel for each of the motors once I find a suitable connector (any suggestions welcome).

Unfortunately the case seems a bit flimsy given the weight of the power supply so I might need to switch to a more sturdy metal one in the future.

The red cap on top of the large capacitor is from a butane refill bottle for my gas soldering iron. I stole the idea from Kent when I visited him in Visalia in June. This one snaps perfectly on top and a gillette shaving gel cap works just as well, with the added bonus of being clear so you can see what danger is beneath. The extra height of this case also allows me to stand the capacitor upright, which I assume is OK?

A bit more work is needed on the case but couldn't wait to get the machine working!

Cheers,

Claudio

[ClaudioG]

Wiring up the motor ends with the Molex connectors was time consuming, stripping, crimping, soldering and inserting each strand but hopefully it's worth it in the end allowing me to easily remove and or swap out a motor if needed.

After doing each one, I connected the steppers to the HCNCPRO board, switching on the power supply and checking to make sure the motors at least locked up signifying they were getting some sort of power from the controller.

Finally after a week of fitting this work in between other commitments, I had all motors wired up and ready to go by the night of Sunday 14th October.

I had Mach3 already installed on one of my PC's, so I moved all the equipment into my lounge room (which is currently a construction zone), hooked it all up, configured it as per the great instructions and tutorials and I was able to get movement from each of the motors.

So I connected them up to the WigitMaster Midi and was able to move each of the axis.

Initial tests were done using an eval copy of Mach3, LazyCam and a 1/8" end mill on my Dremel Clone (Ozito from Bunnings) spindle. First off I did an air test by raising the Z above the work area and it appeared to be doing the right thing. It was now time for some sleep!

The next morning I put a test piece down and carefully held it by hand (wouldn't suggest doing this) I was able to cut an ABC but didn't look very good. It got better after some fine tuning of the motor settings in Mach3 and gradually got to a point where I was happy. After applying some silicon spray to each of the ACME's the machine appeared to be running well and the motors sounded good too!

I loaded up my eval copy of Vcarve Pro 4 and was able to find a sample that I could carve up with my limited range of dremel bits. I picked out some text from one of the samples and gave it a go. It looked great and the accurancy seemed to be pretty good.

I've been quite impressed with what others have managed to achieve with the Vectric software and what I just saw for myself, so I decided to drop ~US$1,000 on Vcarve Pro, PhotoVCarve and Cut3D. Our exchange rate is so good at the moment and you end up saving a little by buying the bundle so it was a relatively easy decision.

Cheers,

Claudio

[ClaudioG]

I was now ready to do some testing of accuracy so I hopped on to Vcarve Pro and drew up a 1" circle and square then copied it so that I could test out a set of cutouts and a set of pockets.

The tests didn't come out all that great but were very close. I soon realised that the 1/8" end mill I was using wasn't quite 0.125" diameter I setup in VCarve, it was 0.120" so that would probably explain it. But I was out of time and would spend any other spare time playing with some more VCarving and worry about getting the accuracy sorted later.

Here's a quick sample video of the machine in action. I've got loads more but youtube doesn't appear to like uploading large files. And a photo of the end result.

http://www.youtube.com/v/fzQKDZ2MRS8

Actually, after I shot this video I decided to try and pause the machine as my crude little vac setup was getting too close to the material and it had a bit more depth to go. When I resumed the Gcode running I obviously did something wrong as the machine ended up being repositioned without raising the Z axis so I ended up forcing the spindle with the bit across the MDF and doing some damage to the bit and probably collet. Oops!

I ended up returning the Ozito rotary tool and swapping it over for a Dremel 300 as I wasn't happy with the collet. It's a lot better now but still want something a bit more powerful and with more bits available.

Later in the week I quickly drew up a prototype clamp in VCarve for a larger spindle with a 43mm mount, which is initially an Ozito router but will be a Milwaukee or Metabo if it works out. I cut it out of MDF (at around 9:30pm so my neighbours probably aren't happy) and it fit nicely. Still a bit more work to do on the design and to see if it will actually work on this machine, given it's 3 times the weight of a dremel. Then I'll cut it all out of HDPE and then possibly aluminium if I can.

I thought I'd also better make something quickly for my girlfriend, as I was spending far more time with the machine than with her!

And I then repeated the accuracy tests with results that impressed me! This is far more accurate than I could ever have imagined and need. So 0.001” translates to about 25 1000th's of a millimeter.

Cheers

Claudio

[sc351cobra]

Claudio
Just found this thread. I am thinking of getting a midi. Saw your videos. Is spindle motor making the most noise?
How about some more pictures of the midi.
Thanks Lonnie

[ClaudioG]

Originally Posted by sc351cobra Claudio Just found this thread. I am thinking of getting a midi. Saw your videos. Is spindle motor making the most noise? How about some more pictures of the midi. Thanks Lonnie

G'Day Lonnie

The spindle can be noisy at higher speeds so I try and keep the speed down if I can.

I'm busy with house renovations at the moment so the machine is packed away. If you are after specific photos then let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Can highly recommend the machine.

Cheers,

Claudio

[Khalid]

good job keep posting ur artwork