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Hope yours comes out OK. I'm think about taking the $35.00 loss and going to O1 ground stock which is ground on all sides, a bit more costly, but not a piece of crap. When I worked in the machine shop we used cold roll stock which was perfectly flat. So i did not question what i was buying. I would now ask the metal suppliers to make sure it is flat across the width. The bow was about 1/32" which tips the edge where the bearing is going to ride on. If I had the edges and width machined where they will ride. This would cost more time and $.Originally Posted by GTFreeFlyer
Bob A
CNC Programming Software Tools
I got my rails from Speedy Metals. The left one was perfect, but the right one (the more critical one) was junk. It is wavy, with about 1/8" variation one way and 1/16" the other. I've extended my X axis to 36", which makes it more of a problem.
Fortunately I waited to do my OnlineMetals order in case I messed anything up, so I ordered one from them and it was dead flat. Cost an extra $9 for my 36" rail, so probably $6 for the standard 24".
I would like to know what Momus has to say about this problem?
Since my angles were straight, I thought the rail might flatten out enough to be usable once it was bolted on. If you aren't planning on making very precise parts, that might work okay. But it was cheap enough to replace the part that I didn't try that approach.
Anecdotally...all the steel stock I got from Online Metals is as near dead flat as I could hope for cheap steel to be. I laid all mine out on the table of the knee mill we have at work (anticipating the possible need to at least true up the bearing surfaces) and was pleasantly surprised. I think it's probably just luck, be it good or bad, as to what the various suppliers have in stock at any given time. Like Bob Adams said a few posts above - if folks were to contact their supplier of choice and tell them exactly what the stock is being used for, they might just take the extra few minutes to find a nice straight piece. Or not, who knows.
More progress. Still having fun. I've got almost the whole carriage put together minus a few bearings. When I went to slide the steel rails back into the carriage, they didn't fit. I guess I didn't use enough cardboard on the rails when I was spacing everything out. I loosened the 4 bolts that hold the carriage together, and then clamped it to the rails again, but this time without the cardboard because now the bearings were installed. I used calipers and measured end to end over and over again, making small adjustments in the set screws in order to position the bearings and make the carriage pieces parallel. Once both sets of the carriage pieces were parallel, I had to make the two sets perpendicular... again. This is easy with a digital angle finder. I just tilted the whole assembly approx 45 deg and held it with a vise. I set the angle finder on one of the horizontal carriage pieces (part #16) and zeroed the angle finder. I then placed it on the vertical piece (part #23) and made small adjustments until I got 90 degrees.
It's coming along. I still don't have any electronics (other than the Super PID), or any of the base parts yet. I'm working out all the metal issues before I continue. However, I better get that base done soon because it doesn't seem like it will be long before I need to mount the gantry to something.
Parts are rolling in. I bought the plywood yesterday and have already cut out more than half of the parts. I also got the 3-axis CNC package from CNCrouterparts.com with the G540 and 390 oz-in motors. I started measuring stuff and drew it all up in CAD. It looks like I'll be able to fit the G540 and power supply in the rear compartment and stick a mini-atx board and SSD drive in the forward compartmant. No mods necessary to the compartment sizes. It looks like it will be very tight, but it shows that it all fits.
The build comtinues....
I've spent less than $2K, including tools, drill press, etc. I may be able to stay under $2K which would be nice. Still left to purchase: Plexiglass, hinges, epoxy, wood filler, paint, built-in computer. I pretty much have everything else. My staging area for all the components looks great!
It's been a while, but I'm back at it. I finally got all the wood pieces cut to size. I've already cut notches in the x and y ribs, but I still need to router out slots and cut-outs in some other pieces.
I'm guessing now comes the fun part? Putting everything together. Actually though, the whole project has been fun so far.
I'm still continuing ahead with version 1.2. I'm too far into the project to change it up to the new 2.0 version.
Bob, you are welcome to use any of my photos of my machine for your website. This project is in Tustin, CA.
The base is coming along!
I found my multi-function oscillating tool to be extremely useful. If I would have known how handy it was, I would have cut all the panels slightly larger than size, and then flush cut everything after nailing it all together. Highly recommended and it doesn't toss sawdust everywhere like a rotary saw would.
I also used a 1/4" radius router bit to round off the edges around the electronics access holes and also on Right Rib #2 so the sharp edges don't cut my wires or give me scratches.
I'm done with the base now, except for all the filling/sanding, and I still need to make the rear flange and cover. Can't wait to get the electrons flowing.
I have the G540 and plan on using Mach3. I'd like to have a small rotating or flashing light when a program is running. I see that the G540 has two outputs, but I'd like to get around this since I assume I'll have to remember to turn the output on or off in my gcode. Is there a way that is more automatic? Perhaps I can tap into some other wire coming out of the G540 that only goes active when a program is running?
Looking for suggestions and ideas on mounting my superPID. If anyone has done so please share. I'd like to be able to see the LCD screen without opening the doors. Has anyone been able to remove the LCD from the circuit board and place it in a remote location?
I'm thinking of building a keyboard drawer under the base. The problem is that the base will only be supported on the sides and back. Do you guys think this thing is sturdy enough to resist bowing in the middle over years of use?
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