Putting my X3 together, will need a lot of help

[Ed from NY]

Decided on my end mills

I got 3 SGS Z-Carb-AP and 3 SGS S-Carb 3-Flute

SGS 34793 SER 43C 1/8 3FL .010 C/R TB
SGS 34795 SER 43C 1/4 3FL .010 C/R TB
SGS 34800 SER 43C 1/2 3FL .010 C/R TB

SGS 36851 1/8 3/8 FL .015TA
SGS 36854 1/4 3/4 FL .020TA
SGS 36859 1/2 1-1/4 FL .030TA

Here is video of the Z-Carb-AP (compares the Z-Carb vs. Z-Carb-AP)
http://www.sgstool.com/products/zcar...ToolVideo.html

and another of the S-Carb
http://www.sgstool.com/videos/video/video-actscarb.html

Now I just need to get the Super "Dupper" X3 up to 12,000 rpm and get bigger stepper motors :lol: j/k

[Ed from NY]

I picked some IP68 connectors for the 4th axis, cabling for the coolant pump and molex connectors for some of the internal hookups. I had to get 50 ft of cable, but I have ambitions of using it in other projects.

Below links to the Allied catalog and/or datasheets in case someone is interested. The SKUs are on the 1st pic

IP68 connectors for 4th axis
http://www.alliedelec.com/Catalog/pf.aspx?FN=158.pdf

Molex connectors (internal stuff)
http://www.alliedelec.com/Catalog/pf.aspx?FN=238.pdf

Exposed cabling for coolant
http://www.alliedelec.com/Images/Pro...S/717-0155.PDF

I also got bit and pieces to do a LED thing for the LPT port which shows on/off signals. Doing 2 of those, one to connect at the computer and one to connect at the end of the cable. See 2nd pic for SKUs and this link on how to put it together http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/parallel_output.html

.

[Ed from NY]

It moves!

The only thing missing were the 1-2-3 wires that I did not connect.

Here is a list of the acomplishments, problems and tasks remaining...

Accomplishments and Problems Solved:

• Getting an old PC running XP to put Mach3 on
• Communications between PC and Mill
• Setting up the PC on a "mobile rack/station"
• Connecting CNC controller to the power (do'h!)
• Missing draw bar for R8 collet (parts ordered from Grizzly)
• Getting a few end mills
• Getting the machine to move in XYZ from Mach3
• Fixed the 4th axis which was not moving

Problems remaining:

• Turning on the Spindle on from Mach3 only works once. If you toggle it again you need to close Mach3 and start it again in order to turn it on again.
• Clunking sound in the spindle probably caused by an eccentric pulley (?) (parts ordered from Grizzly, also I need to perform steps suggested by Journey Man). See post #2 and #20.
• Disconnected wires for LEDs to reflect 3500 RPM. Need help to check on how wires are connected.
• Unable to remove the spindle from the quill, the pin that holds it in place is missing the 2 screws that should be there and is firmly locked in place (glued ?). See post #14
• Collant pump question on wire #2 (post #36) "I do not have that large black component that says "EMI FILTER" on my mill. Is that needed? If not, then where will #2 come from?"
• Limit switches are not active or don't exist
• Home switches are not active or don't exist

Other tasks:

• Take the machine apart to clean and regrease everything, particularly the axis/screws
• Cleaning and retrofitting the spindle, or getting someone to do it
• Set soft limits for XYZ travel
• Connect coolant pump (parts ordered from Allied)
• Connect 4th axis (parts ordered from Allied)
• Build table for mill
• Build inclined platform for coolant
• Build enclosure
• Set up alternate air cooling option (for milling plastics)
• Getting another two R8 collets
• Getting some coolant
• Getting some raw materials

Expenses so far:

• $5,987 out off pocket:
  

  --- Late 2006 ---
  $ 3,100  Basic Sieg Super X3 CNC
  $ 1,050  Custom options, including coolant, 3500 RPM, two 4th axis & tail stock
  $   240  Collet, Clamps, Vise
  $   150  Ocean Shipping
  $    80  Fees for two International Wire Transfers
  $   994  Customs, Clearing Agent, and Freight from the docks to home (truck with lift gate)
  --- Mid 2009 ---
  $   169  Six very nice SGS End Mills
  $   140  Connectors and cabling for the Mill, plus LPT tester parts (missing sh + tax)
  $    64  Missing parts and Replacement pieces from Grizzly

• PCs and PC peripherals I had laying around
• Cleaning and lubing stuff I had laying around
• 4 1/2 full days working on it
• Some hair

[Ed from NY]

The 4th axis was not working. The stepper would just skip. I took it apart cleaned it and lubricated it. It took me some 3 hours, I could probably do it in 1 now, but that is how long it took me this first time.

Turns out that whoever attached the stepper to the RT tighed things too much. The mechanism of the 4th axis is simple, no bearings or sleeves, just a worm drive. The play is adjusted by rotating an eccentric on which the screws of the worm is machined. There is a fat washer with two screws on each side to lock it in place (I'm sure there is a proper name for that) fixing the position of the worm screw in relation to the RT casing. If either of those is too tight it will make it difficult for the stepper to turn. If either is too loose it will add play to the RT.

From taking it apart and putting it together it seems that we have to approach always from the same direction.

Anyway, it is working now.

PS: I did not notice a way to lock it in place... weird... I'll look again.

[Edit]: Yes, it does have two clamps

[Ed from NY]

Hmmm, don't think there are any homing or limit switches on my machine.

I itemized the out of pocket expenses and updated the post above #39.

[Ed from NY]

Xushuo from Syil contacted me. They will give me a hand with some of the stuff above. I have to say that it makes a world of difference knowing that there is someone on their side. Things are looking up

I think in a pinch I could use the machine already. A lot has been complicated by my lack of experience. Things that would have been simple sometimes look unsurmountable and took hours instead of minutes.

Another update...

I contacted SGS Tools. They told me that with those end mills I can pretty much cut dry anything a magnet will stick to like A36, 1080 and 4140 (but not stainless, titanium, etc). I just need to add a 30-40 psi air blast to keep the chips from being recut.

For Nylon 6 they told me I can also cut with just the air blast as long as the rpm does not cause the workpiece material to melt.

For aluminum he said they usually do it with coolant, and with the mix a bit on the rich side. Since I had mentioned flood coolant in my question I presume that is okay.

Note that the end mills ordered are of different design for steels than they are fro aluminum and plastics. See post #37

[Ed from NY]

The end mills arrived! They are so cute. The 1/8's are tiny. They look like little toy things. The 1/2 is more of a normal size.

I got the soft limits set, but I need to make 0,0,0 my home and G28 before turning things off because the machine thinks that wherever it wakes up is 0,0,0. If I don't do that the soft limits will not be zeroed right. Lots on banging the axis until I got that right. Adding limit switches should probably be a priority, but I confess that messing with the electronics is terribly intimidating to me.

The Mach3 soft coordinates are a pain, cuz somehow they do not wake up at 0,0,0 and I have to remember to click on reset all axis before doing anything.

I made some small adjustments to the motor acceleration configuration. Before it was clearly loosing steps (loud noises) specially on the Z axis, now it moves well in all 3 axis at its modest 60 IMP. I suppose I need to get a dial test indicator, but I need to get costs under control... we will see.

I could not figure out how to increase traversal speed beyond the 60 IPM it came with. We would also need to see if the motors can do it reliably. It seems to have to do with the "kernel speed" (I suppose Mach's kernel, not the OS kernel), but changing that setting does not seem to do anything, may be because it is a demo version. Will wait till next week to buy and unlock Mach3 cuz of my cc billing cycle.

I'm going to make use of the Enco offers this week and get some grease and oil. I'll hold off on the coolant because I'm still planing to cut steel and plastics only with air. I may get a shop compressor. I turned on my airbrush compressor, but at only 1.5 CFM, 40 psi definitely feels girly. It is probably sufficient to cool, but I do not think it would remove chips very well.

Grizzly shipped some of the stuff I ordered, it arrives on Tuesday. This will be sufficient to rebuild the pulley assembly, but with the same bearings. I'll post an update mid next week as I get those, or I may post before that if I hear from Syil.

[Edit]

One more thing the Allied order with the connectors and stuff is arriving tomorrow. One regret, I should have got IP68 connectors for the Coolant as well. This way I could at times hookup the flood pump from Syil and at times the air blast with a solenoid to the air-line-to-be. Just an idea. May be I'll do it later. Not sure how I'll make the holes on the Syil case for the connectors, not many metal tools, certainly nothing delicate -- best option is probably remove all electronics and dremmel it... the other option is to use cable to cable connectors instead of panel connections... should have thought of that before ordering *sigh*

[Edit #2]

Somehow I managed to change the kernel speed, not sure why I was not able before. I run the test program and it told me that 60 kHz was fine so I went for that. That made the system unstable and it would reboot shortly after loading Mach3. I did the XP optimizations that Journey Man attached on post #31, but that did not help, so I backed it down to 45 kHz and it has been fine. I run the X and Y axis at 105 IPM for a while, but as soon as I put some weight on the table (the 4th axis which is rather heavy) they stalled. The speeds for XYZ currently are 90, 90 and 50. I run a lot of g00 and visually everything still zeroed in their proper places -- I had tape marking the return positions. Also did my first little gcode program in over 20 years... a 5 liner but it had an helix on it and traversed the entire workspace with the 4 axis all moving at the same time. Simple, but exiting when you do it for the first time on your own machine

Getting a "Driver Watch Dog" alert every so often... need to research what that is.

I'm very glad that I got a conversion instead of a kit. Just get this thing running and learning about tools, coolants, feed ratios, materials, is already huge. You do not want to be messing around with boards and motors and putting it together. It is way too much, unless you already have a good handle on all the rest, which I do not.

Still knowing what I know now I would have chosen much larger steppers or perhaps going servo, even for a mill as small as the S3. Even if only for traversal, just to add that fun... Whoa!

BTW, this thread says that the XY motors are Nema 23 260oz SX3 stepper size?

[Ed from NY]

I thought I would post this because other beginners might find it useful.

So I got the grease and oil from Enco with the 10% off and free shipping coupons which ended today... I suppose the free shipping was important because the oil comes in gallons.

I stuck with one manufacturer to increase the chances of compatibility. Given the selection that Enco has I chose Mobil and went through all the datasheets at Mobil's website. I picked two greases and three oils, the numbers in the front are Enco's SKUs:

325-5927 - Mobilith® SHC® 220 (Synthetic, Lithium, NLGI grade 2 - peanut butter, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLGI_Grade )
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...bilith_SHC.asp

325-5923 - SHC 32 (Synthetic, Clay, NLGI grade 1.5 - midway between tomato paste and peanut butter)
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...iltemp_SHC.asp

505-1987 - Vactra No. 2 Way Oil (horizontal slideways on small to medium size machine tools)
505-1989 - Vactra No. 4 Way Oil (normal recommendation for large machines where way pressures are high or good precision is required. It is also recommended for vertical and inclined slideways where drain-down can be a problem)
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...a_Numbered.asp

505-2000 - Velocite No. 6 Light Spindle Oil (High speed spindle bearings in machine tools and equipment where high speeds and fine clearances are involved; No 3 is recommended for "zero clearance" type spindle bearings which operate with extremely close clearances; got No 6 which is the middle grade and the only one at Enco)
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...l_Numbered.asp

I also wanted a NLGI Grade 3 grease, but could not find it at Enco.

I was also looking for a Dial Test Indicator. Did a bit of searching here and it seems that "Starrett, Brown & Sharpe, and Mitutoyo are good brand names" http://www.cnczone.com/forums/cnczone_club_house/80318-considering_becoming_machinist_-_need_advice.html#post609408

I do not like the idea of buying measuring instruments on eBay. You never know how the person took care of it, but I found this Mitutoyo for $49.99, shipping included. The guy had 51 of them... which is a good indication that they are indeed new as opposed to just "in the box" http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=380095096735 . So I went ahead and got one. The range is 0.250" with an accuracy of +/- 0.001" (0.1" per revolution). Funny thing is the Mitutoyo web site had no mention of this model... hmmm... hopefully is not a fake like those Rolexes you buy in Chinatown -- I did give one of those to an uncle of mine and he got a kick out it!

Now I need a support for it, but I'll wait till it arrives because I do not know what the back looks like. http://www.mini-lathe.com/Measuremen...indicators.htm has some suggestions as to what type of holders to get.

[Edit]

Went to get materials. Sticker shock!

Decided to go with Cast Nylon 6 as originally intended for the project I'm working on. Got it from http://www.usplastic.com/ which seems to have okay prices and a reasonable selection under "Sheet & Rod" (kind of hidden on the top menu).

Had I chosen A36 I would have got it from http://www.metalsdepot.com/

I did not like http://www.onlinemetals.com/ . They have more stuff, but are more expensive.

[Edit 2]

Since I'm mentioning all places I'm getting stuff from... I got the end mills from http://www.carbidedepot.com/

I'm new to this, but I thought they had a nice selection from SGS and okay prices.

[iGG1e]

Funny thing is the Mitutoyo web site had no mention of this model

Models do seem to change quite frequently and trying to get an exact match to the reality in your hand isn't always easy, but Mitutoyo UK do list a 1410 model found under Series 1 Dial Indicators if the link doesn't work:

http://www.mitutoyo.co.uk/MitProd/mt...8!Opendocument

Having a Dial Indicator is a good thing, but I find I use a Dial Test Indicator more for setups.

You seem to be getting on nicely bring the mill back to life, mine is currently spread out across the workshop as I do some modifications to it.

[idtkid]

Hey Ed, I just got my SX3 up and running an hour ago for the first time. Im lucky to not have had to experience all the tear down that you did however Im sure you know more about the inner workings of this particular machine than myself. Its been great to look over this thread and get some free info. Keep up the good work

[Ed from NY]

Models do seem to change quite frequently and trying to get an exact match to the reality in your hand isn't always easy, but Mitutoyo UK do list a 1410 model found under Series 1 Dial Indicators if the link doesn't work:

Thanks! It does look a bit different though... will post a pic when I receive it

Hey Ed, I just got my SX3 up and running an hour ago for the first time. Im lucky to not have had to experience all the tear down that you did however Im sure you know more about the inner workings of this particular machine than myself. Its been great to look over this thread and get some free info. Keep up the good work

Cool. Congrats!

Have you cut anything? Are you using BobCad? I just bumped an old thread to check on the post-processors people are using. I'm trying to get my first piece into g-code *sigh*

If I get some Gcode generated I'll run to staples and get some polystyrene or to home depot to get some pink insulation, turn on the shop vac and give it a go.

All problems in red on post still #39 still remain though... *long sigh*

[Edit]

Oops, forgot! My drawbar does not work with my collet and Grizzly has them on back order. I did not bother to ask Syil or Syil America for it because they are only $10 and I did not want to bother people for a $10 part if I can get it myself, but now Grizzly is out of stock and seems will only be shipping it around the 21st

[idtkid]

I to need a draw bar, im just going to order some all thread and weld a nut on the end. I haven't cut anything, but I use RhinoCAM to create my code. Every now and then I run featureCAM when RhinoCAM seems to generate some funky code. I plan on just running my SX3 with the clunky spindle for now.