Build Log - Grizzly G0619 CNC Conversion

[mattm55]

Yes that looks nice and neat. A BOM and schematic would be great. I find it time consuming to put the write ups and pics on the forum BUT I have also grabbed tons of good info from others taking the time to do this so its worth it.

~Arrgg, I use the Eclipse IDE daily but have another project that needs Visual Studio. I like the Powermate idea.

Keep up the good work... nice.

Matt

[sagreen]

WOW! That is really nice are the buttons momentary or latching? Hope you detail how you hook them up I'm sure more then just myself would be interested.

Fannblade, The buttons are momentary...

This details are pretty simple for this control panel...

The buttons are regular arcade cabinet buttons. I get them here.. ultimark.com

The numeric keypad and powermate are both USB, so they will plug strait into the computer. The keypad will serve as a numeric input device.
I wrote my own powermate plugin in VS2008 c++. Still refining it, but it works pretty well.

The power button section will drive inputs on my CNC BOB, as well as external relay circuits. I'm going to build a small circuit to drive a small relay that drives a much larger 30 amp relay for my CNC and PC.

The rest of the buttons plug into this. The I-PAC Wiring it is simple. All buttons have a common ground, and this board has 32 inputs. It plugs into a USB port on your PC, and becomes a keyboard emulator. You press one of the buttons on the control panel and it sends a programmable keystroke to your PC. I will have to create a Mach3 screen to turn the keystrokes into Mach3 macros.

I still have some work left to do on the control panel. Right now its just buttons and a frame. I've yet to wire it. Its pretty big. its like 23" x 18" with the 15" monitor in the middle. I wanted to mount an arm to the mill but this control panel is just too big. I will probably make some kind of floor stand that I can roll out of the way when I'm not using it.

Scott...

[FannBlade]

Thanks. That I-PAC board is pretty nice. I have it bookmarked and will have to look into that in greater detail.
Maybe you could make a plugin/screenset available in the future and offer it for sale on the ArtSoft site.

[sagreen]

Shop built roll around stand to hold my control panel and keyboard...

Scott...

[sagreen]

Good progress on the control panel... Have a bit more work to get some of the buttons going, but its close...

That box on the back of the stand is the entire computer that runs the mill...

Scott...

[sagreen]

Coolant tank... I used a Harbor Freight parts washer for the pump and tank. Pretty sweet!

Parts Washer : 6-1/2 Gallon Parts Washer

I used a sink strainer under the aluminum bar to hold the pipe from the machine to catch the big chips.

I had to turn an adapter on my lathe to adapt the pump to the 3/8" npt. Took the entire day to get this working...

Scott...

[Geekus]

Your control box looks great and using the parts from an arcade control is brilliant. When I saw the I-PAC, I started searching for a cheaper solution and found a few instructions to hacking a usb keyboard to do a similar function:

Dr. Monk's DIY Electronics Blog: Hack a USB Computer Keyboard to Make a Synth Pedal Board

A note on pin layouts and shift registers

Makes me wish I had not thrown out my old keyboards, but I could see a number of uses for the controllers (and the I-PAC).

I also saw that you mentioned you were gonna build a board with a small relay to driver a larger one. I picked up some boards for another project on ebay which have opto-isolated relays and were pretty cheap. If you search for "arduino relay" on ebay quite a few will pop up (I am not sure if most of them are opto-isolated though). I also found one that says it will do 30A (FWIW).

The parts washer looks cool, I am gonna check it out next time I get down to HF. The only thing I'd be concerned about is the head on that small pump. I used a similar small fountain pump from HF and it was not up to the task (though it had to push about 5' of water). In my setup the flow rate was so low it would not push chips away from the cuts. I recently picked up a much more capable sump pump which I have yet to set up since I am re-thinking the whole setup for flood coolant. It looks like that parts washer could take a larger pump upgrade too.

I also picked up an in-line aquarium UV filter which I will use with the smaller fountain pump (probably on a timer) to circulate the coolant around so it does not get too funky (hopefully).

[sagreen]

Your control box looks great and using the parts from an arcade control is brilliant. When I saw the I-PAC, I started searching for a cheaper solution and found a few instructions to hacking a usb keyboard to do a similar function:

Dr. Monk's DIY Electronics Blog: Hack a USB Computer Keyboard to Make a Synth Pedal Board

A note on pin layouts and shift registers

Makes me wish I had not thrown out my old keyboards, but I could see a number of uses for the controllers (and the I-PAC).

I also saw that you mentioned you were gonna build a board with a small relay to driver a larger one. I picked up some boards for another project on ebay which have opto-isolated relays and were pretty cheap. If you search for "arduino relay" on ebay quite a few will pop up (I am not sure if most of them are opto-isolated though). I also found one that says it will do 30A (FWIW).

The parts washer looks cool, I am gonna check it out next time I get down to HF. The only thing I'd be concerned about is the head on that small pump. I used a similar small fountain pump from HF and it was not up to the task (though it had to push about 5' of water). In my setup the flow rate was so low it would not push chips away from the cuts. I recently picked up a much more capable sump pump which I have yet to set up since I am re-thinking the whole setup for flood coolant. It looks like that parts washer could take a larger pump upgrade too.

I also picked up an in-line aquarium UV filter which I will use with the smaller fountain pump (probably on a timer) to circulate the coolant around so it does not get too funky (hopefully).

I went with the IPac cause I used it for an arcade emulator project a while ago. A lot of people that do the arcade emulators hack spare keyboards like you have found. I wanted something that I could hook up and not mess with a bunch of hacking. But, even the IPac is not ideal. You can only program it to send normal keyboard keys like "A,B,C" not Alt A, Alt B, Alt C. I'd rather be able to send non standard codes to Mach3. I've thought about building my own controller by using an Arduino Mega or a Netduino Go. Both of which I have built hardware controllers around. The IPac is working, so that project is pretty low priority!

Thanks for the tips on the Relay! Went to ebay and bought a 30 amp Arduino Relay as soon as I read your message. Now gotta wait for the slow boat from Hong Kong I'll be using this to power my PC / Monitor up and down. My CNC control has 2 switched 20 amp relays that are currently powering my Mill and the Coolant via one of the switches on the panel.

Also, Geekus has been helping me out a ton getting my tooling plate going via PMs. Hope to have the tooling plate mounted and in use very soon! I have the LittleMachineShop coolant catch tray mounted, now all I gotta do is finish it out by mounting the tooling tray.

Scott...

[sagreen]

Finally got my toolplate and chip tray installed! time to start making chips!

Many thanks to Geekus for all of his advice on pinning the table!

Scott...

[PriddyShiddy]

VERY GOOD LOOKING chip pan!

Sorry if I missed it, but is that the A2Z tool plate? Is it clear anodized? keep thinking about ordering one but I don't think the aluminum would stand up very long with how often I change vices and fixtures. Thought about ordering one and getting it hard anodized. What do you think of it?

Also, are the threads tapped strait into the aluminum? I love the idea, but for the low price they couldn't have used inserts, but those threads won't last long in AL I guess for the price I could just buy another one when it wears out...

I also just realized LMS now caries these so I could will-call and skip the shipping.

[sagreen]

VERY GOOD LOOKING chip pan!

Sorry if I missed it, but is that the A2Z tool plate? Is it clear anodized? keep thinking about ordering one but I don't think the aluminum would stand up very long with how often I change vices and fixtures. Thought about ordering one and getting it hard anodized. What do you think of it?

Also, are the threads tapped strait into the aluminum? I love the idea, but for the low price they couldn't have used inserts, but those threads won't last long in AL I guess for the price I could just buy another one when it wears out...

I also just realized LMS now caries these so I could will-call and skip the shipping.

Yeah, thats the A2Z toolplate. Not sure if the plate is clear anodized, I've never seen anything that wasnt color anodized, but from the looks of the plate I would say no. The threads are tapped strait into the aluminum.

I just got it done this weekend, so I'm not sure how I like it. It looks like its going to be a lot more flexible than the T-Slots. I've got to learn a lot about hold-down. With my CNC wood machines, I could use clamps, vaccum, tabs etc.

Would love to hear others ideas on this!

Cutting Scenario : Lets say, you were going to mill out a CNC motor mount. Its .75" thick, has 4 1/4" holes to mount the motor, and a big hole in the middle for the shaft / connector to run through. See attached picture.

Never done this before, and this is what I would do.

1: Build jig to hold down stock to table, allowing me to drill through the entire part.
2: Fasten stock to table / jig with Milling clamps (stepped block with bar).
3: Drill outer holes in stock.
4: Build another jig to be fastened to the table, threaded for the 4 holes cut into the stock.
5: Fasten the stock to the jig using 4 1/4" bolts.
6: Cut the outer sides of the final part in multiple passes, and have 1 finish cut.

Seems like a ton of jig building to me. And the jigs would probably have to be made out of aluminum.

Any other ways to skin this cat without investing a ton of time and money for jigs? Seems like I could skip the first jig by drilling holes in the stock in the positions that I have holes in my toolplate, but I assume that would cause quite a bit of waste.

Scott...

[PriddyShiddy]

I have been dragging my feet on editing a youtube video that happens to show MY favorite way to skin that cat. I just made it public so you can see it.

For 1-20 parts I don't make table jigs. I throw the blank in the vice, face the blank on both top and bottom of part to desired thickness. drill the through holes. remove it from the vice. Throw a piece of scrap in the vice. face the scrap. re-zero. run the same drill program only with a drill for the corresponding tap size. tap the threads in the scrap WITHOUT REMOVING from the vice.

now just bolt your blank with matching through holes on the scrap, set your offset to the thickness of the part. contour away. gives you EASY access to the peripheral.

search my user name on youtube