Devastator's Ongoing Solsylva Build

[Devastator]

Took some time today to clean up parts and reassemble. Cleaned up all of the pits in the rods and then used a blackener on them. All I had was aluminum blackener, but glad I decided to give it a try. It worked on the steel just fine. Took out all the scratches in the aluminum with a random orbit sander, and polished the end plates. I've got the files just about done for the spindle mount, just not sure if I want to use plywood or MDF. Aluminum would be my first choice if I had some thick scraps laying around, but like everything else with this build, it is all scrap, so if I don't have it I won't go out of my way to buy it. Probably go MDF and keep my eyes peeled for aluminum cutoffs for future upgrade.

Almost forgot to mention that all of the fancy screws came from a shoe display being thrown away at the local mall. Most of the screws, nuts, and bolts in my machine have been re-purposed this way.

[Devastator]

After 2000+ hours the hobbycnc driver gave up the ghost. The Y chip decided it only wants to go in the plus direction even when jogged in the minus direction. It trashed a $75 piece of metal by drilling holes in wrong places. That's more than the whole cost of the driver! I'm going to order a G540 and eventually replace the chip on the hobbycnc board so I can use it for a smaller specialty machine I have planned for the future.

I got my money's worth out if it I will say that. Pretty happy with the performance until now. I highly recommend it for first time builders on a budget. The general consensus is if you use your machine long enough, eventually you will need to replace a chip.

[Devastator]

Almost ordered the G540 but this one by leadshine caught my eye: MX3660 - 3-Axis DSP Based Digital Stepper Drive Max 60 VDC / 6.0A

3-Axis DSP Based Digital Stepper Driver Max 60 VDC / 6.0A, MX3660 | Automation Technology Inc

Anybody here use one of these or have any comments? I'm not sure how these Asian digital drives compare to the Geckos. Price is close to same, but one axis less on the MX3660, but higher current cabability.

[pippin88]

For a router I think the G540 is a better buy with it's 4 axes, and very good quality.

The MX3660 probably is better suited to a mill as it allows higher currents. There are a few purple using it in the benchtop machines forum.

[Devastator]

For a router I think the G540 is a better buy with it's 4 axes, and very good quality.

Thanks for the input!

I ordered the G540/power supply combo. I got a 48V/7.3A power supply. I think my linear 36V power supply would have probably worked fine but I think I'll repair the HCNC driver in due time and use it for a different machine. I have to get this machine back up and running in the next few days otherwise my customers will give me trouble. That's the main reason I decided not to use Asian drivers because I just realized how important reliability is when you have orders standing. It might be prudent to build a standby controller box for situations like this.

[revwarguy]

Don't think you'll regret the G540 - I think its a great product.

Any clues as to why the HCNC driver died? Did it or the motors run hot?

Me, I go through routers. Gave up using a SuperPID simply because I needed to swap out a router quickly,
and the downside of the SuperPID is that it requires modding the router.

Looking forward to your upgrades, especially the "scrounge" parts!

[Devastator]

Don't think you'll regret the G540 - I think its a great product.

Any clues as to why the HCNC driver died? Did it or the motors run hot?

The drivers run really cool because I have a cartoonishly large heatsink on them and a high cfm fan, so that wasn't it. The motors run barely warm. The Z stepper motor was getting hot about a year ago so I thermal epoxied a heatsink on top and it has been cool ever since. I'm thinking that I need to put a filter in front of the fan. The only thing I can think of as far as user error is that it sucked in an aluminum shaving and shorted the driver.

I've decided on a plan of action. I've got the G540 coming as well as a new driver chip for the HCNC board. I'm going to repair the board I have and get through my slight backlog because that will be quicker than re-wiring all my cable ends and configuring the box and software. Then after I am caught up, I'll convert over to the G540. After that is done, I plan on adding some DB9's on my old HCNC box that match the wiring in my new cable ends. That way I have a spare box on standby and I'll keep both XML configurations saved in Mach. If one goes out, I just swap cables and load the correct XML for that box. The G540 will obviously be the primary controller with the HCNC as backup.

Me, I go through routers. Gave up using a SuperPID simply because I needed to swap out a router quickly,
and the downside of the SuperPID is that it requires modding the router.

I've had good luck with my Bosch. I'm on my third set of bearings, but still the first set of brushes. It was a Craigslist find @$40 IIRC. If it ever gets to the point of non-repairable, (or maybe sooner) I will get a water cooled spindle. I've been running my Solsylva in production mode and I'm tired of listening to the router all day long. I don't know how I'd get by without the SuperPID. I've got quite a few files that use different RPM's based on the operation being performed. I can tell by the sound of the router where it is at in the file. So cool to hear it automatically change RPM in the middle of a run.

Looking forward to your upgrades, especially the "scrounge" parts!

Thanks for the kind words!
Still trying to be thrifty, but now I'm making money with my machine I don't want to let a nickle hold up a dollar. It has proven its worth and I no longer have to justify the expense to my wife. Now she wants me to build a bigger one to make new kitchen cabinets.

[Devastator]

The replacement driver chip came yesterday and I installed it last night. So far so good. I've got 10.5 hours machine time on the new chip today so far. My G540 was supposed to be delivered today but USPS service around here is terrible. Some days they don't deliver at all, other days they give my mail to the wrong house number or in some instances the right house number but wrong street. I've ordered a few items that tracking shows delivered but never got here. I'll hope for the best. At least my machine is chewing away in the meantime. I never thought I'd become so dependent on my cobbled together CNC machine.

[Devastator]

To counter a comment from an experienced CNC'er that you can't mill aluminum effectively on a wood machine, I do it every day. Sure my DOC is not as deep as it could be, but I save myself between $300-$500 every day in water jet cut fees with my WOOD machine that I built from reclaimed junk. Looks pretty effective to me. Here's a few parts I made today. I did one up in black and white to look artsy.

[Devastator]

The G540 and power supply arrived yesterday. Looks real nice. Smaller than I thought it would be. I've got a 48V fan on the way so it can run off the same power. I read up on the heatsink/fan experiement @ geckodrive. Not any difference using a heatsink vs. just a fan, so I'll probably just use the high cfm fan. I'm guessing that the housing on the g540 does double duty as a heatsink since I can see inside and it appears that the driver chips are in direct contact with the back of the housing and small spot welds are visible between each set of driver chips.

[daddywoofdawg]

I just got the plans this week for the 25x25 and was thinking of maybe making the frame in 30/30 aluminum;the 80/20 stuff.do you think I can get away with that size for the frame or should I try to find straight 2x6 wood?
What size is the C channel you used for the gantry?do you have and measured drawings for the gantry pieces you used with it?

[Devastator]

I just got the plans this week for the 25x25 and was thinking of maybe making the frame in 30/30 aluminum;the 80/20 stuff.do you think I can get away with that size for the frame or should I try to find straight 2x6 wood?
What size is the C channel you used for the gantry?do you have and measured drawings for the gantry pieces you used with it?

There is no such thing as straight 2X6 wood. Even if it is straight when you buy it, it won't stay that way. The only way I'd use wood for critical parts that need to be straight is to glue plywood to the correct thickness. You can get away with standard dimensional lumber for non critical areas like the stand framing, but anywhere the rails mount to, I don't recommend it. I tried it. The washers sunk into the wood when the screws were tightened, and after a week the whole thing was twisted when the wood dried. I had to start over.

I didn't use C channel for the gantry, it is laminated ply faced with steel angle where the rails bolt. The drawings/templates are in your plan set. I followed them closely for the gantry, but I did use steel plate end plates on the gantry instead of wood. I used 3/8" knife edge inserts into the wood gantry ends and bolted the steel to that.

[Devastator]

Just a quick thread update.....I haven't had any time to install any of the new parts, except I have changed router bearings since my last update. I'm going through a set of bearings every three months! Might be time for a better spindle.

So I've got the new Z parts and a G540 with power supply just sitting there but my production schedule doesn't have any gaps to install any of it.

I think I need to build another machine.

[CarveOne]

That's my philosophy. Whenever there's a problem just build my way out of it ...

[Devastator]

That's my philosophy. Whenever there's a problem just build my way out of it ...

LOL, it is a sad state of affairs when it is easier to build another machine than stop the one that is making money. Making room for a second machine is not going to be fun. But it will be worth it.

[CarveOne]

I'm not doing any production work with either of my two machines, but it is nice to have a backup when one needs repair. The big machine is the least used of the two, but it serves as a work table when not being used for any of my projects that need the big table size. Sounds like you could use a second machine for production or as a spare machine anyway.

[ger21]

Making room for a second machine is not going to be fun. But it will be worth it.

Build a much more capable machine and just replace the current one when it's finished. Then you won't need any extra room, and you can probably double your production rate with a single, new machine.

[Devastator]

Build a much more capable machine and just replace the current one when it's finished. Then you won't need any extra room, and you can probably double your production rate with a single, new machine.

Probably build a more capable machine, upgrade the old one, then have two. I could really use two at this point to make more efficient use of my time. Plus I can use one for wood primarily, and the other for aluminum. The Solsylva makes a better wood mill than an aluminum mill.

[Devastator]

New router mount/z carriage. Old on the left, new on the right. The new one weighs twice as much and uses solid rod, compared to the chrome pipes. The mount is laminated plywood, attachment with cross dowel nuts. I used all countersunk stainless allen screws on the new one compared to the black oxide button heads on the old one.

I've not permanently mounted it yet, but during test fitting the rigidity seems a bit better. Mostly hoping it will quiet down my machine at certain rpms. The old one resonated, not only during cutting, but just idling at certain rpms. It was too lightweight. I won't know until I mount my router, but I have to replace the bearings again before that happens. I think I'm on my eighth set of bearings now with the same router.

I want to upgrade my whole Z assembly but I'm doing one upgrade at a time, in order to gauge effectiveness of each upgrade.

I'm considering ordering a water cooled spindle. That might be overkill for a Solsylva though.

[Devastator]

Router mounted up. Kinda neat looking in a Fred Flintstone way. I call it the "blockhead" mount. I had to kludge my ground wire to the router housing for the zero touch function. I originally had it grounded through the top bearing mount, but I found out when the bearing started to wear that contact became intermittent. So I just spliced a section of extra wire and just pinch it between the mount and router. Ugly but functional.