Reply with QuoteHuh?Originally Posted by BobWarfield
What interference Bob? The lid opens and closes without any obstructions?
Widgit
Wow!
That machine looks so good there in your living room, I think you should program it to mix and serve the cocktails at your next party. After all, if a Haas can pop the top on a beer, I know a Widgitmaster can mix a screwdriver!
(Haas beer server: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RV_peLE2qQ"]YouTube - Haas Beer Can Opener)
One other thought:
Given the way the stepper interferes with opening the electronics, you might want to rotate the router 90 degrees on its table to provide a little more clearance for the lid.
Cheers,
BW
Huh?
What interference Bob? The lid opens and closes without any obstructions?
Widgit
I'm sorry sir, I was looking at that last picture as though it was the front not the back.
Pardon the interruption.
BW
That's OK Bob, there's a little blond in all of us; however, if you need a CNC machine to open a can, then maybe you've had too many
Widgit
Today I started working on the other support block for the upper wire track, this started out with a 7"x4"x4" block of solid black Delrin.
First I squared up all six sides in the vise with my big fly-cutter, then I spot drilled one location with a big center drill. The I clamped the block on the rotary table so the center hole was in the middle of the spindle. Then I milled a 2" dia boss around 1.667" long. The boss also has a bore 1.094" dia, approx 2 3/8" deep for the electrical socket. Then I band sawed off the bulk of material, and finished it in the vise.
Next I scribed a few more lines, and band sawed of the bulk of material from the back side, leaving an ear protruding in one corner. After milling the ear to dimensions, I had to make a special end mill out of junk soft steel. This cutter will be made to mill a dimple on both sides of the ear, so the wire track can snap on to it. Using soft steel made the job easy, and it worked perfectly in the soft Delrin plastic.
Now its time to mill the 27.7° angle on the bottom of the part. To do this I scribed the tangent line, and milled one edge to the line. Then I milled the adjacent side, and put a center hole on location.
Now I need to put the part on the rotary table again, and locate the spindle over the spot drilled hole. Then I milled a little 1" OD boss, with a .75" dia ID x 3/8" deep. This creates a shallow socket for the electrical conduit to nest in.
Now I need to drill all the connecting holes, two of them will be plugged with a hex socket 1/4" pipe plug. Getting all the wires through these passages will be fun to say the least!
Lastly, I removed the side plate from the router, so that I could drill & tap the three mounting holes for the transition block.
One more part finished
Widgit
cool.. looks like it was made that way..actually i was a lil behind, till i saw the end picture..looks like a perfict fit! very neat and clean looking! well thought out...i woulda needed alot of practice parts to kill before getting one just right for the money shot..looks good widgitmaster! ,..and again thanks for sharing with us, i cant get started on my cnc yet,but your build log keeps my intrest up so , thank you for letting us check in from the corner of your shop !
"witty comment"
Because I'm going to be installing a complete PC inside the big box, I need to make several clips and brackets out of sheet metal. So I drove to Harbor Freight this morning to look at their sheet metal brakes. None of them are within my strained budget, and none of them were small enough for my little shop! So I drove home and started to build one!
First I found a nice piece of round stock, it was from a hydraulic cylinder. The shaft has a nice hard chrome surface. In order to cut it to length, I needed to put it in my lathe to cut through the hard chrome.
Then I saw cut the stock, and used the lathe to face the ends to length. Next I milled two opposing flats on either end, leaving the section in the middle at 12". Then I drilled & bored a 1" dia hole on either end at 13" centers. lastly, I milled a 3/8" wide slot, 5/8" deep between the two bores. This will be for the punch.
Next I milled up a piece of A2 flat stock 14 3/4" x 3" x 1", and drilled & bored two holes at 13" centers 5/8" from one edge. These will be for the two 7/8" dia guide posts. While running the mill, I made two bronze bushings in the lathe, which will be pressed into the round chromed steel.
After pressing in the bronze bushings, I finish bored them in the mill, so the two parts will align perfectly. Next, I milled a 3/8" wide V-groove between the two bores in the flat plate, this becomes the die.
All that is left is the punch, so I milled up a piece of flat stock 12" x 3" x 3/8", and put a V point along one edge. Now the punch fits snuggly in the top slot, and will get a few setscrews. The punch slides nicely on the two posts, but now I need to make a round adapter that will fit in a 7/8" collet.
After milling so much aluminum & Delrin, is is rather refreshing to work on steel! Now I have a small sheet metal brake press!
Widgit
Last edited by widgitmaster; 04-27-2008 at 07:53 AM. Reason: typo's
Hello Eric,
Man, the stuff you pull out of your hat never fails to amaze me. I just gotta say thanks (again) for letting us all look over your shoulder.
Cheers!
Jim McMillan
Thanks Jim!
This was a fun project, one that I've wanted to do for a long time!
Widgit
Easy day today, all the PC components arrived Friday, so I set them up on a table to see what I had. Then I found myself spending all day installing software!
So far I have a 2.8 GHz CPU, 1 Gig RAM, to 30 Gig hard drives, 300 Watt power supply, one CDRW and one floppy. Then I added a wireless G network card! Software is XP, with MACH3 installed. One of the hard drives will be for all the G-Codes.
Now I need to make a sheet metal bracket to hold the two hard drives, and one to hold the CDRW, and one more to hold the floppy. After several hours in CAD, I see that I will need to mount everything to one aluminum base plate, so that is can be removed and easily serviced. That makes the PC a little interesting, as there will be a large opening in the back of the big box.
Also, I have two 80mm cooling fans and filter grilles. The need to be placed just right, so there are no hot spots in the box! With three power supplies running, and 4 Gecko's it should be a bit warm on a hot Florida summer day!
It's amazing how easy it is for me to stay focused when machining metal, and how scattered my brain gets when I start on the electronics
Widgit
Oh yeah, a 14" LCD monitor and a 12" Mini-Keyboard too!
Today I made the plate for the bottom of the big box. Starting with a 24" square 6061 plate .093" thick, I needed to band saw and mill it down to 22.375" square.
To do this I cut a 6' long aluminum bar into 3 pcs. around 24" long. These will be used to clamp the plate flat on the mill's table, so that I can machine the edges to size. After setting up the plate and clamping it loosely, I used a short parallel to align the back edge of the thin plate with the edge of the mill's table. First I milled the edge which was shear cut, as it was nice and square. Then I dialed in the milled edge and milled the saw cut edge to size.
Now I need to drill four holes in the corners, to do this I used a three point drill, as they work perfectly on thin sheet metal. A regular drill would rip an irregular sloppy hole in to the metal. Now I measured the four studs which were welded in the corners of the box, and calculated a 1/2" in from all edges as the perfect location. Unfortunately the welded studs were not evenly spaced, so i had to re-drill the holes making a short slot so they would all fit over the studs. With a washer and a nut, it worked out perfectly!
Now that the plate is finished, I can locate the PC unit, but first I needed to make some 5" long standoffs out of 1/2" dia stock. The PC power supply will go under the motherboard, as there is plenty of room in this box!
Then I drilled the four holes for the big transformer and capacitor. The transformer was so heavy, that I needed to make spacers under it to hold it up and keep the plate from bending!
After looking over the whole drawer, I have decided where to locate the two cooling fans, and the two intake filter grilles. This is starting to take shape!
Widgit
This morning I setup my mill to put the hole patterns in for the big cooling fans. To do this I used the two rails I used yesterday, and clamped them to the mill's table so the extended around 14" and 12" apart. Then I milled a 1" wide groove, 1" deep on both rails. This is for the rib at the opening of the box to sit in, so the box sits flat.
Then I rotated the turret, and extended the ram in an attempt to reach the center point drawn on the side of the box. Unfortunately, the box is too big, and the ram would not extend far enough to reach it! So I had to re-setup with the rails extending off the back f the mill's table. This worked perfectly, but it made my arms to short to reach the mills controls
After clamping everything as good as I possible, I set the DRO to zero, and drilled the four small holes. Next I used a 3/16" dia 4-flute end mill to manually interpolate the circle, so the bulk of material would fall out in one piece. Then I used my 3" boring head to finish the bore to 3.5" dia.
The 2nd opp was a little easier, but this setup would only work on 2 of 4 hole patterns. So I had to swing the turret to the other side to finish the box!
Now you see why a mill needs 6 foot of empty space on both sides!
Total time 3.5 hr, but my arms are tired
Next I'll mound the backplane panel for the PC to the back of the box.
Widgit
After lunch i made one more setup, to mill & drill the opening in the back of the box for the PC's backplane. This setup went quickly, as the rails worked fine for this setup too!
Now when the rest of the fans & grilles arrive, I can do a full assembly.
Widgit
This morning I started on the stainless handle / kick guard for the front of the big drawer. First I saw cut 4 short pieces and one 22" long piece of 303-SS. The short pieces were .750 dia, and the long one is .787".
Then I faced the ends of the short pieces, and drilled a .377 " dia through hole. Then I saw cut a 1/4" long sample of the .787" dia bar, to use as a radius gage. Then I hand ground a concave radius in a 3/8" tool bit, until it matched the sample piece. Next I put the long shaft in a 3-jaw chuck, and used the radius tool bit to form a full radius on both ends.
Now I need to put a concave radius on all four short pieces, to do this I'll use my boring head. First I put the part in the vise, on a parallel with a quick stop. Then I set the DRO to zero on the protruding end and the shaft center. Next I moved away from the part end a distance equal to the radius desired. then with a little red ink I adjusted the boring head until the tool just scuffed the ink!
After several light passes, the 50% diameter was finished. While cutting the next piece, I filed & scraped the burrs of the 1st part. Repeating this procedure 4- times.
Next I placed the long shaft in the mill vise, and set the DRO to zero in the middle and center of the diameter. Then I move outward in both directions to drill & tap some 3/8-16 UNC blind holes. Then I put the tap in the hole and the chuck, loosened the vise and moved the table until the next hole location was between the jaws. Then I closed the vise and set the DRO to zero. This ensured the previous hole is centered and parallel to the next hole.
Now I have an attractive kick bar near the bottom of the drawer, which can be used as a handle too!
Widgit
This is the "80th day" !!
Today I took the time to glance back at the beginning of this thread, and was rattled by the fact that this is the "80th day" into the project! I'm pleased with the amount of progress I have made; considering the quantity and frequency of distractions that have gone by!
The material for the lower Delrin blocks has arrived, as well as all the sheet metal for the various mounting brackets and clips! So it's going to be another busy weekend
Widgit
Dust Protection
I am wondering if you're planning on doing something to protect the electronics from dust. It might be a good idea to have at least two of the fans blowing in with a filter. By the way if you don't have any of the fans blowing in then the dust will come in every other hole an crevice that it can find.
You definitely want to have a positive airflow if you are planning on having a CD-ROM drive accessible from the outside. If any dust gets in one of those it is very hard to get it out.
If you're planning on only acrylics and metals it will probably be fine. On the other hand, if you're going to ever work with MDF, I would try to seal every nook and cranny. As well as having a filtered positive airflow, that stuff gets nasty.
PS
It definitely is coming along nicely (I want to make one
Thanks!
Actually the box has four holes, two with fans on the side with the hottest components. The other two holes are filtered. I have not decided where to put the CD-Rom & Floppy, because I don't want to put any holes in the front of the box!
Widgit
Last edited by widgitmaster; 05-02-2008 at 07:19 PM. Reason: added more pics!
Nice work widget!
If a may make a humble suggestion, have the floppy and CD drive inside the sealed , filtered box, you probably won't need access to these too often. I find i rarely use mine on my desktop EMC2 controlled mill. When ever I need to import G Code files from my cam program I use either my network connection, or a cheap USB jump drive, which i plug into a dongle that came from a wireless USB device that I found for 5 bucks in one of my hacker friendly stores. I just mounted the dongle on the side of the keyboard with a drop of silicon adheasive.
Yes, I have an RJ-45 port and a wireless card on the PC, so transferring G-Codes in not a problem. You are right in placing the CD & Floppy in the box, as it has plenty of room!
Widgit
whats the wooden top made of that the machine is sitting on (the table top)? looks like 2 peices of chip board and a inside layer of mdf??sort of a sandwich of wood??
"witty comment"
