Raised Y Axis Plywood CNC Router Vol.2

[OZ_Dan]

Hi Pete,

Yes, ideally it should be a waxed resin.
Thanks for the link! I was considering buying from their website as well, but after adding the shipping costs of $35 (ridiculous), it is way more expensive than the Bunnings stuff
I will keep looking.

So could I use varnish instead of resin?

Cheers
Dan

[peteeng]

Hi Dan- varnish is fine - comes down to your budget and if you want it to look like timber or a colour... I've used some of the monocell products and they are good. Peter

[OZ_Dan]

Hello!

Quick update. Have used a One Coat Clear Varnish for the base and walls which worked OK. To mix things up a bit, the gantry and Z Axis are going to be 2 coats of baby blue acrylic colour as I had a leftover tin of it. Gotta think of a name of the machine at some point - being made in Australia maybe "True Blue"? Depending how 'true' the machine runs in the end haha

About 80% of my orders have arrived incl. all stepper and drivers as well as an ER16 500W spindle I got for a good price. The postie also brought me a dial gauge for adjusting the rails, yay!

Cheers
Dan

[peteeng]

Hi Dan - Is the 500W spindle DC? or do you mean 1500W ? Peter

[OZ_Dan]

Hi Pete,

it's a 500W DC brushless spindle. I know it's not ideal but I will start with this one before going straight to a multi kw VFD for $$$.

[OZ_Dan]

Hello everyone,

Quick update - Y rails have been permanently installed as well as the gantry. Sliding very smoothly over the whole length. Currently working on installing the X rails on the gantry which is a bit of a pain as I can't slide the X/Z saddle in and out due to the gantry being closed off at the sides... But will get there eventually! The saddle itself has some resistance when moved by hand along the X axis rails. Once the rails are bolted on properly I see if I can find the issue. Might just needs some shimming here and there.

Cheers
Dan

[peteeng]

Hi Dan - Redneck is looking good.... Can we see the back of the Gantry? Peter

[OZ_Dan]

Hi Pete!
There's nothing to see at the back of the gantry as it's still open. It will likely be one of the last things to close off after I figured out where to drill holes for bolts and wires to go through.

I was busy nonetheless. If you ever thought of taking a HGR rail carriage apart - just don't... haha
I took one apart to clean as it rolled very rough on the rail and I thought some debris was stuck inside between the balls somewhere. Disassembly was easy and quick, then soaked everything in isopropyl to get the grease off which went OK too, but the assembly is a bit of a pain and took forever. So many balls and some have a live of their own! And they aren't particularly easy to grip either. After about 1hr it was all back together and Dry PTFE Lubricant (from Jaycar) made all the balls run very smooth. Didn't find any debris though...
Anyway, for the other carriages I cleaned off the grease as best as I could and added the PTFE lubricant instead of taking it all apart which did the trick too. The Z axis is now sliding down on it's own weight (maybe 2kg?). Looks like carriages don't like Castrol High Performance Bearing Grease.
But I think the ball screws will!

Next step is adding the Y ball screws.
Z ball screw still is not back in stock...

Cheers
Dan

[peteeng]

Hi Dan - wheel bearing grease needs to get up to quite warm before it loses its stickiness. Hiwin will have a grease spec in their docs somewhere. I use a paraffin wax as it does not attract dust... Yes those balls have a life of their own if they get out of their cage. Like the lions at Teronga....Peter

[OZ_Dan]

Hello everyone!

Another update. The Y Axis ball screws are mounted in place as well as the 2 stepper motors. Will add some more bracing on the ball screw bearing holders so they don't flex in any direction.
Also started to attach the X Axis ball screw and stepper motor to the gantry which worked out pretty well. Will need to paint some bits and pieces and also do some more Bunnings trips to get more bolts.
Speaking of bolts and fasteners - I screwed up pretty badly (pun intended) with the selection and amounts of which bolts and especially lengths to use as I ended up having to assemble the saddle completely different than the model.
Also ran out of M5 threaded inserts but instead of waiting 2 weeks plus for delivery (not available locally) I used longer M5 bolts and nuts. Anyway, it's mostly sorted out now. Lucky my work is right next to a Bunnings

Next up is to complete the X Axis assembly and then start mounting the Z Axis stepper motor while I still wait for the 1605 ball screw to come back in stock.

Cheers
Dan

[OZ_Dan]

G'Day folks!

Finally found an 1605 ball screw in the right length so I ordered it straight away. Hopefully will show up in a few days time!

I was busy the last few hours with the electronics and establishing the communication between Mach3 and the breakout board. I did not go for the initial red Mach3 breakout board because it's only 4 axis. Using 2 steppers for Y doesn't leave any for the potential future 4th axis upgrade. So I got the 5 axis green breakout board instead for $5 more. Lucky I was able to communicate with the seller to send me through a download link the suitable plugin/drivers - which came on a CD. Who has a CD drive these days? Anyway, after sorting out the wiring which took a bit (had to connect as common negative instead of common positive), the communication seems to work now and the stepper is turning with the arrow keys! Major milestone achieved!

Will try to connect the little 500W spindle soon.

Next steps is to figure out how and where to mount the electronics. Lot's of people squeeze them in a old computer case. That might be the way to go?! Otherwise I will mount them on a simple plywood board instead and attach it underneath the table. Probably easier for troubleshooting...?

Cheers
Dan

[OZ_Dan]

Hello all! Long time no see!

I was busy working on the wiring, component layout and the location of the electronics box.
Initially I wanted to install the electronics underneath the machine but was also thinking about where I will put my computer running Mach3 so I came up with a mobile desk! The design developed in my head on the go so it is nothing special but it works haha
That's also where the electronics box will be mounted on. It needs some more holes drilled for the wiring.

So far I got the X and Z axis to work with Mach3 but currently struggle with the slaved Y axis. I thought the 5 axis BOB I bought is an upgrade to the famous cheap 4 axis red Mach3 board but turns out I was kinda wrong. Apparently it doesn't support slave axis mode like the cheaper 4 axis board does as nothing happens when I select slave mode in Mach3?! That is really annoying. Well, for now, I will have to connect 2 stepper drivers to the same output on the BOB and therefore can't use auto square for the gantry which I initially wanted. If anyone has a better solution than buying another BOB which supports slave axis please speak out

Other than that I had some issues with interference. Mach3 randomly spit out a communication error. I narrowed it down to a badly or probably not at all shielded USB cable (which I ran across the power cable when testing) which came with the board and now have a properly shielded one on the way. Also separated the 240V AC/DC PSUs to the rest of the electronics with an aluminium foil lined piece of plywood inside the box. Let's see if that helps a bit. Do I need an additional grounding for the PSUs? There are already have 3 prongs on the plugs.

Currently waiting on a c clip and the coupling for the Z axis to arrive as they did not come with the order for the ball screw...

Happy chipping!
Cheers
Dan

[peteeng]

Hi Dan - Have you placed a 5V usb into the BOB USB plug? In one of the photos its not in. It will need it, that maybe the issue. It powers the opto isolators I think. If you don't have power here the voltage delta is not big enough and the axes can misbehave. I've had that issue before. Peter

You have a USB input BOB so I think you can disregard my comment. Peter

[OZ_Dan]

Hi Pete,

Just to reconfirm, yes, usually the USB is plugged in as this is the way it communicates to the computer. It's not plugged in in the photos because it's already in the bin

[mactec54]

Hi Dan - Have you placed a 5V usb into the BOB USB plug? In one of the photos its not in. It will need it, that maybe the issue. It powers the opto isolators I think. If you don't have power here the voltage delta is not big enough and the axes can misbehave. I've had that issue before. Peter

You have a USB input BOB so I think you can disregard my comment. Peter

Most Breakout Boards that need 5v for the Optos, can use a 5v power supply or the computers 5v from the USB for most of these Breakout Boards, a 5v dc power supply is better than using the computers USBs 5v though

[mactec54]

Hello all! Long time no see!

I was busy working on the wiring, component layout and the location of the electronics box.
Initially I wanted to install the electronics underneath the machine but was also thinking about where I will put my computer running Mach3 so I came up with a mobile desk! The design developed in my head on the go so it is nothing special but it works haha
That's also where the electronics box will be mounted on. It needs some more holes drilled for the wiring.

So far I got the X and Z axis to work with Mach3 but currently struggle with the slaved Y axis. I thought the 5 axis BOB I bought is an upgrade to the famous cheap 4 axis red Mach3 board but turns out I was kinda wrong. Apparently it doesn't support slave axis mode like the cheaper 4 axis board does as nothing happens when I select slave mode in Mach3?! That is really annoying. Well, for now, I will have to connect 2 stepper drivers to the same output on the BOB and therefore can't use auto square for the gantry which I initially wanted. If anyone has a better solution than buying another BOB which supports slave axis please speak out

Other than that I had some issues with interference. Mach3 randomly spit out a communication error. I narrowed it down to a badly or probably not at all shielded USB cable (which I ran across the power cable when testing) which came with the board and now have a properly shielded one on the way. Also separated the 240V AC/DC PSUs to the rest of the electronics with an aluminium foil lined piece of plywood inside the box. Let's see if that helps a bit. Do I need an additional grounding for the PSUs? There are already have 3 prongs on the plugs.

Currently waiting on a c clip and the coupling for the Z axis to arrive as they did not come with the order for the ball screw...

Happy chipping!
Cheers
Dan

What is the Breakout Board you had / tried, ?? if it is just a regular Breakout Board it will work with a slaved axis

[OZ_Dan]

What is the Breakout Board you had / tried, ?? if it is just a regular Breakout Board it will work with a slaved axis

Hi Mac,

What's a regular BOB?
I know that the red 4 axis BOB supports slave axis as there are plenty of videos on Youtube on how to set it up. With that in mind I thought the green 5 axis board, which I bought and currently use, supports slave axis as well. But I can't get it to work. I asked the seller and they said 'not supported'. Any idea in how to get it to work?

Red BOB: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002667281681.html

Green BOB: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004255475518.html

Cheers
Dan

[peteeng]

Hi Dan- The green BOB has X Y Z and A axes. The A axis is the slave axis. The A axis is set as slave in the configuration of the machine controller. I use UCCNC so can't tell you how it's done in mach but it is similar. eg if the Y axis has the slave then in the y axis config area you set "A" to its slave and its done... Peter

haven't seen a common vaginal end before, must mean female

[OZ_Dan]

Hi Dan- The green BOB has X Y Z and A axes. The A axis is the slave axis. The A axis is set as slave in the configuration of the machine controller. I use UCCNC so can't tell you how it's done in mach but it is similar. eg if the Y axis has the slave then in the y axis config area you set "A" to its slave and its done... Peter

haven't seen a common vaginal end before, must mean female

Hi Pete,

That's how I've configured it and it wouldn't work. I know I have connected it correctly as I can control the motor with the control keys for the A axis. But when I select slave A with Y, like it works on the red BOB, it still only spins one Y axis motor.
Maybe there's more to it?!

Haha don't get me started on these translations!

Have bolted the control box to my mobile desk and I think it turned out pretty well
Also finally closed the back off the gantry. Was quite a mission with these weird angles neither the table saw nor the mitre saw was able to cut. So I chucked a sawblade on the angle grinder and cut the angles by hand which turned out OK (Pic related). Lots of screws and PVA glue should add some stiffness. Some more sanding and more blue and done it is.

Cheers
Dan

[OZ_Dan]

Happy New Year fellow nerds!

Finished installing the limit switches on X, Y and Z as well as all the cable drag chains. What a pain in the butt pulling all wires through these protective conduits!
Back of the gantry is closed off as well and looks alright.
The electronics enclosure is now done and will get a fan and filter soon. The new shielded USB cable luckily helped fixing the "communication errors" in Mach3 which is great.

So, apart from some holding brackets for wires and cable drag chains as well as dust covers for rails and screws, I have a working machine!
First test runs came back positive. Stuck a pencil next to the spindle and CNC drew a circle on a piece of paper. So far it's spot on in size. Obviously it needs some trimming and fine adjusting once I'm actually doing first cuts.

Just have ordered some 2 flute compression (up and down cut) router bits, a 90 degree chamfer cutter and a small ball nose for engraving.

Until they arrive I will surface the spoil board to make it parallel to X and Y axis.
Also need to think about an enclosure for the machine itself to keep the dust contained as well as looking for a DIY dust extraction. Maybe cyclone principle?

What would be a DIY project without some issues? Boring!
- Due to having to change the X/Z saddle a bit compared to my model, some clearances have changed by like 5mm. This now reduced the axis travel on X and Z to an extent that I can't reach over the edges of a 1200mm wide board anymore.
It can be fixed with a lot of effort but I can't be bothered - yet.
- The Z axis has a slight tilt towards Y+ direction. That means when moving from Z+ limit switch to Z- limit switch the spindle tip moves about 2-3mm towards Y+. I couldn't pin point where exactly the issue lies, probably all the tolerances add up from the thicknesses of the plywood or I simply didn't cut straight enough...!? For now I've fixed this by adding washers underneath the lower bolt holes of the spindle clamp which tilts the spindle itself towards Y- to compensate. I know it's not ideal as it still moves the spindle tip when traveling in Z direction but at least its now parallel to the machine bed.

All in all I'm pretty happy how it turned out as my first machine. Let's see how it goes making chips!

Will keep you posted. Also will list my budget shortly.

Cheers
Dan