Travis' Momus (aka the slow long running build)

[vtxstar]

How gooey is the goo?

If it is like cold syrup, you could try putting all the scraped out goo into a disposable container, mix in the rest of the 'right' material and salvage the stuff,
You would then have surplus in the container that will harden properly...or close to it.

Maybe you could get enough to react correctly? Regardless, container the goo and mix in the rest of the material and try for a solid mess.
Then toss it.

-=Doug

[travis_cnc]

I got all the uncured epoxy out of the bed. It was a bit of a pain since it was so viscous but with lots of pushing with a paint scraper and some soaking with rubbing alcohol the tackiness is gone. I may or may not repaint the bottom of the machine. I am slightly worried that the new epoxy will not adhere correctly if I don't completely remove the paint and then repaint the bottom of the machine. It doesn't seem to have affected the paint too much though so I might just repaint the areas that got damaged and then reapply a correctly mixed batch of epoxy.

[travis_cnc]

Does anyone have any tips on the best way to attach the motor leads to the flexible stepper wire?
I was planning on soldering but needed to ensure that I had them run the best way that I could.
It appears I need something to attach them to in order to prevent undue stress on the wires coming from the steppers themselves.
Do you recommend cutting the leads from the stepper wires shorter before soldering?

[travis_cnc]

Well I got a successful pour of epoxy on to the bed of the machine.
I couldn't get every last little bubble out of the mixture but I think it will still be a very serviceable reference plane for the machine.

I ended up with another issue recently:
I had decided on a MX3660 as the electronics because of it's size and ease of connection in comparison to the Gecko system.
Originally I was planning on using my C11 BOB and 3 individual 5056D drivers but decided it wouldn't fit in the base.
When the MX3660 decided to stop accepting motion commands I ended up partially installing the BOB and drivers in the base along with the power supply and low and behold it will all fit. Using it I figured out that it was definitely the MX3660 and not the parallel port or the cable that was the issue.

I am sending the MX3660 back to get replaced tomorrow because I would still like to use it for the Momus at this time.
The other drivers are destined to be used on my Grizzly G0704 for it's CNC conversion.
It's so close that I can taste it (or is that the epoxy fumes? ) .

I was in the process of configuring the homing sequence and getting LinuxCNC configured when the MX3660 stopped working suddenly.

[Mac.CNC]

Oh man, that sucks...
Why did you decide against the Gecko?
You said because of size and connection, I don't quite get that yet. The footprint of that controller is as small as it gets. Why not go Gecko?
For what it's worth, there's probably a good 1200 hours machining time on my Momus by now, that G540 is/was rock solid.
--
Mac

[travis_cnc]

Originally I had planned on using a separate BOB and drivers to drive the Momus directly until I moved them over to my G0704 that I am also going to CNC.

Then I came across the MX3660 and it sounded like a perfect fit for what I wanted at the time.
One of the reasons I liked it more than the Gecko is it has a higher amperage rating and I am using 570 oz 5A steppers.
I also liked not having to use resistors or the DB9 connectors like I remembered the gecko as requiring. (Is this still true?)
The extra axis that the Gecko supports didn't sound very useful on the Momus although perhaps that is shortsighted?

Hopefully the replacement will hold up better. I don't know why it stopped working although I was surprised when it happened.
I will get it tomorrow and hopefully will have time in the evening to hook it back up and make sure that it functions.

[travis_cnc]

On the bright side the delay let me make two batches of beer
I have a Bee Cave Robust Porter going now. Man is it a active ferment!

It looks like that using the Bosch Colt as my spindle has reduced my cutting envelope by a 1/4" or more all around.
Does that sound right?

The other side-effect is that it looks like that the motor mounts will collide with the front window when it homes.
I may have to move my home switch back a bit to compensate.
Or is it in my best interest to use a Rigid instead? (I wouldn't mind having a trim router available for normal wood working so it wouldn't be a waste to take it out of the machine.

[Mac.CNC]

[QUOTE=travis_cnc;1630284]On the bright side the delay let me make two batches of beer
I have a Bee Cave Robust Porter going now. Man is it a active ferment!

Yay!!! I want some too :-)

For the resistor question, I've never had to deal with that to be honest, because all my motors came from CNC-RouterParts. They came with molded plugs that have the resistor already built in. Combine that with the G540 and you have a plug and play solution - so far that always worked just fine without having to deal with the amp details.

PROST! :-)