15' long 8' wide Ex-Boeing CNC *REBUILD*

[RomanLini]

...
ordering (6) 4'x8' sheets of black PTFE to make a skirt around the bottom.
...

I think that might have been HDPE not PTFE.

But nitpicking aside, it's great to see such good progress rebuilding this rusty old machine into a shiny new one.

Next you will be buying old Harleys...

[diyengineer]

I think that might have been HDPE not PTFE.

But nitpicking aside, it's great to see such good progress rebuilding this rusty old machine into a shiny new one.

Next you will be buying old Harleys...

Nope PTFE, aka dupont Teflon (in black). 3/16" 4'x8' sheet for $40 dollars each.

Pretty tough stuff.


Attached are a few objects i sand casted. Not bad for the first time around! These are unsanded so they still have a small line around them where the mold was. A small foundry will further expand my arsenal of tools. I also want to make a rep rap mendal, 3D printer soon, powder coating oven, purchase and convert a grizzly lathe and vertical mill over to cnc.. Lots to do before the end of the year.. (and finish this beast)! I have a miller tig welder and a huge amount of sheet metal/ air tools. By the end of the year i should be set up pretty well when it comes to being able to make random things.

[diyengineer]

Finishing up the last pieces that need paint on the table! received my two levels today so im going to make a new movie on leveling the table.

Initial measurements below. From concrete floor to ground linear rail support. each star represents a location where a leveling foot is.

There are 8 locations which can be adjusted.

I can visually see the deviation over the 15' length. I'm going to level the table to the floor so all the points are at the same height, and then bring the precision levels in and see what they have to say. This is the first time i have ever even messed with the legs and feet so its all out of whack. I know my concrete floor is not perfectly level, but its far more level then my out of whack table at the moment! wish me luck.. I will make a Phase II picture as soon as i get her all level.

[diyengineer]

Well disregard the post below this one.. Sure its nice to try and get it all level compared to the concrete.. But like a beginner, i made a few huge assumptions and mistakes haha.

1: The ground is no where near level.. Imagine that!
2: Why the hell am i measuring!? I just needed to put the damn level on the machine and move it up and down till its level..

Well today was a bit wasted but i did learn a lot about the underside of the table and all the feet.

I'm going to need 4 spacers preferably made out of metal (A 1.5"" tall steel cylinder about 2.5" wide).
The adjusters are simply not long enough, on the shorter half of the table.

I placed the engineering Level on the far side of the table and used a feeler gauge until the bubble read level. It took .063" To make it level. The level was 10" long. My table is 178" long. with some simple math using Trig and similar triangles, I solved for the height. This tells me the other side of the table needs to come up 1.1214" to be perfectly level. That makes me happy!

I also found out that weight on the table does change the height or levelness of the unit. From below i'm going to have to sand bag down the table legs to get it to stay where i want it. It looked as if it use to be bolted directly to the floor from the old angles i took off. Short of that a few hundred pounds of sand in the correct places should make the table sit down correctly. Then hide it all with the black plastic.

[lovebugjunkie]

Nice outcome on you sand castings. Comparing them to others just starting out I have seen on the internet you seem to be a chapter or two ahead of them.

Noticed you plan on building a rep rap. You doing it from scratch or going to buy one of the kits? Friend and I were looking at them and were thinking about building one but were really not happy with the current state of the extruder head. Problem is we could not come up with a better idea for one. At one point I was thinking of playing around with an auger type feed but got sidetracked on my current project. If you do build one and come up with a better type of feed system, please post the build.

I don't remember you posting anything about dust collection, you might want to start looking into it. I'm a big fan of the cyclone type units, I have a small desktop router and use a clear vue unit that sets on top of a shop vac bucket. Lot of larger units to chose from or build your own. Once you have to clean your filter a few times you will understand why people like cyclones, still have to clean filters but not near as often. If you plan on cutting any MDF or corian and don't already have a dust collector set up you soon realize what a great investment it is.

Thanks for posting this build log, been interesting following your work.

[RomanLini]

Nope PTFE, aka dupont Teflon (in black). 3/16" 4'x8' sheet for $40 dollars each.

Pretty tough stuff.
...

Umm yes I know it's tough.

None of the plastics suppliers I have dealt with have ever been able to offer black teflon. Whereas HDPE is common in black. PTFE is very rarely seen in full sheets, most suppliers only carry half sheets of 4'x4' and full sheets would be an expensive special order.

Also, $40 for a full sheet of HDPE is pretty cheap, and in PTFE it would be about 6x to 8x the price, so it would be about $240 to $320 and so PTFE be a fairly poor choice for panels when you could use the much cheaper and more commonly available HDPE.

If you really know where to get full sheets of PTFE 3/16" for $40 a sheet I'm sure I'm not the only guy here who wants to know where!

[diyengineer]

Nice outcome on you sand castings. Comparing them to others just starting out I have seen on the internet you seem to be a chapter or two ahead of them.

Noticed you plan on building a rep rap. You doing it from scratch or going to buy one of the kits? Friend and I were looking at them and were thinking about building one but were really not happy with the current state of the extruder head. Problem is we could not come up with a better idea for one. At one point I was thinking of playing around with an auger type feed but got sidetracked on my current project. If you do build one and come up with a better type of feed system, please post the build.

I don't remember you posting anything about dust collection, you might want to start looking into it. I'm a big fan of the cyclone type units, I have a small desktop router and use a clear vue unit that sets on top of a shop vac bucket. Lot of larger units to chose from or build your own. Once you have to clean your filter a few times you will understand why people like cyclones, still have to clean filters but not near as often. If you plan on cutting any MDF or corian and don't already have a dust collector set up you soon realize what a great investment it is.

Thanks for posting this build log, been interesting following your work.

The rep rap i was planning on going with the plans available just to get the hang of the entire system and see how it works. for what it is, its pretty much amazing. After i built it and can work it with my eye closed i was going to rebuild it except out of cnc cut parts like aluminum. Or better yet, buy a grizzly vertical mill and make a custom head and holder to hold the plastic extruder. :P Then i can have a add on plastic extruder and not have to worry about the crumby structure Once i get into that i will post the build. Saturday and Sunday im taking a class on building the arduino controller, and programming it (the brain behind it).

I was thinking of building a aluminum frame structure around it with clear panels but it would cost a lot of cash.. The upper deck would have lights that lit the entire machine, as well as a circulation unit consisting of some very high cfm fans, and multiple hepa box filters. I could turn on the lights and filter system separately. I will cross that road when i get to it, should be interesting!

[diyengineer]

Umm yes I know it's tough.

None of the plastics suppliers I have dealt with have ever been able to offer black teflon. Whereas HDPE is common in black. PTFE is very rarely seen in full sheets, most suppliers only carry half sheets of 4'x4' and full sheets would be an expensive special order.

Also, $40 for a full sheet of HDPE is pretty cheap, and in PTFE it would be about 6x to 8x the price, so it would be about $240 to $320 and so PTFE be a fairly poor choice for panels when you could use the much cheaper and more commonly available HDPE.

If you really know where to get full sheets of PTFE 3/16" for $40 a sheet I'm sure I'm not the only guy here who wants to know where!

I will call back and confirm which one it is.
**UPDATE- IT WAS HDPE. She said PTFE though, she must have not been paying attention. And they dont offer it in black, in regards to teflon). Thanks for looking out for me! I'm heading down there to pick up 6 sheets now !**

ALSO MY Z AXIS AND X AXIS CARRIAGE RETURNED TODAY!! :P

PSI-
PLASTIC SUPPLY INC
1-800-832-6774
www.plastic-supply.com
2404 center street Tacoma, WA 98409
Sales- Isa Leota

Hope that helps everyone. They can literally get or make ANYTHING. Ive seen some MONSTER blocks of plastic for cruise ships in there they make, all the way down to small stuff. They have just about every type of plastic known to man. give them a call.

[diyengineer]

Local company is making me solid steel cylindrical spacers for 4 of the feet.
-Northwest steel and pipe

[diyengineer]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR0wJcRSG54"]YouTube- Cnc Rebuild Video #21[/nomedia]

NEW VIDEO UPDATE.


(video just uploaded 6/11/10 @ 2:00pm -8GMT, still may be processing).

Steel spacers are getting turned on a lathe, they should be done wednesday. I'm going to try and finish everything else, so when they get here i can level this thing out and make some real progress! Ordered a bearing driver and install kit as well so i don't damage any bearings. (harbor freight 10 pieces, US general kit).

[diyengineer]

Just waiting on parts... like usual... Booo!

In the next 2 weeks huge steps will be taken! About time! 95% of the paint is complete. Ready to move on and install bearings!!

[diyengineer]

1. Steel Spacers.

2. Piece of the 4'x8' that needs to be cut down. Just to show how much it will hide. (34" from the bottom of the red rail to the floor). It will hide all the beige.

3. Needs 1 more coat, but thats the carriage.

4. Another pictures showing a piece that needs to be cut. Nice contrast. black on red.

5. New side rail paint.

5. New side rail paint.

6. Z axis pinned into the carriage, looks good!


Today i leveled the ENTIRE TABLE. Whew! Used a pneumatic impact gun to raise and lower the table instead of a crescent wrench. I leveled the entire table with a 6' construction level that had dual bubbles. This got me some where near ball park. Close enough for a suitable starting point. Then i moved in with two 8" precision levels (.0005"). Leveled from side to side and front to back. Who table is actually REALLY straight! I used a 8" precision straight edge to make sure there was ZERO gap in between where the tables meet as well. Overall i think i got really lucky because it was not that hard. I have to get a few more spacers made because i'm currently using scrap steel chunks, which work perfectly fine, but i'm a perfectionist.

The skirt gets put on tomorrow hopefully!!!

[Khalid]

Hi,
I want to know what controller and what oz-in motors (stepper / servo) you are going to use with your build?

I am sorry if you have mentioned somewhere else.
Regards

[RomanLini]

I will call back and confirm which one it is.
**UPDATE- IT WAS HDPE...
...

I thought it might be.

HDPE is a good choice for your covers anyway, it has excellent resistance to abrasion and chemicals and is practically unbreakable by impact etc.

When you said you were using expensive Teflon for covers I cringed, it's like buying precision linear rails and cutting them up to make shelving.

[diyengineer]

Hi,
I want to know what controller and what oz-in motors (stepper / servo) you are going to use with your build?

I am sorry if you have mentioned somewhere else.
Regards

I went with 3 monster Keling Servos ( 1200-1300 ounce, i forgot the exact spec, nema 34)

The controllers and all the electronics i'm holding off on until all the physical assembly has been completed.

But i'm going to spend the quality cash and go with VIPER drives. they are a bit more money, but for what they offer they are amazing. I have the full list floating around here somewhere (on the post, as well as around my house.. lol)

[diyengineer]

I thought it might be.

HDPE is a good choice for your covers anyway, it has excellent resistance to abrasion and chemicals and is practically unbreakable by impact etc.

When you said you were using expensive Teflon for covers I cringed, it's like buying precision linear rails and cutting them up to make shelving.

lol yes, it would have been completely unnecessary haha!

So far this stuff its pretty dang tough, i think its a good choice for sure!

[diyengineer]

So far they are just hanging there, i have a 2" aluminum strip to bind the two pieces together flush in the middle, and each side is going to be encased in aluminum 90 degree angle, for a real nice finished look.

So far so good! Need to hang the other side tomorrow, and the front and back. I hope by this weekend i can be done with the entire skirt and on to installing bearings!

Not the greatest picture off my phone, but in person it looks awesome!

[diyengineer]

CNC4PC:
C23-Dual port multifunction CNC Board: $198
Smoother Stepper Board: $165
C22-Pendant interface card: $29.65
MPG4-6 axis Pendant: $185.00
A9- Latch Twist- release E-stop Button: $14.25
C16-Photo Limit & Home Board: $62.00
C5- Solid state relay board: $46.91
A20 5V DC@ 5.5 amp regulated switching power supply: $28.50
A21 12V DC @ 1amp regulated switching power supply: $13.25

Viper DC Servo motor drivers:
(3)Viper 100's: $229 each

AnTek power supplies:
Antek PS-15N95R5R12 (1500watt,95 volt,15.6amp,5V1A, 12V1A): $240

Differential Encoders:
(3) E6 Optical kit encoder $70.00

Automation for Less:
Hitachi x200 drive, with input noise filter,extension cable, nema mounting ring

Electrical box Nema type. uncertain whether to go with metal, plastic, size, etc.

[Al_The_Man]

Electrical box Nema type. uncertain whether to go with metal, plastic, size, etc.

Check this guys auctions out, ebay #400127693159 I have purchased enclosures complete with disconnect, fuses, terminals, transformers etc. Good pricing.
Al.

[diyengineer]

So far the sides are done. I still have to tweak it a bit here and there. I also need to still add a few washers and screws in locations but you get the overall idea of what i was going for.

Also threw in a picture of the 2 new toys

Excuse the huge mess. tomorrow is the cleaning day haha.