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I've got the mill in the garage now. The move went very easily. Drop deck trailer was worth every penny. And the pallet jack made maneuvering it on and off safe and simple.
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Now I have the...

Grabbed up an XS3 for peanuts and will try that before I spend any real money on a VFD or other better solution.

Order manual direct from Wells-Index.

Picking up the machine Saturday morning.

Starting cheap, I'm looking at this as an option. With this my 2.0HP motor would only run at 2/3 of that (1.3HP). Am I really going to miss that 0.7HP just tinkering around with aluminum and light...

I am preparing rigging (drop deck trailer and pallet jack) to bring an old Index 555 milling machine home to add to my little shop. It's small, in good condition and the price was right. Looking...

Brand new in the box with manual. Need a different VFD for my build, so just trying to recoup some of what I spent on this. See my eBay listing HERE and feel free to make an offer.

Thanks!

Going a different direction with my CNC router build, so I no longer need the Super PID and DW618. See my eBay listing HERE and feel free to make an offer. Thanks!

Essentially everything you need...

If you suspect a short within the spindle what is the proper testing method with your multi-meter (1-2, 2-3, 3-1, 4-Chassis, etc.?) and what should the values be? Gerry, I see you mentioned 2.5 Ohms....

UPDATE: I was able to acquire some 80/20 extruded aluminum. 15 series 3030S. So, I'm revising the design to be built around those extrusions. Work in progress, but don't know how much more I'll be...

Smart. Like so?
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I'm also thinking about the offset gantry support/upright plates and whether it needs to be offset at all (it runs out of linear guide before it runs out of table)....

@LeeWay: I reread your previous comment. What about something more along the lines of a gusset on the inside faces of the gantry uprights?
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Here's a look at the gantry construction. In blue the 1/4" thick on top and bottom and 3/8" in the middle. Beam length is 811.35mm.
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@wizard: Nice find. I kind of implemented some of...

Quick look at the brain I just soldered pins on. I have Mach3, but wanted to try using the Pi, so I'll be using bCNC. The Protoneer RPI-CNC hat will feed GND/ENABLE/PULSE/DIRECTION signals to the...

Something like this in red?
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Thank you LeeWay and mactec54. Great to get input from the more experienced operators.

@mactec54, when you say 'add ribs on the gantry support uprights' do you mean add cutouts for weight...

Thanks!

Thought about that. That particular plate is 3/8" thick. Cutouts save some weight, but maybe not enough to justify.

EDIT: the cutouts constitute about 5 lbs of removed weight.

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Just another build log:
This will be my first from-scratch design and build of a CNC machine. I've had machines in the past that I modified or rebuilt. A plasma table that I made more rigid for...

Thank you kindly!

Yes sir.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r116/cmadki4/forums/2013-05-11172059.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r116/cmadki4/forums/2013-05-11182622.jpg...

Just a small update: the machine has been cutting parts like gang-busters! It does pretty well and I've been pleased so far with the accuracy and precision. The X axis is a little noisy, but...

Oops, wrong thread. Delete.

Thank you! I did some more cutting last night to make a jig out of MDF for holding aluminum extrusions. Oof, that stuff is dusty. If I do much more wood I'll need to make a vacuum setup like most do....

I made my first cuts! Just using a piece of scrap wood, I clamped it down to the table and ran a quick and dirty test cut pattern. It did quite nicely!...

Question: I'm going to be leveling the table here in the near future. I can already see some variation between the 4 corners. It is best to adjust the X and Y axis linear guides to level and align...

Thanks, Lee!

Yes, thankfully all the issues with the builder have been resolved or at least fixed by myself on my own dime. So, now I'm essentially down to setting up the spindle, working on cable...

Update: I got the table extrusions bolted directly to the base now and leveled out. I also drilled the spindle mount holes and bolted on the spindle. Everything is moving relatively smoothly. I still...

It was a bad judgement call, for sure. But I did approach it cautiously and with the mindset that I would more than likely have to redo or modify what I got to some extent. However, I didn't realize...

Real nice, eh? It was an excruciating process dealing with that guy at cncconversionkit.com. Nearly everything he sent late and had a least one thing wrong with it. There are things I didn't even...

Sorry to thread necro, but I do want to weigh in on the cncconversionkit.com and conversioncnckit.com argument here. I've had a terrible time with this company/guy. He's just a small shop operating...

Small update: I got my replacement DB25 cable(s) in yesterday. Really nice ultra-heavy duty, perfect length of 12", and the price was right @ $0.99 on ebay from Dayton Ohio! And most importantly,...