[svanommen]

An update is well overdue. Besides the general demands of life I've been busy learning CAD/CAM (MeshCAM). I'm pretty happy with the progress so far. Sadly & no surprise I'm quite disappointed with my 'ghetto' spindle and mount. I've had various issues that I could have skipped if I would have ordered my chinese 80mm spindle months ago(!) :violin:

Tonight I was about to confirm my latest tweaks to the CAM configuration that looked the most promising yet. All to find my spindle / collet slips and some how managed to drop the bit ~.25" down, totally screwing up my job.

Photo #1 Everything looked good and measured up in my test (pink foam board)
#2 Went for proof in particle board. 1/2 way through the bit appears to have slipped down .25-.5" and really made a mess. . . as seen by then massive diagional slash it chewed thru the piece. Ouch! I'm surprised the bit didn't snap off. Bit is a .25" Harbor Freight 2 flute that is much nicer than one would expect from HF. I think I paid ~$10 for a 3 pack.

[svanommen]

I almost forgot to mention, in light of tonight's failure of my 'ghetto spindle' I finally purchased a proper 2.2KW spindle from Solar.Jean on E-Bay [ this one ].

Hopefully it won't be junk or take eons to get here. I know the VFD's are not always the best bet but this should get me going with a spindle that I can solidly mount to my Z-axis with the CNCRouter Parts 80mm mount that's been waiting for my attention for many months.

If the VFD dies in 3 months I won't cry too much and just purchase a brand name one.

[Euro3D]

Hi Seth,

Great to read your getting some results with Meshcam, hopefully I pick up my CRP kit this week and let the build commence!

I have ordered and received a 2.2nd spindle from Solar Jean, it arrived in QuickTime it was something like 5 days from china to Europe. The manual that come with the spindle is Chinese but you can find an English version on the web else I have one if needed.

I have also ordered an aero cooler pc radiator water cooling kit from AeroCooler, the thermal take m5 kit for $80. Hopefully it will be sufficient in cooling size (closed liquid system) to keep the spindle cool, will know over Christmas break and I plan to get some info on the build and results posted on cnczone once the kit arrives.

John

[svanommen]

Euro 3D,

That is good to hear. I was rather worried about ordering a chinese spindle due to all the different vendors and various reviews. So far the order with Solar.Jean has gone well as he contacted me promptly after my purchase letting me know it was shipped via FedEx.

Those PC water cooling radiators are quite neat. I was considering buying one but most users have reported just circulating water from a 5 gallon bucket works just fine with no radiator. I also recall reading somewhere these spindles can be 'over cooled'. Apparently the bearings need to warm up for best accuracy. To me this makes sense but requires further research.

Cheers,
Seth

[svanommen]

Well with the 2.2kw spindle en-route I guess I should order a ER20 collet kit.

Any suggestions for a good deal?
This looks good on paper: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Royal-ER-20-Collet-Ultra-Precision-Grade/dp/B004HW7MAI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1323232195&sr=8-3"]Royal ER-20 ER Collet Set, Ultra-Precision, High Grade Steel, 12 Piece, 5/32" - 1/2" X 1/32" Steps[/ame] 12pc @ $199 + free 2day shipping. (Prime)

Or a better deal from Tormach "15 collets ranging in size from 1/16" to 1/2" by 1/32" increments" @ $192 + shipping. Hmmmm

What about bits, anyone know of a good source. I'm mainly looking for an assortment / kit at the moment.

[svanommen]

I was eager to try the CAM settings that were looking so promising before the bit slipped. So I cleaned up the collet on my cheap trim router and tried again.

YAY! First part made on the machine that came out exactly as planned.

video-2011-12-06-22-32-13.mp4 - YouTube

[jsantos]

I was eager to try the CAM settings that were looking so promising before the bit slipped. So I cleaned up the collet on my cheap trim router and tried again.

YAY! First part made on the machine that came out exactly as planned.

video-2011-12-06-22-32-13.mp4 - YouTube

Congratulations. I remember how good it felt it first time I cut something on my machine. Nothing useful but it felt really good anyway. It will get so much better once you get your spindle.

Curious, why is your cutting going all over the place? What software are you using?

Hopefully, the puck didn't come flying out right? :-)

[svanommen]

jsantos,

Thanks!
Actually the spindle arrived last night and I can't wait to install it! Buying from Solar.Jean (on eBay) was a good experience. It arrived much sooner than expected and the quality looks good. Heck even the VFD manual is in English (well Chingrish). Yet I should have ordered a ER20 collet set and some bits at the same time. It came with a 1/2" collet. Feels very solid and smooth. They must have used a whole roll of packing tape. As it looked like something smuggled from Columbia and took 15 minutes to open the 2 packages.

I'm not sure why the cut path likes to jump around like that. (It's generated from MeshCAM btw). But either way it gets the job done and I kinda like watching it 'rapid-about' while it's running the job.

Ha the puck did flop loose and I instinctively (and stupidly) shoved my hand in to snatch it out. Luckily I didn't get hit!

[Euro3D]

Hi Seth,

Good to see you are getting some results and I love your time lapse video, you inspired me to go get an Iphone App which I did and getting some great timelapse video results. My 4x4 CRP kit arrived today so will use the time lapse video feature in my CNCZone blog.

Heh, I bought a full ER20 collet kit for my 2.2kw chinese spindle on Ebay form this seller ctctoolseller for US$40. arrived safely and quality looks good, a lot less expensive than the $200 on Amazon?

I would be interested if you do find a good source for purchasing bits on line.

Now to my blog!

Cheers

John

[svanommen]

Happy New Years Zone! :cheers:

Updates on my progress (best summarized with photos for now):

Spindle & VFD = obtained.

Mounted spindle, ran cooling and power cables.

Dropped some conduit for the 220v > VFD

Built VFD mounting bracket

Busted water cooling hose attachment while attempting to drill it out to accept the hose I purchased @ HomeDepot..... cursed excessively.

Modified water pump to accept hose barb

[BinaryBuddha]

Great work!
Can't wait to see that new spindle rip into some aluminum!

[svanommen]

Thanks /bin/Buddha!
- - -

Looks like the water cooling rig isn't working quite as well as I had hoped. Came back today and fired up the pump again and it's not pumping

Either the Water Wetter screwed something up in the pump, there's trapped air, or the pump is too small for the lift I need it to do. ** According to my measurements it should be within the max life for this pump. Damn damn damn. Looks like I might have to go to a better pump. When it *was* working last night I wasn't too happy with the amount of flow anyways. Thinking about a 12v computer water cooling pump.... Time to do some further research.

** Woops, looks like I was wrong about the max lift. I had thought it was 4.6' but it's 3.6'... that's a bit under spec'd. Damn oh well looks like I can still fit a higher spec'd pump with out having to rebuild the whole thing.

[CarveOne]

As a test, try raising the water container and pump up near to the spindle level and see if it starts pumping reliably after draining back to the container. It may not be able to self-prime where you have it now.

CarveOne

[svanommen]

Yep tried to raise the pump as much as I could to see if that would help but due to hose & pwr cord length I couldn't get it more than 10" higher. Oh well, I'm going to stop by HarborFreight and pick up a larger pump on the way home tonight. Thankfully they don't cost much so it's worth a try

[svanommen]

Yay! so the larger HF pond pump seems to be doing the trick.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1085894...eat=directlink

[svanommen]

I decided to do some basic accuracy testing last night. Needless to say I was very impressed. Repeatability measurements were in the 0.001"-0.005" range.

Here's a video: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAfmUnH8OBA]X axis testing - YouTube[/ame]

[Jkountz]

Wow thats great!! Couldnt ask for more than that I wouldnt think!!

[svanommen]

Jkountz,

Thanks! Yes, I was pretty impressed with the rather basic measurements I was seeing. Next time I take some measurements I would like to whip up some g.code to run the machine through it's range and really 'shake it up' just to be a bit more scientific.

Till then I need to finish setting up my spindle + VFD + Mach3. This is the mission for this weekend.

[svanommen]

First spin up on the new 2.2KW water cooled chinese spindle motor. It makes a bit more noise than I had expected but no where near what a wood router would make. Also I wouldn't be surprised if it quiets down after some break in.

I'm pretty sure I have the VFD configured properly. Next to see about having Mach3 control it.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XypFwQQp3bI]VFD & 2.2KW spindle motor first run. - YouTube[/ame]

[svanommen]

Not sure how I managed to create a negative / reverse of the part I quickly fab'd up in CAD. As always, tweaking is needed......

Still a fair test run. Quite happy with the result!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjPH-Zoq4xw]First cuts with new spindle, woops - YouTube[/ame]