[crocky]

Got my first router nearing completion. Steel and alloy construction.
Most of the mechanicals are done, needs detailing, paint, etc to make it look right.
Electronics and wiring next !!

Looking pretty darn good and it looks like you have been fairly busy

I am still waiting for my gantry sides to be machined....

Bob

[arvindk]

:wave: Hi all
I am Arvind, living in Sydney. Have been a lurker for a while on this thread as well as the mini-router thread by widgitmaster. I am retired and machining is one of the many hobbies (too many says me wife). My background is more electronics than machining, but wish to reverse that.
My big problem is workshop space, so have to stick to benchtop machines. I have a Sherline 2000 mill and the 17" lathe but have used these very little because I am loathe to ruin them. So I thought of a small router to experiment with while gaining some cnc experience. I hope to start producing some actual work soon and post results/ask questions /seek help from many of you who have lots moe experience and skill.

Hope to hear from the sydneysiders, Arvind

[boothie]

Hello All
I'm new to CNC but have work around wood and metal for most of my life. I'm a designer/maker based in Canberra, and do the regular border run to work in a factory in Queanbeyan. So been I've been steadily getting into using computers to do my designing and if your going to do all that trouble to work on your RSI then you best to use its full capabilities. Had a few chats with mates that work with CNC's and mates playing with small robotics and figured what stops them building is the machining, well what would slow me down is the electrics! So got busy with the bandwidth and think i have got a fare idea of what i need and have started emptying my bank! but not to bad and it will all be a tax thing (Hopefully!). Going to be aiming for around 1.4 x 1.4 x .3 cutting area with a raised gantry rail and using ball screw drive on all axis. Hope to be able to cut wood, aluminium, and mod for a oxy-set or plasma at some point. At my work we build tooling for pressing metal and forming, mentioned the newest big toy plan over beers on a Friday and the boss was so you can use the shop but you got to build two! So since then been reading and reading and found this site and did more reading! just want to get on the tools now!!! but got to get it right the build is starting to add up (When doesn't it!) but building on the cheep is an Aussie specialty!
Cheers and of to the workshop on a Saturday (where else would you be!)
Boothie

[FPV_GTp]

hi

Welcome to a great forum arvindk and boothie , boothie didn't your boss tell you , you have to build three cnc machines

guys also have a look at the gecko@yahoo group also very active and have a look at jioning the artsoft site .

if you need links just send me a private other wise there easy to find through here or yahoo/google them.

Have fun guys and boothie not kidding about the third machine LOL

cheers

[jkohlbach]

Hi all,
John here from Brisbane. I've been the occasional lurker here for a while, 'bout time I said hello eh?

My background is electronic repair & design. I made a crude attempt to automate the X&Y on my mill (MiniTECH MVS0940) with some success, although it looked a bit 'agricultural' :/ I didn't have a lathe at that stage but do now (used MiniTECH CQ6123B). Definitely NOT a machinist, more skilled at 'worrying' metal into shapes needed. Getting there slowly though.

I'd like to get proficient enough to build a gantry mill for milling boxes on small production runs. One of the other competing/complimentary hobbies is Amateur (HAM) Radio and I'd like to be able to mill my own aluminium & brass enclosures for some electronic projects (high frequency microwave).

To quote someone I can't remember "too many projects, too little time"

Cheers, John

[nuttall]

hi fellow aussies , i reside in newcastle and have just purchased a trak dpm with mx3 control. so thought i would be come a member to get any tricks ect on the art of making the trak sing. look foward to hearing from you.
regards

[arvindk]

Hi all
There is not much activity on this thread compared to others. I sincerely hope I can get some help from some of you in Sydney who have a lot more CNC experience.
Not wanting use my Sherline 2000 for learning purposes, I have recently acquired a fantastic small "router" from widgitmaster in the US.
I am going to use a rather crude MaxNC controller with it. Said controller has just TIP120 trannies as drivers, has no current limits, no protection of any sort - just ballast resistors. I have tried the 3 axis motors with the DOS based MaxNC software and it all seems to work OK.
Here are some pics of my proposed setup. The toothed belt to drive the Y-axis is not shown in the pics, nor the X-axis motor at the back end.
Is there anyone in Sydney who would like to exchange notes/possible practical help ?
Thanks, Arvind

[pump]

Looking pretty darn good and it looks like you have been fairly busy

I am still waiting for my gantry sides to be machined....

Bob

Hi Bob, this is my first post in here and like most of others i am in the process
of building a router come plasma table.
As you have mentioned Dingo's machine is looking pretty good but looking at your setup, it looks like it will turn out as neat as a pin, top effort.
I am located in Deer Park Melbourne and it would be great to meet some of the forum members like yourself, just to chat about same interest and maybe
exchange idea's or even cans for that mater.

Cheers Lou.

[FPV_GTp]

Hi Bob, this is my first post in here and like most of others i am in the process
of building a router come plasma table.
As you have mentioned Dingo's machine is looking pretty good but looking at your setup, it looks like it will turn out as neat as a pin, top effort.
I am located in Deer Park Melbourne and it would be great to meet some of the forum members like yourself, just to chat about same interest and maybe
exchange idea's or even cans for that mater.

Cheers Lou.

wooooooooooooo PUMP , Deer park Melbourne , thats 2 minutes from me .


Welcome PUMP and BOB , I'm sure you will get a chance to show'n'tell your machines at the next Aussie BBq , last one was at Mike's place , and quite a few people showed up

Welcome guys , i'm sure you will have some fun with you cnc machines

cheers

[Dingo745]

G'day Arvind,
I almost bought one of Widgetmaster's machines myself. Beautifully made but was just too small for my needs, hence I built my own.
There are plenty of of fellow Aussies both on CNCZone and "around".
If you need help, you only have to ask and some one will offer advice.

Deane.

[pump]

Looking pretty darn good and it looks like you have been fairly busy

I am still waiting for my gantry sides to be machined....

Bob

G'day Bob, this is my first post on this forum and what a great informative
one it is.
All to true with your comment about Dingo's table looking good, but however
looking at your machine i am very impressed "neat as a pin".
I have just started to build a hobby router come plasma cutter and painfully
trying to aquire all my bits asgetting the right parts at the right price is not
an easy thin to do.
I have also noticed tha there are quite a few members in this forum located around Melbourne and it would be great to catch up with some personaly to
nut out certain problems, exchange ideas or even cans for that mater.
I am located in Deer Park so it's a basic stones throw from Hoppers.
Perhaps we could exchane numbers via PM and occasional have a good chin
wag.(nuts)

Cheers Lou.

[hellman81]

Hello everyone from Aus.

I am located in Newcastle NSW. I am and Electronics Engineer and would like to get into CNC machines (both building and buying).

I built a 3 axis robot arm for my 4th year engineering project at uni.

I have 1001 ideas to build much needed machines for a particular industry that I am in. Would like to hear from anyone in the Newcastle area that may be interested in collaborating on building CNC machines.

Feel free to drop me a line.



~Todd

[nuttall]

gday todd
its good to hear from another local. i have a interest in the same and also have a small machine shop capable of manufacturing components for specialised machines. i have had some enquires for a few comercial products that there is a short coming on and have a few ideas. would like to see what exactly your ideas are . hope to hear from you soon
cheers

[pcarlton]

Hi,
Peter here from Brisbane, just started building my first mill.
I am trying to do some PCB and other flat work
eg: picture milling, signs, ect was wondering if anyone could
recomend some good JPEG to GCode software?:idea:

[Greolt]

Vcarve Pro 4 is one of the easiest to use that will take it from Jpeg to Gcode.

Alternativly for free there is Inkscape to get it to Vector then maybe CamBam to produce Gcode as an option. There are others.

Greg

[hellman81]

gday todd
its good to hear from another local. i have a interest in the same and also have a small machine shop capable of manufacturing components for specialised machines. i have had some enquires for a few comercial products that there is a short coming on and have a few ideas. would like to see what exactly your ideas are . hope to hear from you soon
cheers

Nuttall, Check your PM.

[StevesBocian]

Hi All,
What a Great Forum idea!
My names Steve and I live in Mount Evelyn Victoria in Melbournes east.
Interested in CNC controls and controllers, all things from mechanical items to analog & digital electronics and computer programming.
Recovering IT consultant. (Spent 8 years in commercial I.T. -- fed up!!) Life changes mean I will be doing what interests me from now on. Working on DSP servo controller, PC based CAD interface generic to machines and other tidbits. Projects include Plasma cutter and small 3 axis milling machine. Interested in steppers & brushless 3 phase controls & motors, designing high precision systems etc. Like to speak with similar characters, buying second hand equipment , tips & tricks, where to buy materials & components.
Basic Skills:P.C. program in Delphi, C++, VB6.0, Coding Databases -SQL server 2000 PC Networks. Extensive use of 8051 & Z80 derivatives in C and assembler, Use Motorla DSP56002.
Qualifications:Advanced Diploma Electronic Engineering. (in pre-history --1983)
25 years in IT & electronics industry.

[FPV_GTp]

hi

Welcome StevesBocian and other new Australian members

this forum is the best around , I'm sure people will help with anything you throw at them Steve

cheers

[Geordiepom]

Hi,
Peter here from Brisbane, just started building my first mill.
I am trying to do some PCB and other flat work
eg: picture milling, signs, ect was wondering if anyone could
recomend some good JPEG to GCode software?:idea:

Hi Peter
Dave from Bahrs Scrub here. I recently bought Vcarve Pro & Cut3D from Vectric (http://www.vectric.com/). They also produce a program called PhotoVCarve which sounds like what you're after.
I haven't tried PhotoVCarve myself but I can confirm their other products are very good and their support is excellent.

Cheers
Dave

[hellman81]

Hello again,

I have been poking around the forums for a few weeks now and thought it about high time I introduce myself a little better and also start to make a contribution to the forum.

I am located in Newcastle in NSW just above Sydney. I would like to hear from anyone in the area that can contribute to some projects or who needs assistance with any of the things that I list below that I am familiar with.

Basically, I am an electronic engineer with considerable electrical/electronic and mechanical design experiance that has always had a keen interest in not only using CNC machines but also attempting to build them. I joined this forum after finding it by accident looking for information regarding the machine that I would like to build for my business.

My problem. I need to be able to cut out cardboard that is used in packaging. It comes in sheets and needs to be cut into several different sizes with various openings etc. They generally use a rotarty die knife but they are expensive and only produce one type of package in one particular size.

My Solution. Build a small CNC turret punch that is capable of cutting cardboard about 2mm thick in sheet form (600x450)mm. It will be slower than a die knife but should work well and I can change it whenever I like. I am unable to find anything like it on the net and would like to give it a go. I guess with better rigidity, it could also be used for sheet metal and other soft materials.

If anyone in the Newcastle area would like to help with a little machining, I can offer some help with the following areas...

Electrical Design/Electronics Design
PCB design and fabrication in Protel DXP
Experienced with embedded C on 16 and 32 bit embedded processors
3D cad work in SolidWorks
Competent on a stick and MIG welder
Competent in Metal Fabrication

I also had a business importing solid carbide tooling for several years and still have the contacts overseas available if anyone wants them. If you use a lot of carbide, my information could save you a lot of time and money finding a decent international supplier. I spent a considerable amount of time to get the right guy.

If anyone would like to work with me, just drop me a line and we can take it from there. PM me or [email protected]