[edmond]

I finally had a chance to work on my machine this past weekend, I assembled the bearing blocks and the linear alu angle bearings to the gantry uprights.I also marked out and drilled the holes to mount the spoil board.I still need to put the lower skin on the table assembly paint it and then epoxy the pipes in.I still haven't ordered the stepper motors yet, the finances just haven't been available.I also stripped my ryobi router down and managed to remove the plunge base that was in the way of everything.Hopefully I can get a little more down this coming weekend.

[edmond]

Didnt make any progress this past weekend due to other commitments but hopefully I can get some serious work on the machine done this weekend.I finally ordered the stepper motors from hobbycnc, I went with Dave's new 305oz/in low inductance models hope they are a good choice.

[edmond]

The table assembly is finally finished, just need to glue the pipe rails and paint the the table assembly.I still need to finish gluing the z axis but first waiting till I get the linear rod to make sure everything moves smoothly and lines up well.I still need to make an enclosure to house the electronics.I also need to order the 12mm x 3mm trapezoidal leadscrews hopefully I can order those next week along with a few components I need for the power supply.Otherwise the machine is taking shape nicely just a pity a dont get much time to work on it, Im still planning to have it finished by the end of the year.

[edmond]

Yipee the stepper motors are at the post office will get them in my lunch time today.Going to get the couplers, power supply components, linear rod and a few other bits this weekend.This past weekend I recut the router brackets out of 20mm HDPE.I got some nice HDPE offcuts from a friend last week.Still need to finish the Z axis.The machine should be up and running in about a months time, I can't wait I already have a lot of work lined up for it

[tajord]

Glad to hear you're on the home stretch, can't wait to see those pix, i've decided to make one of these machines as it looks a lot more sturdier than my jgro, and it has a greater cutting area with more or less the same foot print, plus i don't really need that much parts this time around, just got to get a few things out the way first, will keep you posted.

[edmond]

I fetched the stepper motors yesterday, hope they perform well.I also managed to source a 24V 10A transformer and all the other electronic bits, cant wait for the weekend so I can get started. I still need to source some 6 core 22 ga cable for the steppers.I am going to use M12 x 1.75mm all thread as the leadscrews just to get the machine up and running until I can afford the tapezoidal ones.

[joecnc2006]

Edmond, you certainly been working on this machine for a while, Like you I Look forward to seeing it up and working for you. You will have a blast seeing all the different things you will be able to do with the machine, The best reward for me is making things for friends and family members and seeing their face in amazement, and telling them i built the machine that made this.

Joe

[edmond]

Yep Joe I know its taken a while but sometimes the finances just weren't available but I managed to get money together to buy the last of the parts. My sister already wants some shapes and letters cut out of MDF, I also have a few people wanting customised photo frames as well as dinosaur skeletons.I also plan on cutting a lot of 3d moulds. Thanks to everybody on this site for the encouragement to finish the machine and all the advice I have recieved from them

Edmond

[edmond]

I started cutting the enclosure for the elecronics still need to cut two sides and the lid, I cut it out of 10mm clear acrylic.Here are some pics of the enclosure,steppers and router mounts.Got a lot of parts to pick up this friday afternoon.sorry about the low quality pics I took them with my mobile phone

[edmond]

I got quite a bit done this past weekend.I got the linear shafting for the Z axis,picked up the components for the power supply and limit/home switches, I still need to get the lovejoy couplers they are waiting to get collected at my local bearing supplier.I finished the controller this weekend all the wiring and double checked everything.Luckily no smoke appeared at switch on the power supply voltage registered a healthy 34VDC.I made a parallel port cable as I cannot find one locally, I had a old parallel modem cable so I just used the connectors off of it and wired them up using 25 core computer cable.I also wired up the steppers and 2 of them work the Z motor resonates and the shaft turns occasionally on its own, I will double check everything is wired up correctly tonight

[bbj]

Cool, i wanna do the same for my hobbycnc enclosure. I have a full sheet of 5mm clear perspex 3m x 2m standing idle. I need to build my machine first and then use it to make the enclosure ( using a temp sheetmetal box for now ). The only issue i have is the weight of my transformer. From the size of your power switch ( i have the same ones ), my transformer is about double the size. 5mm perspex is gonna flex a bit.

How do you intend joining the panels on your box ?

John

[edmond]

Hi John

My transformer looks small in the photo but actually it quite big and heavy it weighs about 6 pounds, it is rated at 250Va 24V at 10.4A.I would go for thicker perspex if I was you I went with 10mm acrylic beacause I had a nice offcut I had been saving.I glued and bolted the front panel to the base while the back panel is just bolted on the base so it can be removed.I think im just going to bolt the side panels to the base as well, gluing them would be easier than drilling and tapping but I want them to be removable.

[edmond]

My pc is the cause of my Z motor doing its own thing, I ran the Mach3 driver test and I get massive spikes on the timing graph so im going to format my pc or if I can afford it buy a good s/h pc.I got the rest of the lovejoy couplers just need to enlarge their bores.The rest of the machine will get assembled this weekend

[gombault]

Hi Edmond
I joint the cnczone to find out more about induction heating. While looked around this site and found you guys also from South Africa. I make my own stepper motors, drives and other related components. I convert and built cnc, machines the latest a large cnc foam cutter and a cnc plasma cutter. I am not into supplying cnc kits to the world I don’t have the time for that. I could supply to local guys on a small scale. I would not recommend lead screws or making anti backlash nuts it doesn’t work. I used for the foam and plasma machines bicycle chains they are cheap and you get no backlash. The only problem is you need high-resolution steppers; I made planetary gearboxes for my motors that give me 2150 steps per revolution on halve stepping. I don’t like them but you could use micro stepping drives or you could use a small 5 to 1 reduction belt or gear setup to get the high resolution. Edmond I am sorry to say butt my motors is not cheap. But you can call me at 018 7886497
Regards
Marcel

[edmond]

I made a little more progress this past weekend, I finished assembling the table assembly and the Z axis so its finally beginning to look like a CNC Router.This coming weekend I want to glue the pipe rails in and finish assembling the machine.I am still having problems with my Z motor it skips on its own I have tried 2 pcs, changing the APCI setting on the pc's'and fine tuning the motors.I might have to use TurboCNC but I really want to use Mach 3 because of its features and user friendliness.I have posted a thread on the Artsoft Mach3 Forum, I really need some help with the Z motor problem.I will post some pics tomorrow.

Cheers
Edmond

[edmond]

I made some good progress this past weekend, I glued in the main pipe rails, trimmed the Z axis linear rod to size,fitted the homemade linear bearings in the spindle carriage.I also started the final assembly of the machine after it was finally moved into my garage onto its designated spot.I also finally sorted out my Z axis motor problem it turned out my parallel port was configured wrong in the pc's bios.The machine should be up and running by the end of this coming weekend.

[Lionclaw]

It's looking great Edmond. Good work!

[edmond]

I started assembly of my machine this past weekend, I got the gantry mounted along with the Z axis.The gantry and the Z axis carriage run really smooth on the gas pipe rails just a light finger push and the gantry moves from one end to the other end of the table.I started assembling the leadscrews and leadscrew nuts but they bind up, they appear to be misaligned, I will make a new set of bearing mounts with slotted holes to allow me to get everything aligned again, the Z and X are both out of alignment it appears the leadscrew drive nuts is out of alignment.I have mounted the router on the Z axis, just hope my brackets are stong enough as the funny shape of the router body makes mounting a problem, if it does not work I will switch to a Metabo electric die grinder.

[edmond]

I made some really good progress this weekend, managed to finish the rest of the machine apart from installing the X stepper motor as I broke a coupling hub on the X leadscrew.I had to shift the X leadscrew bearing mounts by 10mm to the left as I had assumed they were centered but they are not.I did a test jog on the Y and Z axis, the Z axis is nice and smooth but the Y axis 12mm all thread leadscrew seems to have a slight bend causing it to whip a bit so I can only get rapids of 60ipm or 1500mm/min before I start losing steps.The Y leadscrew is also noisy so maybe its out of alignment.I knew the max rapid speeds were going to be slow as the all thread has a pitch of 1.75mm, hopefully I can upgrade to trapezoidal leadscrews with a 3mm pitch in the new year which should almost double the speed.

[BMG]

Your machine looks great Edmond. I had to laugh at your images above. The table top looks lust like mine - all full of tools and notes and no chips....

Keep up the good work.