[Mountaincraft]

I can't remember... I've used urea formaldehyde which was powder form for laminating veneers, I think it was branded UniBond?

Not sure what they use for engineered lumber but it sure is strong!

Unibond sounds familiar too...

[louieatienza]

c1, the total size is about 4 megs. I have it in 6 separate files. The numbers in front of the file names represent the order of operation. You could combine porgrams 2 and 3, and 4 and 5, if you prefer. I get paranoid, so if I need to re-run an operation, I don't have to sort through g-code to figure out where to start and stop. I put the cutter info on the file names.

Again, I could have just kept the surface of the clearance tool, and used the v-bit to rest machine the leftovvers, but then the floor finish would be be different in those areas, which is why I take off the final .006 off the floor with the v-bit...

Special BUMP for a Marine! Mike it's on post #84! Thank you!

[oten812]

c1, the total size is about 4 megs. I have it in 6 separate files. The numbers in front of the file names represent the order of operation. You could combine porgrams 2 and 3, and 4 and 5, if you prefer. I get paranoid, so if I need to re-run an operation, I don't have to sort through g-code to figure out where to start and stop. I put the cutter info on the file names.

Again, I could have just kept the surface of the clearance tool, and used the v-bit to rest machine the leftovvers, but then the floor finish would be be different in those areas, which is why I take off the final .006 off the floor with the v-bit...

Louie, I found it. Thank you so much. Looking forward to getting my machine running.
Mike

[louieatienza]

Louie, I found it. Thank you so much. Looking forward to getting my machine running.
Mike

Awesome! You're very welcome, anytime! If you need help setting the job up let me know!

[louieatienza]

OK... I've only had this machine up and running for a few months. Although it's performing decently, my intent was to do some upgrades here and there as my budget and needs permitted. There are some design limitations that I was looking to address:

1) Need for more mechanical resolution. This is not just for increased accuracy, but increased smoothness in cut. While I do get decent results in both aluminum and wood, there is still room for improvement. Also the higher mechanical resolution would mean more power over a broader speed range. I plan to achieve this with higher speed drives (hint) and high-lead screws (hint-hint), with gear reduction.

2) Sturdier construction. Although incredibly stiff along each axis, the gantry bridge has flexed under "load" (meaning crashing into fixture bolts). Under normal circumstances, the cutting power of the Bosch router is far greater than any "torque" applied to the gantry and carriage, but it's amazing to run a bit into the table while jogging and watch the gantry twist! This is not the fault of the carriage or bridge or LM bearings, but because of how the bridge is mounted to the uprights - 2 bolts, with no other mechanical connection. C1 used plates to keep the bridge aligned, and I may employ a similar method.

3) Speed. While 250ipm on the x and 375ipm on the y are pretty fast, they come at the expense of resolution (related to 1.) I haven't relied or counted on microstepping, as its true function (and the reason it was invented) is to provide smooth movement at slower speeds. I would like to be able to get my feedrates in those ranges, moreso for roughing operations. I don't want to spin ballscrews at full tilt, regardless of what the Nook calculator says.

4) Table configuration. On my Solsylva, the x rails were raised high, almost 6 inces, which kept the gantry close to the x rails, simplifying the build and giving a better mechanical advavntage to the home-made LM bearings. On my current machine, the use of ROLLON rails and trucks allowed me to raise the gantry and lower the x rails, making it easier to load material. The problem is, that by lowering the x rails and cross members to the table, I have made it impossible to cut longer pieces, something I was able to do with the Solsylva. So I'm going to follow in the popular design of running the LM bearings and drive system under the table. This will allow me easier loading/unloading of parts, as well as the ability to cut longer pieces.

5) Work envevlope. I will be increasing my work envevlope from 24 x 32 to 36 x 36. The work table will be about 36 x 48, which will allow me more clamping surfaces for larger pieces.

6) Spindle. After looking at import spindles, and pondering whether I want to mess with running 220VAC lines and coolant tubes and water pumps, I decided I will just stick with the router for now with SuperPID, and possibly upgrade later. I might upgrade to a 3HP router, because I work a lot with hardwoods, and even with 2-1/4HP I must watch my doc...

As with my gantry mill project, I had already collected most of these parts over the course of the past year, and my current machine iteration is to be the springboard for both new machines, with the gantry mill coming first. I will be using a mostly tried-and-true design, but with some hopefully cool touches, especially in the mechanical/electronics side, so stay tuned!

[RomanLini]

Louie, I know something of microstepping (as the designer of the LiniStepper and SLAmStepper products) and just wanted to say if you are not using microstepping on your drives then you might want to try it before you opt for the expense of servos and new motion mechanicals.

It might be as easy as adding some microstepping drives and some well-chosen and larger motors to get you better resolution and even some more speed from your existing mechanicals.

On the other hand if you are already using microstepping and just not trusting it for resolution, then please ignore my post. Especially if you already have your heart set on some nice big servos...

[louieatienza]

Louie, I know something of microstepping (as the designer of the LiniStepper and SLAmStepper products) and just wanted to say if you are not using microstepping on your drives then you might want to try it before you opt for the expense of servos and new motion mechanicals.

It might be as easy as adding some microstepping drives and some well-chosen and larger motors to get you better resolution and even some more speed from your existing mechanicals.

On the other hand if you are already using microstepping and just not trusting it for resolution, then please ignore my post. Especially if you already have your heart set on some nice big servos...

Roman, I currently am using the xylotex 3 axis board and 24v power supply. I'm pretty sure both the power supply and xylotex board are hampering performance somewhat, though I believe the max safe power supply is 30v and the absolute max is 35v. I do have it set to 8x microstepping, but since this is no Geckodrive, no step-morphing, and I'm probably losing torque and speed due to this as well.

The crux is that I have to use microstepping with my high-lead screws; the motion is smooth, but close inspection of curves reveal some faceting, more than I'd like. I'm pretty much a realist when it comes to machine resolution; and at the time I built machine #1 I was working mainly with wood, whose seasonal and climate movements can vary way more than the resolution of my machine. It is only a recent thing where I'm doing more metal and plastic machining that I feel the need to hold tighter tolerances.

You're too late in stopping me from the expense of a new drive system! Part of the upgrade in parts is due to needing longer components to accomodate the larger work envelope; the other part is having the mechanicals and electronics that can take advavntage of my drive components. Getting them over the course of a year lessened the hurt a little.

My current machine will remain alive, at least for the time being...

[louieatienza]

Especially if you already have your heart set on some nice big servos...

They're not THAT big... hehehe

[RomanLini]

Big beastie servos to the rescue!

[louieatienza]

Big beastie servos to the rescue!

I have to admit, 1HP at 3000rpm is pretty scary....

[louieatienza]

I should have all the mechanical components in by mid-month. I will be completing my gantry mill first, because I will be using it to mill some parts for my router. The SuperPID will take center stage with spindle control.

What I will do is assemble the servo drive system, and test the motors, to make sure I know how to wire everything up. I will be using gear reduction on all three axes, but haven't decided on whether to use pricey planetary gear reduction, or timing belts. I think I'm going to go with the timing belts; while I have a good grasp how much power I'll have availabe, I'd like to make sure with real-world tests, and with a gearhead that would be set in stone...

[RomanLini]

I'd second the timing belts, they are quieter and have zero slop if adjusted right. Metal gears have a lot of shortcomings.

What ratio of gearing do you expect to be using?

[louieatienza]

I'd second the timing belts, they are quieter and have zero slop if adjusted right. Metal gears have a lot of shortcomings.

What ratio of gearing do you expect to be using?

The final drive ratio I believe will be about 2.5:1, or 3:1. I'm taking a different apporach than most on this one, after doing a bit of homework.

I'll have more details on this as I go along, but I should have a lot of continuous torque at any speed, and a some scary peak torque numbers...

Even with my Solsyla rebuild, with the mile long serpentine timing belt configuration, my repeatability and position holding are quite good; so with larger, tougher belts I feel I should be OK.

[louieatienza]

While this build won't start for a bit; I thought I'd whet the appetites with a
some appetizers!

I have the ballscrews for the x and y axis. They are 25mm THK ground ballscrews. I wish I could hang them on my wall; they're super-nice! I also have the matching fixed and free end bearing blocks as well. The ends are already machined, saving me the headache. I ordered bearing blocks from China for my gantry mill build, and the comparisons between the two are night and day.

For the x axis I will be using THK SHS25 rails and blocks. I plan to havev the rails under the table, to make work access easier. I also like how much quieter the caged bearings are. I do have a set of HSR25 blocks, and they have the flange which I like.

I have SHS20 rails for the y axis (not shown). If I can find long 25 series rails I just might use the SHS blocks here, and the HSR blocks on the x. Then I'd use the SHS20 blocks for the z.

I got three lengths of 28" IGUS cable carriers. I'm hoping to shorten the Z and use it to lengthen the x and y. At first, I though these may be too big for what I need. But when I saw the cable kits for the servos, now I'm thinking it may be too small... a tighter fit than I'd like, at least...

As for the servomotors, controllers, and such: I haven't pulled the wrapper off them yet. I need a subpanel put in for the 220V needed to run these motors/drives. You can see through the bubble wrap that these servos are not small!

[gearsoup]

louie,

looking nice! where did you purchase those compnents, and do you mind sharing the general cost?

[louieatienza]

louie,

looking nice! where did you purchase those compnents, and do you mind sharing the general cost?

Thanks gearsoup! I got almost everything on eBay! The SHS25 rails I got for just over $100! The x and y ballscrews were priced high, but I made an offer $100 less on each screw and it was accepted! The SHS20 rails I think I paidmore than the SHS25's!

I originally looked at the DMM 3 axis 400 watt kit. While that would have been fine for this build, I wanted to have speed without sacrificing power. The guy had all the drive components listed separately. I ended up getting everything - 3 750W Yaskawa servomotors, 3 220V servo drives, 3 sets of cables, 3 interface boards, for about $400 more than the DMM kit - and it was all NOS! I asked him if he would make a package deal on a 3 axis kit and he gave me everthing for less than half his listing price; and he shipped everything free, 4 boxes!

Even all my linear rails are NOS still in the wrapper. The ballscrews and bearing blocks are new as well. I would say, less the computer and frame materials I have about $2500 in parts, though new value would probably be at least double maybe more.

I accumulated a bit of stuff over the past year or so, and all I don't use will go back on the 'bay....

[louieatienza]

Update: I have decided to upgrade the long axis rails to HSR35's. I was fortunate to get a good deal on them, NOS. So now I'll be using 35s for the x, 25s for the y, and probably 20s for the z. Another nice thing with the HSR35s is that the bearing blocks are the flange type, so hopefully that will add up to a more solid connection. I haven't done much on this, since I'm actually trying to learn Inventor, and trying to design my machine on it, instead of just winging it. But that may end up happening anyway.

Also, since my weldng skills aren't that good, I'll probably go the extruded aluminum route for hte table/base.

[flozano]

Hi my Name is Facundo (I'm from Chile)
I'm new on this, today I ordered a CNC Kit (ViperXZ from Xzero) and Hitachi Router, and I want to learn mill aluminum and Wood for hobby.
I'm really impressed with your work on aluminum.

Now I ned toy buy some bits to start working.
Could you recommend a list of bits to buy and be prepared for milling aluminum and some wood.

Thanks
Facundo

[louieatienza]

Hi my Name is Facundo (I'm from Chile)
I'm new on this, today I ordered a CNC Kit (ViperXZ from Xzero) and Hitachi Router, and I want to learn mill aluminum and Wood for hobby.
I'm really impressed with your work on aluminum.

Now I ned toy buy some bits to start working.
Could you recommend a list of bits to buy and be prepared for milling aluminum and some wood.

Thanks
Facundo

Facundo, thank you very much! For wood, regular carbide wood router bits work pretty well. I would buy specific bits as I need them. But a good start would be a couple straight bits, a couple bullnose bits, and maybe a v bit. You'd have to pick the size/style depending on what you're cutting.

I would recommend the SuperPID for precise adjsutment of router speeds, especially with aluminum.

As for aluminum, I cut mostly cast tooling plate (mic6), and some 7075, 2024, and 6061. I've been using 2-flute upcut spiral carbide bits. They make endmills specifically for aluminum. I also use Onsrud's single edge spiral-o-flute (Super "O") bits for doing profile work, since they clear chips easier. I also have their soft aluminum single-o-flute bit, which has a slight helix that helps form chips and prevents gumming. Again I buy the sizes I need as I need them. And if you can, buy a few of the smaller sizes, as there will be some experimentation (and galled and broken bits) along the way...

[Mountaincraft]

And if you can, buy a few of the smaller sizes, as there will be some experimentation (and galled and broken bits) along the way...

I am here to testify!

Louie, what is mic6 aluminum, how is it different from say 6061, and how is it price wise?...


I need to buy some aluminum in the very near future to replace my wooden gantry supports.. and the stuff is getting kind of expensive.. and truthfully, I don't know a lot about the different types, much less milling them (although I'm about to find out, aren't I?)...