[howzat]

Hi leef, that's great you got your machine in time for Christmas.

As for your questions, I'm pretty sure my bearings look the same as yours.

I'm just using my machine plugged into a regular 240 V power outlet.. shouldn't 220 V devices be able to tolerate the slight extra voltage? Nothing has blown up so far anyway!

[rocket67]

leef, sorry to write that i cannot help you with the electrical connections, i think that Jimmy and Scott might know a bit about them.
Those bearings would need to be greased. Is there a grease nipple on the other side of them? If not, maybe you will need to grease them from the exposed side. Surely they would fill with wood chips and mdf dust if not protected.

rocket.

[rocket67]

cabnet/ Jim, i found my old price list from sh-cnc and it shows only $150 for the software, but i do not know if the price is current and also whether it would be that price on its own - maybe it is the cheap price as a package including a machine purchase.
The software is designed for Windows 2000/ XP.
Have you found any good ideas in your " Making Wood Signs " book that your wife gave you?

Saw the video from Greolt - He is a very clever bloke, i bet he made that machine himself. It looks to run very well.

We have loaded the software onto my home computer only so far, we are trying to pick up another computer to use exclusively for the machine software. Hoping to find a bargain at the after xmas sales.

How are you going with V Carve pro? Have you made some goodies to show us?

Rocket.

[Jimmy007]

yeah very solid machine. very impressed.
Cant wait turn it on and see the thing move!

Few things im not quite clear on. I hope you guys can help.
Picture B, Are there any bearings not sealed on your machines?

Picture D, should anything be connected to the earth terminal
if ive already got 3 pins connected on the power plug?

Picture E-F, I ordered a voltage regulator with my machine to change
the voltage down from 240v to 220v, anyone with a little electical
knowledge would be able to tell me if ive wired this up ok?

Picture G, Just a cool picture

Any info would be appreciated.
Cheers Lee

Hi Leef,

With respect to bearing sealing- those depicted in your photo's arent sealed on the machine I ordered so I expect no seals are installed by factory. I would think that for any machining operation likely to provide for the large volumes of dust to reach those areas (particularily the one under the table) you would employ some means of dust extraction in any case.

As you pointed out earthing of the control cabinet is provided for by the supply cable (your photo of the step down transformer connection shows the earth connection looped through). I would consider running a seperate earth from the designated connection point on the control box to the machine frame. The machine will run perfectly without this connection but it will provide an extra level of electrical safety.

Your wiring looks good so far as providing for intended function of the appliance but I dont like the way the cabling is exposed, (you should provide for some means of mechanical protection to take the strain off the cables and a housing to protect the terminals from accidental contact). Personally I would run the machine without the step down transformer. Have you measured the available supply voltage at the machine? It is likely within 15% of 220v. The spindle inverter controls motor speed by varying the output frequency- a side effect of this that works in your favour being that the electronics employed will provide for the correct output voltage for the spindle over a large range of input V variation. The stepper motors and related drives should have no issues.

[Jimmy007]

cabnet/ Jim, i found my old price list from sh-cnc and it shows only $150 for the software, but i do not know if the price is current and also whether it would be that price on its own - maybe it is the cheap price as a package including a machine purchase.
The software is designed for Windows 2000/ XP.
Have you found any good ideas in your " Making Wood Signs " book that your wife gave you?

Saw the video from Greolt - He is a very clever bloke, i bet he made that machine himself. It looks to run very well.

We have loaded the software onto my home computer only so far, we are trying to pick up another computer to use exclusively for the machine software. Hoping to find a bargain at the after xmas sales.

How are you going with V Carve pro? Have you made some goodies to show us?

Rocket.

Rocket,

The UNACAM software supplied to me won't run on any PC I have tried, XP 2000 or VISTA. I suspect a dodgy instal disk as it hangs during instal. Any chance you could burn me a copy of the DVD and stick it in the post (before anyone gets all narky about copyright issues I have the dongle so no issue here).

Cheers,
\
Jimmy

[Jimmy007]

Hi Guys, you are making me hungry cabnet. Sounds delicious.

I have some wax and grease remover on hand and will give all of those surfaces a good clean. Will also make sure that all nipples are well lubricated. One query that i do have - Jimmy you and Scott both wrote about using machine oil on the slides. Are you using this in addition to greasing the nipples?

I had deliberately left the wrapping on the gantry as we still needed to finish off the flushing on the gyprock wall and the finishing compound is very fine when it is sanded. But we have finished painting the outside wall now so it is time for it to come off.

My son has already been crawling inside the machine to check all fittings.
When the machine arrived there was a small electrical box inside the machine which had come adrift in transit. The screws had worked loose so he fixed that back into position and checked everything else. The only other issue that we have is with the adjustable feet. A couple of them had come unscrewed and the thread is damaged. Should be an easy fix.
The feet can be seen on the top of the table in the photo of the gantry.

Rocket.

I pumped MolyDisulphide grease in the nipples and applied manually to where the gears run, a bit on the ball screw also. I also applied a light machine oil to all rails.

[rocket67]

Rocket,

The UNACAM software supplied to me won't run on any PC I have tried, XP 2000 or VISTA. I suspect a dodgy instal disk as it hangs during instal. Any chance you could burn me a copy of the DVD and stick it in the post (before anyone gets all narky about copyright issues I have the dongle so no issue here).

Cheers,

Jimmy

No worries mate. Can you PM me the address that you want it sent to and i will send it tomorrow.
Do you have the User`s manual? We were trying to install the software with the dongle in position, but it would not work. Then we read the manual to find out that the dongle is not used until step 11 in the set up procedure. The old story - When all else fails read the instructions.

Rocket.

[KustomKoncepts]

I'm just using my machine plugged into a regular 240 V power outlet.. shouldn't 220 V devices be able to tolerate the slight extra voltage? Nothing has blown up so far anyway!

+/- 10% in voltage is fine for you 220 device. 240 will work, power levels go up and down all the time anyways, measure at the outlet to see what you are actually getting.

I was on a long post conserning the voltages and single/3 phase wiring, I learned a lot from it.

If it works now it would have smoked almost right away if it was wrong.

[Jimmy007]

+/- 10% in voltage is fine for you 220 device. 240 will work, power levels go up and down all the time anyways, measure at the outlet to see what you are actually getting.

I was on a long post conserning the voltages and single/3 phase wiring, I learned a lot from it.

If it works now it would have smoked almost right away if it was wrong.

The biggest issue likely for Leef would be the storage capacitors on the input of the spindle inverter. If they see an overvoltage for a short period they will likley fail in a spectacular fashion (explode/catch fire). It would be very unlikely that the voltage difference here would take those CAPS outside spec.

If the opposite applied and we were running below voltage rating I would be concerned about motors (particularily VAC pump) as undervoltages can cause windings to exceed rated current for a given output.

[lgalla]

Lee if you have any electrical questions,you should hire an electrician to make sure it is safe.I have many machines from China and Taiwan and you should be careful at first as they sometimes miss something.I purchased a shaper and it would not run.The starter was wired wrong.Check all bolts that they are tight.Every machine I have from China has issues which were easily fixed.I am not complaining and would buy again but expect some problems.Again check all the bolts and security of the wireing.
Larry

[cabnet636]

taney emailed me the price for ucancam and i will order it, bill and i are moving my controller from dos to wincnc this week and i will be windows based only after i finish that i will be back on software, tomorrow we will run cabinetparts nesting amd machining test. and does your ucancam require dongler or is that for your control software, i have dongler's of all sorts for my cabnetware and 20/20 and they have always been required after software install
cabnet

[leef]

Thanks for help everyone.

Ill think ill just plug it straight in - without the step down transformer
as howzat has. I would have thought it should handle a little extra
voltage too.
When discussing it with excitech they said it will run ok at 240v but
it will be "better" using a 220v voltage regulator. Thus i ordered it.
I just figured if all the electrics in the machine were built for a particular
voltage, maybe they would fail prematurely if run long term at above
that voltage. The stepdown tranformer is for 240v down to either
220v or 110v so maybe its more necessary in a 110v situation.
When i see my electronics mate next ill ask him about my wiring job.

As for the bearings. All others on the machine are covered/sealed.
I cant see any grease nipples anywhere on the machine.
Im assuming a grease nipple is a hole with a rubber cap in it?

Im gonna go de-grease / re-lube and power on!

Cheer! Lee

[rocket67]

Igalla, Thanks for joining us - Seems to be timely advice. When our machine arrived there was a piece of mdf with it that has some patterns routered on it, I presume that it is meant to be a test piece to show that the machine operated correctly when it left the factory. Did any of you blokes receive this piece with your routers?

Jim, Taney is great. Even at xmas time he is on the ball. He always follows through.

Regarding the dongle, yes i believe that it is required to use software - Jimmy may be able to let us know it`s precise use.

With so many machines arrived now we need to know how to use the software before we can use the machines. We have 3 different software types - V Carve Pro, Type3 and Ucancam. Which one should we learn first?

Rocket.

[rocket67]

lee, the grease nipples are the same as the ones underneath your car that you use to grease your ball joints.

Rocket.

[lgalla]

Rocket are these machines cast iron?Looks like it from the pictures.If so A +++.Cast iron has excellent damping qualities.
Larry

[rocket67]

The machines are very sturdy. The frame is RHS steel and has welded construction. The welds on our machine are top quality. The gantry is cast aluminium. It is all very strong and heavy. The chunky appearance of these machines is what made us take a good hard look at them when comparing machines.

Rocket.

[cabnet636]

the tutorial in v carve for the bulldhead sign is a great first carve and is well directed to the first time user

cabnet

[KeithG]

Hello cabnet,
If you're going to talk to Bill tomorrow how about ask him if they have a solution for my depth problem. Seems like you've got his attention. I've got a big job to start next week and I sure would like to get this issue resolved first. It's a software thing not a machine thing.
Thanks!
Keith

[howzat]

Here's some photos of a few more tests I've been able to do. *

I learn a few more lessons each time we use it.. should probably be writing them down cause I'll forget them quick enough

I just got a 4 mm ball nose bit in the post today from eBay so I'll have to try some 3D stuff next.

*I got the outline for that address sign from something I saw on line somewhere.

[rocket67]

howzat, They are excellent signs.

You are catching on real quick! I especially like the middle one.

Rocket.