[jetflatline]

When I put the VFD on it I plan on stripping it down and doing it right. I needed to get it back together so I can cut a few pieces to fix my lathe and set up the VFD, I don't feel safe operating it like this for much longer.

[jetflatline]

Phone call with Tommy a couple of weeks ago and two follow up emails, but still no sign of the end stop blocks or carriers, or my Mach3 license. Grrrrrrr.

[jetflatline]

Slow going on the build, as I work outside on the deck during sunny days and haven't had many rain days to spend on the mill.

But I'm wiring everything up now, and I'm wondering where I should put my CNC enclosure and my case for my full-sized PC. I'm thinking on the wall *behind* the mill, I have about 12" of clearance so it'd be easy to bolt some plywood to the wall and make a little shelf for both of the cases and put a clear plastic shield over all of it.

Thoughts?

[RustedOut]

CNC enclosure? You mean your electronics cabinet? I hung mine off of the base on the left side of the mill. My computer is behind the mill for now, but looking in that box, there ain't nothing there that can't fit in to something smaller. Don't use the floppy, cd drive or dvd drive. I just carry a flash drive and require a usb port only. It could easily fit in my cabinet, or in a special built box holding the monitor. The latter is what I want to do with mine. One thing I might recommend is a flexible keyboard. That will go a long way to keeping chips out from in between and under the keys. Them chips go every where.

Bob

[jetflatline]

I don't have a chip tray on mine yet, so I'm nervous about putting anything under the mill. Maybe I should just suck it up and make a tray...

[RustedOut]

Without a chip tray tells me there's no coolant either. No worries, those chips just vacuum off. Keep the door closed and cover it with some shop rags and it'll be good. Mounting it close keeps the cabling short which is good.

I used to have a problem with way lube oil running off the machine base onto the cabinet. Kept a red rag on it to soak that up. It was due to a missing one way valve in my way oiler. Fixed now, but even that wasn't a real problem for the cabinet. I'm sure you'll figure it out!

Bob

[jetflatline]

Using mist coolant, not flood, and haven't been bothering with a drip tray during manual operations. Now I'm wondering if should just to make it easier to clean things up.

At the rate I'm going, I'll need to build a new studio just to have enough room...

[jetflatline]

about 1/3 of the way through the wiring as of this morning. I bought a controller/enclosure from Bob Campbell and have had to tweak it a bit to make room for the mongo IHCNC power supply.

It's a really nice looking kit/controller and I feel pretty good about how they've integrated everything from EPO to coolant and VFD and use CPC jacks on the case.

We'll see what happens when it's under power...

[jetflatline]

For anyone playing the home game, the Campbell Designs enclosure comes with part of the power supply that IH provides (assuming you get it :-). Once I figured that out I realized I just need some fuses to go between the IH power supply and the Geckos and that I'd wasted a good two hours wiring up a board that I'm about to dyke out.

[jetflatline]

After a bit of distraction building a lasercutter (based on Lasersaur's alpha design) I'm back to wiring up the CNC box:

CNC case | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[jetflatline]

And not. In early December I took a nasty fall and spent two weeks recovering in the hospital. I'm able to walk/talk again, but I still need to pass some "are you allowed to drive / operate power tools" tests before I do much more than clean the house and catch up on old novels...

[jetflatline]

Forgot to follow-up, I was able to work as of March but had to play it safe with potential head injuries -- no running, biking, working under cars, etc.

I'm starting to sell off parts I don't need on ebay, starting with a relatively decent power feed for the x axis:

Workhorse AL-200S Power Feed for milling machines | eBay

[808welder]

where are u on your conversion? mechanical or electrical?

[jetflatline]

Mostly finishing the electrical and the oiler. The mill and controller are all wired, I just need to connect them to the PC and start testing.

I'm also holding out on the VFD kit so I can put on my shiny new 3hp motor as part of the upgrade.

[jetflatline]

Nothing gets in the way of a CNC upgrade at home like all the free CNC time in the world at someone else's shop. :-)

Finally working on this again, I want a 4th axis and it looks like I'll have to do it myself. This week I've started the final wiring. My controller box is almost finished, I've got a dedicated PC set up to boot in both Windows (for Mach3) and LinuxCNC, and it really is time to just plug everything together.

One thing I'm missing is a shield for the Z belt. It looks like I can just heat/bend some polycarb, but one of the pulleys sticks out past the side of the enclosure. Should I just cut slots in the polycarb and press on?

Edit: Charter Oak still sells a CNC kit so I emailed them asking for advice, will post their answer here.

[Bob La Londe]

- Is the one-shot oiler conversion worth it or is it just a nice feature for shops running 24/7?

The one shot? NO! Get an automatic oiler. It might be not be a huge deal if you are doing only a few long travel short duration job parts, but in my opinion a cast iron dovetail way machine can damage itself rather quickly if it doesn't get adequate oil. I am a believer in over oiling rather than under oiling. Also, install oil metering devices. This assures that every point gets the same amount of oil every time it cycles. I very well how all the little things can add up, but lubrication is one area you just can't skimp on in my opinion. I won't have another CNC mill that doesn't have an automatic oiler. Save that one shot for a manual mill. Your oil system just isn't that big a part of the cost of your machine, and in my opinion its critical to its longevity.

Sorry it that's already been covered, but it stuck out so much to me I just had comment right away. Now back to the rest of the thread.

[jetflatline]

Thanks, I did put in all the plumbing for an automatic oiler when I was doing the X/Y tables. I'm totally sold on the concept after seeing them in action at a friend's shop. After I get the motors/sensors moving I'll install the pump and switches for the oiler.

[jetflatline]

This is taking forever, I keep getting paying work that doesn't involve me using the mill! I've rebuilt my lasersaur and am listing some products on Etsy and making things on my Southbend 10L.

Using the lasersaur means I have to be physically in the room during a cut (in case there's a fire, I'm cutting baltic birch) and have these nice 20min blocks of time where I can finally finish this mill and make parts for my bikes.

One problem. I lost a page of my notes, I think. Is there a reason I wouldn't put oiler plumbing on the housing for the X screw other than lack of space? I put one on the Y screw and am using the drip system on the Z for now, but nothing on the X and I'm pretty certain I wouldn't forget the oiler by mistake. Looking at it (it's assembled) I apparently don't have space to tap in to the ball screw mount -- is there a drip method or some other trick for the X axis lubrication?

[jetflatline]

...and the Y table is stuck on the gib. Sigh. Moved the bed to check some hose routing and it's locked right up.

I assume this is like unsticking other gibs -- remove the screws from each side and tap on the end of the gib with a drift and a hammer?

[jetflatline]

Tapped it out with a screw slightly larger than the gib, a drift would have bellowed out the end. Also discovered/remembered that I tapped the side of the mount for the X nut mount for lube but that I couldn't get the X table back on with the lube connection in place. So, progress!