[ChrisAttebery]

I finished up the motor mounts yesterday morning. Then I drew up a set of home switch mounting plates. I cut them out of some .090" aluminum plate I had in my scrap box. It cut like crap, really gummy, but I got the pair I needed cleaned up. I got the switches installed today and then fought with Mach3 to actually reference them. After a while it finally started working. I have no idea what I changed to make it work, but I'm happy I got it finally.

I'm going to start using Mach Standard Mill now that I can reference the machine properly. I'm looking forward to using a touch plate for setting offsets and tool changes.

Pictures to follow...

Chris

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[ChrisAttebery]

I made a couple minor changes to the side plates on the motor mounts. I rounded the corners and chamfered the edges.

I reused the holes for the axis locks for the home switch triggers. As you can see alot of chips make their way to the ways and base. I want to get wider piece of rubber over the rear of the Y axis and make a deep sheet aluminum cover to go on the front of the table(4-5").

[ChrisAttebery]

I finally got my touch plates wired up last night. I was going to test out the auto tool length offset features in Mach Standard Mill, but found out my trial period has expired. I talked to Dave at CVI and he is going to see if he can get me an extension.

While I was working on the mill I put it on it's back and looked at the Y axis screw. With the table all the way up against the way covers there is still at least an inch of screw available. If I could get 6.75" of travel and be able to keep the covers out of the way I'd be happy. I think I need about 2" total to accomplish that goal. Needless to say that the Y axis extension is next on my list of projects for the mill.

I was looking at the side plates for the belt drive motor mount and found that the countersinks were too small. Hoss had them called out as .390"ID x .375" deep but they were drawn as .375"ID. At first I was horrified, thinking about what a PITA it would be to line up each one of those holes and rebore it. Then I realized that a great feature of CNC is being able to adjust a drawing and rerun an operation to fix a problem in a few minutes. :cheers:


Chris

[ChrisAttebery]

Last night I started working on the belt drive conversion. I removed the stock motor mount, motor and started pulling the gearing out of the head. I found another small issue with the belt drive plans. The pulleys I ordered have a 1.765" outer diameter at the hub, but the center hole in the mount plate has a 1.75" hole. It's not a big deal for the stock motor though because I found a nylon/aluminum pulley that had a 10mm bore (no machining required) and the OD of the pulley is much smaller at the hub. I'm going to make a separate plate for the treadmill motor, so I'll open the center up another .125 when I do.

I also pulled the spindle out of the mill. The top of the spindle was cut at a slight angle so when I tighten the draw bar down it pulls it off to one side. It was giving me some vibration at 2250 RPM. I can only imagine how much worse it would be at 4500-6700 RPM.

I dropped the pulleys and spindle off at the machine shop this morning and they should be ready Friday or Monday. We have company coming in this weekend so I wouldn't be making any progress on the mill anyway.


Chris

[hoss2006]

Take a closer look at the treadmill motor folder, there is a motor mount print there with a 2.0 inch bore.
Hoss

[ChrisAttebery]

OK, IIRC I made the stock motor mount from the "CNC" folder or the top folder. I need to pay closer attention to the dimensions called out in the drawings. I didn't have the pulleys when I made the mount so I couldn't measure it anyway. I haven't made the plate for the treadmill motor yet. That's stage three: KBMM-225, C6, and a bigger enclosure to house it all.

[Mad Welder]

Nice progress, and very nice spindle motor mount...

[ChrisAttebery]

Thank you MW!

[ChrisAttebery]

I didn't get that much done this weekend, but since the mill was down I wanted to clean up the wiring. I also bolted a piece of 1.5" square steel tubing to the leg of the stand and permanently mount my E-stop and pendant hanger. I want to find a nice green push button mount in the same box for a cycle start button for tool changes. I'm getting sick of setting up a tool and then grabbing the mouse to hit the offset and cycle start buttons.

I also loaded up Mach Standard Mill last week. I intend to use the auto TLO feature from now on.

I should get the pulleys and spindle back tonight or tomorrow. Then I can wrap up the belt drive conversion.


Chris

[VooDooMan]

How do you like the cnc fusion package as apposed to buying ballscrews and nuts form ebay ( chai ) and buying the mounts from BD tools ( billy / Also on ebay )

Big price differnce, Seems that more use the ebay route and not CNC fusion though.

Thanks

[Mad Welder]

.......I want to find a nice green push button mount in the same box for a cycle start button for tool changes. I'm getting sick of setting up a tool and then grabbing the mouse to hit the offset and cycle start buttons........
Chris

Hey there again Chris, funny you should mention that as I only suggested Mach's "KeyGrabber" facility a day or so ago in another thread but again I too also wouldn't have known only for Hoss.....but getting back to your query you can allocate a particular key on your PC's keyboard to any function within Mach like for example the Spindle on/off is controlled by depressing key "F5" and this is called a "HotKey" I'll have a look for the links to explain this feature but in your case you could allocate any keyboard key for your green "cycle start" and this would save the mouse movement which I agree can be a bit of a PITA

oh and BTW Bob has a link to slot/arcade gaming machines push buttons too on his CNCcookbook site too...

[Mad Welder]

OMG don't I feel stupid:stickpoke just found the link to Hoss's hotkeys video for you and here also is the link for his custom control panel Projects 2 and just to make sure I had the correct link I watched the first few secconds and hey-prestow there on his video is the Mach screen and flippin heck there in plain view is the hotkey for the cycle start "ALT R" ha ha

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ62REdp4Cg&feature=channel_page]Mach 3 Hotkeys - YouTube[/ame]

[ChrisAttebery]

VoodooMan,

Honestly, I think CNC Fusion did a great job on the parts. There are a couple things he did that I might have done different, but there is nothing wrong with it. My biggest gripe is that the X axis coupler is mounted below the table, so it reduces travel by about 1.25" on that end. I still get ~17.5" of X travel, so it's not a huge deal for me.

I bought from CNC Fusion for a few reasons. I wanted a kit that could be delivered relatively quickly. I didn't want to have to source parts from multiple vendors. I also liked the fact that his parts looked professional. I didn't want to go the cheap route and wish I hadn't later on.

My only other complaint is that I wish I had requested a longer Y axis screw. Even thought I don't need the extra travel right now it might come in handy later on.

As far as the price goes, I think it would be pretty close by the time you add in ballscrews.

Good luck,


Chris

[ChrisAttebery]

I don't want to deal with the keyboard at all during tool changes. I'm going to run Mach Standard Mill from now on. It has a really slick Auto Tool Length Offset system built in. When you hit Cycle Start MSM will measure your tool and then go back to work. It also will keep a tool table for tools that are in repeatable height tool holders, so you don't have to measure them every time. My plan is to use repeatable tool holders for all of my standard end mills and only measure drill bits and odd end mills that can't be used with a EM holder.

I found this button on the bay earlier this week. It looks like a perfect match for the E-stop. I'm going to mount it in the same box to give it that industrial look.


Chris

Hey there again Chris, funny you should mention that as I only suggested Mach's "KeyGrabber" facility a day or so ago in another thread but again I too also wouldn't have known only for Hoss.....but getting back to your query you can allocate a particular key on your PC's keyboard to any function within Mach like for example the Spindle on/off is controlled by depressing key "F5" and this is called a "HotKey" I'll have a look for the links to explain this feature but in your case you could allocate any keyboard key for your green "cycle start" and this would save the mouse movement which I agree can be a bit of a PITA

oh and BTW Bob has a link to slot/arcade gaming machines push buttons too on his CNCcookbook site too...

[ChrisAttebery]

OK, I guess I do need to look at the key grabber. I got my cycle start button wired up and realized there isn't an input available in Mach for that function.

I got my belt drive working with the stock motor. The plastic pulley I bought has a 10mm aluminum bore in it, but it doesn't fit that great and there isn't a lot of engagement there so it wobbles a bit. The belt drive isn't as quiet as I had hoped it would be. I hope that when I get the treadmill motor with the solid aluminum pulley installed that it will be a little quieter.

[BAMCNC.COM]

There is an input for cycle start, I use my green button all the time.

[ChrisAttebery]

It looks like you can use an OEM trigger (1000). I'll check it out tomorrow.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Mad Welder]

There is an input for cycle start, I use my green button all the time.

What input do you use? I haven't moved on to external buttons or my control panel yet..

[BAMCNC.COM]

I forget but there is a way, I may get out there today and check for you.

[ChrisAttebery]

I got mine working. You can tie an input to an "OEM trigger" in the inputs. Then assign it to OEM code 1000 under system hot keys.