A few months ago I decided to take up a new hobby...Metalworking!!!..So I starting surfing the net to try to gather up as much info as possible before divng in. That's how I came upon CNCZone. Since I had no aspirations of CNCing anything at that time, the site was useful to me only in the basics that I could gleam from it.
I started out by purchasing a mini-lathe and promptly begin turning a couple of handles.. and then a few more handles. Got pretty decent at it. My wife started calling the lathe the "handle machine".
Then I began to think that I wanted to make other stuff. Who knows what, but a mill was definitely needed to do so. In reality this was just an excuse to buy another machine. So I picked up the venerable Harbour Freight X3 and carted it home. To this point I have dismantled it, thoroughly cleaned it and then reassembled it on top of the tool chest where it will reside. It's a lot easier to lift 50 lbs several times than 300 all at once!
Still haven't milled my first piece yet. I had added a DRO to my lathe and thought that it was pretty slick so I figured I would do the same for the mill plus a power feed. Well then I began thinking that it wouldn't be much more to just CNC this thing instead. So back to CNCZone where I started to read up as much as I could on the subject. Teyber's build thread was especially informative. Based on my readings, I was about to pull the trigger on the CNCFusion kit when I happened across the Promica website. I was intrigued by what I felt looked like a clean, nicely designed conversion kit. Unfortunately, there is not a great deal of info online for this kit...very few mentions on CNCZone. I ended up posting a few questions on the Promica web site. BAM!!! They were answered immediately. I then began a weekend session of back and forth emails with Marc Huett of Promica. At the end of the weekend I was convinced the Promica kit was the way for me to go.
So I ordered from Promica and am awaiting the conversion kit. I ordered the basic conversion as well as stepper motors and wiring. I did not order the Promica controller box as I thought I should do some of the work. The stepper motors are Nema 23 size rated for 3 amps on all three axis. The Promica controller supplies 40V. This seemed perfect for incorporating the Gecko G540. So I ordered the Gecko, an 50V/10A unregulated power supply, a5V/2A power supply and a few misc. items from Keling. Then ordered a 12" X 12" X 5" box from LMB to house it.
Next I decided I need to build ways covers. I will be making a denim cover for the Y axis and use a rubber cover from Little Machine Shop for the Z axis. Lastly, I am planning a coolant system loosely based on the Fogbuster. I have acquired all the bits and pieces to build all these accesories, I just need to find the time.
Anyhow, I decided that if I were to document this build that it might be helpful to others on the forum. I don't intend to go into minute detail, and I won't be posting pictures of every step. (You only need to see so many pics of an uncrated X3 before you start to know what a wood box looks like) Being so green at this hobby, I would invite everyone to critique my decisions along the way and point me in the right direction when I start to deviate . I have licensed copies of both Dophin Cadcam and Mach3 and have been playing with them in my spare time. My first problem was adding a parallel port to an unused Dell Dimension E510. Went to Frys and bought a PCI card w/parallel port. XP failed to discover the port. Have ordered another card which people claims has better success. Anyhow, Thanks and wish me luck on the build.:banana: