[microcarve]

Hi John,

I contacted you some time ago (page 96) to have you send a copy of the sides of your machine which you did in your usual expeditious manner.
This has enabled me to have the bulk of the machine constructed.
My focus in the initial build is to use it for light engraving ie circuit boards.
The Z-axis fine tuning is yet to be done, and I have built a high speed spindle inspired by the Wolfgang model which will be fitted with a Makita laminate trimmer 1/4 "collet and nut.
Having some hardware yet to be done means that I have not got to the stage just yet of running any software.
Delivery of the SOC Robotics stepper drivers MK4..MM160 system is just a few days away
Today I downloaded the UBUNTU/EMC2 software today.
Initial playing with it has been very impressive in appearancealong with the wide range of setup choices.
I would like some advice on which setup to choose...I suspect the stepper options will be sensible...any advice you have on this would be appreciated.
I realize that I have burbled on a bit but I know you are interested in what others are doing and I hope that this progress of mine is some interest to you and others.
I intend to detail some of my design ideas to help others as you have done in order to encourage them.

Kind regards
GMS

Yes!...I'm always Very interested!...

And everything sounds even more interesting than usual as it's mostly
new to me....Your spindle and the driver kit.

The maker of the driver kit should be able to advise a software setup...or
many here would know. I'm not familiar with EMC2. I think it's even changed
versions to something called LinuxCNC....?

And...wild guess...it's probably mostly metric with trapezoidal screws?

So your needed info might be choice of step modes...I'd probably aim for
1/8 to start. And your leadscrew pitch.

It's been a long time since I ran EMC, so I've forgotten how I set it up.

Also the support group may have someone already using it....

microcarve : microcarve

I have seen it mentioned here a few times that step modes shouldn't have
anything to do with speeds the machine will go at. But...IIRC...and I
believe I do.....it made a big difference with my Hobbycnc boards a long
time ago. I used 1/4 stepping on the 3/8-12 screws I've long used after
trying 1/8 for a time. My speeds doubled. Half step was tolerable, but
full stepping was a growling nightmare.

I see you don't have a 1/4 step option, so 1/8 should run very smoothly
and be good for circuit traces. May be slow at 24VDC, but very good for
PCB work.

Looking forward to seeing the spindle!


John

[GMS]

Hi John,
Your advice should prove to be useful...as I said I'm just a few days from getting my stepper drivers.
My next exercise is to upgrade an older PC to utilize a used P4 mother board...available for about $40 from a e-waste recovery outfit.
I've had a search on for "windows 2000 free download"....with what seem to me to be a sucker calls for everything else!
Now I know that Microsoft no longer support Windows 2000 so I thought naively that somebody/business might continue to be supporting it.
The reason for my wanting to do this is that in my experience Windows 2000 is very stable..just the thing for a standalone PC engraving machine.
Have you or any of the rest of the participants of this forum got any words of advice to solve this for me?
I look forward to any replies on this.
Regards
Graham

[doorknob]

Hi John,
Y
I've had a search on for "windows 2000 free download"....with what seem to me to be a sucker calls for everything else!
Now I know that Microsoft no longer support Windows 2000 so I thought naively that somebody/business might continue to be supporting it.
The reason for my wanting to do this is that in my experience Windows 2000 is very stable..just the thing for a standalone PC engraving machine.
Have you or any of the rest of the participants of this forum got any words of advice to solve this for me?

If you are looking for an installable copy of Windows 2000, you might search instead for an old version of the MSDN distribution, which would have come with an installable Win2K disc.

[GMS]

Hi,
As it happens I have found an installable disc in my "museum"...it is Windows XP Professional!!
I have a silly question...what about the need for a licence key number? (I was "gifted" this in a "for distribution only with a new PC" statement on the front cover.
Regards Graham

[GMS]

Hi,
Further searching of my "museum" reveals another unit of the above in it's original totally sealed packet!
Unfortunately an area on the back has the message :
"This Certificate of Authenticity label has been removed by your PC manufacturer and should be attached to your PC"
So I guess that the licence number is now unknown.
Any ideas?
Regards Graham

[atwooddon]

I know you can buy just the license key, no media, etc. I bought a XP key on eBay and MS recognised it just fine. Think I paid $25 for the key.

Don

[louieatienza]

I have an XP disk from m old Gateway laptop, that completely unlocked! No key needed, no regisration! Amazing, really, that MicroSoft would do this! I guard it like gold!

[GMS]

Hi,
Have just done a search for above...information is that the key lives on the install disc...I'll let you know how I get on
Regards Graham

[Ron Dunn]

I'm concerned by some of the "advice" being given in recent messages.

OK, Microsoft pays my salary, but I'd be equally concerned by this advice around ANY software maker's products.

The copies of software being described by GMS and louieatenza are what are known as OEM licences. These are only valid for use with the machine on which they were purchased, and are not transferrable to any other machine.

atwoodon's purchase is simply wrong. It is like me paying a guy in a bar $10 for a television set stolen from his home.

I'm sorry to interrupt this discussion, but I really don't think it belongs in a thread about a great series of CNC machines.

[atwooddon]

Ron, prior to purchasing the 'key', I contacted MS to validate whether it was legal and was told it was fine. Apparently, resellers can purchase blocks of 'keys' from Microsoft and use or resell them as they wish. When I received the key, I went thru the XP install process and then validated the key was OK thru the authenticity tests built into XP now. It passed and I have kept up with the automatic updates with no issues. This was 2 years ago, maybe the policy has changed since then.

Now, back to regularly scheduled programming.........

Don

[jm82792]

I really enjoy Linux CNC(was EMC2 before trademark malarkey). It took me 10 minutes to install, is easy to use and overall the whole OS is really fast. I spent $0 I burned the OS onto a flashdrive because I didn't have any blank disks laying around. I get a 25 second boot on a 5 year old Pentium 4 desktop. Plus I have Firefox, Blender, GIMP, Meshlab and a few other programs if I want to do a bit of work on the machine.

I'm getting 60 IPM no missed steps with my A4 using Xylotex drivers.
I've been cutting Cumaru(about as hard as Ipe, around 3500 PSI Janka) at 45 IPM with a 1/8" fishtail bit at .125" deep passes without a hitch.

[nio101]

Hi,

I just wanted to share a picture of my new MV3 machine...



This machine is obviously very well designed, it's simple and effective!

Cheers, John! (^_^)

Nicolas.

[CarveOne]

I really enjoy Linux CNC(was EMC2 before trademark malarkey). It took me 10 minutes to install, is easy to use and overall the whole OS is really fast. I spent $0 I burned the OS onto a flashdrive because I didn't have any blank disks laying around. I get a 25 second boot on a 5 year old Pentium 4 desktop. Plus I have Firefox, Blender, GIMP, Meshlab and a few other programs if I want to do a bit of work on the machine.

I'm getting 60 IPM no missed steps with my A4 using Xylotex drivers.
I've been cutting Cumaru(about as hard as Ipe, around 3500 PSI Janka) at 45 IPM with a 1/8" fishtail bit at .125" deep passes without a hitch.

Interesting. I hadn't heard about the trademark dispute. There is only brief mention of the change in the News section on LinuxCNC site. LinuxCNC is more descriptive of what it is anyway.

CarveOne

[microcarve]

Hi,

I just wanted to share a picture of my new MV3 machine...

This machine is obviously very well designed, it's simple and effective!

Cheers, John! (^_^)

Nicolas.

That looks Really Great, Nicolas!



Thank you Very, Very Much for sharing the picture!
I like the color very much! It's Beautiful!


John

[Rob Mc]

Got my machine a few days ago and discovered the one untalked about problem with it. I can't stop playing with it! This thing is so cool and works like a charm.

Thanks John!

[Ron Dunn]

Wow ... that is a beautiful paint job.

[rocketflier]

Wow ... that is a beautiful paint job.

You mean with that reflection of the workbench in the paint? :banana:
I couldn't figure out how the workbench was part of the machine!

The Bosch colt routers are on sale at Lowes for $99. I started a thread over here.

[Rob Mc]

Thanks guys, I used an acrylic enamel automotive paint and baked it in the oven @ 180 degrees for 2 hours. Should give a pretty durable finish.

[gadgetwiz]

Promised John a pic of the new setup so here it is (at least partially). Although I received the MV3 a couple of weeks ago it's taken a while to do the painting. It's probably not going to be as durable as Rob's paintjob (there's a scratch inside already from where the cross bar ran against it during assembly) so I'll probably layer the inner parts with a bit of contact paper.

A bit of information for those who might be painting theirs - I used acrylic aerosols which contain solvents but it didn't seem to be a problem on the shellac primer that John uses. I wanted a colour scheme that couldn't be found in the standard auto accessory shop range so this is a graffiti art colour (the range of colours available is simply staggering) overlaid with some krylon clear satin. Unfortunately after buffing the satin turn to gloss.

I've also included a photo of how the k2cnc kress mount looks on the z plate. It fits perfectly!

Finally I can't praise John enough for his untiring support for his users - I had a few questions during assembly which he answered very quickly despite him being across the world (note to John - there will probably be a few more emails before this is done Also you're right - of course- the x axis lead screw is tight with the motor on - thanks!!)

[microcarve]

Thanks guys, I used an acrylic enamel automotive paint and baked it in the oven @ 180 degrees for 2 hours. Should give a pretty durable finish.

Promised John a pic of the new setup so here it is (at least partially). Although I received the MV3 a couple of weeks ago it's taken a while to do the painting. It's probably not going to be as durable as Rob's paintjob (there's a scratch inside already from where the cross bar ran against it during assembly) so I'll probably layer the inner parts with a bit of contact paper.

A bit of information for those who might be painting theirs - I used acrylic aerosols which contain solvents but it didn't seem to be a problem on the shellac primer that John uses. I wanted a colour scheme that couldn't be found in the standard auto accessory shop range so this is a graffiti art colour (the range of colours available is simply staggering) overlaid with some krylon clear satin. Unfortunately after buffing the satin turn to gloss.

I've also included a photo of how the k2cnc kress mount looks on the z plate. It fits perfectly!

Finally I can't praise John enough for his untiring support for his users - I had a few questions during assembly which he answered very quickly despite him being across the world (note to John - there will probably be a few more emails before this is done Also you're right - of course- the x axis lead screw is tight with the motor on - thanks!!)

Wow Guys! Those are Beautiful!!



I wish I could paint that good. I tried but it takes a few weeks for
the paint to dry well enough to be confident enough to ship it....(High
humidity here....)

That's good to know about the acrylic paint. IIRC...I tried using the
Kilz brand of paint and I had some incompatibility problems with
various layers of different paint. But it turns out that the Zinsser
shellac is really great stuff for a base coat. Easy to do and dries
really fast....

Thanks for those pictures! It Really-Really makes my day to see those
machines all looking SO Nice!

I've been busy-busy making them for months now and am almost
caught up with orders.

Then...I'm looking forward to making a bunch more of them!


John