[sansbury]

All,

After reading the 10,000th post asking the same dozen questions about how to do an X2 conversation, I decided to stop complaining about the weather and do something about it:

Main Page - X2CNC

My goal in starting this is to create a resource which serves as a well-organized directory of links to posts here, personal sites like Hoss's, and general info from all over, all focused on the X2. There's tons of great information out there, and I want to provide newbies a guide to start their exploration.

The content right now is still kind of basic, but I've got the basic table of contents built, and figured it was time to introduce it and get some feedback. My goal with this is to give something back, and if anyone feels like pitching in, you just need to register in order to be able to add and edit pages. The site runs on Mediawiki, so anyone familiar with typical wiki editing should feel right at home.

[macpod]

Great idea, I was thinking of doing this myself. I would strongly suggest putting a captcha on the registration page otherwise you will get spammed often. There are other things you can do too such as block posters with blank user agents if it still becomes an issue.

[QSPSB]

I second that... Awesome idea!!

I'm sure there will be many New B's out there that will benefit from your site

[Roccobro]

Is there a place we can "donate" for appreciation? I'm rounding up my parts and spending my free time here, just to acquire the info your Wiki'ing about.

Justin

[TXFred]

Nice job!

How do we sign up to edit and add articles?

Frederic (wikinoob)

[sansbury]

The best way to donate would be to sign up and either add some content, or if you're a newb, tell me what areas you'd like to see more content about.

Anyone who'd like to contribute can get an account here:
Log in / create account - X2CNC

The "Conversion Overview" page is kind of the main table of contents and is a good place to start if you're looking to add an article. I would also invite contributors to create a page about themselves and feel welcome to link back to a personal or commercial site. If anyone contributes knowledge they deserve to get credit.

This page has some basics on how to edit content.

Help:Editing - Meta

If you see text in red, it means that page hasn't been created yet. You can click it, and if you're logged in, that will allow you to create that page. If you want to create a page randomly, you can type the name of the page in the Search box on the left-hand side, and if the page doesn't exist, the result screen will give you the option to create it.

The Wiki syntax is a little different at first but it becomes second nature very fast. And don't worry about making your text beautiful or if you're not sure about your writing--I'm a good editor

[pp7]

Can you do a ZX 45 CNC Wiki?

[sansbury]

PP7,

That's a great idea but someone else will have to take that project on. I chose the X2 because (a) I have one and know it well, and (b) it is (seems like!) the most common mill for newbies to CNC. However, I expect the content may be useful to people doing conversions on any mill, since the basic principles are largely the same.

[CNC74]

Hi all!

This is a great idea and I look forward to seeing the information take shape!

I have just finished my X2 build and am totally new to the CNC world and have more questions about setting up the basic software to get things rolling than I ever did durring the hardware build process.

It would be great to get some basic information on how to setup sotware limits in Mach3 with information the specificaly pertains to the X2 mill.

(I drove the head into the table the first time I tried to run one of the Mach3 templates and have sinces backed up and started reading some more and have yet to turn the machine back on since then. The base plate now has a "war scar" from my lack of knowlege out of the gate.)

Having a section labeled something like "gettting started with your X2" or "First cuts" would be very valuable!

Thanks,
CNC74

[sansbury]

CNC74, that's a good idea, a lot of people finish conversions and then go "now what!?"

That said, I personally do not find soft limits very useful. I do most of my work in a vise, so the "safe" Z is different depending on whether you're in between the jaws or not. What I do instead is set the Z zero an inch or so above the top of my vise and run from there to proof first-time programs. Still, my vise has a divot taken out of the top of it--it's not a question of if, but when

[NavyShooter]

Can someone sticky this thread? It seems worth having near the top???

[amyers]

Why? this thread is just a link to an offsite webpage.
bookmark the link and you'll have it for your convenience.
The last 4 updates on it were for spam ads so I don't know how much
more useful info you'll get from it, looks pretty dead in the water.
am

[wildwestpat]

Possibly a good idea but why? Energy might possibly be better directed to making a site that deals with CNC conversion of mill/drills in general and not specifically the Seig X2 as stated on the Home Page of the site.

A WiKipedia style site on the general basics of machine build and retro conversion and another separate one for basic CNC techniques would be good

Acknowledge the source of all information is only one aspect of a successful site. Editing of information posted that contains errors or blatant commercial plugs is perhaps best handled in a similar manner to the WiKipedia encyclopaedia pages.

Sorry to be so negative but where there is money or reputations at stake the rules on editing or censorship need to be established from the outset so that both contributors and readers know where the site stands on these matters.

Regards - Pat

[NavyShooter]

Yeah,

I did a better look at it through wider eyes (with a bit more sleep) and have will concur with some of the negativity....it's had a bit of work put into it, but I spent some time at Hoss' site and think perhaps his stuff should be "sticky'd" instead....

Sorry for my enthusiasm :-P

NS

[Fastest1]

Hi all!

This is a great idea and I look forward to seeing the information take shape!

I have just finished my X2 build and am totally new to the CNC world and have more questions about setting up the basic software to get things rolling than I ever did durring the hardware build process.

It would be great to get some basic information on how to setup sotware limits in Mach3 with information the specificaly pertains to the X2 mill.

(I drove the head into the table the first time I tried to run one of the Mach3 templates and have sinces backed up and started reading some more and have yet to turn the machine back on since then. The base plate now has a "war scar" from my lack of knowlege out of the gate.)

Having a section labeled something like "gettting started with your X2" or "First cuts" would be very valuable!

Thanks,
CNC74

The mach support forum has a video on how to set up soft limits. ArtSoft USA - Video Tutorials
It works great too. You do have limit switches dont you?

[sansbury]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. I started the site being discussed. It is definitely very much a work in progress, that's putting it nicely. I've been traveling a lot lately and hadn't had time to manage/add to it.

I just went through and killed the spam. I left the user registration open to encourage people to poke around but that did leave things slightly open. 4 spams in two months isn't too bad :P

The reason I did it specific to the X2 is that a TON of people are doing X2 conversions, far more than every other machine type here. And very often, people do not know that what works for Machine A will work, with minor changes, for Machine B. The purpose was to make this a definitive, complete, and up-to-date resource for how to do one thing--X2 conversions.

I've been slowly writing away trying to populate bits of content but have gotten very little interest from others in contributing. I have no interest in being the sole maintainer of the site. The point is for it to be getting edited by multiple people, so that information (like part numbers, prices, etc.) can be kept up to date.

I still think something like this would be really helpful for all the newbies out there who come here and try to figure out how to answer the same two dozen questions everybody has when they decide to try an X2 conversion. If a couple other people wanted to help by contributing something I'd be up for taking another run at it.