[JohnDeere630]

Kool-mist seems to be pretty common. An online search will give you plenty of brands/distributors to choose from

Now that rings a bell. Thanks!

[MarcusWolschon]

alcohol as coolant works fine. you can't get the mist to catch fire even with a torch. need good ventilation though or your going to get the headache of your life.

Gesendet von meinem JK-P6 mit Tapatalk

[JohnDeere630]

Just to let everyone know, don't bother bidding on any of bgastore's machines. He is a crook who lists them at auction for .99 with no reserve on eBay, and then when it is up to $600 or so, and a day or so from ending, he ends the listing. He is a cheap shyster, so don't bother bidding on his crap, nor would I do business with such a dishonest person. Carving-cnc.com looks better all the time.

[Sinnsvak]

I bought mine directly from carving-cnc, and got nothing to complain about.

Also using alcohol-mister as cooling and the pressurized air also helps chip-clearance. Works really well.

[Adverse Effects]

Just to let everyone know, don't bother bidding on any of bgastore's machines. He is a crook who lists them at auction for .99 with no reserve on eBay, and then when it is up to $600 or so, and a day or so from ending, he ends the listing. He is a cheap shyster, so don't bother bidding on his crap, nor would I do business with such a dishonest person. Carving-cnc.com looks better all the time.

so report him

[JohnDeere630]

I did. I don't know what eBay will do about it, if anything, but the forms were observed.

[JohnDeere630]

Well, I went ahead and bit the bullet...bought a 6040 with the 1500 watt cutter motor on eBay from an outfit I had done business with before. They are converting it to 110V at no charge. This one has the 3 amp steppers, and was advertised as being USB controllable, also has the fully supported bearing rails. I've ordered a Kool-mist air-powered mister to go with it. It has the black box controller, so I'll see how it goes. I got it cheap enough that I can get the G540 if necessary. I hope it can use EMC2 (LinuxCNC) for the software, as I am totally unfamiliar with Mach3, but no big deal either way. I hope it survives it's trip....

Any advice? I'll be using it to cut shapes from .0625 and .125 aluminum, mostly the thinner stuff. I have some HSS 1/8" double-flute endmills for the E11 collets; IIRC, that's what we used on 1/8" aluminum at New Balance...wish I could remember the feed speed. The NB mill had a 1200 watt motor, so the feed should be similar.

I'll keep posting my experiences, maybe I can add something useful to the knowledge base here.

[gorry]

I have not read the complete thread but I have seen a number of posts relating to problems with the Blue Box CNC 6040. These are my quick experiences and fixes to get a robust running setup.

Out of the box, the z-axis would dig down a few steps every now and then so over a 5 minute run it would dig 1/4" to a 1/2" .. my conclusion was that I got inductive noise from the spindle over to the z-stepper motor cable.

I got new shielded "drag chain cable" of high quality and replaced all wiring and all connectors with similar but higher quality microphone connectors (well shielded).
In the process the chinese water pump burned out after the water tube had ripped out. I replaced it with an aquarium pump.

After this I have had zero problems and the setup has worked like a clock. I have run small production runs of about 10 x 30 minutes with multiple tool switches. Sufficient/excellent quality results for my goals.

Just thought I should share.

[JohnDeere630]

gorry, what are you using it for, if I may ask? I am waiting for mine to arrive. Mine has the black-box USB controller, so I'm hoping it works out of the box. Time will tell.

[JohnDeere630]

Update. My machine arrived intact, nary a scratch. Kudos to the packaging, very well done. Assembly was a breeze, even though there were no instructions nor documentation of any kind. As someone with experience with steppers and such, assembly was pretty straightforward, but someone who had never seen or been around such may have some difficulty. Anyway, I built a sturdy bench for it as well as shelves for the coolant and mister tanks, and a place for the computer and control box to be up away from the chips but still accessible, hooked up the air and installed the mister, yada yada.
The computer used is a 64-bit hardware with a parallel port, running 32-bit LinuxCNC (EMC2). When I get the settings right, I'll post them here for others. Right now, the X and Y axis work fine, very smooth. I am having trouble with the Z axis, however. No matter what I do, the Z stepper only moves in one direction (up). I am pretty sure at this point I have a faulty driver. Later I'll connect the Y driver to the Z controls and test it to verify.
A note on service, I bought this from goldraydigital on eBay. They converted it to 120V at no charge, and kept me updated until it shipped. When I emailed them about the lack of documentation, even though it was some big Chinese holiday, they emailed me a link to the manual and a copy of Mach3. They haven't got back to me about the stepper driver though. I ordered some spares from eBay, as in my experience, these are always the weak link in such a system.
One gripe I have is that the machine was sort of advertised as the USB version, but it was not. I haven' addressed that issue with them yet, as I want to get the driver issue sorted before I run the risk of pissing them off. It isn't a big issue for me, since I can compile a low-latency kernel with tweaked parallel port priorities if jitter/latency become issues.

I'll keep posting a sort of running diary on my progress in case there is anyone following this thread.....

[handlewanker]

LOL....of course were watching the progress......one day we might want to get one too.

I'd try unplugging and replugging the Z axis cable to the socket to see if any of the pins are not quite making contact.

If you open up the box to swap over drivers, will this void the warranty?
Ian.

[JohnDeere630]

LOL....of course were watching the progress......one day we might want to get one too.

I'd try unplugging and replugging the Z axis cable to the socket to see if any of the pins are not quite making contact.

If you open up the box to swap over drivers, will this void the warranty?
Ian.

It was definitely the driver. I had ordered a spare from eBay ($11.00) just in case, and that solved the problem. Now I am fine-tuning the calibration. I am close (+/- .002") at this point. I miscalculated the thread pitch on the ball-screws by .004" & I'll change the stepconf file tomorrow. I made a catch tray to prevent the spent kool-mist from dripping down onto the Y-axis ballscrew. I'll try cutting some shapes from some 1/8" plywood to check my programs accuracy and get a feel for feed-speeds before sacrificing bits or material. When (if) I have it running satisfactorily, I'll post some pics and a mini how-to for LinuxCNC settings.

I wasn't able to do much with the Mach3 I got with the machine, movement in all 3 axis was extremely jerky for some reason, although I triple-checked all the settings. It could also be in the computer, an ancient 32-bit machine running XP. LinuxCNC runs the servos as smooth as butter. I have done air cuts on several programs with the spindle running at 200Hz (12,000 RPM) and the coolant pump running to see if cross-talk would affect the steppers. None so far with the stock cabling. We'll see if that lasts....

[JohnDeere630]

I got the machine calibrated so it's right on, and made some cuts today with some 1/8" plywood, and the machine works flawlessly so far. I am having some minor troubles with my programs, but when I get the program right, the machine executes it flawlessly. I hope to try some aluminum tomorrow with the new carbide single-flute bits. I think initially I will do the 1/16" thick stuff in 2 passes, and the 1/8" stuff in 3 passes, with the spindle at 200Hz (12,000 RPM) and feed speed at about 10 inches/minute. That may be too slow; we'll see.

We are still going around about the bad Z driver. I haven't left a review yet, but if they keep dicking around, it won't be favorable, as I am starting to lose patience...time will tell. Overall, I am happy with it and don't regret buying it.

[JohnDeere630]

*Update* finally got the program issues sorted mostly and did a perfect cut size-wise on a piece of plywood, and decided to try aluminum. I had the feed speed too high and snapped the first bit. Adjusted that down and made the first two cuts with no problem, and while it was making the longer third cut, I decided to open another gcode program to check some parameters while I was waiting. It finished the cut, and when I hit "P" for pause to pick out the loose circle, it didn't stop, but kept going, caught the loose piece and snapped the second and last of my cheap practice bits. I then decided to call it a day. (The reason it didn't stop, it turned out, was that LinuxCNC was minimized off the screen, and that apparently stops the keyboard shortcuts from working...who knew? Well, I do now!)

Also, I got an email from the vendor, and they apologized for the delay, and gave me the tracking# for the replacement. No charge. It seems that there was a another Chinese holiday that was causing the delay. Whatever. I'm just glad they stand behind the product.

Overall, I am very satisfied so far. Everything works as good as one could ask for. The machine is very, very accurate, and mills aluminum easily, so long as you don't take too big a bite, and keep the speeds reasonable. The Kool-mist works a charm as well. I'm a very happy camper so far.

[JohnDeere630]

*Update 10-10-14* Milled out a control panel from 1/8" aluminum tread-plate today! Using a 1/8" single-flute carbide end mill @ 14,000 RPM +/- 1000; and a 2 mm/sec (slow!) feed-rate, also used a fairly heavy airflow with kool-mist. It worked like a charm. I had to tweak a few shapes in the program, & I'll run another one tomorrow at 3 mm/sec FR. A plunge rate of 5 mm/sec seems to work fine, so I'll leave it alone. An additional benefit to the mister is that it keeps the chips wet, so they don't fly around and make too much mess. This machine is exquisitely accurate, and the 1500 watt spindle seems to be over-kill; I bet the 800 watt one would work just fine. Just for fun, during an air-cut, I tried holding the Y axis from moving, and couldn't stop it, although I didn't use all my weight. I would guess that it put about 100 lbs of force against my hands, and after that, it went right back in the same groove when I reran the test program, so the drag didn't affect the home point as far as I could tell.

If anyone is interested, let me know, and I can post some pics of the setup, and LinuxCNC settings. I'd like to do a how-to when I get some time.

I am using the parallel port to run things, and have seen zero latency/jitter issues so far, even though I have used the computer for other things (Inkscape, text editors) while doing a complex air-cut just to see what would happen. Nothing. It chugged along fine with the spindle at 20,000 RPM and the water pump going also. They seem to have solved the cross-talk issues between the stepper cables and the spindle cable, or at least I haven't seen a problem yet. Other than replace the faulty Z-axis driver, I haven't had to do anything to the machine. Very happy so far!

[Adverse Effects]

i jog my head around the table at 3750mm/min (62.5mm/s) no trouble at all with replaced shielded cables and a G540

before i replaced that stuff i had trouble getting 1000mm/min reliably

[JohnDeere630]

i jog my head around the table at 3750mm/min (62.5mm/s) no trouble at all with replaced shielded cables and a G540

before i replaced that stuff i had trouble getting 1000mm/min reliably

I was also thinking hard about getting the G540, but the stock system seems to work very well so far. Since I am cutting at 1.5 to 5 mm/sec, I am not too concerned with traverse speeds. Those little servo couplings look fairly delicate, and until I can get some spares, I want to take it easy on them. I do my milling after work on my own time, so I don't need to hurry it. (I also only have 2 bits left after the initial learning curve, so am pretty conservative until the replacements get here!)

I do think shielded cables make a great deal of sense, and that will probably be the first upgrade later this winter.

[JohnDeere630]

I finished up the other 4 programs (using Inkscape with the gcodetools extension), and milled out a lot of parts today. The machine ran without hitch or issue. The last piece was 1/4" thick aluminum, and it plowed through that in one pass with nary a problem. 4 mm/sec feed speed and 6 mm/sec plunge speed worked fine. I think maybe it would handle it faster, but with only one spare bit, I took it easy. Best quality of cut was made with the spindle at around 15000 rpm. It made the cuts as smooth as glass. I wish I had bought this machine sooner.

[handlewanker]

Wow....my tongue is hanging out....LOL.

The 6040 seems to have a good following and appears to be the ideal size for most general work.

I like the design aspect where the gantry moves on rails that are fully supported to the bottom frame.

BTW, does this model you have come with ball screws all round?

As a matter of interest, who was the supplier and what did you pay for it?
Ian.

[JohnDeere630]

BTW, does this model you have come with ball screws all round?

As a matter of interest, who was the supplier and what did you pay for it?
Ian.

Yes, it uses the 1605 ballscrew rails (16 mm Dia. x 5 mm thread pitch) on all three axis. That translates to 5.08 TPI for us non-metric types.

I bought it on eBay from goldraydigital for $1700 delivered to my door. I also picked up some spare stepper drivers for about $12.00 each, just in case. The bits I use are 1/8" (3.175 mm) single-flute carbide endmills with a serrated side-cut.