[boblon]

Bob

Your build is looking good and it will be cutting before the snow fies in FA I hope.

Yes when you get enough different people trying to make the same thing you come up with many different ways to do it. Again that is what this site is great for. Keep at it and Dave hope you have some pucks left...... That was good.

Will

Thanks Will.

The mechanical assembly is moving right along. The control box is probably going to be the long pole. I've started to order a FEW parts, but don't yet have anything near a wiring diagram yet.

All in good time (and it's a good time building it)

BobL.

[boblon]

Been unable to work in the shop due to a bad virus. Finally got out there yesterday and took today off from work

Got the main XYZ Gantry kit pieces in place.

I created some supports out of 8040 extrusion so I could move the supplied cross beams around to see about getting some room for the rotary axis.

The way it is set at the moment will allow for reaching a stock with width of about 16 inches. This leaves about 33 inches or so for the XY cutting plane along the X axis. The table could hang over a couple of inches on the rotary end though. Still pondering those positions.

This pretty much ends all the 'quick' stuff. Now it's time to figure out what I need for the control box and it's configuration and order parts.

There's still plenty of putzing I can do though, and that's more fun

BobL.

[dfmiller]

Bob,
I was wondering if you had lost interest. ;-)
I hope you are feeling better.
Looking good.
Dave

[WillsCNC]

Bob,

Hope your feeling better now. Yes it is that time of the year. Build looking good.

Will

[boblon]

Thanks Dave and Will. I'm better but I think this ones gonna fade slowly

Mocked up a limit switch today using SS441 Hall Effect Switches per this thread:

Electronic Home Switches Made Easy

The pictures are poor, sorry, but they may work. The threaded piece is out of the box of lamp parts at the hardware store. I just stuck it in an available hole on the gantry.

I squirted some CA in it and hit it with accelerator. There's an LED aimed out the back which indicates when tripped by a magnet.

BobL.

[dfmiller]

Bob, Those are cool,
Could you post a picture of exactly how you mounted it?
I have some of those parts but have not messed with them yet.

Great job!
Thanks
Dave

[boblon]

Dave, I didn't really mount it. There was a hole in the side of the gantry and I just slipped it in there for the pics and to see how it reacted to the magnet. It needs some tweaking.

That lamp piece was the only thing I could think of that might be at the neighborhood hardware store. Now that I know it's feasable I'm gonna think about how to do Rev. 2.0.

Thanks,
BobL.

[dfmiller]

Bob,
What kind of magnet where you using?
What kind of gap?
Using the threaded bushing from the store is actually a great idea.
Dave

[boblon]

Sorry Dave, I misunderstood your question.

The one I made was definately just a trial run. I had the parts and wanted to throw one together just to make sure it would work, lol. And I wanted to see if the fact that it was in a metal tube would affect it.

The magnet I used were ones that I just happen to see as I was leaving the hardware store. They are donut shaped ceramic magnets. They were not super powerful. I thought that the fact that they had a hole in them would make mounting them easy and secure.

I took a 90 degree angle bracket and attached it loosley to the grantry beam so it could slide. There was a handy hole (for what I don't know yet) in the side of the gantry that the lamp nipple was able to go through.

Although it worked as a proof of concept, it was not perfect. I could not adjust the position of the magnet relative to the sensor. I THINK I remember reading that those were sensitve to one pole of the magnet (S I think) and I had to rotate the magnet to get the sensor to kick. Seems to me the polarity of the magnet would have been oriented different but it was a quick test, with the stuff I had right in front of me. I didn't have time then (or yet) to do any further testing.

I also want to refine the design of the lamp nipple thing that holds the sensor. I am away from the shop all weekend but did manage to cruise through a few hardware stores and a hobby shop. Didn't find anything but the guy at the hobby shop did give me an idea of another place to check, if I don't come up with some other brainstorm to try.

I will let you know what I come up with and what I decide, once I have a chance to get back at it that is

BobL.

[dfmiller]

Bob,
That hole might be for installing cables from the one leg of the Gantry arm to the other side. If I recall they put mine in the wrong side to be useful.
I will stay tuned for more details on your switches.

Dave

[boblon]

Haven't had much shop time. About an hour this last weekend, but I did manage to do a little more fabbing/prototyping. In fact the one that looks more finished in the pics below is the one I did in that hour. I used 3 different adhesives and did NOT wait until any of them were anywhere near dry enough. Bottom line is they did NOT like each other. The dam leaked and got the inner contacts coated and the 'tip' foamed up.

The only quick local source of a possible connector was the 'shack' and I got a few 'cheap' (although not inexpensive) RCA audio connectors. I know there are much better miniature connectors out there, but I did want to see if I could assemble one. I haven't done much soldering in many years. Actually I don't know if the RCA connector is such a bad idea. Anyone?

So, I took pictures, especially for you Dave

Built per the first couple of pages of the link above. The last picture shows the 3 versions. The initial proof of concept , the first rushed attempt and the one that IS waiting for the glue to set. (The toothpic is to keep the sensor centered until the initial adhesive is set). Will pour a tip of something.

The first one I just filled with CA. Could easily be used with the pigtails I suppose. The second one has two LEDs in it. At 12 v the LED are fairly visible through the red plastic shell. The one I'm building has one LED and at 5 v it is hard to tell. Ok for testing/trouble shooting, but nothing you will see by a quick glance (if that matters).

Would be nice though to find some clear ones. I suppose they could be fairly easily cast. Don't know if it's worth the bother though.

Anyhow, not a lot, but something. Shop time is gonna be sketchy for the next week or so

So there ya go Dave, let me know if you have questions on the assembly. Sorry about the picture quality, especially the two where I was trying to show the 'guts'. All the shrink tubing doesn't help (the pictures).

BobL.

[dfmiller]

Bob,
Thanks for the pictures. Those look so cool. They look almost like the Prox switches I use.
I only have one question. (for now)
They need 3 wires to work?
How do you get three connections through an RCA connector?
Dave

[boblon]

Actually, I haven't yet decided if I will use these for limit switches but I'm for sure gonna use them for home switches based on the reported repeatablity in the original thread Electronic_Home_Switches_Made_Easy.html

I will probably set it up with two magnets for limits initially. We'll see.

I really want to thank RomanLini for the great thread and all the work he's putting into maintaining it.


BobL.

[boblon]

Three connections Dave?

Maybe I'm missing something but I did them per this picture from Romans thread.

???

BobL.

[dfmiller]

Got time for a phone call?

[boblon]

Sure.

[boblon]

Ok, with Dave's help my head is out of my rear end.

I need three wires, duh.

Also need to find connectors for the acutal devices.

BUT, I am still declaring the protoyping successfull

Cheers Dave :cheers:

BobL.

[boblon]

Ok, things appear to be settling down and I should get some more shop time in this week.

I am at the point where I need to mount the gear drives and adjust the V-Bearings.

I could hardly get one of the gear drives in at all and the other one seemed way to tight. Will (WillsCNC) said there was evidence of that the side(s) on at least one of his showed signs of being sanded.

The assembly manual I received was exactly that, an assembly manual. What there is on making adjustments appear to be more on HOW to make the adjustments and not much on how to guage the correct ammount of adjustment.

I have never worked with R&P before. When I first temporarily mounted one of the gear drives and pushed the gantry along the X axis I noticed R&P appears to make much more noise than a screw. I guess (hope) that's normal.

I sanded each side of the gear drives until they fit better. They are not a loose fit by any means. We'll see how that works out.

I don't know how Will and Dave (or anyone else for that matter) performed their adjustments but this is how i'm going to do it.

The X rails use V-Bearings that glide on V rails embedded into the upper and lower edges of the X axis extrusions. There are 4 V-Bearings per side, two upper and two lower. There are cam adjusters to adjust the bearings to the rails. The attached picture is from the assembly manual.

I took the wiper/covers off the lower bearings and adjusted the cam locks while gripping each bearing with my fingers to keep it from moving while I pushed the grantry along the X axis. Not much of a guage but I don't know how else to do it. I adjusted them so that I COULD stop them with a good ammunt of effort, while also testing how that gantry appeared to slide down the X axis. It takes a small ammount of effort to get the gantry moving, but seems like it slides ok.

After this I replaced the bearing covers and installed the gear drives. There is an adjustment screw to engage the pinion gear into the rack. I inserted short dowel rods into the gear drives and use them to gauge the backlash. I'm adjust the ammount of tooth engagement until I am JUST at the point where I can minimize backlash while trying NOT to put undue force on the gear train (Like I know where that point is, lol).

Not a lot of apparent progress, but necessary steps. And some quality shop time for me

BobL.

[WillsCNC]

Bob,

On my unit I did not have to make any adjustments to the two vertical supports. My unit was tight, could not find any movement but maybe something to check in the future. The gear boxes were hard to install but there was a left and right and only went in that way. One of the features of the XYZ is the adjustments that are possible. Just keep at it. I know it is frustrating at times but will be worth it. Let me know if you have any other problems or just want to talk.

Will

[dfmiller]

Bob,
Yes adjusting is something that is not well quantified in the manual. I recall I had a discussion about this with XYZ. It was not conclusive. You need to tighten them till there is not slack and everything is touching. After that it will be feel.

I have not spent much time with my rack. it seems to work.

More thought is required on my end for sure.

Dave