[nekidfrog]

It was set pretty low, around 70 I think. However cnc is on hold while I'm on a electronics project that will hopefully equal a good payout.

[nekidfrog]

It's been quite awhile since I last posted. Had enough time for a break from the other project and another chunk of money to put to the cnc. After trying the cable racking method and not really liking how it was setup, I decided to just go with a second stepper for the X.

• second 320oz stepper
• hardened steel 1/2-10 5 start acme (hoping the harden steel would give less whip...)
• new bearing blocks
• new acme clamps
• new leadnut
• also purchased mach3 (speaking of this.. what should I put for the motors in the tuning area?)
• precise bits UP collet kit for bosch 1617evs 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2

will take more pictures soon to post them.

[nekidfrog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0arSqaKBto

it's finally cutting!

CNC - Imgur <- full image album including all the new updates!

It cuts and does a damn good job of making a squared edge. So I know my Y to X axis is squared. The only thing that it is doing wrong atm is X seems to be missing steps. I made a 2in x 2in square and it seems I'm getting 1.99 x 1.92in... The 1.99 is probably mostly due to jitter as my z isn't as solid as I thought it would be. Primarily because when I push against the router bit I can see my Y axis rail twist slightly... 8020 25-2576 is NOT strong enough for a rail when it comes to twisting force...

So! I purchased a 8020 25-5010 which is 50mm x 100mm which should be strong enough to handle the twisting forces of the Z. I also need to redesign my Z axis simply because it just is a pain to tear apart when needing to do maintenance.

So questions I have are this. Original I purchased a 3axis system from cncrouterparts which was all fine and dandy.. cept using a single stepper for x on this big of a machine became an issue. So I bought another acme screw, and another stepper... I did NOT upgrade my power supply. I'm still using the 48v 7.3A power supply. Could this power supply be the cause of why my X is losing steps?

[hamburglar]

Looking good OP!

I like to work on those "other projects" like you had on the last page as well.
Attachment 231376
Attachment 231378

And now that I have my cnc up and running I can cut the control panels as well as the top and bottom pieces of plexi for the 4 maple stick cases I have built already
Attachment 231374

[nekidfrog]

nice!!

[nekidfrog]

So decided to look at my axis problem again and remeasure the cuts and to truly single out which axis is causing the issue. Wasn't the X... it was the Y axis... so looked at it and turned the acme screw by hand to see the Z move on the Y and... boom found wobble in my Y screw mount. There was up to 1/4 of wobble... I think I need to redesign my Z axis and how it attaches to the Y.

On the other hand I've ordered

• 48v 12.5A power supply
• 25-5010 1500mm+ 80/20 rail
• drop in t-nuts for attaching the mdf to the main table

With that new rail I'll have to redesign my Y and the X plates

[Bryan Rocker]

You are doing some very nice work here! I am looking at building a CNC myself and I hadn't thought about following the path you took.

Well done

Bryan

[kuroguy]

hakko fx888 in the back there? every electrical hobbyist should have a temperature controlled iron.

[nekidfrog]

actually a sparkfun remake of the Hakko fx888 pretty much almost identical twin of it. Works perfect for all my electronic side projects.

[nekidfrog]

does anyone know of a cheap source for t-tracks?

[nekidfrog]

fixed the flex in my Y axis and did more cuts. Everything is damn near close to what it should be. I'm only 0.24mm off How bad is that for accuracy given my z axis is a tad bit shaky?

[nekidfrog]

So found a new problem. Apparently my g540 and steppers get extremely hot after a long time being on and cutting. Emailed cncrouterparts about it in hopes they have small pass through cables with a current set resistor closer to the g540. Nothing like pouring water on a stepper and seeing it boil.....

On a side note, my new 5010 rail comes in and so does my new 1/2 thick aluminum plate for me to redesign my Y and Z axis. So maybe by this weekend I can have that done!!

[nekidfrog]

Found some copper heat-sinks with tiny fans and glued them to the g540 and never gets hot again! like.. NEVER gets hot. Seriously cools it off way more than ambient temps. I've also noticed with the g540 being cooler that the steppers also are running significantly cooler.

With this done I did run into a small problem. I apparently didn't tighten one of my screws on the Z axis and bolt came loose and impacted one of the nuts holding the black rail to the 8020.. luckily no damage was done and I just had to tear down the Z axis to fix it.

I got in my new 25-5010 rail yesterday and man is that thing beefy!! I should also be getting in my 1/2 18x18 aluminum plate that I will be using to mill out the new Y axis plates for the gantry.

My idea is to mount 4 openbuilds hard coat rails to the 8020 and have a plate on front and on back with a piece of 8020 2550 on top and bottom linking both plates together. and instead of the bearings being on the Z axis they will be mounted on the Y axis plate and the Z axis will only consist of a 2575 8020 rail with router mount. Making the z axis super easy to dissemble. Kinda taking note of how cncrouterparts has done their new PRO z axis.

I'm also going to copy their design on how they did the bearing adjustment plates on the Pro series as that makes tightening the bearings down to the rail sooo much cleaner and easier to dissemble.

I should be doing this all this weekend! One thing I'll have tho is now the cnc can actually cut the parts for me so it'll be much more accurate than I could do by hand!

[nekidfrog]

Updated with new pictures of the dustboot and it's first cuts

full album --> CNC - Imgur

Cutting the top part of the dustboot!! -->
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR9uZlgM2y0

[nekidfrog]

Few things I've learned...

• Build a Y axis and Z axis to withstand HEAVY equipment.
• MDF loves to warp, so make sure it is HELD DOWN SECURELY!!
• MDF makes for nasty NASY dust..... wear a ****ing mask!
• 1/4in aluminum is NOT STRONG ENOUGH for a router mount plate ( even 1/2in allows some flex )
• Don't be cheap and use crap CAM software... BUY REAL SOFTWARE! ( so many headaches with sketchup's sketchucam plugin.... )
• Make dustboot/collection as a first cut priority!!

[nekidfrog]

So cut some aluminum last night to try making my bearing adjustment plates.. went well enough. However I did notice one issue that caused me to have to override the feed rates.. When my X axis travels in the positive direction it is pushing the router through the material. When the X axis is traveling in the reverse direction it is pulling the router through the material and I get chatter... as in the router literally bounces a bit.. This has cause some weird stuff. If I press against the router mount plate while it is moving backwards I'm absorbing the vibration and the bounce goes away completely.. I just don't know what's causing the bounce in the first place

hopefully I can cut out my new Y axis plate tonight and do a test with the new rail.

[nekidfrog]

So last night cut failed.. somehow the bit must have jammed and caused some missed steps as the profile of the outter part was off by 1/4in...

So decided to try another cut in aluminum with a 3 flute cutter and swapped my design to be mostly Y cuts and finally got a good part cut out. Seems single flutes and 2 flute end mills just require much more rigidity than my system can produce to get cuts without missed steps.

Well one bearing adjustment sled made! Next is the Y plate which I will be cutting out tonight.

[nekidfrog]

Updated imgur album -> https://imgur.com/a/my5hg#0

Also video of it cutting aluminum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9vveWWLZKg

[daddywoofdawg]

why not some rubber donuts between the mount and what its mounted to,to absorb the vibrations.

[nekidfrog]

it's not directly small vibrations. the rubber donuts would just make it even less rigid. At this point the most chunk of play that I can see is my rail physically twisting. The only way to fix that is replace it with a much bigger 8020 extrusion of which I already have! I have a 8020 5010 which is 50mm x 100mm x 1600mm This should remove the twisting. I have a new Y plate created with bearings and bearing sled for adjustments. I also finally got the Z axis rails installed on the new Y plate. I took a few pics but forgot to upload them. When I get time I'll upload them later.