[jfong]

Yes I know that but I couldn't find the official continuous current rating for the electrocraft motor, only peak. My guess is about 1/4 of peak so about 6 amps. The actual peak current is 24amps but the gecko is rated at only 20.

At 6amps continuous, leadscrew thrust is about 175 pounds. This is 2 1/2 times the continuous thrust that the minertia will give me. The peak calculation was just for me to compare the two motors and I realized the minertia was to small. This router will only be used for cutting sheet goods. My smaller gantry router is using steppers. At 75ipm, the calculated thrust is about 60 pounds and it does fine cutting plywood. I'm just playing safe and making sure I have enough torque to cut at 150ipm. I just didn't think the smaller minertia was up to the task. For $30, it was a relative cheap upgrade.

[bhurts]

I'm sure that motor will be a good fit. It was a great price to. I think you will have no problem cutting at 150ipm. If you can reach a rapid of 600ipm I wouldn't be surprised if you can't cut at 2-300ipm.

Ben

[jfong]

I'm hoping that will be the case here. The actual cutting limitation will be the spindle power. I'm just going to use one of my porter cable wood routers for this CNC. As much as I want to, I don't think want to spend for another 2.2kw water cooled spindle that is on my smaller gantry CNC. This bigger CNC will live in my woodshop that is in another part of my basement. I don't have 220volt power there and I don't think I want to pull cable for it. My smaller gantry lives next to the fuse box so it was easy to hook up 220 for the VFD.

In all fairness, I really don't need a fast CNC. It's just that I got this big ballscrew for $150 and with its .66" tpi lead, it's gonna move fast without trying to hard.

[jfong]

Start of my gantry CNC servo upgrade....

Installed a Minertia T03 servo motor on the Y axis of my gantry CNC with Gecko320x servo driver. This replaces a 276oz-in stepper/Gecko202 that was used before.
Attachment 277210

Stepper was good, never really had any problems once I had it dialed in but I wanted a faster CNC for 3D carving. The servo now gives me 375ipm axis speed with much faster acceleration. The calculated continuous leadscrew thrust is 110pounds. This is more torque than the stepper was able to put out at 1000rpm.

The dual X axis steppers will also be replaced with the same minertia servos and gecko drives. Have to make a encoder wiring harness first. These motors and drivers were found on eBay for really cheap. Wouldn't of done the servo upgrade otherwise.

The fan on top of the servo was originally used to cool the stepper motor. I just used some double stick tape to attach it to the servo just in case if it gets warm while running.

[jfong]

Picked up a Teknic M2321 brushless servo with 4:1 gearhead off eBay for $70. Almost 500oz-in continuous torque. Will be used to lift the X3 mill Z-axis head. Current servo motor is to small and slow so a upgrade is in the works. Made up the wiring harness and tested out fine with the Applied Motion SV7 drive. Having brushless drivers opens up more options for finding EBay servo motors. There are many more brushless motors listed on eBay than old brushed versions now. It is now possible to find very high quality brushless servo motors under $100.

[jfong]

Something for fun. I have a full woodshop in my basement that I use to make furniture and the usual stuff for friends and family. I always wanted a wood burning brand to mark my finished pieces. They run upwards of $100 or more for a custom made one online. Made my own finally....

Short video of the CNC in action. I used my small bench micromill.
Aluminum Engraving with CNC Micromill - YouTube

Finished


First try branding wood. I used a propane torch and heated it for about 2 minutes.

[jfong]

Short video test of the Electrocraft E661 servo motor using a Gecko320 drive. Motor comes with a 1000 line encoder mounted on the rear. Kv is 20volts/1000rpm. I ended up buying another one since the price was pretty cheap for a servo with this much torque.

Cheap high torque servo motor. - YouTube

[jfong]

Attachment 286138

Found a CMC BMR4445 brushless AC servo motor for $25 on eBay including shipping. Thus is a 2300 watt motor (3.2hp!) that weighs in at 16 pounds. 10krpm with 45 lbs-in continuous torque. I have it connected to a SV7 drive to test and works just fine. The SV7 driver is to small to fully utilize the motor but I do have a Parker GV series driver that can output the 340volts and high current. The GV drive requires 220volt AC input. Plan to use this motor to upgrade the spindle on my X3 mill. The motor was to cheap to pass up on eBay.

[bhurts]

I will be looking forward to hearing how this works out as a spindle motor.

Ben

[jfong]

I will be looking forward to hearing how this works out as a spindle motor.

Ben

It's going to take while since I am in no hurry to upgrade the original motor. It was such a good deal on eBay so couldn't pass it up.

Working on building my Big gantry router which has priority for now. To many projects and not enough time.

[pippin88]

Amazing deal!

[jfong]

For woodworkers out there...

Sanding mops cost $30-40 each but a little bit of spare time...

Needed a small sanding mop to sand the inside of several bandsaw boxes I was making. Made the mandrel on the metal lathe, drilled and tapped for a 6-32 socket cap screw. The 1"x2" pieces of sandpaper was cut from a roll of klingspor. It was from a 20lb box of sandpaper rolls bought back in December. The mop saved me lots of time sanding by hand. I think I need to make a bigger one to be used on my drill press.

Attachment 288798
Attachment 288800

[jfong]

New shop toy. I took a chance on a cheap 40watt laser on eBay for $366. Box arrived from CA by fedex un-damaged. Had it running in no time. For the price, it really works well.

Attachment 297958


Attachment 297960
1/8" poplar, single pass, 20mm/sec at 9ma tube current (about 20watts)

Plan to make a larger 80/20 frame with thk rails. Move the laser parts over for a larger cutting area.

[rwskinner]

I'd like to see more on this laser. Any future projects in mind?

Richard

New shop toy. I took a chance on a cheap 40watt laser on eBay for $366. Box arrived from CA by fedex un-damaged. Had it running in no time. For the price, it really works well.

Attachment 297958


Attachment 297960
1/8" poplar, single pass, 20mm/sec at 9ma tube current (about 20watts)

Plan to make a larger 80/20 frame with thk rails. Move the laser parts over for a larger cutting area.

[jfong]

I'd like to see more on this laser. Any future projects in mind?

Richard

There are a bunch of people who have this same laser. You can search YouTube for K40 40 watt laser. There was enough positive reviews for me to take a chance on ordering one.

I have never used a laser before so I am learning as I go. Mostly for engraving as part of my woodworking hobby.

[jfong]

Attachment 298118


First laser etch on the K40. 350mm/sec at about 4ma. Took about 45minutes to cut. I put a topcoat of General Finish gel. Not to bad for el-cheapo laser. 1/4" birch ply, 260mm X 290mm

[MConner]

Hey Skinner, I would like to see some pics of your 8020 conversion. I am in the process of building a system with a larger envlope my self, using 8020 Q-frame. I am just having a problem deciding to gut my K40 or buy new parts and have two systems. BTW What is the length of your 40w laser tube? If I buy new, I am looking for a tube less then 650mm long. Easier to fit into my new system... or maybe I should go solid state.
Peace

[rwskinner]

I don't currently own a laser. I built a 80/20 router that is performing very well.

Richard

Hey Skinner, I would like to see some pics of your 8020 conversion. I am in the process of building a system with a larger envlope my self, using 8020 Q-frame. I am just having a problem deciding to gut my K40 or buy new parts and have two systems. BTW What is the length of your 40w laser tube? If I buy new, I am looking for a tube less then 650mm long. Easier to fit into my new system... or maybe I should go solid state.
Peace

[jfong]

MConner,

Here's a mock up of the larger laser frame I plan to make. The Y linear rails are a pair of 31" IKO, the X is a 47" THK HSR15. The rail on top of the pic is a 55" THK SR20. I may use that for the X but will have to buy a longer extrusions, undecided about that.

Attachment 298132

Attachment 298134
CMC brushless servos and Applied Motion drivers I will be using.

It's going to take a few months to finish since I have other projects to do.

[jim_r53]

jfong, can you start a build thread and post a link here so we can follow along, even if the updates are not frequent?

MConner,

Here's a mock up of the larger laser frame I plan to make. The Y linear rails are a pair of 31" IKO, the X is a 47" THK HSR15. The rail on top of the pic is a 55" THK SR20. I may use that for the X but will have to buy a longer extrusions, undecided about that.

Attachment 298132

Attachment 298134
CMC brushless servos and Applied Motion drivers I will be using.

It's going to take a few months to finish since I have other projects to do.