[Lomax1]

Thanks guys! Having looked at automotive coolants ("antifreeze") in my local Halfords and seen that the cost is not far off dedicated PC water cooling liquids, I decided to go for Mayhems' X1 pre-mixed, 5L @ £30 delivered. A somewhat unexpected additional expense - though I fully expect there will be more of these.

[aarggh]

5L @ £30 seems awful expensive unless you don't have much coolant choice there?

Seriously any half decent quality car radiator coolant that is designed to suit the majority of engines and radiators will be more than adequate.

I think I paid about $20 per 6L for the stuff I use, and has been in use for over 6 years now with no issues.

cheers, Ian

[zeeflyboy]

It does seem a tad excessive...

I ended up using that same stuff but mine is a small closed loop PC water cooling system so I used less than 1L of it.

If you were looking at going the anti-freeze route then this would have done the trick at less than half the cost https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverhook-...rds=antifreeze


Do watch out that animals and children can't get any access to antifreeze though!

[Mmpie]

I know this isn't the thread for it but that's Halfrauds for you.

I once needed brake discs that my local motor factors didn't have in stock so I tried Halfords, they just rang the same motor factors (I heard them on the phone) and offered me the same discs with near 70% markup.

Never buy anything from halfrauds.

Edit: wasn't a clutch it was discs.

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[Lomax1]

5L @ £30 seems awful expensive unless you don't have much coolant choice there?

Seemed to be ~£20 for 5L in Halfords.

• Questionable compatibility w. aluminium.
• Questionable galvanic properties.
• Questionable toxicity.
• Questionable environmental impact.
• Questionable retailer.

[Lomax1]

This what I did for the coolant in the end:





I took a piece of 100mm dia pvc pipe, cut it so it's just the right length to fit inside the keg, cut wide slits down the length from the bottom end, so that the pump could be slid part way into the pipe and secured in place with cable ties. I changed the barb on the pump's output to a JG/Push-In connector and ran a length of nylon tubing to the output nipple on the lid - with a shorter length of tubing on the return. The PVC pipe was then glued to the underside of the lid, to form an extractable unit which spins with the lid when unscrewing it - this solves the problem of the tubing and mains cable becoming twisted when opening the keg - though you still need to disconnect the tubes running to the spindle (I used Rectus 21 quick connects for this) and unplug the mains cable. The five litres of coolant I purchased was the perfect amount for a 6L keg with the pump installed, leaving a gap of just a few centimetres.

[aarggh]

That's pretty in line with what most people seem to do and what works well. I would however strongly recommend a cloth or towel draped over the whole top of the keg, as in no time it will be covered with an increasingly dirty and fine dust that will be a real pain.

cheers, Ian

[Mmpie]

I'm eventually going to go PC cooling with radiator and what not, but only because space is an issue and the bucket is getting in the way.


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[Lomax1]

After doing some test cuts I noticed that the tank got pretty warm, maybe ~30C (I stupidly forgot to measure actual temp), which I hadn't expected. I left it to cool down a while, measured 24C, and started just the pump - after ~1h I measured 27C, so the pump itself is heating up the coolant :s Is that normal? It does make a little more noise than I remembered, though that may be because of how it's mounted (it used to sit on its suckers, which provided some damping).

I'm eventually going to go PC cooling with radiator and what not, but only because space is an issue and the bucket is getting in the way.

This is probably what I'll do eventually as well.

[cincron]

Has anyone ever put an extension on their tool setter? If I measure correctly, it's a 2.1mm-ish ID and a 5.5mm-ish OD. Amazon has one that's 6ft. I really just need another foot or two.


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[dharmic]

The thing only has a 140mm working height, what are you talking about another foot or two?

I have made an extension for my tool setter - lets me zero the tool tip at 60mm (the centre of the 4th axis). Just cut a small pocket in a lump of spare ali to fit over the standard one and lock into place, then faced the other end. Works good.

[cincron]

The cord on this thing is too short! Has anyone tried an extension?


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[dharmic]

Ahahahah

I thought you meant an extension like this, but a couple feet long! (wedge)

[cincron]

Ahahahah

I thought you meant an extension like this, but a couple feet long! (wedge)

Hahahaha! Yes, now I see the confusion.

That's a pretty smart idea you have there. Might give that a try when I use the 4th axis.


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[dharmic]

Yeah, easy to do the extension. Get a bit of single core shielded cable, chop the existing lead and splice in the length of the new stuff. Making an extension means you need new plug and socket AND you've just introduced a new potential failure point where the existing lead plugged into the extension cord.

I just finished making up a 3D touch probe (a spin on the 3 pairs of bearing ball style) and its cord is about 4m long because I get annoyed by the short lead on the tool setter. No problems at all with the extra length.

And, folks, I gotta say - a touch probe is a beautiful thing to add to your list of projects. This together with the G31 command makes such a huge difference when I'm setting up stock to cut - can very easily get stuff dialled in without all that mucking around with wobblers etc.

I need to remove, re-straighten, brace and re-install my bed but now I'll be able to use the probe to get the bed shimmed up so it's properly parallel with X and Y axes.

[dharmic]

Hahahaha! Yes, now I see the confusion.

That's a pretty smart idea you have there. Might give that a try when I use the 4th axis.


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Don't make the dick move I did when you make yours. See the -0.9 / 59.1mm markings? Yeah. That's there to remind me that, when I measured off the 60mm, I did it from the lip at the bottom rather than the bottom of the pocket which was 0.9mm. So I got it bang on the wrong mark and now have to adjust every time I zero out. D'OH.

[Mmpie]

I need to extend mine also, as my machine is in an enclosure I'm just going to put a socket in the enclosure wall and make a new cable to go from the wall to the black box. That way I don't have to keep unplugging it every time to close the door.

Dharmic I remember you mentioning setting up a laser, how far did you get with that?


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[dharmic]

Dharmic I remember you mentioning setting up a laser, how far did you get with that?
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Done. I needed to replace the YongNuo USB controller to get the proper output, also had to create a little inverter circuit to get the PWM signal right for the laser control module. Also hit delay issues with Mach3 so had to sort out an alternative macro to trigger the laser, and any CAM output I now need to search and replace M3 with M110 or whatever it was I used. Took a bit of messing around but it goes well now.

[Mmpie]

Done. I needed to replace the YongNuo USB controller to get the proper output, also had to create a little inverter circuit to get the PWM signal right for the laser control module. Also hit delay issues with Mach3 so had to sort out an alternative macro to trigger the laser, and any CAM output I now need to search and replace M3 with M110 or whatever it was I used. Took a bit of messing around but it goes well now.

Nice. What size laser did you use and how have you mounted it? I'm toying with the idea of getting a small laser I can leave mounted on permanently for burning graphics into wood.

Most people's retrofits that I've seen are high powered lasers and complicated set ups with mirrors and all sorts, I'm not interested in anything like that.

I've done a small amount of research on it, I think people have made post processes to save you the trouble of having to do all that.


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[dharmic]

It's a little 3W blue (445nm?) LED module. I 3D printed a double collar which clamps it to the side of the spindle motor and made up a heatsink for it.

If I start using it much more I won't be stuffing around with the search and replace. I'll either create a separate post which uses the laser macro to fire up or create another machine profile under Mach3 for the laser and change its m3 macro instead. Lack of use and laziness are the only reasons I haven't bothered so far.

I've really only used it for one job - cutting the felt separators that go in the multi media filter on my scuba compressor. And that job (it was only circles!) I did directly in the MDI anyway