Hey guys,
After a long time of going back and forth, I finally dropped some coin on a new 2x4 Saturn. It has been sitting on my garage floor for about 2 months, since I haven't had time to build a table yet. I wanted to say hello to everyone. I wanted to say thank you to David F for all his great videos, they are really some of the only documentation on seeing the Saturn Series in action. The machine is a beast and I would suggest for anyone thinking about getting one to go hunt for a coupon and buy the engine hoist from HF Tools. I was able to get the one ton version for $99 with the coupon. We would have been totally screwed with out it. I have had a few issues that I am working with Nate on resolving. One of which is a grease fitting on one of the bearing blocks was loose and after trying to use it just pulled out. Nate is sending me a replacement block at no charge (thanks Nate). I am wondering how some of you are greasing some of the spots on the machine...it seems like some of the fittings are darn near impossible to get to...and now I'm worried about being to hard on them and having them pull out. I would guess it shouldn't be a huge operational issue not having the fitting as long as there is a good way to get grease into the bearing (any suggestions would be great) . The table I have planned will be done out of 2x4, but I'm almost wondering if just getting the pre-made steel table from Nate would be a better option. The upside to 2x4 table is it would only cost me about $100 vs the steel table being $650. As far as control I am running an Arduino based controller feeding Leadshine 542 drivers. I was using GRBL for firmware on the Arduino, but have been using ESTLCAM's controller and firmware to run the Arduino with good success. Using this set up allowed me to get up and running for as little $$$ as possible and is working well as far as my tests have gone...(yes the machine is sitting on the pallet all wired up and able to run If anyone has any suggestions for me or would like any input on my Arduino set up I'm happy to see how I can help. Thanks!
Erik