Is part the issue the silicone seals that keep junque out of the bearings ?? We have tons of linear rails/bearings at work and when the bearing blocks are new sometimes the seals are pretty snug. Do the blocks have grease zerk holes ?? One thing to be aware of (maybe you already know) some blocks if you remove them from the rails ball bearings go everywhere ;-). Trying to find a bind I will loosen all the bolts on all blocks, see if it binds, then snug one block, check, snug the second block, snug the third, check, snug the fourth/last, check. Then if everything is still free start tightening them a little at a time with frequent checks for free motion. Some stuff that was really bound up has freed up just by doing all of that without actually changing anything. We have one system with a pair of rails spaced about 12" apart that run over 8' length..that mess is never happy no matter what you do. About the time we get it working nicely over months somebody decides they see "pitting" which is usually on a non functional part of the rail, and they ask us to replace them :-(.
Bill
An update on this (sorry it has been a while)...
I have tried all sorts of approaches to sorting these bearings out and have given up in the end and purhcased some official HIWIN blocks which hopefully will be up to the job. It's a shame, since there's nothing wrong with the X and Z axes, but the longer rails on the Y axis on this machine really aren't good. I did find an online video where a user commented on metal lip in middle of the 'tubes' the balls run through which can cause them to jam, and certainly mine have these. I have tried drilling them out but ended up with nothing more than frustration and broken drill bits.
Hopefully the HIWIN units will sort it out, I'm also hoping that the linear rails themselves are fine and fully compatible with the new blocks, since I'm not planning to change these.
The new bearings are good!
Here's some fresh output from the machine, it has made its own control panel! I did a similar thing on my original solsylva build where the machine engraved its own aluminium panel. This one is made from a laminated material, not exactly what it's called but it has two thin layers of aluminium laminated with a plastic core and a white coating.
Attachment 426682
Super-pleased with this
Attachment 427570
PCB tracks cut with a 0.1mm engraving bit, much more straightforward (and cheaper) than messing around with etch chemicals and UV light. Holes also drilled with the machine, using a 0.8mm bit
Nice. To be able to smash out quick single sided boards without all the mucking around is pretty good. Using FlatCam?
I sold all my UV exposure box, chemicals and pretreated blank boards a little while ago - too much hassle. The big killer was switching primarily to surface mount, meaning I had to start putting in all the vias manually. Meh - much easier just to wait two weeks and get nice boards from China
But, occasionally, being able to do a simple board with minimal waiting time is fantastic.
Nice work, cool thread. Thanks (subscribed)
A problem indeed. I occasionally filled their minimum PCB size with a couple of the board I wanted and then the rest with SMD to breadboard breakouts so I got something useful. One thing the Omio was good for (not sure if the loophole exists any more) was paying for that one board instead of a bunch of little ones and then routing it out at home.
Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead but I'm curious if you've done any more work to the machine. The custom boards and control panel are a very nice touch.
Hi - not in particular. The main changes I made were adding all the control systems plus some hall-effect switches as the home switches for the three axes. Other than that it's more or less as supplied.
Some day i might make some kind of coolant system and maybe some kind of tank with built in clamp for machining aluminium. But mostly I work on wood, plastics and PCB without any issues.
I have a 40 Watt Chinese laser with a RDC6442S Controller. My laser is firing whenever the head moves. If you run frame the laser engraves the full outline even though the output is set to NO. Is the board shot? any help would be appreciated.