[bgriggs]

The first cut on the machine was to make its own Dust Collection skirt.

I was very impressed with the quality of the cut, could not really see any chattering. Here are a couple of pictures of the center hole cutouts so you can see the quality of the cut and they are untouched straight out of the machine.

Joe

Joe,

I have been looking at this design for a while and I am curious why you chose two steppers to move the gantry? I thought a single motor in the center of the gantry would be simpler??

Bill

[joecnc2006]

The wider your gantry is the more racking you will get, two leadscrews prevent it, and i have them both with a belt to keep it square at all times.

Joe

[eloid]

do have a pic of the belt drive assyemble of gantry

[joecnc2006]

It is not a belt dribe, i am using 2 1/2"-8 two start leadscrews, the belt is just used to keep the two in sync. the leadscrews are driect drive by two 425oz/in motors, sharing the same step direction port pins to two driver boards, not slaved in mach3.

Joe

[joecnc2006]

I did a v-carve for another surveyors seal last night (charged 125.00) came out good, however i do see runout in the Hitachi Router using the ATC, was not happy about that, put the ATC into the other router i had and the runout is not as much, noticed it alot with the v-bit installed so i could see the point, i was getting anywhere from .5mm to 1mm depending on speed, and was vibrating thouough the whole machine, because the machine is so ridged.

So i think it is time to stepup to a porter cable, eventhough the PC is made by Boush now.

Joe

[joecnc2006]

I talked to Derek, at Hitech, and he said it is probable the 1/2" shank used, he sent it to me just to use in trial, And i remember him telling me about them ahead of time, and just forgot, that some of them were not machined properly, he said i could just have it turn it down slightly, This is no fault of Hi-Tech because i was warned ahead of time.

So the good news is the router is prob. ok as far as acceptable runout. I will switch the ATC with the othershank i have a see how it is.

Joe

[jlinhart]

Joe, do you have an estimate on the largest MDF piece on this machine? I am planning on building a new machine using my current one but some pieces on the joe2006 are bigger than my 19.5" x 21.5" cutting area. I'm leaning towards something like this one with a combo of MDF and 80/20.

Thanks,

Jason

[gacrwell]

It is not a belt dribe, i am using 2 1/2"-8 two start leadscrews, the belt is just used to keep the two in sync. the leadscrews are driect drive by two 425oz/in motors, sharing the same step direction port pins to two driver boards, not slaved in mach3.

Joe

Forgive my ignorance Joe - I thought that a main advantage of dual independent drives (no belt, separate axis controls) was that Mach 3 could independently home each motor of the dual axis to remove any 'racking' that might accumulate. It seems like the belt would only be useful if you are expecting to miss steps with one motor. Have you, or are you going to give it a try without the belt?

Gary

BTW, I haven't had any progress on my 2006 lately - some health issues and a major layoff where I work - hasn't hit me yet, but nerve wracking anyway (as opposed to axis racking).

[joecnc2006]

Yes Mach3 can home the gantry sides indipendantly, I use the belt so i do not have to do this, i have run the machine prior to placing the belt, but i wanted the extra security to engure it will stay square, because I would not want one motor to loose steps at any point and cause the gantry to shift. The machine is stout but running the 425oz motors you could cause a little damage by having a wider gantry rack in position on one side.

Another reason to pin two of the drives together is i will have an extra set of pins for another axis board without installing another printer port and breakout board.
joe

[joecnc2006]

On another note I placed the original tool changer into router and it works great, no runout like the new one. Derek from High-Tech is sending me a 3/8" Rapid Change Adapter. I will use a collet adapter from 1/2" to 3/8" and all should be good.

Derek is a very nice person to deal with, very helpful and straight forward.

http://www.hightechsystemsllc.com/in...s/Page2481.htm

Joe

[acondit]

Joe,

I tried out the quick change with my Porter Cable 690 router (no variable speed) and the holder came loose under power. So, I would definitely recommend that one not use the HighTech quickchange without a variable speed router. I hope to eventually get a VS router so that I can use the qc and build an ATC.

Alan

[joecnc2006]

Yes, i do not go above the 3 on the hitachi router with the ATC, The rotating centripetal force causes the outer portion to compress the spring and rise up allowing the tool holder to come loose, the best way to test it is to spin the router with the ATC without the tool holder, and when it starts to move upward back your speed down a min. of 20%.

I would definately not use it without a VS router, and do not use it with an aftermarket router variable speed adjustment, incase it fails (as mentioned on High-Tech website).

Joe

[CarlosC]

Joe,

I can't see the belt in your pictures.
Can you post a picture so we can see how you
have it connected?

Thanks

[joecnc2006]

I got two belts and 4 pully's from SDP/SI they only had the 208 0.37 1/2" wide belts in stock so got two of those and made my own adjustment bar from elec. strut, used two bearing blocks, and i had a piece of acme 1/2-10 rod, and also had some extra dumpster clamps to go on each side of bearings.

Only angle i could get right now, and closeup of bearing area.

Joe

[bgriggs]

I got two belts and 4 pully's from SDP/SI they only had the 208 0.37 1/2" wide belts in stock so got two of those and made my own adjustment bar from elec. strut, used two bearing blocks, and i had a piece of acme 1/2-10 rod, and also had some extra dumpster clamps to go on each side of bearings.

Only angle i could get right now, and closeup of bearing area.

Joe

Joe,

Do you have three leadscrews on the gantry????? Or, Is the belt adjustment screw short and not connected to the bottom middle of the gantry???

Bill

[joecnc2006]

only two one on each side the picture above is only a short piece of threaded rod for the pully's, a short piece i had left over.

[bgriggs]

only two one on each side the picture above is only a short piece of threaded rod for the pully's, a short piece i had left over.

Ok, I get it now. The cross bar an angle to put pressure on the belts. We just can't see the closer end of the middle threaded rod. You had me confused because you had 1/2"-8 2 start screws on the outside and 1/2"-10 screw in the middle.


Bill

[biotech1]

Heh Joe is there a return policy on kits my kit is less then 30 days i wanna return it and get the New Joe 2007-R1.....:rainfro:




Pat...LOL

[bp092]

haha @ pat, I'm sure its fine, you just have to pay joe return shipping and a restocking fee.. and possibly a re-ninja-packing peanut fee as well.

I emailed joe the other day if he plans to eventually release the autocad models or not but I'm sure he is busy. Either way I would love to see any new videos from joe's adventures with the new machine. I'm sure now he will be able to nest much more parts together and put together those kits a lot faster as well.

Speaking of videos.. did jay drop off the face of the earth? I miss his "joe 06" tips and mods videos he made a few of.

[biotech1]

haha @ pat, I'm sure its fine, you just have to pay joe return shipping and a restocking fee.. and possibly a re-ninja-packing peanut fee as well.

I emailed joe the other day if he plans to eventually release the autocad models or not but I'm sure he is busy. Either way I would love to see any new videos from joe's adventures with the new machine. I'm sure now he will be able to nest much more parts together and put together those kits a lot faster as well.

Speaking of videos.. did jay drop off the face of the earth? I miss his "joe 06" tips and mods videos he made a few of.

Yea I'ts been awhile since he made any new videos his last adventure was the vectric conference. On his site he still has links to his videos on video google.