[knowell2]

Great little machine you have there Jason. Kudos, nice work.

Hope you don't mind me asking but how much did the Kavo spindle and controller cost?

Keep it the nice work.

Noel

[Jason3]

Hi Noel,

Thanks for your kind words!

Originally the Kavo controller came with a very used 4052 spindle (quite small - 150w) and cost about $1,600 for both. I bent the spindle (doh...) and bought the 4041 spindle which looks pretty much identical but bigger (500w) for about $1,700 with new bearings, balanced etc. This one looks pretty much new.

The Kavo stuff is hard to find though. For less than I spent you can get a new NSK E3000 setup. Slightly less power (350w max) but the spindle can be replaced (it's separate from the motor) for half the cost of refurbishing the Kavo. There are tons of accessories including gear reducers for more torque and right angle spindles. You can get a lever tool change, or a pneumatic chuck for auto tool change capability, and the collets cost 1/3 of what the Kavo ones do. The controller is smaller too.

Ok, I'm gonna shut up now. I sound like a salesman...

Jason

[joprinz]

Hello Jason...

You got probably the Best looking CNC Mill out here. The Specs seem impressive too. Good Work Infact I'm soo impressed by your design that I'm seriously considering the Single Rail concept for my New Mill Project. Thought I should Thank You First for the inspiration and the wonderful idea before I start my build.

I'm going for a 12" x 12" x 6" (I guess I should probably go for a bigger Z Axis) work area. I intend to Mill Aluminum and Mild Steel. I got 16mm(OD) 5mm(Lead) ballscrews and 3.1Nm 3A Steppers for driving the axis. I have made the drivers myself. I'm using a modified version of pMinMo's L297/298 driver, with Two L98 Chips in parallel mode giving 3.5A Max per phase. The spindle is something I still have to finalize.

As for the Linear Guideways, I'm planning to use AMT MSA(Heavy Load Series) 45mm rails and blocks (Blocks are sized 169.5mm x 86mm x 70mm). Do you think that would be sufficient for my Design? I think you have used a Wider sized rail for your build. Please Advice.

Also since the Single Rail concept is not very common here, It be great if you could share your experiences with the single rail build... Probably some pointers or considerations regarding the design.

Thank You Once again. I'l start a build log thread n post some pictures once I start my build.

Joe

[Jason3]

Joe - Thank you for the complement! And also for posting here - you reminded me I have an update for this thread I'll answer your question on your thread as soon as I can.

I just finished the new machine on Sunday for the first cut, it went very well indeed. To give it a test we cut a spoon from acrylic, just for fun and for some 3d curves. We used a Kavo 4052 spindle (complete with bent collet, and .05 mm runout!). Feed was 25 ipm, 25,000 rpm, 1/8" 2 flute cutter, 0.006 DOC. Much slower than I would usually run, but this was the first try and that spindle is shall we say, lacking in power at 140w... Rapids were 80 ipm.

So, brushless servos, 2 mm pitch ground ballscrews, and a Smoothstepper board - this combination gives a resolution of 0.00025 mm (0.00001"). I've set the max. speed to 100 ipm for now, I expect no problem up to about 200 ipm. That will see the ballscrews at 2500 rpm which I think is a safe limit. The Smoothstepper performed flawlessly. Setup was easy as always. The X and Z axis moved the wrong way at first try, but that was expected and a quick change of setting on the servo drives fixed that.

Weight is 63 Kg (140 Lb). It will operate with full travels completely within a 28" x 21" x 18" space which I'm quite pleased with. Travels are 12" x 6" x 6". It's gone now, to a happy new home I have an agreement that I will get pictures and video though, so parting won't be as sad.

Anyway, I have another similar nearly finished too - 16" x 6.5" x 6.5" travels.

Please excuse the temporary way covers - they are still to be finalized so we just taped them on. I promise proper, tidy covers this time, and a more powerful spindle, perhaps the Kavo 4041 (0.5 Kw)


Jason

[Jason3]

Just so everyone knows, I'm still alive... I've posted a short video clip of the machine running at last. This one has sound, you may want to turn your volume down:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwGpCsQ0i9I"]YouTube - Test machine first cut[/ame]

In person, it's not loud - a normal conversation next to the machine works fine. Seems camera microphones make things sound worse than they actually are. Oh well...

Best,

Jason

[oxford]

Had mine for about a year now.

Still like it.

I did have trouble using it with a laptop.
I tried getting rid of the power saving mode, but the computer still had trouble.
The laptop was an older model.

I run the SS fine with regular PC now.

[Hirudin]

Jason3, I came to this thread looking for SmoothStepper info and instead finally found the source for a YouTube I've had bookmarked for many months. I'll watch it every now and then to remind myself just how cool CNC milling really is! Thanks for the videos and please post more!

[nosplinters]

Hi there,

I purchased a SS about a year ago for my Taig CNC. I couldn't find a laptop that had a parallel port and I didn't want to buy a desktop (no room in the shop).

I just started playing with the SS this weekend and I'm having a problem using my Limit Switches. I can only get the Home switches to work. It seems like I don't have enough outputs available to map to the limit switch pins.

Since I built my own custom controller, I already had the DB25 port on the front panel and didn't want to deal with cutting out and retro fitting a spot to place the SS board. I went a head and stuck it in a little project box and then run a short parallel port cable from the box to the controller. Other than not getting the switches to work, the SS has been great...even on Vista.

Once I figure everything out, I'm going to see if it runs on Windows 7. Much faster OS and less fussy than Vista.

I'll definintely post some pics of my system once I get the SS inside the controller.

-Ed

[Hirudin]

I got myself a smoothstepper and finally hooked it up today, it was very easy! I just used the Mach3 Loader to clone my existing configuration into a new profile and told it to use the smoothstepper instead of the parallel port.

I have not used it very much yet, but so far everything works perfectly as far as I can tell.

[bobmirror]

Hi, I am having trouble getting my smoothstepper and C23 bob working. Is there any one out there that has a photo of the board and wires hooked up.
I am located in Yuma AZ and will travel to San Diego or Phoenix if need be to try to get this thing working.

[ksanalytical]

Bobmirror,

I have a SS with C23 on my bench in the beginning stages of a router control module. I've run my servos through it to test connections and such with no problems. I realize you asked for a pic, but the connections are very simple and two are critical.

There is an "enable" jumper right next to the "Port 1 Outputs" which must be bridged (eventually with a switch) before anything can be driven.

Also be aware that a separate 5V power supply is necessary to operate the output side of the board. It connects on the far end, away from the SS. This is part of the opto-isolation strategy. The other half (SS side) can be powered from the SS as I have used it, or from a dedicated 5V supply via the terminal in the middle of the board, opposite the DB25 ports.

Note that there are several jumper positions which are not really listed in the instructions, but which can be critical to your application. They are well labelled on the board though. I had initial problems because the GeckoDrives requires a 5V common. A simple jumper near the output pins changes this on the board.

Ken

[oxford]

I had some confusion about the whole power supply to the SS and the output board. What confused me was By trying to get the SS to supply the power to the output board, the voltmeter would read the needed 5volts, but the Amps weren't there. Once I hooked up another power supply to the output board everything went well.

All the different jumpers for the power supply conditions had confused me:P

[bobmirror]

This is what I have done so far- see the photo. I have also tried pluging in 5vdc 1.5amp to the C23 board external power plug by the red led pwr light. There is no change in what it dose. I am beginning to think it is a software issue. The motors start to ratchet turn the moment after I select SmoothStepper in the dialog box of Mach3 Version R3.042.038. The Estop is working fine. When I shut down Mach3 the motors stop ratchet turning. Something in the program is sending a unwanted signal out the usb port when Mach3 is running. I am still using the demo version of Mach3, but that should run the motors.
In Mach3 the pins and ports are set per xylotec instructions. Humm??

[ksanalytical]

Bobmirror,

Sorry I haven't gotten back to this since your last message. It appears that my e-mail notifications are not getting through.

I honestly don't remember every setting on my board, and it's at the house so I can't check them. However, one thing that does seem to be lacking is a power supply for the "drive" side of the board. The C23 requires two separate 5V supplies. One is for the SS/PC side, the other is for the output side. This is all part of the opto isolation.The red light you mention is indicating that the SS is supplying 5V to the input or PC side of the board. This light is actually right next to the terminals you would use to connect an external 5V supply to the input side of the board. You still need a separate supply for the output side. This connects at the end of the board farthest from the SS.

Best of luck.

Ken

[oxford]

Double check you are powering your optos with the SS.

Try using the recommended 5v, 2A power supply for the drive side.

Scan board for any stry wire clippings that might be causing a short.

Check to see if your motors are configured right.

Good luck

[bobmirror]

Hi Ken. The 5vdc power on the other side of the C23 board is for the relays. Just for good measure I put power there and tried it any way. No motor control. I got a ribbon cable and just hooked up the smoothstepper and was able to run the motors. So... the problem is in the C23 board. Humm...is there a way to swap optic couplers from port-2 to port-1 for trouble shooting? Because I am just trying to spin the motors nothing is being used on port-2 so I should be able to swap optic couplers if I knew which ones to swap for trouble shooting.

[ksanalytical]

Bob,

Your diagram doesn't have anything shown for the "enable" contacts which are near the port 1 outputs and directly opposite the middle 5V terminals. This must be bridged to enable motor outputs.

That's about all I've got. If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll take some higher res photos to post for you.

Ken

[bobmirror]

Hello Ken, I think we are starting to bark up the right tree. The 5v to EN jumper was in place. However there was no voltage at the 5v or the EN terminal and no output status red led light. Humm... so I tried jumper-ed 5v to the 5v & EN terminal. No change. I also moved the jumper from pins 1-2 to 2-3 on the com No change, no output light. humm...

[2ndSteel]

I recently purchased an X5 from Syil and I am using SS. I have it hooked up to directly in line with the PP plug on the X5 so it is just replacing the PP plug on the laptop I am using. I am using it with Vista and it is working well. My limit switches are also used for homing and this all works slick. I have a C23 board but haven't hooked it up yet as I wanted to make sure everthing worked on the X5 before I start adding to many things. I also have the Pendant and C22 board from CNC and have it connected to port 2 on the SS and it works great. So far I am very pleased with this setup. I will need to add the C23 board so I can access some additional inputs to use for a probe or touch plate.

[Bob La Londe]

Hi, I am having trouble getting my smoothstepper and C23 bob working. Is there any one out there that has a photo of the board and wires hooked up.
I am located in Yuma AZ and will travel to San Diego or Phoenix if need be to try to get this thing working.

3 years later... I have an SS driving into a C23 in Yuma. I also have one driving into a G540.