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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30

    Smile 2010 Patriot VFD

    I mentioned that I would create a separate thread for my P-VFD so here it is. I got a ship notice this morning (2/20/10) that it has shipped, with a tracking number.

    I ordered the DRO setup, but not the CNC. I asked JT the question - since the feeds are stepper now, does that not make it more or less CNC ready as it is, minus controller and software. His answer: "Yes."

    So we'll see - I'll keep this thread updated with pics as I go through receiving the machine and setting it up.

    I am a complete noob to machining so this will be a total learning process for me. I'm optimistic about it given the great information here on the 'zone and on the user websites out there. Hopefully I can give back a little info if it's only a description of the crate the machine came in

    -George

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30
    It's on the truck, I should get it tomorrow (er today, in the afternoon )

    I'll post up about it...



    EDIT: Got the machine, but worked late, no time to post pics or anything yet. It's good though

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30
    It's not that I'm anxious or anything...


    But I was outside waiting for the truck. He called and said he had no liftgate, even though my shipping order stated one was needed. My option was to wait another day. Not acceptable. Fortunately, TYM came to the rescue:


    "Chech"-ing the crate seemed like a good idea so the driver hung around until I opened the crate. I think he was mostly curious about what was in the box.


    Good thing I cheched because one end was ginked:


    I took that end off and the motor looked okay:


    The machine is packed using the steel bench as a surround for protection. The crate was sturdy Chinese wood. I can probably build a sailboat out of the leftovers.


    The boxes of extra stuff were in the crate along the side. More extra stuff than I knew, as I soon found out.


    I had ordered the Patriot with the DRO setup. The boxes for the tooling and DRO are there...


    ...plus a bonus tool. Somebody left a well-used screwdriver in the crate. Checked out the tooling box:


    What the heck is "Dragon Fish??"



    There was another box, with a UPS envelope on it. What the heck is that?


    Holy crap!! A Geckodrive 4-axis CNC controller!! I didn't order that!


    I'm sitting there looking at a full CNC VFD Patriot with controller and software.


    Okay... either it's super-giveaway month at Shoptask or a mistake has been made. I called JT and asked him if he intended to send me the CNC setup. A little pause and a "No, not exactly... we were just tallying up the controllers here and the numbers weren't adding up!" Well, I know where the other one is. Well, after negotiating with my understanding finance minister (Darling wife) the decision was made to keep it and send a check for the difference. Holy smoke, I have a full CNC setup. I can't believe it.

    I told JT I had his screwdriver too. "You have that screwdriver? Hey, we've been looking for that too!" I evidently got the bonus crate.

    Tomorrow I will work on getting the machine out of it's shipping configuration and set up on its stand. Can't wait to run it.



    Oh, yeah, the Chinese Sychronized Swim Team is doing well too.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    42
    :banana:looks great so far :banana:, i am sure you are a happy camper.

    john told me he was waiting on some of the parts for mine when i spoke to him last week...i wonder if i was the one that was short since you got the cnc system..ha ha that was good for you.
    i had told him i was in no hurry and for him to take his time so i was proberly the one.but as of yesterday all the cnc stuff was in for mine so i am hoping mine will ship this week.

    keep us up on your progress. i can not wait to see it in action.

    :cheers:

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    18
    Can you comment on how you decided on the ShopMaster Patriot?

    I'm looking at either this machine or a Smithy Granite 1324

    ..thanks.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    42
    Quote Originally Posted by larry99 View Post
    Can you comment on how you decided on the ShopMaster Patriot?

    I'm looking at either this machine or a Smithy Granite 1324

    ..thanks.
    I can’t speak for gunpilot but I know i studied them both hard.
    i come from a machinist background. My family owns 2 machine shops. And I have access to everything you can think of. BUT it's is not at my home. And I like being able to work in my shop till late into the morning sometimes. So i decided on buying something I could run in a small foot print and do lathe and mill work.
    Now I went with the SHOPMASTER because of the mill. It is the only 3 in 1 that has the mass and support to mill. The VFD is a plus for me. But then again they are the only ones with VFD.
    It isn’t a hard decision if you look at what you are getting.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    18
    bowman1964

    thanks. appreciate the quick feedback. I am leaning toward the Shopmaster; i'm new to this; but to me it seemed sturdier because of the mill support and weight; also has a bit more power which seems good. I like that the lathe size was a bit bigger at least compared to the granite1324.

    reading various reviews online you find people who say negative and positive things about both machines... although it tends to be people who don't use either or had a bad experience many years ago.

    I'm eager to see more pictures and posts from Gunpilot!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30
    Ditto what Bowman said. I haven't studied the Smithy that hard, but the Shoptask has two 1.5 motors compared to one on the Smithy, a larger Y axis table, more machine weight, longer Z axis, comes with a steel table, comes with a bunch of tooling, stepper power feeds and VFD motors. I think it is a good value for the dollar. By the time you get the stand for the Smithy you are about at the same price as the Patriot. I also talked to JT and liked him and the company. I know some here have different opinions but that's my experience so far.

    More photos: My shop is new, and I plan to paint the floor but it's been too cold. I went ahead and painted an area to put the machine into so that I didn't have to paint around it later:



    Then the next task was to get the Patriot on the stand. I really didn't want to lift the machine by any part of the mill head or even any part of the machine itself. So I drilled four holes in the edge of the coolant tray, above where the cross pieces are welded. I used four straps centered over the machine and lifted it by the tray with the tractor. I set the table under it, and after some persuasion with a precision tool (screwdriver) I got all the bolts in and tightened up.

    I then used my shop crane to pick up one end, and a floor jack on the other. In the next pic you can see the machine hanging by straps in two of the holes I drilled, and off the floor by a half inch on the other. Hanging by the straps kept it stable. DW steered the table by the floor jack as I pulled it into position. The horizontal strap is to help pull the table without rocking it.



    With minimal effort and fuss we coaxed the machine into position. I have declared the area inside the gray square is the "machine shop."



    Next task is to level it out with the world and get power to it. And learn about speeds, feeds, Mach3, what CAD/CAM is all about... etc. It's fun...

    -George

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30

    More pics...

    In as-shipped condition. I did take the covers off the motor controller and the z-axis drive.











  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    152
    Quote Originally Posted by GunPilot View Post
    In as-shipped condition. I did take the covers off the motor controller and the z-axis drive.
    Does the pulley have more than 1 possible drive ratio?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    24216
    Quote Originally Posted by GunPilot View Post
    In as-shipped condition. I did take the covers off the motor controller and the z-axis drive.
    I'm getting confused with these hi-jacked threads.

    Is this supposed to be a 'new' machine?
    And you made a deal over the excess equipment?
    Al.
    CNC, Mechatronics Integration and Custom Machine Design

    “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
    Albert E.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    42
    Quote Originally Posted by Vermont View Post
    Hey GITERDUN-Is there some reason you have a need to hide my post with a duplicate post of your pictures? Do you have a personal interest in Shopmaster?

    "I ordered and paid for this machine back in October to take advantage of the "Order by October 31st and have it by Christmas" special and did not receive the machine as advertised. I patiently waited another month and the machines were still not in so I asked for my money back. I still have not received it after almost two months now. I have called JT several times to try and get my money back. He he keeps telling me that he has no money but does have my machine if I wanted it. I no longer have the need or the desire to own this machine. Although I really hate the thought of bringing a claim against JT, he has left me with no other choice unless someone else is interested in buying it from me. If anyone is interested I will sell it for $3,300 and the buyer is responsible for shipping from Shopmaster. Anyone interested can contact me at [email protected]. Thanks."
    he wasnt hiding your post.
    he was asking a question, which if you do a quote it will copy over and if you had read it you would have saw that.

    i see you have posted enough times to make your point.
    this is a nice thread started ,it doenst need to get run down with a sales ad.

    and i have one on order myself, and have no interest in shoptask so please be nice.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30
    Yeah, I'd appreciate it if the customer feedback were in it's own thread, not mine.

    What Giterdun done did was quote my whole post, which duplicated all the pictures. Maybe a mod can fix.

    Quote Originally Posted by Al_The_Man View Post
    I'm getting confused with these hi-jacked threads.

    Is this supposed to be a 'new' machine?
    And you made a deal over the excess equipment?
    Al.
    Yes, it's a new machine. I get the impression that a lot of work goes on in the shop in Nevada, with the resulting paint chipping and fingerprinting. A lot of the greasy handprints are mine as I handled the machine with my oily work gloves. It hasn't been cleaned up at all in the pictures.

    I did decide to keep the CNC equipment and pay the difference. I could have sent it back but I wanted CNC anyway and was trying to keep the sticker shock to a minimum. It had been long enough since I paid for it that the shock had worn off. Actually turned out quite well

    I also paid for this back in October. I get that this was on a slow boat from China. I'd read here and elsewhere that it could take several months to get it. I didn't worry about it and the machine actually came sooner than I expected.

    I spent some time cleaning it up a couple nights ago but no new pics yet. Need power next.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30

    Video - the Patriot runs

    I made a couple of videos - a walkaround and this one making chips. The other upload aborts - I think it's just too big. I'll see if I can pare it down and get it to load.

    In the meantime, I could not resist putting an end mill in the collet and running it. The camera is shaky because I am holding it and turning the handwheels too.


    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyKt0UWbuyI"]YouTube- Making chips with the Shopmaster Patriot[/ame]

    Nice to be making cuts. Patience pays off. Anxious to be learning more, and getting the CNC hooked up.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    42
    great video , i can not wait till mine arives. how are you controling the power feeds without the cnc running? with the new machine i didnt see where john placed the controls.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30
    I got my Camtronics tachometer today. I don't have it installed yet but I did test it to make sure it works. Max speed on the mill is 1440 RPM and on the lathe is 1430 RPM. I don't know if this is about right for max speed or not. Have to research a little.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30
    Did some actual machining today. The T-nuts I had (HF) wouldn't fit the slots. Too large. I was contemplating where to get some when I realized... duh. I have a milling machine. I ended up milling .045 off each side of the upper part of the nut. Now they fit perfectly. Hooray, my first useful machining project.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    30
    Got the CNC system working. Pics and maybe a video later today but it's running under Mach and I was able to get the steps and backlash set pretty well. It runs pretty smoothly! Kinda excited about that.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    90

    Patriot VFD Update

    Hello GunPilot,
    Just wondering why your thread has stopped. Hope things have worked out well. How would you rate it now on a scale of 1 to 10? Any issues I should be aware of as a potential buyer?

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    0
    gunpilot

    Good to hear.
    Still putting limit and home switchs on mine yet. Not going as fast as I want it to. ( Grand children and son in laws with ballgames, reroofing my house, doing a total remodel on the brother in laws cabin along the Missippi River, but its right around the corner for mine cabin and mine is open and now shoulder suregy (sp) )
    The thing I think are importanat some time are not that importanat to other.
    So I am glad that someone is making headway. Was the any problems with the software loading or hooking to the machine?

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