Sold...(replaced by heavy Thermwood) #88 - Alberta CAN
 

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Hi there in chinook country ! Been working in secret ,looking realy good and sturdy,the flip over will be soon .Keep on mechmating

I have wanted to share some photos of my completed machine for some time now. Mainly I wanted to publicly thank those that have made the build possible. Firstly Gerald, for his generous sharing of the Mechmate design drawings. The ease with which the machine went together speaks to how complete and well resolved the design is.

Secondly to Mike for taking on the forum and moderating such a fantastic community. The spirit of many guys building these machines in their sheds that can add so much value to many types of materials typifies the entrepreneurial nature that makes Mike’s country strong. Fostering this kind of action- guys using their ingenuity to create real useful saleable products themselves is what can get economies back on paths to prosperity again.

I would also like to thank everyone that has contributed their ideas to the forum over the years. I have spent many enjoyable hours reading about what others have done.

For my machine I have tried to go with the tried and true. I did the mechanical build and my friend and co-worker Brad completed the electrical connections. Brad is also the machine’s day to day operator in my seven man cabinetmaking and architectural woodworking business. We have had the Mechmate up and producing for about six months now. The build took about eight months of Saturday afternoons. I also included a photo of a visitor strolling by my workshop recently.

Here are some specs:

3 kilowatt watercooled spindle
flowmeter and temperature sensor for spindle coolant from Frozen CPU
Desoutter auto feeding air drill
Oriental Motor PK296A2A-SG7.2 steppers from Tri-R power products
Gecko G203Vs
Pmdx- 122
Some electrical parts from Mike
Vectric V-Carve Pro
Mach 3
Standard Steel gear racks
Murr Plastik cable chains
Excellent laser cut and bent parts from Heath

Well done John!

Great looking machine !!

Took a second look to see the logo !!! You get #88 - Congrats

Wow, nice work John! :)
Congrats!

Well done..the white and black looks good.

Beautiful!
What size I beam is that?
Can you show how you deal with the dust collector ducting?

I wish I have as big a monitor you have there!

Beautifully finished machine - well done.

Would like to see more on how you implemented the drill head.

Congrats,!

Builder's Log Update
 

John,

Congratulations on completing your MechMate and earning Serial #88.

Great looking machine.:)

Here is the Updated Builder's Log.

Please let me know the cutting dimensions.

Also, please review your Builder's Log entry and let me know any changes you want to make.

Congratulations again, and thanks for sharing your build. It helps to promote the forum and also builds confidence in current and future builders to see these great machines popping up everywhere.

John,

I would like to see some pictures of your dust collection taken from the side below the Y car. Also is that a drill you have on the back of your Z and if so include same location pictures of it.

Thanks

Great job and congrats. I had to go out to my garage and make sure my MM was still sitting there. :)

John,

Yes your machine does look much like Russell's. You did a great job.

Thank you all for the comments. Russell's build did inspire my own and I thank him. The other bolt together, I-beam builds that I looked at a lot in planning my machine were Travis's from Arlington and John from Seattle's 2009 build.

The photo shows the dust collection take-up from the MM to our central dust collection network. Also pictured is our edge banding machine. The MM was situated beside the edge bander so that one operator can be feeding parts into the edge bander while the MM is running a cycle. The edge bander is the only machine in the shop more complex than the MM, with more moving parts, sensors, pneumatics, etc. When it decides it is cranky it makes for a lousy day for all concerned. The edgebander is coincidentally also light grey and has an I-beam frame for rigidity like Russell's and my MMs ;)

I used 8" x 18 pound beams.

John- Your machine looks wonderfull! Nicely done! I really enjoyed using the I-beams for my build. Your shop looks great. Nice shelving and dust collection you have there.

CNC moving day- Mechmate #88 has been sold
 

Here are some pics of the recent CNC moving day at my shop. I have sold the Mechmate. It went out and my new machine was brought in. The new owner is Brett who plans to use the machine for a variety of signage and construction related tasks.

If anyone is on the fence on whether or not to build a Mechmate over questions about their resale value- I had 4 different interested purchasers for the machine!

The time had come for a more industrial scale machine for my growing business. Typical jobs for me now might contain over a thousand unique cabinet parts. I bought a new Thermwood CS 45 machine with 12 hp tool changing spindle, vacuum part hold down, automatic label printing, etc.

Seen in the pictures is the machine riggers 30 000 ibs (13 000 kg) forklift (!) which was used to take it off the truck it came up from Indiana on.

I have really enjoyed being a mechmater and will continue to visit the forum to see what new directions guys take their machines in!

Thanks again! John

...and that is how you use a MM to make money and upgrade!
Congratulations on your business success and contributing to the MM community.

Best to you.

Thanks Sean.

Of course to those other guys who wanted my Mechmate, I told them, well... you can build your own, and I'll help if you need it. Maybe we will see more Northern Alberta Mechmates in the coming months.

A further note on resale- the fact that Mechmate #88 was bolted together was attractive to some prospective purchasers. One guy who said he wanted it to make skateboard long boards wanted to move it down some stairs. It was definitely more work to fabricate a bolt together machine originally but when it came time to eventually move it this is a real consideration.