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  #1  
Old Fri 02 November 2012, 22:26
justwandr
Just call me: justwandr
 
Brooklyn
United States of America
Mechmate for custom Solid wood doors?

Howdy

I have been looking to build a CNC machine for a custom solid wood door business which my brother has in Pakistan. Please see the attached image to see the kind of work they do. The attached image is NOT of their actual work but a image I just found online to show what type of work is done.

Lot of base relief 3D engraving. Everything is done manually with hand by multiple people who sometimes use templates to make their job easier. I have been researching to see how useful a CNC machine would be for their business and I think it might be a perfect all in one tool.

I have been looking at buildyourcnc and cncrouterpart kits along with few others. Most of them are made with MDF while others use aluminum extrusions. MDF simply isn't good enough while I have doubts about aluminum extrusions being strong enough to handle the work load. It doesn't also help I don't have access to aluminum extrusions design the plans use in Pakistan anyway.

Steel however is a none issue. Most of the doors/windows they build would require a large area. So I am looking to build a 4' x 8' machmate. So naturally I have couple of questions if you guys can be kind enough to shed some light on these things it would help greatly.

1. Machmate seems very strong is anyone using a machine build directly from the plans without any modifications on solid wood? What kind of results do you get..

2. What kind of resolution does machmate offer in terms of doing fine 3D engraving etc? If someone has any pictures or links please share.

3. I have looked at cvsupply beyond what is being sold there. Are there any more electronics or parts that I would need buy elsewhere? other then the wood router/spindle.

Thank you! Any help is appreciated.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg custom door.jpg (31.8 KB, 718 views)

Last edited by justwandr; Fri 02 November 2012 at 22:30..
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  #2  
Old Sat 03 November 2012, 04:47
hennie
Just call me: Hennie #23
 
Roodepoort JHB
South Africa
Best advice is to start reading the threads.Your questions will be answered
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  #3  
Old Sat 03 November 2012, 05:43
justwandr
Just call me: justwandr
 
Brooklyn
United States of America
Quote:
Originally Posted by hennie View Post
Best advice is to start reading the threads.Your questions will be answered
I have been doing that as well. It is just nice to have fresh information directly related to your needs in my opinion. I have looked at couple of other threads which were related to raised panel doors and how the joints etc are made.

Been going from one thread to another [following links within those threads] and its gets confusing after a while. Lot of folks seem to have made modifications to the original MechMate design.

That is something I won't be able to do as I am not an expert on CNC's. I will be able to follow the plans without a issue though. Anyway any help is always welcomed.
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  #4  
Old Sat 03 November 2012, 05:53
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
"actually" very few people make modifications to the original design as mentioned in the previous post. What you may read as a modification, is really a choice based on your use.

Choices available within the MM design criteria:
- Size of table
- cutting tool (router or spindle)
- geared or ungeared stepper drive train
- belt reduction stepper drive train
- which stepper driver (gecko series independent or all-in-one solutions, etc.
- 3, 4 or 5 axis
- cut or burn (cutting or plasma based)
- mach 3 or EMC or other host control interface

To understand your needs, please refer to the header "sticky" threads and refer to things like:
- picking the right stepper motor
- what size of table do I need?
- what resources do you have to construct and maintain a MM

Good luck with your choices!

Sean
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  #5  
Old Sat 03 November 2012, 09:27
zumergido
Just call me: Fernando
 
BS AS
Argentina
i think now that i have the machine. building is the easy part. problem is to get from the machine what you want. you need to learn how to use many software. learn materials, etc etc.
mechmate can handle solid wood, the thing is know how to tell the machine how to move.
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  #6  
Old Sat 03 November 2012, 21:59
KenC
Just call me: Ken
 
Klang
Malaysia
Agree with Fernando, building the MM is the easy part (after you built one) you need to discover & learn the machine's abilities.
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  #7  
Old Mon 05 November 2012, 00:36
justwandr
Just call me: justwandr
 
Brooklyn
United States of America
Sean thank you for clarifying some of those things. I guess the problem I am having is not being able to make up my mind as to which one of those choices would be best for me. I have been reading these forums and forums elsewhere for sometime now.

Everyone has an opinion and they do seem to justify those opinions well for someone who doesn't know any better to tell them apart as to which would be best for his/her use. I have seen more then handful of log threads in which after finishing the machine folks go back and change certain things.

I guess I should have asked a better set of questions which would have been directly related to my build but I am pretty sure I will be told to continue reading so I will give that a go. Sorry I don't mean to be rude at all but it is my opinion people understand things much quicker and faster when they are the ones asking the questions.

Thanks.
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  #8  
Old Mon 05 November 2012, 06:26
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
No apology needed - just understanding.

To build the MM, you really need to follow two critical paths:

Path 1 - you can start this today without any changes. Just make choice on table size, order parts, order steel....start fabrication.
- machine frame size & z-slide length
(this immediately will let you order the laser cut parts with Universal motor plates if you didn't make the motor choice yet and steel and start fabrication of the physical machine)

Path 2.
This is where the choices start narrowing your focus and ability to upgrade parts in the future.

For instance, at this point you could just go with Nema 34 direct drive set up and use the working machine to upgrade later in the process to 3:1 belt drive transmissions. (using the machine to make the parts is common)

So, at this point you will need the kitchen project. If you use G203 series drives, you ability to drive almost any of the readily available stepper motors is an option. If you choose a G540 series combination amplifier/controller, then your available stepper motor choice is very narrow. The G203 are higher in cost per unit, but very universal in application use respective to the G540. Of course, I am only referring to Gecko products which I endorse.

Cost typically drives most build choices.

If I was to build another machine (and I am right now), I have chosen a very simple controller set up based on the g540 Gecko drive controller and 7.2:1 Geared OM combination drives. My choice is based on the fewest amount of parts to fabricate and get the job done with cost being lower than all the machines I have built to date.

If you want a great example of a G540 based machine, read all the Bradm post's.

Good luck.
Sean

Last edited by smreish; Mon 05 November 2012 at 06:28..
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  #9  
Old Tue 06 November 2012, 05:39
justwandr
Just call me: justwandr
 
Brooklyn
United States of America
Sean,

Thank you for taking your time to explain these things. I have to say I understood more from yours posts then I did reading dozens of other threads. It is my understanding at this point that people seem to prefer that users spend a week or two trying to understand the plans before attempting to make the MechMate. This is why there is no BOM available even for standard sizes with standard options.

I can understand the thinking behind it. I hosted over 260K websites and also managed/manage sports related forums with over a 100K uniques a month. It does get tiring trying to explain things which seem so obvious to most. While I am good with certain aspects of technology...when it comes to CNC's I am lost.

If I were going to build the MechMate myself here in NYC. I don't think I would run into many issues as I would be able to figure things out one way or the other however I am attempting to have this machine built in Pakistan.

Not only do I have to understand how everything works...I have to pass on this know how in manner that they won't be confused with what I am telling them to do. Far as running the MechMate is concerned. It shouldn't be a big issue as they will get proper help and designs will be provided by a company in India who provides CNC base 3D designs.

I will continue to read up on certain things if I have any more questions..I will ask. Sean I hope you wouldn't mind me picking your brain.
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  #10  
Old Tue 06 November 2012, 06:07
KenC
Just call me: Ken
 
Klang
Malaysia
Quote:
Originally Posted by justwandr View Post
Far as running the MechMate is concerned. It shouldn't be a big issue as they will get proper help and designs will be provided by a company in India who provides CNC base 3D designs.
.
I'll strongly advise against this... In real life, this is the part where in-house talent is the only asset you have. It tool me nearly 2 years to call myself a competent MM operator...
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  #11  
Old Wed 07 November 2012, 00:31
justwandr
Just call me: justwandr
 
Brooklyn
United States of America
Quote:
Originally Posted by KenC View Post
I'll strongly advise against this... In real life, this is the part where in-house talent is the only asset you have. It tool me nearly 2 years to call myself a competent MM operator...
Completely agreed however the issue that we have to deal with in Pakistan is that there are no CNC machines available even in Universities. Some companies do have CNC machines but they are kept as trade secret of some kind as it offers them advantages over others.

I know couple of people who are studying engineering...they will get to play with the CNC I am going to have built. Hopefully if all goes well I really want to introduce this technology locally.

In order to do that I am spending all the time I can to learn about different options I have available. I am really hoping for good things to come out of this time spent researching modern tools for wood working etc.
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  #12  
Old Sun 11 November 2012, 12:00
quadtech
Just call me: Prasad
 
Hyderabad
India
Surely, you would have come across Khalid Khattak's excellent work by now.
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