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  #211  
Old Thu 14 February 2008, 16:36
Roadkill_321
Just call me: John #7
 
Wiseton, Saskatchewan
Canada
Congratulations on getting it moving! I'm still dreaming about that day.
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  #212  
Old Thu 14 February 2008, 20:31
Doug_Ford
Just call me: Doug #3
 
Conway (Arkansas)
United States of America
CONGRATULATIONS bubba!!!! I'm really happy for you. Feels good doesn't it?
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  #213  
Old Thu 14 February 2008, 20:39
gmessler
Just call me: Greg #15
 
Chicago IL
United States of America
Go Sean!
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  #214  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 07:35
revved_up
Just call me: Craig
 
Hartland, MI
United States of America
Congratulations Sean!! Pretty soon Gerald is going to need to add a section on the forum for showing off projects completed with the working MechMates.
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  #215  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 08:13
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Sean,
Congratulations. Hope to see some more of your great pictures and your first cut.
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  #216  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 09:41
stefanv
Just call me: stefan
 
Port-au-Prince
Haiti
Good going Sean!!
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  #217  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 10:54
OBXCNC
Just call me: RC
 
Key West
United States of America
Congratulations Sean!!! As a fellow NCSA alum, the "build" has been interesting and looking forward to seeing the "performance". "Break a leg" !!!
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  #218  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 11:18
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Yaaaaaaaaahooooooo, we're cutting MDF baby!

Proof is in the pudding guys and gals.
We have officially cut the Roadrunner.tap file and the first part of the MechMate logo file. There seems to be an issue with the License copy of Mach3 I purchased, and is only allowing me to cut 100 lines of code. Tech Support is working on getting me a new license number.

Anyway...here's the pics!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg rr_test.jpg (20.8 KB, 1762 views)
File Type: jpg M-test.jpg (20.0 KB, 1755 views)
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  #219  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 11:31
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Thanks for all the kind words everyone. But the congrats go to Gerald. This machine is easy to make, use and set up. Heck, I have already tried to break it and have successfully failed!
Now it's time to pack it up and move to it's new home in Bay #4 of my plant...about a 600 FT move, then the squaring / leveling process begins.

Sean
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  #220  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 11:45
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
So, it's blue and it cuts wood, but does it have the logo? Swop you a serial number for the logo!

Well done! Actually didn't expect anything less...

When you have more time on it, would like to hear your impressions vis-à-vis the Multicam that you have some experience with.
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  #221  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 11:47
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
thanks for the pictures Sean.

That looks GREAT !!!!

The excitement is too much for me, so I took a day of vacation to work on the beast.
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  #222  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 13:55
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
Send a message via Skype™ to Alan_c
Its alive, and its almost No 5 - well done Sean
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  #223  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 15:34
stefanv
Just call me: stefan
 
Port-au-Prince
Haiti
Sean, remenber on Oct 7th in your post #1 you said you calculated a bill of $6818.32? So how many cents were you off?
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  #224  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 17:36
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Stefan,
It was close, but I was under budget!
6482.00. I guess I have a few dollars left over to buy some new router bits now!
Of course, I will use all the 300 or so dollars left in the budget to put limits on the machine.
So, the original number is a real budget for me using 5 geckos, 5 motors, new computer, Mach3, a couple of grinders and lots of time.
Sean
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  #225  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 17:46
stefanv
Just call me: stefan
 
Port-au-Prince
Haiti
Sean, with the risk of you disappearing now that you no longer need us
I'll be in Orlando mid next month, if you are open for a tour and a chat, I would love to stop by and see the Mechmate. I can bring a Haitian bottle of rhum to celebrate! Let me know and I'll send you a PM.

Stefan
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  #226  
Old Fri 15 February 2008, 18:29
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
disappear. Never, I have to start on machine #2 now for my brother. Same 5x10 with spindle, vac holdown and dust collection. No indexer on his. He cuts only plastic sheet.
Your welcome to stop by. Just pm me the dates. Next month is busy, but I am sure we can fit it all in.
Sean
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  #227  
Old Sun 17 February 2008, 18:19
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
update.
I ordered the proximity sensors, relays, wiring tonight from factorymation. I also sent the plot files for all the logos off to my sign shop. I should be properly logo'D tomorrow.
I ran some cutting tests today.
Statistics.
25khz
203 geckos
7.2 sg motors
20t pinions.
Average cutting speed max@ 150 ipm
45khz @ 190ipm.
Performance at 5 ipm really smooth and slow.
So far, so good
if I feel I really need more speed, I'll change to larger pinions. But for now, I am really pleased with the cut chips on the mdf and birch core ply with the 1/2" end mill.

Last edited by smreish; Sun 17 February 2008 at 18:24..
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  #228  
Old Sun 17 February 2008, 22:24
Marc Shlaes
Just call me: Marc
 
Cleveland, OH
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to Marc Shlaes
J.R. and I were routinely cutting mdf at 120ipm with a 1/4in downcut spiral (solid carbide). We got a pretty good cut at 240 also.
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  #229  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 02:19
cobra427mnsi
Just call me: Paul
 
Leamington, Ontario
Canada
Marc
Did you cut through 3/4" mdf in one pass or multiple passes? If multiple passes, at what depth per pass were those cuts?

Paul
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  #230  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 06:10
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
My experience with my MechMate was using 1/2" carbide bits and cutting MDF or Ply in the 90 to 120 ipm routinely. The 1/4" bit does let me cut faster. But, as all cutting tools know, it's about the chip, not the speed! Typically, I used 2 passes on my other table due to the vacuum hold down didn't like that much side force. 1 was easy to do, but I often sacrificed tool life due to the heat generated by cutting that much MDF in one pass.

Mr. Richards had written as nice thread earlier in the year on "tearing paper" sounds....

Last edited by smreish; Mon 18 February 2008 at 06:13..
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  #231  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 09:30
Marc Shlaes
Just call me: Marc
 
Cleveland, OH
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to Marc Shlaes
We cut usually in 2-3 passes. We were just learning and wanted to minimize side forces using minimal clamps.

We cut some 1/2in. CPVC (the solid not the expanded stuff) pretty much in one pass just to experiment. Got a fair amount of chatter. Didn't have enough clamps on it and pulled it out from under two clamps resulting in a broken bit. The only bit we broke but we learned what we could and couldn't do.
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  #232  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 11:40
cobra427mnsi
Just call me: Paul
 
Leamington, Ontario
Canada
Interesting. Thanks for the reply.

Paul
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  #233  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 22:11
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
All done, logo's and all!

Leko came by the shop tonight to help me tune the drives, do some squaring of the machine and take a few photos. As you can see, it's official. MechMate Blue with pretty white logo's!

Thanks Gerald! I can't wait to start machine #2 and build a bonified Mamba to match this one!

May I have a number please?

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  #234  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 22:15
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
There you go! Number 5 is yours!
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  #235  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 22:22
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Well, I found out a few things tonight.
1) I realized how fast you can really drive the machine before you de-rail the gantry....it's about 210ipm with a 1/2" double flute carbide dull bit
2) How quickly this is going to get to work....2 units of MDF ordered and ready for cutting on Thursday - about 88 sheets.
3) How really well the machine sets up. I did the "squaring" sheet cut, flip and check as in the Gerald tutorial - I was dead on parallel and square first try. NO shims necessary! I was truly flabbergasted that I built this baby this square. Less than a .020 change between 0,0 and 0,48.
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  #236  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 22:31
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Quote:
Originally Posted by smreish View Post
How quickly this is going to get to work....2 units of MDF ordered and ready for cutting on Thursday - about 88 sheets.
That is the thing that gives me the most satisfaction. This beast can earn its keep. It might not give the finest of finishes, or have fancy shiny alu frames, but it is a workhorse that you build and maintain yourself.

Sean, I would still like to hear your comment on this animal compared to the Multicams you have some experience with.
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  #237  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 22:36
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Gerald,
You can count on it. I actually will visit my old 4896 multicam next week and take photo's as a reference to post with results. Additionally, the other machine we had here the shop, A 4896 Warthog will be in the pros/cons review as well. I will post a nice summary and "shoot off" in the next couple of weeks once I have run a few units of product through the tool bit
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  #238  
Old Mon 18 February 2008, 22:49
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Looking forward to it, but don't rush.
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  #239  
Old Tue 19 February 2008, 00:32
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
Sean,

Congratulations. Looks great!!!
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  #240  
Old Tue 19 February 2008, 04:39
J.R. Hatcher
Just call me: J.R. #4
 
Wilmington, North Carolina
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to J.R. Hatcher
Congratulations Sean. There was a time when I considered going after that #5 number.
I think I'm going to stay under 210 ipm, thanks for the warning.
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