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  #1  
Old Fri 20 March 2015, 21:56
JET LEE
Just call me: JET
 
Raymond, MS
United States of America
Gathering Parts, Raymond, MS

I've snooped around this site for several years and I believe that I'm ready to build a mechmate. I've built several machines in the past and hope this one will top them all.

I'm a mechanical engineer by profession, but have a lot of hobbies that cnc machines have aided in other hobbies of mine just as making patterns for casting aluminum and making plugs for fiberglass parts, along with templates and other things of great use.

I am looking forward to getting started!
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  #2  
Old Sat 21 March 2015, 14:47
jhiggins7
Just call me: John #26
 
Hebron, Ohio
United States of America
Hi Jet,

Welcome to the forum. Good luck on your build. Did you build the CNC router that you already have?
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  #3  
Old Sat 21 March 2015, 16:02
Borko
Just call me: Techstarve
 
Veles
Macedonia
It will be a good trip. I already started and can't stop thinking and reading.
Good luck.
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  #4  
Old Sat 21 March 2015, 17:19
JET LEE
Just call me: JET
 
Raymond, MS
United States of America
I built my first one back in 2003, hobby cnc driver board, ebay linear bearings, acme all thread lead screws, angle iron and mdf contruction. Then I built a simple 4 axis hot wire foam cutter, added steppers to sherline mill and lathe.....ready to graduate to something a lot bigger and faster!
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  #5  
Old Thu 28 May 2015, 19:38
JET LEE
Just call me: JET
 
Raymond, MS
United States of America
I'm slowly gathering parts. I got the laser cut parts, but have not ordered my steel to complete the machine. My house is currently for sale, so I decided to build the controller first. I figured it would be a lot easier to move if someone buys my house! So far, I've got the PMDX-126, (2) 133's, 107, (4) gecko 203v's and I've got an Ethernet smoothstepper and SuperPID controller on the way! Now, I need to figure out my powersupply and a good layout. This forum is awesome!
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  #6  
Old Fri 29 May 2015, 04:24
MetalHead
Just call me: Mike
 
Columbiana AL
United States of America
Welcome aboard ( Back in 2010 ) !!! Glad to hear your getting started!!!
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  #7  
Old Sat 06 June 2015, 16:38
JET LEE
Just call me: JET
 
Raymond, MS
United States of America
Thanks! By the way, the laser cut parts are really nice! I've got my power supply components on the way and once I have that, I can figure out my box size. Those metal nema enclosures are expensive! I guess my next order after that will be the steppers. Does anyone know of a good source for the Oriental 7.2 steppers that most people run on here or is it pretty much just pay up the 257 dollars each?
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  #8  
Old Mon 22 June 2015, 21:14
JET LEE
Just call me: JET
 
Raymond, MS
United States of America
Another update. I bought a used nema4 box, it's a hoffman 24x24x12. It's got several holes (5) that I i'm going to weld up and metal finish flat...lots of trouble but I got a decent price. Once wired, I'm going to take it all apart and spray the box red and the door black to match the other stuff in my garage/shop.

I also ordered my other two G203v's so I can load out my two pmdx 133s and make myself commit to the additional two axis. I found a decent supplier for heat sink material but I haven't commited on the orientation of the pmdx 133s.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to extract heat out to the box. I once had a file cabinet sized server the width of two regular towers. It had foam filters on the front and numerous fans on the back sucking air out of the box. I'm thinking of doing something similar with a foam filter on the bottom of the box and maybe a fan in either louvered section close to the top back of the box to pull the air out of the box or a simple ducted fan with duct work on the back of the box, it would provide top and side protection. Anyone see any issues doing this other than keeping the filter clean? It most likely won't be mounted to a wall. I will likely mount it to a cart.
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  #9  
Old Tue 23 June 2015, 00:32
Alan_c
Just call me: Alan (#11)
 
Cape Town (Western Cape)
South Africa
Send a message via Skype™ to Alan_c
If possible, it better to blow filtered air in to the cabinet than to suck air our of a cabinet with filters on the inlets, any small opening also becomes a route for dust to enter whereas if you blow air in, the cabinet has positive pressure and air tends to "leak" out of any small opening preventing dust from entering.
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  #10  
Old Tue 23 June 2015, 07:25
IMMark
Just call me: Mark #119
 
Columbus Ohio
United States of America
It was suggested to me that removing heat from box is over kill with the added downside of dust potential. I have a completed sealed box running 203's, never had a problem.
I think with the Gecko's you would be fine with a sealed box.
Mark
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  #11  
Old Tue 23 June 2015, 08:13
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
I am agree with Mark. If the box is large enough, I don't think you need to add air in or out and I live in FL.
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  #12  
Old Tue 23 June 2015, 11:16
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
You don't need to move air through the box if you have modern drives.
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  #13  
Old Tue 23 June 2015, 19:48
JET LEE
Just call me: JET
 
Raymond, MS
United States of America
Thanks for the input guys, it's really appreciated.

I will run the box sealed, but I'm thinking of doing a through the wall heat sink on the 6 gecko 203Vs, similar to what is shown on the pmdx website, but with a much cheaper heat sink.

I think I should still be able to seal it off pretty good. I have plenty of room to mount it on the side, but I'm going to mock it up first to see how accessible all the terminals are on the pmdx 133s.

I'm just a little particular about it due to a similar project at work, where we had to retrofit some control panels adding air-conditioning because the VFD's were getting too hot in the summer. I think it was mainly due to heat soak from the metal control cabinet being out in the sun. We could have probably been okay with just a shelter over the control box to shade it but we also added air-conditioning, just in case. It was a critical system and we needed to keep it alive.

I need to order all the small stuff for the box. I'm giving myself unti the end of July to finish the control box and the end of the year to finish the machine.
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