I made some propellers.
Just to hang on the wall with the Lancaster
and the Phantom.

Props
 

Beautiful propellers. ...

Very Kool.

Year 3 report
 

MY,my. time does fly by.
Year 3 already.

2 major improvements made.
Laser position setting.
Z axis touch plate.
Don't know how I managed without them.

1 major disappointment, the Z axis reduction drive.
I worked 99.5% of the time.
Occasionally it missed steps.
So after 2 scrapped jobs, a broken cutter and 2 gouges
in the bed I took it off.

Major problem yesterday.
The cutter noise changed.
When I got there, there was a v roller wheel sitting on the bed.
The machine had lost position, chewed through the side of the job
bent the limit switch bracket and was up against the hard stop still trying to go. Chewed up the energy chain, Cutter was ok, job scrapped.

Finally got it back together this morning.
Then it would not reference.
That turned out to be a wire that a kitten had chewed through sometime last year. It must have just been making contact. Must have disturbed it during repairs.
Never a dull moment.
The wife is away so this year I will do something with the windows.
The stairwell window is first on the list, I always hated it.
Pictures to follow.
Onward to year 4

These things are sent to try us Al. Been dealing with issues for a long time but finally have my machine cutting stuff. You've had your share of good things and now the bad things have happened there'll be another 3 or 4 years before things try and go wrong again! :)

I will not say anything to jinx it. So far our machine has performed great.

But!!

Next month we are moving to new quarters.

Propellers are very cool.
Maybe someday I'll try my hand at one.

Back in April I was asked if I could do a job.
The material was expensive and in the round.
Far to dangerous and wasteful to do on a circular saw.
After a week of thinking about it, I had a meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the wife).
The purchase of a bandsaw was approved.
While not a fortune it was money I could ill afford to spend.

The job was done, the customer pleased and a further order was placed.
I have had two other jobs from another source since that I could not have done without the bandsaw.

While not an accountant, I think it has paid for itself.
Like the MechMate.
It has kept me sane (it can also drive me mad) and given me a focus.
It still impresses the hell out of me when the sumo dances a ballet.
I can do things that I could not do before.

My latest project is the stairwell window in Gothic architecture.
Sample photo, 400mm diameter, one of a pair.
A Quatrofoil. A 12 piece construction.

The Trefoils are fitted, working on the Cinquefoils now.
More to do.
Looking forward to tomorrow.

Thank you Gerald.
Thank you all.

:D
It has given me 'A new outlook'

The logos are not as cool as they were.
One got chewed up when the wheel came off.
Lets see what the day brings.

It is fun and frustrating . Fortunately what I do is pretty straight forward.
Sur has made a difference in our bottom line being able to do the 5 sided dovetail drawers.
We are moving next month and hopefully there won't be massive re tuning.

Never tried this before so lets see if it works.
No it did not.

Lets try this instead.

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1Q...0SvLrjgmxcU0sq

didn't work for me

Lets try this.
https://goo.gl/photos/A4XLFzDT6x3uD3wDA

That works, looks good!

Finished at the moment.
Might make an inner arch.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...d2b2hmTmFSclNn

Hopefully that is the correct link.

Nice Work
 

That is nice

Hurshy! Where you've been hiding?

i had a stroke and my diabetes hit me and i spent a week in the hospital with menerdes disease so i am trying to get well.. i just built on xcarve and learning to use vcarve pro, inkscape, gcode readers. found that arduino type use grbl. I am working on the mechmate again and interfacing with 80/20. so we will see how it comes out. I don't have the room. so it is going to be smaller. good hearing from you.

Hey Hurshy.
Thanks and get well soon.

Finished it.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...d2b2hmTmFSclNn

Door panels from last year.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...VQSFBXNXpXRnV3

What to do next ?

Very kool.
Is this for a certain building or just something you are doing up?

Al looks great.

It would be nice to see it while cutting. :)

Thanks Pete.
It is just for my stairwell window.
I looked at it every day for nearly 10 years and it always annoyed me.
I finally got the inspiration to do something about it.
I hope the wife likes it when she gets back.

Milosh,
Thanks for the invitation but,
there are plenty of videos that show bigger and faster machines than my sedate little sumo.

That is very cool Al, your little machine is performing rather nicely I must say!

It is not performing now.
Definitely a fault on the driver board.
Just proved it by swapping wires.

Thinking of getting one of these.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pro...612.0.0.J1YHnn

USB, Mach 3, 24v, same motor connections, sounds ok to me.

Any opinions before I order it on Sunday?

No experience with this one. Normally, you get what you pay for.

I do purchase things from Bangood or AyliExpress from time to time, but quality I find as variable so be prepared to re-purchase a possibly higher cost option later.

What are you going to use those toshiba TB6600 "printer" size stepper drives for? Can't comment on the USB board, other sources say these boards are unreliable

Thanks guys.
Other stepper driver models are

TB6560

M5045

MA860H

Would any of them be suitable?

Just buy AM882 drives they can also be found cheap on ali, you wont recognize your machine after.

DMA 860 H are also good drivers - you can power them up directly providing AC from the transformer.

R / Irfan