Sean.... you did advise to be on the watch out for some coming pics... you devil.... you never give me clue that it would be Sooo sexy :D

...got her moving tonight. Maybe cutting and logo's tomorrow. Under the gun to get this one cutting.
I have a few wiring challenges to address - like routing the contact for the spindle enable, but should be able to sort it all out tomorrow.
Wish me luck....the machine is in a shop where the heat hit 102 F today. Whew hot.

Good luck Sean!

. . . . and take a cooler box with some cold drinks (non-alcoh.). A desk fan standing on the table will also help you to think straight. :)

(Our weather is as dismal as it gets around here in winters: Storm winds, lashing rain and temps down to 10 C. Had a laugh from this news story - the weather forecaster doesn't know what a spring tide is!)

Good Luck Sean,
That heat can really slow you down.
Gerald,
I think I would take the wind and rain over -40C in the winter. Well maybe not hurricane type wind though. :)

All done, wiring challenges over, cutting away
 

I finished the MM this morning.
I have a few modest tweaks to attend to - like a dust foot, laser pointer and zero plate.

All in all, a good building experience on this one. Aside from most wiring challenges, I am really happy with the outcome.

The end user (a close friend of mine) is quite please. I feel it will serve their General Contracting business well.

Noteworthy - the spindle at speed is SO quiet that it's almost to quiet. It's hard to realize that it's running. At 16K RPM, it's like a sewing machining running in the background.

I will revise my cabinet build drawings to reflect the EMF corrections needed to properly react to the building this machine now resides in for future Mechmaters that may encounter similar issues.

Accolades go out to PDS and Blurry Customs for fantastic support on their products and helping thru the EMF/RF issues associated with this installation.

Cutting,
It's blue
It has a logo
...now it needs a number!

Back to work now, have a lot of cutting to do!


Sean
Attachment 5099

Attachment 5100

Attachment 5101

Smart job Sean! Congratulations on #28

Sean

Looks good. I will have to go visit the new machine. Congratulations

Great looking machine! ...

... Since the spindle is quiet (while not cutting), I have seen some installations that put a 'blinking light' on top of the spindle whenever it is spinning! (OSHA would be proud! :)

Gerald,
Thanks for the congratulations and changing my comment line!
I'm starting to feel like a MM factory. Interesting for me, each build has been different and rewarding.
#5 - standard build with a router
#12 - standard build with fancy prefab rails and router
#28 - standard build with spindle.

More to follow after I install the "upgrades".

Sean

Congratulations Sean!

Shouldnt #5 say, standard build, upgraded extended Z slide? :)

Heath,
That was a much later (about 12 months) add on for a specific project.
The #5 machine was with pre-mamba parts too. I had to make all my own cable chain attachments, skate grinder and proximity circuit! How things have changed in two short years.

Heck, soon I will have enough machines under my belt to rival Gerald's Sean!

Congrats Sean ! on the thhird build - may the fourth began soon :)

Congratulations Sean on Serial #28. Very impressive!:):):)
You are a wonderful contributor to this Forum. Keep up the good work.:D

The Updated Builder's Log is here.

It's a pleasure watching your builds Sean !!!

Always the highest quality work and second best (G's number 1) with sharing the knowledge.

Thanks MM fans!

I must say, Nils has been a huge help and kind for letting me help him with his machine. Not to mention - he promised to come and customize my Mach screens for me! :)

My machine build detail is not the level of JR, Greg and others, but they function. Once again - the machine can be built with multiple craftsmanship levels and still obtain the same cut quality.

Thanks Gerald.

Sean

record build time
 

Hi Sean
That was some fast time to get that MM built. I'm still on the Z plate . Way to go.

Congrats Sean,

Your like an American Dealer for MechMates. Maybe you could have one of those shows like Orange County Choppers (OCC), Monster Garage, or Pimp my MechMate.:D

Thanks for posting pictures of your builds. It really helps. I need to see things to get a grasp of things I've never done. In fact, I never saw a cnc router until I built my own.


MIKE

Nil's thats unfair - u need to make a Mach screen for all Mechmater's :D

Blue Screen or No Blue Screen??
 

Irfan and anyone else,

I have not responded to you comment about my supplying MechMate Blue Screen for Mach3. I don't want you to think I have forgotten you.

I would be happy to supply Blue Screen for every one, if I had a Blue Screen for my self. Sean just made a misquote. If you look at my build again, you will see that I do have a Macro for my Zero Z Touch Plate and for my Red Laser but I am not using a Blue Screen or Mach3 screen to utilize those features. I am using my Shuttle Pro for that. I didn't want to be attached to my computer to run these routines.

I did provide a copy of my Zero Touch Plate Macro to Sean but he has already modified it and I might change mine to work like his. He is using a button on the Y Car to activate the Zero Touch Plate Macro.

If you want to modify you Mach Screen, the best person that has made these changes is Greg Greolt. He has designed a screen for Mach and I think it is blue. I don't have the links but he has answered lots of questions on how to do it on CNCZone and the links are listed here but I couldn't find them.

I know I have listed the links in the past.

If you want a copy of my Macro let me know.

Back to Sean's excellent #28 build. (Sorry to take control of your thread Sean.)

Nils,
I got this link from Arts site.
http://www.turningaround.org/MechMate/Mechmate.htm

There he gives the link to the CNCZone thread with the mach blue modified screens for zero stuff.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56079

Is that what you were thinking of? :)

stuff that was done a few years ago
 

So, I was cleaning up the server files this morning and came across a few pictures from when I converted MM #5 over to a VERY large foam statue cutting machine.
This picture is a 2 sided cutting test of the statue. File created in Rhino from Active laser scans, then imported to CUT 3d for tool path. NOTE: in the top of the picture you can see the 1/2" (very expensive) tool bit hanging down from the bottom of the z-axis spindle.

Attachment 13580

I bought her back for a 10 year refresh
 

Work to do...
Attachment 16443

Attachment 16444

Congratulations Sean. Looks to be in pretty good mechanical shape. Can't actually see the control box. Is it present? In good shape?

in working order
 

Attachment 16445

All in working order but missing all the wire management and some wire routing over the years. A couple of days with zip ties, panduit and some wire all will be sorted and good as new.

Looking good. Even has that extra Gecko...sweet.

Thinking....."out of the box"

https://youtu.be/5tlZQ6Nm3ak

Hello All,
I was in the process of moving the machine and removed the spoilboard to do a ground up recalibration of the entire machine, oil things, square up things, etc.

I had a small order of 244 electrical boxes that needed “D” shaped holes for the connectors. I built a quick roll pin registration point, quick clamp area and cut all the boxes in about 2 days.

...just more fun with this machine 15 years later!

Best - Sean

Hey Sean. So glad to see your MechMate still producing. Making those hole in the electrical boxes is a very creative use of the MechMate. Also it was great to just to hear from you.

Thanks John!
The machine has been really sidelined to R&D work, specialty projects and doesn’t get much used lately. Thankfully, I still have room for a 5x10 machine to take up space in the shop.

I am in the process to order a 15W laser to use as a second z axis to engrave, mark and layout the part of each object not being cut. Fun stuff for sure!