More pix

The assembled Table + Gantry + Car + Z-axis parts
Attachment 13425

The close view of the Z-axis on the car
The glide plate is blacken. I don't know what coating process it went through but its definitely not painted
Attachment 13426

The custom integrated Plasma torch holder & THC bracket
THe Torch holder (show white block mounted on the glide plate) is milled from a 62mm thick HDPE block & the THC sensor holder (the yellowish block)is milled from a 25mm thick PP (polypropylene) plate.
& you guess it write, all done by my trusty MM.
Attachment 13427
PP (Polypropylene) turn out more rigid & stiffer than I perceived. Since is also cheaper than HDPE. I'll surely see more of them in my future works. :D
Attachment 13428

Thing didn't went as nicely as it seems
here are some of the screw-ups along the way.


I built the gantry a few mm too short (13.4mm to be exact) or is it the rail or the table a few mm too wide.... Found out when I place the gantry after everything is completly aligh, painted.. etc...
Attachment 13429
Fixed with a fresh sets of V-wheels with offset center to suit.

Another screw-up is with the car wheels
Attachment 13430
See the huge stack of shim washer? :o

The moral of the story....
Measure 20time & cut once...

MORE MORE MORE!!!

My almost complete Control panel
Attachment 13431

A close-up
Attachment 13432

There are more to see behind the base plate. I hide the signal cable by routing them behind the plate, Firstly space are better used efficiently, secondly, it gives a cleaner look & thirdly it give extra RFI/EMI shielding to the cables & lastly, I enjoy doing it :D

Looks good Ken,

when do you fire !

Can't say when but its getting real close to firing :)
Just hope I get quality time to lay the cables & those outstanding/unexpected/additional mounting brackets

AND I haven't even started on the water bath!!!

BTW, do you reckon I have enough fan to cool your drivers?

yes - what amps are you running them on - upto 3 amps I think you will not have to use even the fan, since you have the fan then maybe 5 to 6A

I think the initial setting will be around 3A but always ready to explore other current rating for any kind of improvements.
2 fans!!! IMHO is overkill LOL!!! but I just happened to have a few of them in my "just-in-case-I-need it" pile... &... some insurence is essential to keep my sanity... :o
Anyway, dismantle the fans is easier than installing :D:D

Hi Ken.

I am in the prosses of building a dustproof pc using a D525 MOBO.

To avoid some heat inside your case you can power the MOBO with this devise.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o01_s00_i00

Regards

Guillermo

Guillermo,
Thanks for the heads up, I have one of those DC-DC PC PSU too, something I bought for my earlier car PC. BUT I just wanna see if the 400x500 electrical panel can dissipate the heat enough.
As we are speaking, I'm putting the "PC" through a 12-hour run-in test. Monitoring the temperature using the in-built temp sensor on the BiOS page.
Figures so far,
2 hours into it & the Processor temp climbed steadily but slowly towards 57C Ambient temp around 32C. (wall thermometer)
Chassis temp is hovering just below 35C (measured with my trusted IR thermometer.)

It looks like we are having a hot day today, so I'm expecting the ambient temp to climb to 36~38C, if the "PC" can live through that, it should stay alive for the next 2~3years.

Actually, the hard disk does is the hottest item in the box... I orientate the PSU fan to blow on the hard disk more then anything else... SSD should be cooler running but it cost at least twice...

BTW, what contraption do you have for your dust proof PC?

Hi Ken.

Mi contraption is a 270 x 250 x 80 mm case made with 4,5 mm alu sheet. A 60 mm

fan pointing the PSU sink and a 2,5" SSD.

Actually waiting for the SSD and power suply to arrive.

What high performance task are you running for your temperature minitoring test.

Please post your findings.

I didn't run any programs, since it is the 1st run-in test, I set it on the bios page.
result look positive.
Condition:
Ambient temperature range : 31C~37C
max ambient temperature 36~37C (warmest ~3hour of the day)
No external fan.
No ventilation (almost sealed box)

Result
Chassis temp range : 34~38C
Max Chassis temp : ~38C (I also measured my daily PC at the same time, 41C)
Processor temp shown on Hardware monitoring page : 60~60.5C
Remote temp (shown on Hardware monitoring page : ~49C

I may run another test with a high performance task. Do you have any programs recommendation for the task?

Could be a videogame session but may be some of the computer guys

in the forum can suggest a more technical test.

Ken, try Furmark, it will stress the graphic card, don't know any cpu specific application. But Furmark will make it hot :)

If you want to stress test the cpu try running Prime95 (its freeware). its purpose is to calculate prime numbers, which can be set to run on however many cores you have. give that a try.

Finally completed the water bed which made up of 2 painted shallow mild steel water trays made out of 2mm thick M.S. plates.

Pix speaks better than I could.

Attachment 13434
Attachment 13435


Finally! NO MORE HEAVY LIFTING!!! :D :D :D

Great going Ken,

I think then you are very close to movement!

That too :D :D :D

I get the rush evertime I think of it :D:D:D:D

Ken - did you ever mention the length of your table? seems a large one :) on the pictures

I don't know if I'd mentioned my table size previously. It has working size is 1550 x 6100mm (5'x20') & the table foot print is 2020 x 6700mm (6'7-1/2"x 22').
the rail height is 650mm (~25.6").

Due to press brake limitation, my bending contractor could not bend the gas spring mounting on the Z-spider.
After toying around with possible modifications, it seems a waste & counter-intuitive to throw such a beautiful ball joint (which came with the gas spring) away & go around cutting, grinding or whacking the spider with a hammer to ben the tab...

Wonder if this will work.

Attachment 13436

Hi Ken

You sure did not make a small table this time !!
Keep the pics coming, we are all watching with interest.

Regards
Ross

Thanks Ross,
4'x8' looks tiny in-comparison... BTW, this table is capable of 3 ton static load :) My calculator said so :D:D
Building a table isn't difficult but building one of such size that is square & straight is torturous. Especially when you are building it alone. Not forgetting, alter/tweak the design as it went along.
BUT once its done, its difficult no more :D

you building over head crane to load it?

Overhead crane or anything concoction that can load 3 tons is THE future plan. It will eventually take 5'x20'x62mm thick MS plate.
Surely I don't want to build another table just to take the extra load when I need it...
Until the overhead crane is realized, smaller pieces with muscle crane seems like a good idea....... :o steroid free muscle :D

Some update,

Made myself some cable chain with my MM from three quarter of 4'x'8' 6mm PVC sheet, Bit wear is bad!!! & because I wanted tighter kerb corners, I used 3mm bits, it breaks &/or blunt, it went through 4 bits... damn
I design the cable chain on the gantry with 140mm radius, it turn out perfect. :D :D :D

Attachment 13542

Attachment 13543

As for the beam side cable chain, I made it 220mm radius, & 3.6m long it managed to stay straight without load up to 2.4m span after which it started to sag..., but once I stuffed in the cables & the Plasma torch cable, it started to sag ate about 1.6m free span... :( :( :(

Attachment 13544

Cable laying took forever to get to this stage...:mad:
AND I have to remake all the brackets just because I wanted to place the Car motor on the far side...:o:o:o

Attachment 13545

Attachment 13546

Next is to power up the control panel..... Did I mentioned I skipped kitchen table project...:o
Wish me luck....

Very impressive on the machine and cable chain.

Very well done Ken

Ken,
looks good Ken, you workshop is getting filled. the cable gutter looks nice
regards Rik

Thanks for the kind words.
Rik, Yes, workshop is filling up quickly... can barely move myself around... The shop floor is only 1100 sq ft after all... The next workshop I'm looking for has to be at least 3000sq ft.
The cable gutter are the thickest off-the-shelf hot dipped galvanize cable tray. They come in 8ft length, good looking & cost less than US10 a piece, perforated too... :) Definitely better deal than making my own... :)

More update,
Power up the control panel went well, all those LED which are supposed to turn on came on; not smoke & explosions.
Since my panel is a sealed one, hence I took the effort to do some torture test on it. I left the panel on for a few hours & the panel temperature went to just below 40C & the drivers temp were around 55C.

Thing just went south when I connect the panel to the PC....

I ticked all the necessary boxes & punch in all the necessary numbers to config the motor, input & output pins in Mach3 & went on pressing the arrow keys on the key board. when I press the left & right arrow, the y-car moved accordingly (which is my X-axis), but when I press the up & down button, I expected the gantry (my Y-axis) will move to or away from me, instead the Z-axis moved. & when I pressed the pg up & pg dn key, nothing happened. The first thing which came through my head is wrong pin config or cable termination error, I hence went to swap the pin numbers for Y & Z axis around, but yet, the Z-axis moved when I pressed on the up & down keys, AND the gantry remain un-responsive to any keys...

Any comment on what happened?