Lot's of good work and great photos!

I especially like the air flow approach to it : 2 huge 4 barrels carburetors air filters breathing nice, cool... snowy winter air... :eek:
No way this baby will ever see warmth !
Why think small ?
Kidding… V-Nice work, Amicalement Robert ;)

Robert, this winter has been so cold that I probably don't even need a fan....all I need to do is put the controller outside:D

Here's a picture of the airfilter cover. It is made from expanded PVC, the stuff cuts really nice. I engraved the filter part# into the top, so I won't have to try and remember a year from now;)

Motor calculation worksheet
 

Attached is the motor calculation worksheet I used for my MM electronics. It's basically a collection of motor & power supply formulas that I found on this site and put into one place. Thought it might be useful for some of you guys that are just getting started.

The resulting numbers are for the Parker Automation stepper motors (VS32B) I purchased from Ebay. The calculations were made using the factory motor specs and these formulas. This was done before making the purchase......as I wanted to besure they would work before spending any money.

Great Job Wayne, I really like your window on the control box and the filter is great filter.

Thankyou, glad you like it. The window was in the box when I got it....it will be handy to see what's going on inside.

Ready for paint.
 

Yahoo, I have completed all the parts required to build a Mechmate....the machine is ready for paint.

Here's a few pictures of the completed unit. The last picture is me dressed to work in a cold garage.....I am finally getting used to working with gloves on:rolleyes:

My friend is going to paint it this weekend. Since he normally paints custom motorcycles....I had to remind him that I did not want any flames or skulls painted on the Mechmate:D

Flames would look cool, as long as they are only painted on...:)

Nice work, you'l be cutting soon.

Wayne,
Looks really good! :) Have you gotten movement yet or are you waiting for paint before you do that? I finally see some pics of people that work like I do in the garage in the winter. All of these other guys in warm climates complaining of "cold" garages have me envious. :rolleyes::eek: Your garage looks like you should be able to hold some heat in there though? Maybe a nice woodstove?;)

Alan - Agree, painted on flames would be much better than the real thing.

Heath - No movement yet. I want to get it painted before installing the electronics (motors, sensors, wiring, etc..) this saves a lot of rework.

My garage is insolated and ready for a heater....in-fact the wife just gave me the go ahead to purchase a new gas heater:) A woodstove would work, but it's a lot nicer to just turn the thermostat up and get to work.

Great job Wayne, you will running in no time. We will have to start a new thread "Pimp my Mechmate"! I look forward to seeing flames.

"Pimp my Mech" I like it :)

The final assembly will start as soon as the paint drys. So with a little luck....I should to be making dust by mid-week.

Dust vacuum
 

I purchased this dust vacuum from a guy on Craigslist for $75. It has a lot of suction and should be perfect match for the mechMate.

This unit does require a seperator or torit, so that will have to be one of my first projects for the MechMate. I will probably build a Phil Thien seperator, it's simple and appears to work well.

A weekend of powdercoating.
 

Powdercoated most of the mill this weekend. My brother (shown in the pics below) has a large powder oven....his oven is 4' x 4' by 8' deep, perfect size for this project.

The first picture shows Dave appling Ford blue to the spider assembly. The second shows the Y and Z assembles powdered and ready to be put in the oven. The 3rd and 4th pictures show the oven and oven rack.

We worked for 8 hours yesterday, cleaning and powdering....the results made it all worthwhile :)

Painted y and z assemblies
 

Here's the finished Y and Z assembly.

We used chrome and black powder for the Z slide. Black for the rails and of coarse, Ford blue for everything else.

We did not work all weekend!
 

Of coarse, we did not work all weekend;).....we took a little time out to play in the snow:D

This is my brothers Polaris Razor. With tracks, this 4 wheeldrive goes anywhere and through anything. Here's a couple of pictures of the Razor climbing a snow hill.

Great fun!

Wayne,
Can you remove the tracks and go back to regular tires with that model or is it tracks only? Were the tracks standard with that model or an add on?

Yes, you can switch from tracks back to tires....it's simple and quick, about like changing a tire.

The tracks were an add-on. There are a couple of mfg's that offer kits for this unit, they aren't cheap but are worth it if you intend to take your machine off the beat'n path.

The painting is complete and the assembly has started.
 

The base was too big for the powder oven, so my friend sprayed it for me. He did a good job paint matching, it's hard to tell which has powder and which is liquid.

Wayne - real impressive!

Thanks Irfan....appreciate the comment.

Assembly continues.
 

Carriage idler wheel is installed. Amazing how tightly the spring assembly holds the carriage to the rails.

The Z assembly is installed and adjusted. The slide rolls through all 6 wheels very smoothly, can't even feel the transition:D

I made the z-up and down stops ajustable. Thought a little flexablity might be useful in the future. As you can see the stops are currently set to the middle of the range.


The last photo shows the spindle / router head mounting pins.

The last machine which was finished like this was may be JR's - How I hope my brush would get me that finish :)

think you are a day away to movement!

Have fun - and the next serial

RGDS
IRfan

BEAUTIFUL machine Wayne:)

Irfan - I had hoped to have it running today, but found I was short a couple of nuts and bolts so it will have to be tomorrow.

Glad you like the machine Greg, appreciate the comment.

Almost done.
 

After almost 30 hours of work this weekend:eek: ....my Mechmate is nearly complete, just need a few more nuts and bolts. I believe the electronics will go quick, since the control box is already built and tested.

Wayne,

Awesome looking finish, the black really looks good. Take lotsa picture before you get it dusty. Congrats.

...I want to see lot's of pictures of it dusty! :D

I agree it doesn`t stay clean that long

No problem, I look forward to getting it dusty......that's the fun part:)

Machine wiring is complete
 

I completed the wiring of the machine today. All that is left is to connect the machine to the control box:D

I made a special effort to run as much of the wiring through the machine as I could, this should prevent wiring damage once the Mechmate is put into service. I also ran a 1/4" air line to the Y-car, thought I might have a use for it in the future.

The control boxes were ordered from DigiKey....I like them,they fit perfectly. The buttons were removed from some surplus equipment that I aquired a couple of years ago. The start stop engraving was done on my small mill.

Truly impressive machine Wayne, nice attention to detail. I see J.R.'s idea of black rails is catching on, it makes a nice contrast.

I see your motors have shafts out the back, are you going to add encoders or were they just conveniantly available?

You may want to bend the anchor plate for the Z spring up a bit, (or mount it with the short tab on the Y-car and the long end attached to the spring) that spring angle is a bit steep and you will not be getting the optimum pressure of the pinion into the rack. Yor spring is pulling "down" instead of "across".

Nice detail work Wayne. I am a little concerned at the apparent lack of screening on the pushbutton wires?

Alan,
The motors are new (old stock) that I bought cheap, the shafts serve no purpose on this machine. Good call on the spring bracket, I did not notice the angle until you pointed it out. I will flip the bracket as you suggest. Agree, J.R.'s idea of black rails is great....it adds a nice "factory made" feel to the machine.

Gerald,
Not sure I understand what you mean by screening, do you mean electrical shielding? If so, all the wire used in the machine is shielded (except the EMO). The pushbutton wiring is actually twisted pair w/shielding.

That's fine then Wayne!

(It appeared to me to be discrete wires, and that's why i said "apparent")

Ok, I see it now.

There are a lot of functions in the control box, that's why there is so many wires. I also wanted to have extra conductors for future functions like air solenoids and lighting.

TaDa - it's moving.
 

After completing the controller connections this afternooon....I threw the power switch and made the MechMate move:D

I still need to clean up a few wires and finish building the router mount.....before it's truly complete.

Here's a couple of short clips of the machine in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46mir5E6iNM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHvUkAbT5Uo

Well done Wayne!