Control box ventilation
 

Gerald,

Thank you for your explanation...
Ask to laurent (not a touchy guy i hope :D) to answer you on my page.

Pierre.

If Laurent is coming to visit us, I would also like to ask if he has good experience with the spindle's VFD controller inside the control box? Our experience is that they make electrical noise unless you have some special precautions.

I gerald,

we have a hole with a filter on the bottom right side of the box, not drilled on this box ,we forget it !:(
For the VFD, we use no special precautions, exept for wiring, and 2 filtres on the 220V to reduce the noise. The digital ground and the earth are separeted. USB is not affected by the noise.

Laurent

Hi Laurent. Okay, we all make mistakes. :(

I forgot you are using USB and not Parallel (saw the USB cable, but thought that was for 5V supply). If the USB is okay with that VFD being right inside the box, then that is another reason we must move away from the parallel port system in the future.

Time to go back... the final stage.
 

hello Gerald, Hello Guys,

Just have finished the Mechmate "building"during christmas (16mx4,5m with sygma design galvanized steel plates system). It will become my office too !!... I had some problems on the mechmate because it slept outdoor :( :

- Rollers full of rust : need to sandpaper
- Rails too : utilisation of Dremel tools.
- Solve problem with new spindle holes on the gauge plate : standard ones doesn't work.
- Finally, i have made the choice of using the Mamba cable chain solution ( 2 cables chain).

A lot of work to make it beautiful again.
I feel it the last step... just few weeks before the blue "grey" beast wake up!.

Bye,

Pierre.

Ah, I see it also has the parking for Gaspard's car. :)

Mechmate alive... but with difficulties !!
 

Hello Gerald, Hello Guys,

Todays was the first steps (moves not cuts) of my mechmate !!.
Z moves ok, Y too. But on XX' the two motors went on opposite way !! so the mechmate went out of his rails !!. Wiring problems i suppose ?. I will have an answer from Laurent from Techlf during the week.
The interface of the new version of Isa4d (V2.1) is very cool.... Have a look.
Photos and videos during the weeks ...

Bye,

Pierre.

Great news!
you should be able to reverse the direction of the x motors in your software and not have to rewire. I know this is the case with Mach. Congratulations on your first move!

Pierre,

Congrats. Looking forward to the pictures. :)

ALRIGHT Buddy!!! That's great.

To change the direction of a motor, the easiest is to reverse ONE coil. (Do not reverse both coils). For your drive, you can swop EITHER the red & blue (terminals 1 and 2), OR you can swop the black & green (terminals 3 and 4).


I prefer to change it in the hard-wiring. Sometimes a software upgrade does not catch all the old settings.

Thank you for your advice Gerald.
Thank you all for your comments !!:):):)

Pierre.

First video ....
 

This is the first steps ....
I realize there is a lot of work now to make it work well before cutting .... construction was the easy step !!.(Important information for beginners as me).

Gerald,

I'm going to need help to find the right speed/right resolution/ etc ....from isa4d menu. I will post questions in fews days.

Bye,

Pierre

Video is in dailymotion website, "grandpivideo" in search tool.

This link seems to work:
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance...echmate-1_tech

Good to see movement in France! :)

Just want to precise, in my last reply : " construction was the easy step" because of the greats plans and solutions of Gerald of course. !!!:p
Pierre.

Pierre,
Truly great work! She seems to move nicely. You seem to get VERY good speed out of those drives - jogs are very quick. Bravo.

Pierre,

That's great!! You might be cutting wood before me. :)

I finally figured out posting photo's, now video. This MM project is sure pushing my limits further. :)

New material to cut .... (Not an advert Gerald !.)
 

Thank's for all your comments...

I would like to share this info concerning a nice new material for cnc cutting, the Maplex : " ...A beautiful sustainable alternative to wood, composites, metal and plastics, Maplex is both strong and bendable, making it an ideal material for interiors, furniture and consumer products. It consists of 100 percent natural, unbleached wood fibres sourced from sustainably managed forests and is manufactured using nothing but water, pressure and heat.
There are two types of Maplex:
Use Maplex C (contour) for maximum bending and forming. Use Maplex P (performance) for maximum stability and strength. This material has twice the bending strength and tensile strength of birch plywood.
Maplex is manufactured in a range of thicknesses from approximately 1mm to 8mm. The manufactured sheet size is approximately 1.6m x 3.15m.
The 1mm board can be laser-cut with fantastically clean, precise results and also works perfectly using hand or machine tools. It is the perfect medium for general purpose modelling, lightweight constructional work or 'wood engineering'. The material is uncoated but may be finished using your choice of paints, stains, varnishes, waxes or veneers.
1mm Maplex P - sheet size 500mm x 750mm.
(The sheet is supplied rough sawn but oversized)...."

At this moment their website is not working (yersterday it was ok : http://www.maplexmaterial.com/) but you can see it at :

- http://www.mutr.co.uk/catalog/produc...oducts_id=1422
- http://www.weidmann-creative.com/dow...guidelines.pdf

Tell me what you think about it, i dream of cutting it with the Mechmate.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Bye,

Pierre.

Pierre,

I called the 800 number in the USA and found out that the company in the USA has had to stop manufacturing the product because the other line they manufacture requires the full use of the board machine that makes the Maplex. I was told that their parent company in Switzerland is adding a machine for production outside of USA.

It is too bad because it looks like a nice product for CNC work.

Thanks for information.

Congrats Pierre. Looking good partner.

Indiana jones and the MAPLEX search !!!!
 

Thanks Doug.

Concerning the Maplex, (the very nice cnc product!) is like you're searching for the Graal ....:confused:

I have phone to Weidmann France and to Swiss : they don't know the product. The answer of the us provider : "....Thank you for your inquiry. Due to unprecedented demand for electrical products and worldwide shortage of the pressboard, Weidmann Electrical Technology is indefinitely suspending the manufacture of its Maplex product line.
We sincerely regret the inconvenience it may cause you.

Irene Goncharenko, Product Manager
[email protected] ...."

I'm waiting news from french technical director of Weidmann France.

Bye,

Pierre

Pierre,

It seems that the company has decided that their first product line is more important so they are going to stop production completely on the Maplex. Maplex looks like it is an excellent product. We can only hope that they add more capabiltiy.

Gazlift make the 4 motors wrong !! ....
 

Gerald,

As newbie, I realize a (big) problem on my machine. I used to use a 15 daN gaslift (thinking buying bigger spindle in few times !!) to balance 8,3 daN of my actual Z axis Mechmate. The result (!!):confused: : 4 motors who ran bad (not fantastic) in 3 axis because of the max power asked by the Z axis (During x axis or y axis movements, the spindle at the bottom point raise up because of the lake of power of the Z motor) )!!!.

As beginner, I didn't realize yet the four motors didn't run separatly and shared the global power of the electronic card. I need to order a new 9 daN gaslift now.

Is it correct ???

Bye,

Pierre.

Pierre, the first people to speak to are TechLF because they designed and supplied your control box.

Yes, it is important that the gaslift is the correct value. But it should not have an effect on all 4 motors.

Air treatment
 

I just would like to share this product reference to treat/quality improve Mechmate workshop air.
The price is quite low ....
My new gaslift works fine now ... Wait for Laurent Fouga (Techlf) visit next week ....

Pierre.

Ref : http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?....cWAT.m240.lVI
or
ref : http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...%3D4%26ps%3D42

I hear a little news that the Techlf visit went well and that wood was cut today. Of course we need the pictures :)

First test
 

Hi all, Hi Gerald,


This the first carving of my machine. Laurent had to do some changes on his software Isa4d because of the mechmate resolution which is a not an integer number (rack module 1). On the big machines he sell, he always have integer numbers resolution. So on next monday, everything will be ok. He was surprise by the 1/10ème precision of the Mechmate (me too !!). This test, A letter on vcarve, was just to test the repetability of the machine to "stay" in the same path ... I was a bit anxious concerning the smooth of the curve lines with direct drive motors but finally it was very good : thank you Vcarve !! ( so why use the expansive geared motors in the low cost process construction of the Mechmate ?) Next week will be the real beginning of my production. Photos will follow quickly .... Laurent want to push the machine on his limit and show that his electronic is the best (joke).... so some videos will come too.

Bye,

Pierre.

Pierre,

Congratulations. Looks like excellent cutting.

Looking great Pierre. Feels good doesn't it?

Congrats Pierre,

Hope to see good videos on youtube!

Congratulations once again!

RGDS
irfan

Hello Pierre.
Welcome to the new cutters club:):eek::confused::confused::):)
You are going to be surprised with the capacities of the beast.
Enjoy

Table level problem.
 

Hello all, Hello Gerald.
Thank you for your comments.

After severals cuts, precision is there even after severals passage on the same path , dimensions are very good from vcarve to Mechmate, but a (big) problem is still there : On a 90cm mdf board lenght, for a drawing with 10mm deep, i have 4mm on the left of the board, no dig in the middle, 2 mm on the right of the board !!(exemple). In fact a big problem of table level or sacrifice board, i suppose.
Do you think i have to put in place a system of feet with a possibility to go up/dowm to find the right level of the Mechmate or do i need to make a complete level routing of the sacrifice table ?

Thanks,

Pierre.

The standard procedure is to do a complete level routing of the whole sacrificial table. This is called "surfacing" the table, or to "surface" the table.

Off course, first check and see if you can find a reason for the 4mm difference. It might have been caused by welding, or differences in dimensions of your X-beams, or your rollers not riding correctly on the rails.

Check that the rails are straight and that the rollers run correctly, then surface the table and forget about the 4mm :)

Pierre,
I believe if you have not leveled your sacrificial board, you must do this to ensure it is flat to the gantry. This might solve your height problem. :)

Gee I see Gerald has beat me to a more elaborate answer. :eek:

Where are the guys who think the steelwork under the table is too heavy? They should be reading here! :)

Our one table catches winter sun through the window in the morning and that moves the table up almost by 1mm as the wood/MDF expands on top of the steel cross-bearers. But a person can walk on the table and it goes down by less than that.

Gerald,

The Mechmate is fantastic after severals cuts and finally, after 3 weeks of difficulties, so easy to use!. Laurent has finished a special "Mechmate version" of isa4d to solve differents problems (he has taken off automatic Z level alert function for more precise machine for exemple to allow us to go throught the sacrifice board !!)). Everything works fine now... I have already jobs with customers i have as supervizor architect : some furnitures inside the project which take month to be finish with local wood craftmen delay ... First euros in few times ... Amazing !.

Thanks, Gerald.

Pierre.

Score. Another happy fellow. :):):):):)

First decorative object
 

Hi everybody, Hi Gerald,

This is my first "business" object i'm going to propose to customer this weekend.... It is a abstract frame drawing who are going to be put in place around a interior wall square opening (8mm MDF).
It is nice now to talk of Mechmate built realisations and possibilities... and let technical problems away for a moment. Maybe a special section in your web site Gerald ?
The only problem i have to solve now, it is the positionning of the vcarve file precisely where i want on the mdf panels, to maximize the wood panel dimensions and not to loose too much material ...

At the moment, i have to stop the Mechmate, waiting for my air treating system : the "powder milk" dust of MDF cut has filled all my workshop and my lungs ask me to stop !.

I would like to thanks Paco too who makes me knowing the Mechmate forum, one year ago now ....

Bye,

Pierre.

Félicitation Pierre, :D
Heureux de voir et savoir que le bonheur est arrivé !!
Best of luck with the future.
Amicalement, Robert

Great Job, fascinating. Goodluck