Congrats with the kitchen table project :)

We need to see some pictures though ;)

Ries

I'll get some pictures taken as soon as I figure out where my kids hid (lost)the camera.:mad:

Great, looking forward to it !

I finally got out to the Steel salvage yard to dig around for what I need. I managed to find suitable steel for everything but the rails and the gantry. It'll take some clean up before paint but a good deal at $ .45 a lb. My son was nice enough to haul it all home in his Jeep there.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...chMate/010.jpg
820 lbs there. Plus some tubing I already had.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...chMate/012.jpg
Figuring out how to cram all this stuff into this box.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...chMate/013.jpg


http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...chMate/014.jpg

Future home of my MM

Hey « Bum » !!?
Good luck on this build.
Envy you as your sun sure look to be quite helpful….
These jeeps can really haul…. :p
Amicalement, Robert ;)

You need a bigger radio on the wall once the MM starts cutting :D

I learned a couple things today.
#1 Working on steel is sloooooow going.
#2 I'm not very good at steel work.
I did manage to make some progress though.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...chMate/007.jpg

Rails are cut and laid out.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...chMate/005.jpg


I got the legs cut and drilled and the weld plates cut and drilled.(which are being used as spacers at the moment) I got one set of legs squared up and started to tack them in place when I ran out of Argon.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...chMate/006.jpg

I'm not a very good welder but I should be able to get this together.
Tomorrow I'll drill the bottoms of the channels and get the legs finished up.

Bum: Looking good. Keep it up and thanks for the pics.

Joe

Your welding looks fine to my eye. keep up the work.

One tip, welding WILL deform the steel, don't weld more then 40mm or 1.5in in a go, helps taming serious metal deformation.

Made a little progress today. Got the holes drilled and tapped for cross supports and started welding everything together.

I spent most of the day chasing that little guy away from my work area. He loves tools but is too young to understand the dangers and grabs anything in sight, So I have to flip the breaker for the Welder when I want to use it, then if I'm going to set down the torch, turn the breaker back off. Plug in Grinder to use, then unplug. etc.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...rs/day2003.jpg

Alway good to be safe!!

Spindle arrived today. I was wondering why it took 2 weeks for them to ship this out. After seeing all the tape on the packaging they clearly needed all 2 weeks to get it wrapped up.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...spindle001.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...spindle002.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...spindle003.jpg

I wonder why these holes are drilled on the collet nut? balance?

My Doctor gave me the OK to go back to work yesterday http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...s/Applause.gif so the progress on my MM will be slowed to weekend work. But now I'll be able to afford the bigger radio for the wall.http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...ars/Drinky.gif I should be able to finish up my table this weekend depending on rain. Maybe I'll get enough done on it to get my thread moved to construction started ;)

Hi Bum

Just a quick suggestion about your planned placement of the stepper drivers while you are still in the design phase. The slotted face of the driver is also a heat sink. If you were to put that against the plastic backplate of the control box it would limit the heat transfer from the driver. A (slightly) raised alloy plate heat sink similar to the one Gerald uses for the Gecko drives might also work for you if there is enough depth to the control box.

Regards
Ross

I mounted them that way so 2 fans will blow air along the fins of the heat-sinks. It may not be ideal but Space is limited in this box.

H Bum

That is a good practice as you suggest, please refer to my build thread and you will see that I have used a similar driver configured as you have with two fans blowing along the face of the driver.

The bracket for the fans is made of a simple piece of alloy angle with a few pieces taken out with a hole saw. One issue with my design is that the fans blow the rising hot air back down, but this was a case of what fitted best and stayed clear of the wires.

The slotted alloy base of the driver will retain heat unless it is given a path to escape (the plastic back plate is acting as an insulator). Mounting the drivers on an alloy plate raised say 20mm above the plastic backplate will significantly increase heat dissipation. Your fans can blow between the plate as well as over the drivers to get the best of both cooling scenarios.

Regards
Ross

I see what your saying. The backplate is steel in my box and raised about a 1/2" from the box, so I thought the dissipation through the steel plate would be adequate when combined with the fans.

Apologies Bum, the photo looked like the plate was white plastic, so the steel backplate you have chosen is of course very suitable. Well I'm off to the optometrist for a new pair of specs !!

Regards
Ross

I have a fan controller from an old gaming rig that has 4 temp displays on it. I think I may throw it in this computer and put a sensor on each driver, so I can monitor each one individually from the computer.

No, It does look like plastic now that I look back at the photo. You think I should grind the white paint off under the drivers and maybe add some thermal compound?

Great idea on the thermal compound, I have seen others use it on the Gecko's.
So the back plate was painted, there is an explanation for most things, so yes remove it and provide a more direct pathway for the heat.

With respect to the temp sensors, I am a big fan of monitoring esp when you are uncertain of outcomes. That's the thing once you have measured you "know" then you can dismiss the issue as not important or needing further attention.

And - your build is going very well, enjoy the process.

Regards
Ross

Rain Rain Rain and more Rain. I spent most of the weekend messing around with cad/cam software (trying to learn).
I did however manage to shove everything in my garage to one corner to make some room and get the MM out of the rain. I have some welding and a lot of drilling to do yet but it's getting there.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...te/day5003.jpg

Looking good! Keep em coming!

Good progress Jay!

I have comparable drivers, and they rarely get very warm.

http://www.driver-motor.com/ProductContent.aspx?ID=59

Be careful of your back when you move that beast to its permanent home. :eek:

Jeff, if you don't mind me asking, how much were these drivers a piece?

I ran into a good deal on a air cooled spindle here locally so I am going to sell off the 2.2kw with the vfd that I got on ebay. If anyone is going to be buying one of these PM me and well work out a deal on this one.

Wow your practically a neighbor considering how far away some other memebers are:) I live in Belvidere NJ. About 2 hours from you.

Good job on the build so far:)

Thanks you the comments guys.
My back is killing me the past week, so I'm taking it easy and just put-sing with small stuff this weekend. I need to take my table apart and flip it over so I can template the rails but it's going to have to wait until I feel a bit stronger. :(