Pawn Shops are a good place to get grinders. I got one the other day for 40 bucks and it is a Milwalkee. I guess I need to offer a line of grinders :D

IMHO, its not the grinder problem... Pushing anything too hard too far for too long will guarantee magic smoke. :)

My grinder survived the rail grinding ordeal & still provide reliable service today.

Just don't let the spark trail go any longer than 3ft, everything will be dandy.

I got my casters mounted today, now I'm able to move the MM around and I can get it outside to prime and paint. Got the Y rails and clamp strips drilled. I'll grind them tomorrow. Will try the sand paper glued to a disc.

Gary, nice work.

one suggestion, weld plates on the sides of the U that the wheels are bolted to, hit one small bump while moving the machine sideways and they could fold over.

The sandpaper is not glued to the disk, use the standard sanding disk but have a grinding disk as a backup not the normal rubber back up pad one would use with the sanding disks.

Thanks for the suggestion on the wheel mounts Alan. I went back and looked at them and I beleive they will hold up. They are about 3/16" thick, three times thicker than the casters. The casters will probably fail first. I rolled the frame around the shop over the expansion joints in the concrete and didn't notice any flex in the mounts or the casters. I probably will never move it once I set it up.

I couldn't find any sanding discs with backers of any kind that would fit the grinder (not much places in town to buy from, I usually have to travel about 60 miles to find anything).

I did finish grinding my Y rails and both the X & Y rails are finished and I'm pleased with the results. I'm realy glad that part is over. Hopefully the laser cut kit from Mike will arive soon so I can get most of the mechanical assembly finished. I have ordered my V-rollers from Rick at Superior Bearing with the bushings. I ordered extra concentric and ecentric bushing with the idea of using them on the gantry and Y car. I haven't seen anyone do this and without seeing the gantry and Y car I don't know if it will work, but I will have the bushings just in case.

What has everyone been using to clean the bare metal with before priming and painting? The coating on the metal is really nasty and I'll be glad to get it cleaned and primed. My wife will be happy when my clothes are a little cleaner after working in the shop.

Thanks to Gerald for the great plans. It really saves time and money by not having to do it by trial and error. I'll really need this group when I start with the electonics. I'm trying to decide which steppers (will use 3-1 belt reduction) to get. My plan is to use the PMDX 126, Geckodrive G203V, and An AnTek prebuilt power supply.

Thanks, Gary

Gary ,

I can assist you on the electrics also. Just let me know. I have wire, 20x20x10 box, DIN rails etc. I also have motors and can get all the other items.

Mill scale can be a headache in your case, if you are an idealist, you can sand blast the scale off to white metal, but IMHO, don't see any benefit in doing anything more than a quick power brush.
For metal preparation, I gave the steel a power brush treatment with my trusty grinder, blow-off the dust & debris with a blow gun than rub it down with soap water+rag, & finally paint thinner+rag to remove possible oil stains. :)
For the electronics, if you are like me, an electronic idiot, you should read up as much as you could while waiting for the laser parts... Even if you buy a complete kit for the electronics, you'll still need to do plenty of learning before getting on the way.

You can wash it down with a degreaser like GUNK. Or wipe it down with some other solvent like Paint Thinner. When you get to painting I always recommend a smalll foam roll brush and a small plastic paint cut. This way you con toss the disposables at the end of each day.

Thanks for the metal prep info. I plan to do some priming this coming weekend. My 2 X 4 tubing for the gantry came in this afternoon so I will pick it up after work tomorrow.

Mike, I'll get with you soon on the electronics. Which motors do you stock? Also any date when the laser cut parts will be in?

The photo is a test cut I did tonight into a scrap piece of 24" X 16" plywood. I will do the final cut into a piece of oak the same size but about 2" thick. The person I'm cutting it for is going to inlay it into a church kitchen counter top. I drew it up in VCarve Pro and used a 60 degree v-bit and a 1/4" spiral end mill. With the MM I can do much larger projects:cool:

Gary

I'm going to cut my Y tubing tomorrow after work and would like to verify the cut lenght.

My measurement from outside edge to outside edge of the C channel on the table is 66" (Y cutting width 49" + 17" = 66").

If I'm reading the drawing correctly for the Y tubing cut (Y cutting width 49" + 19.7" =68.7").

I shoud cut them to a lenght of 68.7" (68.75"). That is 2.75" wider than the outside measurement of the C channels.

I just don't want to cut a $85.00 tube too short, plus the fact it was ordered for me because it was not a stock item where I purchased it from.

Thanks
Gary

Gary,
You are on the right track. the Y-tubes length are correct.

Friday evening UPS drove up and delivered the laser cut kit from Mike and the V-rollers from Superior Bearings. Thanks guys. I built the grantry and Y-car today and hope to get the cable brackets mounted and start on the paint tomorrow. Any volunteers for the painting, I hate to paint. Here are a few pics.

Finished painting my main pieces this past week but haven't done any work this weekend. My wife just retired and is doing hand turned pottery full time now. We ordered a tent this past week for her to use at craft shows and we decided to practice putting it up Sat. morning. Well in the process of assembling the poles I pulled my back and can't hardly move around.

I did a post in the motor section today to get feed back on my selections. Feel free to comment. I don't want to make an expensive mistake on things I don't know about.

I just noticed that I have the grantry turned the wrong way:D

Purdy :D. Take care of that back !!!

Here is a list of materials used on my build so far:

1 ea: 8" C-Chanel........................Top Supports

3 ea: 3" C-Chanel........................Spoil Board Support

1 ea: 2" Sq Tubing 1/4" wall thickness...................Legs

7 ea: 1-1/2" Sq Tubing.......................Framing

1 ea: 2" X 4" Tubing...........................Granty

2 ea: 2-1/2" X 2-1/2" X 1/4" Angle Iron (couldn't get 2-1/2 X 2).........Rails

Scrap pieces for closing 8" C-Chanel 1/4" thick

Scrap pieces for bottom of legs 3/8" thick

Scrap 5" tubing cut in half for casters to bolt to

4 ea: all metal medium duty casters

Laser cut kit and belt reducer plates from Mike

V-Rollers from Superior Bearings

Yep, either that never ware out or a GUARANTEED for at least 2 MM builds :D

Hmm. I'm thinking maybe a water cooling setup for the grinder that can be reused for the spindle once the machine is built?

Or a spindle based grinder for getting the job done in a third the time? ;)

(Safety note: never exceed the rated speed of a grinding disk or cutting wheel, they can become shrapnel).

Water cooled grinder sounds like the way to go. I need water cooling for myself, it's just too hot to do much. I got a little more done today, rail stops made and installed, idler bearing shaft made and the six standoffs for the Z plate bearing.

Mike, if you read this do you know the center to center dimension between the stepper pulley and the driven pulley in the belt reducer plates I got from you? I calculated 2-7/8 inches with them close together before tensioning.

Gary

In the typical spindle, the only copper windings are in the stator coils and the water jacket can be close to that - water cooling works here.

In a budget hand grinder, the rotor is also wound with copper wire, and you can't get water cooling in there.

Simply buy high quality grinders with high rated power outputs and then don't overload them. The folk who have burned grinders are in the minority - most of us don't burn them.

Any grinder can last for ever, as long as you don't over load them or dip them into a bucket of water for cooling... :p

Got the rails and track mounted today and discovered that the Y-car is hitting the stop blocks. Will have to grind about an 1/8" off the car at the spots it is hitting. I order a lenght of 1/2 drill rod to use in the gearbox builds. Cold roll 1/2" rod is .001" under and I didn't like the fit of the pinions and bearing on it, just felt too loose for me. Hopefully the drill rod will arrive the first of the week and I'll get started on them.

Gary

Almost ready to make some dust real soon!

Can we see a few more shots of the stop blocks? You should not need to shim them out. What OM Motors are those? I may have missed that earlier in the thread?

Gary,
Note that the stop blocks for the Y CAR and the X Gantry are DIFFERENT heights. Noted in the drawings, you will find they are about 1/4" lower than the others.

Sean,

Your right, I used the X rail measurements for all of my stops:eek: Instead of redoing them I just grinded the the Y car to clear them. This afternoon I have found another problem, the idler bearing lacks about 1/16" contacting the bottom of the angle rail. The stub shaft is hitting the bottom of the Y car. I made the stub shaft per drawing and have the correct bearing. I may have to grind this area of the Y car too. Any thoughts?

Mike,

The motors are PK299-4.5A. I'm going to go 3 to 1 belt reduction (60 tooth and 20 tooth gears) with a 20 tooth pinion.

Gary

The idler bearing clearance is very close to begin with if all goes well. Did you place the pivot end of the swing arm in the right hole? The rail grinding height has a direct impact on this clearance. If you ended up with 1.2 inches instead of 1.125, then that sounds about right (I know - I was off by just a little) Just grind a little "crescent" area where the shaft impacts the y-car. Very common "adjustment"

Sean,

I did as you suggest and the contact is good with the rail now. I was curious as to my rail height so I miked them and have a height of 1.107".

Gary

Sounds like your fine.
A little bit here and there can add up to the difference.
I wouldn't lose any sleep over it!

I've been busy again this weekend. Got three fo my gearboxes welded up. I'm waiting to do the last one because I may have to change the angle a little.

Mike, I cut the tabs off of the gear box plates made spacer jigs and then welded new tabs to them. I also bored the bearing holes to fit larger bearings (1/2" ID X 1-3/4" OD). I'm using drill rod for the pinion shafts. I used the drill rod through the bearings to do my alignment before welding.

They were throwing out cable chain at work so I was able to get two rolls. I have enough left over to probably do four more MM. There were no ends so I made them out of aluminum angle.

Mike could you let me know what wire you have and the price.

Throwing out Cable chain? I'll buy some! Send me a PM if interested.

Cable 20 Gauge - F-CY-JZ - Helukabel

8 core 1.37 per foot
4 core .93 per foot

I sell it in lenghts

85 foot of the 8 Core - $116.45
170 foot of the 4 core - $158.10

No cut charge

Shipping $25.00

I can add length to the amounts if needed. I just order it so I have these "kit" lenghts.

Got a question about the wire run to the router. Is it OK to to run ext. cord wire such as 16ga (16/2 w/ground) or do I need to use a shielded wire?

Thanks, Gary

No shield necessary, but I would recommend 14 gauge MIN. for the router. This is a high current device and has high starter current draw.

Parts from Mike to start kitchen table project:)

Antek and PMDX goodies:cool:

Getting started on the kitchen table project:D

Your a machine !!! Looks great !!

Well after my reading mistake, see motor post, I'm back on track. My wife said I was spending too much time in the shop:confused: Got the gearboxes finished and installed, pulled the wiring less limit swithches, and mounted the control box. Tomorrow this baby will move on it's own. Still have to build the Z assembly. My tool steel plate came in but UPS must have used it for pry bar:eek: Will try to straighten as soon as the wiring is complete.

Love the way you expose the heat sink fins to the atmosphere.
Free up lots of real estate in the control panel too. I like!

Got the idea from the PMDX web site. Will not require a cooling fan with this set up. I originally planned to include the computer in the cabinet but am undecided now. May try it later. When I get the Z assembly built I will be using a router at first but will get a spindle to quiten the MM down.

Gary