DB yes its a little mag clamp makes keeping the tap nice and square. picked it up online from these guys http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/

Paulo I was born and raised on a farm that was in the middle of nowhere, the closest shop 3 1/2hr drive so we had to fend for ourselves most of the time. The farm I am now on is only 10min from town but still have all the tools on hand in the shed.

I guess I will have to see if they ship overseas. I can't seem to find anywhere in the US that carries them.

DB that would have to be a first having to ship tools from Aus. to USA.

I think I have tracked down the original manufacturer at


http://www.chengkuan.com.tw/eng_prod...o=200912150030

but I would probably have to buy a hundred of them.

I am Doing it Cheap
 

Here is one on ebay for 158.12

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAYTON-2XUV5...item4ac3726c68

Here is one from Grizzly for 92.95

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G8748

Amazon for 129.90

http://www.amazon.com/ezMachineTools...d_sim_sbs_hi_2

The one I like best is a 2x4 with a hole drilled in it. If you want to get fancy put a hollow tube in the board as a guide. Mine fits in a drawer or hangs on the wall or fits in the trash can when I am done. But as a tool collector I still want one.

Power supply
 

Well the time has come to start with the electrics so if some kind person would like to look over my work and point out the errors, I must have some.
I am building a 4 axis machine with motion king 9802 motors all round
2.2kw spindle and VFD
I am planning to use PMDX 126 with ESS and 2 PMDX 133 for Gecko 203v hookup
PMDX 145 for pendant
PMDX 107 for VFD control
Now power supply ?????
So 9802 motors have 2.4mh inductance wired uni-polar (which I must do to keep them within specs for the geckos)
Voltage = 32*sqr2.4 = 49vdc
Plus 20% as per Gerald recommendations = 61vdc
VA “watts” = 5 motors @ 5A = 25A peck
I need 67% = 16.7A
VA = 16.7A * 61vdc = 1018VA
I don't feel comfortable making one:eek: so from the Antek web site I would need a PS-10N56 or a PS-10N63
How am I going so far?:confused:
I am leaning toward the 10N56R5R12. I believe I don’t need the 5vdc and 12vdc outputs at this stage as the 126 board will run from 240v mains. And it will then power the other boards and proximity switches. But my thinking is that it is easier to put it in now for future needs add-on etc.
Enough questions for now I don’t want my head to explode!

I doubt you will ever have full power used. The 5 and 12 would be a nice option and many here have done that. I used a separate 24V power supply though for my signals. I did this to eliminate contamination of the power source. The 126 supports 24V controls for the inputs which is nice as it opens up to the market of industrial add-ons.

I have an Antek 56V 1000W powering 5 steppers. 2 at 6.3A and 3 at 3.5A

Well thank you Pete, you have put my mind at ease I will be able to sleep sound tonight.

One week down.
 

I don't think I will see as much progress over the next week as I did in this first one of my build. next up will be the gantry but have to wait for the laser kit to show up before much of that can be done. An few if any of the electrics are on hand so that is off the cards as well. Well will just have to spend the time ready...
The flanges on my main beams are not square so I leveled and clamped the top flanges to straight edges before welding on the legs. Maybe this will help down the track when leveling my V tracks. I do like my saw it makes cutting multiple parts quick and easy. And at the end of the week I have a base frame all made ready to be flipped onto its feet.

Rolled it over on its feet today. Put the straight edge across the top. Main beams are good and straight end to end. The flanges are good and parallel across the ends, put in the middle not so. In the picture it looks to be a huge twist but with feelers it is only 0.5mm. So I think, I should be able to just shim the V rails when I come to that. Well at least I hope that is the case and I don't have to try and take the twist out.
Had my friendly electrician come visit today. We went over the electrical plans. He is very interested in building one now as well with a plasma in to cut out his control panels. So my be able to come to some arrangement in regards to some cheap electrical parts.

Slow Week
 

Well not a lot of physical progress this week. I have been waiting for the laser kit to arrive. They must be taking the tourist route around Oz as Rick has sent them a while back. Well it has given me time to do some more ready and study of other builds. I had an electrician mate go over the plans and then we went through his shed of leftover parts from other jobs and managed to collect all but a box, and isolation switch and the shielded cable. My power supply showed up yesterday. I had taken a bit of a hit in freight. I think it is just the main plate hurt, with all components still looking good, so just a little panel beating.

On the build side I did put some jock wheels on and drill and tap all my v rails ready for the grinder skate when it shows.

The week that was.
 

Well show and tell time.
My laser kit arrived this week so the Y gantry and Z car have been welded. I am very happy with how they came out, both look to sit down nice and flat and square. Cutting started on the rails. The piece of chip board that I used for the setup started to catch fire from the sparks, so added a little shield. I cleaned my local bearing supplies out of the 6001 bearings for the skate setup for the 45 grinds, so that will have to wait. They only had 6 in stock. Will start work on the z slide and spider next week, well that is the plan. irrigating the cotton crop is taking a lot of my time at the moment.

Nice photos.
No Castlemaine xxxx tins available ?
:D

Looking Good!!

You certainly are moving along nicely.

Al it is a bit sad to admit but I don't drink. In fact I had to get this can from the mother-in-law. She saved be a pile of them ready to shim the rails in a week or two.
Pete I know I originally said Easter finish but I am going to work on end of Christmas break. I think the only thing that will stop me is if I have forgotten to purchase some bit and I can't get it local and has to be freighted in.

Snowing here, warm there. The warmer temperature definitely helps when you are building. I built mine over the winter months here, had to space things out between snow falls. I don't think you will have much of a problem with that. :)

This week I managed to finish cutting down the rails and then grind the V on all four. The grinding of the V is such I simple and smooth operation with the skate. Don't know what I was worried about! I fitted some wheels and quickly discovered that not only did my gantry and car sit down perfectly flat, (had also been worried about twist) but also I need stop blocks.
They glide along very smooth and with very little effort I could send them straight off the end of the rails. Claps for now but stop block are next on the list.
Have started work on the Z and spider. One thing lacking in my workshop is a metal lath, so am waiting on a local machine shop to turn up the spacer blocks for the rollers on the spider. Hoping I get them before the Christmas break.
A little off topic but added a picture of my work shop. You guys might like to show your own ( like checking out other sheds).
I know I have access to a nice shop but really you could make one of these things with just a couple of tools. welder, grinder, drill and tap.

Now that's what I call a workshop.
That will have to go on my Christmas list.
My own work space is a bit more modest, my back balcony.

Yes get the stops on, this thing gets heavy very quickly.

The steel work is almost done.
Worked on the Z this week, after waiting 3 weeks for the v roller spacers to be turned up by a local shop. So welded on spacers and nuts, arranged a surfacing jig ( old tile and sandpaper) a little felt pen on the spacers and about 20min later all looks pretty good. It took a little while to get the gas strut and stops in the correct positions but I think they now work like they should. My gas strut will not lift the spindle all the way back to the top. But it is my understanding that it is there to stop the Z falling when power to the motor is cut. If so then mine does what it is ment for.
I got my 4th axis ( jet lathe ) mounted at the far end of the bed. At the moment I have the centre of axis level with top of table. Don't know if this is the best hieght but time will tell.
Just a couple of small jobs left before a strip down and paint.

Then Electrics?????

can't wait to see how you integrate the lathe into your machine.

I can't wait to see how I do it as well.
At the moment I have no more of and idea then to say I want to do it. Details yet to be worked out or even on.

You could make it so it rotated out of the way so the table would have the extra length. Nothing more than large taper pins needed for the rotation up alignment then work out the small details of attaching the extended table. Most likely most of your work will be flat and not rotary so I would work with the idea of having the best of both.

Pete when I first laid out the size of machine I add 200mm to the length so the lathe can stay in place permanent and still have a 1200x2400 cut table. The parts I have not worked out yet is the drive system. (motor, belt reduction and control within mach3)

Quick question! What size electrical boxes should I be looking at for the gantry and Z car. Looks like it could be a challenge to fit some of the wiring.

Look for the tall ones, you can stuff a lot of things inside

http://www.tayee-electric.com/attach...iew/611164.jpg

Mine on the Z car houses 4 pushbuttons and a motor connection in one :) along with some switch for led light around spindle

Mich, what all are you going to be including at this junction. I have the usual three buttons on mine. I purchased my setup from Metalhead. The box is just the right size for what I have. If you are using larger gage wire or have additional wires being routed you may want to consider something larger. I have seen pictures in the forum where people are using different size to do this.

I prefer E3PB or E4PB by Hoffman but any steel enclosure would work fine. Some use plastic (abs or poly) but my experience with those is while they are inexpensive they do break easily compared to steel (not unlike comparing the 22mm to the 30.5mm buttons, you can abuse the 30.5, I have seen hammers used for actuating, a 22mm will not take that abuse). A E3PB will give you 1 30.5mm Emergency Stop and 2 30.5mm push buttons on the face then you can use multiple 12mm or 14mm push buttons from places like McMaster-Carr like catalog number 6915K24. Or you can get a sealed box and use an Emergency stop and the 14mm for everything else (ie jog controls, hold, start, etc), your only limit is the capabilities of the number of inputs you can have. If you are using LPT then you will have a very limited number of inputs. Hope this helps. In the end the choice it yours and the minimum buttons I would look for is 3 with a minimum depth of 2.75"(70mm)

BIGGER the better, I put my sensor relays in one of mine. There is never enough room.

Al

Go as big as you can afford, there is never a control penal too big :)

Progress has been slow for the last week or so. Hard to get much done when it is 45deg C.
So all that I have to report is that I now have paint on all main parts. Sorry but this farm is John Deere from front gate to back gate and I just couldn't bring myself to having Ford blue in my shed so John Deere green it is..
It was a tight fit getting the MATE into my wood shed but it is now it its final home and re-assembly is under way. Then I suppose I will have run out of reasons not to work on the electrics...

Looks Great, Love the John Deere green!

Love it Mich, well done. I am going to steal your jockey wheel idea, easier to implement than casters.

The electronics aren't scary at all, you'll have them nailed in no time and be wondering what all the fuss was about :)

Bruce I was well pleased with the jockey wheels today it was the first time I had tried to use them, and was able to manoeuvre it around with ease.
As far as the electrics go, I plan to mount all hardware elements and then with laptop open on the forum (for all the hints and pointers) fully wire in each component one at a time. I was telling sparky the other day, that I would get it working but it may not be pretty, but that didn't matter as no one was going to see it other then me (and the few hundred on this site). He tells me he will, because he wants to make his own..

Awesome color!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yep need yellow pinstripes

Hurshy the yellow MechMate logos and pin strips are on the shelf. They will go on when all is running and dust is flying.

Cool!!!