Alright...here's your glamour shot. I had to clean up the shop quite a bit to get this, so I hope you appreciate it. :)

That's a 4x8 foot sheet of MDF on the table now. There's room for 5x10 foot material later. The dust collector and building up a new PC to run it are next.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7551/...b50b498d_h.jpg

I like the watch-out-i-am-coming paint scheme :D

Well done & clean !
Congrats ;)

Nice Build, Fast too!

Not exactly the fastest build. I've been at it for YEARS. I just posted the photos all at once!

Let's see...I ordered the laser cut parts in June 2009, so that means it only took me 5 1/2 years to finish it.

To me it looks like it took a month to build ;)

Congrats on your build !!! You get SN #123.

Congrats on #123 from #101.

Well done #123.
Enjoy your creation.

Congrats on getting her done! Welcome to the club from #122 :)

Congratulations #123. I have enjoyed your picture progress.

Well done and congratulations #123.
Seems like the numbers are coming faster and faster!
Mark

Builder's Log Update
 

Congratulations on completing Serial #123. Very nicely finished.

Here is the Updated Builder's Log.

Please review and let me know any changes you wish to make.

I determined the start date based on your comment about a year's worth of progress pictures. It's fairly arbitrary. I just try to capture the actual elapsed time of the build, not the preliminaries like getting a copy of the plans and studying the build threads.

Congratulations on your MechMate No 123. 100 MechMates later

Congratulations.

coolant pump and radiator working just fine!
 

Well here we are a year and a half later and the pump is still working, as is the cooling fan/radiator. I have to blow out dust periodically, but no other issues have manifested. :)

UPDATE from #123

Coming up on two years of uptime as a nearly-every-day production CNC router.

Things I have learned:

- WEAR A RESPIRATOR, especially when cutting MDF, exotic woods or plastics. The dust collector helps, but it doesn't catch everything. You don't want to get sensitized to dust. Trust me on this.

- Check the set screws on those pinions about once a month. Use some blue threadlocker on them. I've had a few jobs get ruined because of this.

- Check the Z-slide eccentric bearings occasionally. They do loosen and wander a bit over time.

- Those expensive bits and the good-quality plywood are worth the extra money. They will save you countless hours sanding and fixing bad cuts. I use void-free baltic birch almost exclusively.

- Installing the 110v outlet on the Y car was a really good idea. I get a lot of use out of it when I need to use a handheld sander or oscillating tool (great for cutting parts out of a sheet when using tabs).

I'll post some photos soon. I've been making a LOT of things!

I would recommend a Clear Vue cyclone or building your own Pentz cyclone. A respirator is always a good idea. Make sure you are doing a fresh air exchange in the cutting area. Use a spray bottle to mist the air with water and mop the floor daily. Water will help with breaking down the particles in air and on the floor. I even went as far as to purchase a cv06 mini for my wet dry vac. I have found this drastically reduces the dust problem that we all should be paying attention to.

The Z slide loosening, I had that as well when i used that design. I totally agree about the more expensive brazed or solid carbide cutters. Worth their weight in gold.

Haven't tried misting the shop with water yet. Will give that a try. Not sure I want to spray the air though - that would be bad for my lathe and table saw.

I do have a cyclone - an Oneida dust deputy hooked up to a ShopFox 220v dust collector. It works pretty well but like I said, it doesn't catch everything. Unfortunately I can't vent it outside so the next best thing would be for me to get some big HEPA filters on it. Working on that next!

The biggest problem is that I am in a big shared warehouse space with other artists & scene shops, so even if I created zero dust, I would still be getting it from my neighbors.

You would not regret a Pentz cyclone. I would say trust me but it made an astonishing difference with cutting MDF for me. The water spritz method was told to me by an old timer that sanded drywall for years.

You might consider adding some good filters like Pentz recommends (Wynn is the supplier he suggests if I remember right.) https://wynnenv.com/woodworking-filters/

Phill my name is Don Gilman and I live close by in Simi Valley. I have been thinking about building a Mechmate for over 2 years. Your machine looks great. Do you thing it would be possible to come by your shop a take a look a your build and maybe give me some pointers before a pull the trigger a start my build.