Well, I am waiting on the UPS truck anytime now. They will be bringing me my relays and stuff from Factorymation so I can get the control box done and make the motors turn (hopefully). I haven't been able to get much done on the welding end of things. I am working out at my brother's shop and it isn't always empty for me to use whenever I want. So, anyway I have the sides of the table almost complete, I just need to weld in the uprights and cut the angle pieces and weld them in. I was going to squash the top end of the uprights a little before I weld them, because the channel I am using for the main longitudinals has a flange width of a little over 2" and the pipe I am using is about 2.5" OD. Anyway, I attached a pic of what I was up to tonight.

John
Attachment 774

Looking good John. Moving those side assemblies around is quite a chore isn't it? They are top heavy and I almost hurt myself the first time I picked up the end of one.

I'll agree with Doug,

I did strain "something". I bought ($15 USD) a set of engineered drawings for a 1.5 ton gantry crane. fabricating that gantry was one of the best thing I ever did. Very nice when it came time to flip the base table over.

Yeah, they weigh up pretty good. I am trying to imagine how I'm going to get the thing out of my brother's shop and into my garage after it's all welded and painted...:eek:

John,

I had the same concerns about how to move this beast by myself when needed. That's one of the reasons why I went with rectangular tubing. I bought some pneumatic tires (casters) from Northern Tool so I can bolt on to the bottom tube.

Now that I've got the picture downloading figured out :o I'll post some pictures when the "rig" is finished.

John,

Although I haven't actually done it yet, I plan to use an engine hoist to lift one end and then back a car hauler trailer under it. Then, I'll lower the lifted end onto the trailer and back up and lift the rear and shove her onto the trailer.

I've actually swapped the MM end for end, by myself, in my garage. To do it, I used a hydraulic jack to raise each leg and then placed a PVC end cap under each foot. The hard plastic PVC allowed me to push it around on the smooth concrete garage floor. However, I have to admit that I was huffing and puffing by the time I finished.

Thanks for the input guys, those are both good ideas. On another note, I was wondering about the 5VDC output on the power supply. I was going to power the PMDX-122 with it but was wondering if it would be enough. Yesterday I bought a 12VDC wall-wart power supply to power the 12VDC fan that I am going to mount under the Geckos. I had planned on wiring in a 115VAC plug in on the inside of the enclosure to accept the 12V P/S and was wondering if I could just power the PMDX and the fan with it. It's output is 1.5A 12VDC. Do you think it would be enough to power both?

John

I was reading the pmdx manual and it stated that the supply to the board should only be 7 to 12VDC or 9VAC @ 200mA on the J8 screw connector. My 12VDC power supply will supply 1.5A does that mean that I can not use it? The fan uses 12VDC @ .16A, and the board at 200mA, does that mean I have too much power or just ample supply?:confused:

John

John,

I think that means you have an ample supply but I'm not your best source when it comes to electronics expertise.

John, it should work fine. Using only about a quarter of the 1.5amp capacity of the wall-wart.:

Fan 0.16amp (160 milliamp)
PMDX 0.2amp (200 milliamp)
Total 0.36amp (360 milliamp)
Capacity 1.5amp (1500 milliamp)

Thanks, I'm not exactly an electrical engineer. But I'm learning. :)

John

The current supply (Amps) of a power supply must be equal to or greater than the current draw of all the devices attached to it. The power supply does not force current into the attached devices, instead, the devices draw current from the power supply as needed.

I try to always have excess current available so that the power supply runs cooler, but excess capacity usually means larger size and greater cost.

Well, I tried my hand at wiring today. Tried to get the "Kitchen Table Project" going. I didn't get a chance to wire the motors or power to the geckos, but I have the contactor working properly and the fan and PMDX power are working too. It turns on when I hit the green button and it shuts off when I hit the red one and there's no smoke. :) It's a start, I'll try to get the motors turning tomorrow.
Attachment 831

John, I see a solid state relay, probably for the router. Just be aware that some electronically controlled routers/drills (powertools) will not be turned on by a SSR. They don't give suffiecient load to the SSR in the beginning - a bulb/lamp in parallel cures that. Personally, I prefer another contactor to do the router switching.

Hey John,
Let me guess… getting to sleep took more than average time yesterday!!
Sure look exiting for you, wishing you as good of result w/motors.

John,

Have you tried to place your back panel into the enclosure with all of those components in position? I think you're going to have a hard time when you do. Also, most of the guys raise their DIN rail off the back panel so that wires can pass under it and they move it up more toward the top of the panel. My DIN rail was several inches from the bottom edge and I still had a difficult time inserting the cable wires into the bottom connections of the DIN rail mounted terminals.

Thanks for the critique guys. It surprises me that a router doesn't draw enough power to keep the SSR on. The specs on this particular SSR says that the Min. Load Current to Maintain On would be 120 mA. There is also the real possibility that I don't know what I'm talking about. :) This is the link to the specs on the particular SSR that I have. http://magnecraft.thomasnet.com/item...=prod&filter=0

Thanks for the good wishes Robert, the UPS truck came yesterday so sleep was secondary in my mind. :)

Doug, I haven't yet tried to lay the panel in the back of the box, but according to my measurements it should fit with 2" clearance on the sides and 1" clearance top and bottom. My enclosure has removable panels that I am going to use for extra accessibility to the terminal blocks, etc. I am going to raise the DIN rail up a bit, the picture shows my temporary setup for the "kitchen table project". The panel is not going to be easily removable anyway, as I am mounting a 115VAC receptacle on the side of the enclosure to accept the power supply for the fan and the PMDX board.
I am a long way from getting the panel wired the way I want it to be. Thanks for all the comments. :)

John

John, If you use your SSR with the Milwaukee router that's recommended in the router thread, it will work okay. That's the setup I have. I can't guarantee any other router will work though.

Motors are Turning
 

OK thanks Doug. I haven't gone router shopping yet so that can be a consideration for later. I HAVE THE MOTORS TURNING! Everything is running smoothly and is nice and cool. No smoke.
I have a question about the signal that turns the router on and off though. I am using the aux. out #14 on the PMDX to control the SSR. I have the correct pin set up in "Ports and Pins" in Mach3, but when I enable "Active Low" there is no response from the SSR. When I disable "Active Low" the light (router) comes on and stays on. It doesn't seem to matter if the program sends an M3, M4 or M5, theres no response. I'm a little confused as to how this works. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks John

Look at posts 46 to 55 in this thread
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218

Problem solved! Thanks Gerald!

John

A functional Ratsnest
 

It all works. Now to get the table done.
Attachment 836

Picked up the laser cut parts today, got some misc electrical hardware (Neutrik XLR connectors, buttons and enclosures). My daughter is out for the weekend, so I will probably not do much on the Mechmate. Going skiing instead. Hope you all have a good weekend.

John

Well today I welded most of the table together. Just need to cut and weld the Longitudinal angle supports. I had a bit of a screwup today though. When I welded the main Longitudinal beams to the cross supports I was careful in keeping them exactly parallel to each other, things were going great. But, when I welded in the end cross bearer I rechecked the beams and now from one end to the other there is a 3/16" discrepancy. I was wondering if I should cut the table apart to fix this or could I just remedy the problem when I attach the X-rails. Is this a huge problem?

John

It should be okay as it is.

I was doing a little research today on routers and the different starting and control systems that they have and I have deduced that it is only the "Soft Start" routers that have the problems with the SSR. I can't find any amperage numbers for the initial starting sequence, but, from what I gather, the amperage is slowly increased electronically to reduce the startup torque. The Porter-Cable 690 has a "Hard Start", as does the DeWalt 610 and the Milwaukee 5680. The Bosch 1617EVS has soft start and variable speed, so I would be suspicious of using this router with a SSR. I haven't tested any of this theory, but it was just an idea I had that might help other members to choose a router if they had decided to go with a solid state relay.

John

Gerald,
I believe the makita router you have used on one of your machines has the soft start. Do you use it with an SSR? How do you start your routers or spindles?

Routers are started with a contactor, used as a relay.

Spindle needs a tiny signal to the VFD to start it - the relay on the PMDX-122 is used to provide that signal.

Gerald,

Don't you need a SSR when using a spindle? If not what do you need. I thought you had a SSR in your Controller Box.

Spindle is driven by a VFD, an electronic device that needs a puny signal. You don't even need a relay, one of the parallel port pins will start it direct. (A transistor radio battery will even do the job!)

No SSR's in our controller boxes.

Gerald,

Yes, I was mistaken. Sorry!

You might be thinking of the thermistor relay for the spindle - that's another kettle of fish. (Turns off the spindle if it overheats).

Gerald,

Yes that is exactly what I need. Thanks

Just a quick update. I have finished welding on the base table so it is going to get painted very soon. The bottom is going to get painted first, then I'll get the main beams tapped for the X rails. It is very solid. You could park a truck on this thing.

John
Attachment 870
Attachment 871

Hi John,

UR Table build looks very heavy, did u turn it around all by urself or had to get a Dozer to turn it around :)

BTW U have a very neat garage / workshop. (from the looks of the photos atleast)

Enjoy ur build :)

RGDS
Irfan

Irfan,

My brother and I flipped the table over. It was a big lift.:) Thanks for the comments.

John

Looking good John. It won't be long now.

John,

Yea, that is one "hoss" of a lift. I'm a one man show, and building a gantry crane saved my back. :)

When I get my wheels rigged up, I may hitch a couple of horses to the table and plow a field. :rolleyes:

Your table looks good. Keep the pictures coming.

And believe it or not, you are still going to feel it vibrate.

A stupid little blower vacuum system will maybe give 1 pound/square inch pressure .... 8'x4' table is 96 x 48 inches = 4600 square inches = 4600 pounds = 2 tons. Okay, that force is not carried by the legs, but it illustrates that one needs some weight in this monster.

Nice job! and now I know where my street's STOP sign went ;)

Reviewing this thread for a newer title, I see it is only 6 weeks old and you have a lot of stuff done - are you going for a new record?? :)

For a moment looking at his shop floor and the stop sign, i felt John had erected his shop in the middle of the road :D

Possibly built at a dead end of the road :D LOL