Went to see Marius this morning....must say a really impressive machine.....wish I had the space:D Nice going Marius

Gerald,
Any ideas on how to handle the dust extractor tube. With the table being large it poses a bit of a problem. The dust collector is situated next to the machine midways. The tube is 100mm in diameter. I was thinking of a swing arm with a roller track.:confused:

A swing arm with a track under it, and one or two runners supporting the hose, seems to be the best option.

Gerald,
Should I make the swing arm to reach the furthest corner? If not, what is the practice?

I don't know of standard practice because I havn't seen enough systems. I think the biggest factor is the amount of ceiling height you have above the table. If you have plenty of height, you don't even need a swing arm. . . .

Hi Marius
Have a look at my vacuum setup
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showt...1664#post21664

Well finally we are cutting. The first part I cut was the dust foot for the extractor. We are cleaning up and making last minute adjustments but we will commision the machine today. I will post some pics later.

thats great - I find your machine one of the most beautiful to look at - and to see it working would be so much so good.

I will come around and break the Champange bottle on the side some time if I am in that area. Well done

Well Done! I look forward to seeing what projects come off that huge machine! How about a video?

Tim

Sorry for the delay but the MM webserver or ISP blocked my IP from connecting to the forum.
Well here goes, we completed the machine last week and have done some cutting. I now find the biggest problem is to obtain the tools we need to do the cutting jobs that we have. I have a 8mm and a 12mm collet with the bosch router but found out that those are not the popular sizes for tools. I also need longer tools to cut the 3d plugs from foam. I guess this will be an ongoing battle.
The dust collection system works very well, almost to well. It leaves nothing behind.
I opted for a 4:1 reduction on all motors. See pics.
Thanks Gerald your effort made it possible for us to have a good working machine in under two months.
Also thanks to Greg from CncDirect for all his help.

Wow, now you see thats why I dont like Joburg, you guys are just too fast for us laid back Capies...:D Very nice looking machine, lets have some more details on those reduction drives - they look interesting, I want to add them to my machine as well as I am not happy with the direct drive chatter.

Contact Bosch for either replacement collets or to purchase 1/4" and 1/2" collets, I find I use all 4 sizes (I still want to get the 6mm and 10mm collets, then there is very little that I wont be able to hold in the router)

For the cutters, try Austro, Leitz, Leuco and engineering supplies for milling cutters, Another good source could be Wood Finish Management, they bring in a range of cutters for the machines they sell 011 907 3982 - Trevor Williams

Marius, that's a beauty!

Even your dust hose is a matching colour! :D

Those belt drives are very interesting, it looks like you got standard flanged bearing unit somewhere . . . . . . (some car engine water pumps are similar . . . old merc. . . )

Geared motor details
 

Allan,
I attached the drawings. Take note that the Z axis has a problem. I had to lift the motor plate by 40mm on order for the plate not to snag on the spider plate bolts. I took one of the large spacers and welded a 40x10 flat bar with a hole onto it and therby lifting the motor plate. I also had to extend the rack in order to achieve the correct travel that I wanted.

Thanks Gerald I am also very chaffed with the colour it looks really good.
I had the flanged bearing housings cut. I attached the details in the previous post.

Geluk met die masjien Maruis!
Good professional looking - enjoy!

Jis maar hy is MOOI!!!!!!! Baie geluk en ek hoop jy maak nou jou miljoene met hom.

Thanks Kobus, ek hou van die miljoene idee.

Nice Marius. congratulations on a job welldone

Good Job Marius - especially the belt drives.

where's the video?

Wow, what a nice machine - and petite:D
The 80/20 Bosch style extrusion for the main beams is very nice feature for the bolt up of the rails.
Do you plan on using the extrusion for "other accessories" mounting or just for the convenience of the build.

I trust you will have a prosperous year with your new machine.

Sean #5

Marius,

Congratulations on Serial #22. A magnificient machine!:)

The updated Builder's Log is here.

Regards,
John

Beautiful job Marius!:)

How about some detail on your dust foot / collection.

Marius,
Congratulations on #22. :)

Thanks to all for wishing me well and thanks for the compliments. Sean I only used the extrusion to give me a very true level to mount the rail onto. No extras will be fitted to them .

Greg, I have attached the dxf file and the sheetcam files. The material must be 25mm of anything that you have. I had a piece of Vesconite and hence the low feed rate. I think nylon or perspex will work fine. I stuck some self adhesive velcro to the edge and made a dust skirt with 4 layers of PVC that are glued on top of each other. I made slits at about 25mm apart but this will depend on the suction that you have available. Notice that there are two sets of mounting holes. The outer set was meant to be mounted on sliding rods in order to be able to lower the foot as close as possible to the job. The inner set is to bolt the foot to the bottom of the router bracket with wing nuts.

I will make avideo as soon as the pressure to perform is has gone off a bit.:(

I meant to include these two pic to clarify the reduction assymbly. What is not shown on the drawings is that you must counter sink the bearing flange mounting holes and mount with m6 x 12 CSK cap screws from the front.
Take note of the hand of the motor plates. They only mount one way after you counter sink them. The Z axis plate only fits one way as well.

Marius,

Congratulations on #22.

Okay, I want blue dust collection hose. Where does that come from? or did you paint it?

Thanks Marius!:)

Greg, just check the sutting depth on the outside pass to make sure that it is 25.5mm deep. I might have changed some things there.

The hose is a standard 100mm hose that was supplied by a local company , Chick Henderson. I have a feeling it should be available eslewhere as well.

Geluk op 22

Gerald,
I am very impressed with the performance of the machine. I have attached some pic of the first attempts at a 3D mould cut from foam.
I have a small issue with the overhead dust collector tube. It seems to get snagged on it self from time to time. We have to change the sliding mechanisms a bit. Other than that, pure magic.

That's a nice and dusty foam job . . . . a good test for clogging of v-rollers and racks . . . . .

Well, what is your impression about any clogging?

Gerald,
The racks had no problem at all and there was some deposit on the rails. In my case it might be worse as I am using Ertalite wheels. They are a bit softer that the steel. I am going to fit a small brush on both side of the car and the gantry. Even so it was not enough to cause any concern. The machine had cut from 11h00 this mornig and just stopped while I am writing this, at 22h30.
The dust collector suffered much and might be gone. The dust is very fine and causes the cloth bags to clog up. I might still speak to you about that cyclone soon.

Curious about the life of those Ertalyte wheels - sometimes I wonder if we can dump the wheels and replace them with solid plastic slide blocks, still on the v-rail, (like a lathe bed) . . . . .

Gerald, So you picked up on the spelling. I sometimes do that:). Personally I would not give up on the wheels. The added friction that the slide block give will not be practical especially on larger machines. What I would look at is to increase the contact area. I am looking at designing an extrustion that will give about 10mm contact area on each side.
I am monitoring the Ertalyte wheels closely to see how they hold up. So far not a sign of wear. Also the machine runs very quite so it will be a bonus if they last.

Have you seen this thread: Guards for the V-rollers and oilers for the rails? and the links from there?

Gerald,
Has anyone made some of those blocks with the felt in them?

I only know of this one in the UK:


. . . . uses standard felt holders from the Hepco wheel supplier.

Ertalyte wheels
 

Gerald,
The machine has been working non-stop for many weeks now and the ertalyte wheels dont show any signs of decay yet. They have not yet bedded and I think it might be a good alternative. The machine noise is also very low. Kobus came round the other day and commented on the low noise level so I take it must be a lot better than the metal wheels.

Marius, that is great news on the Ertalyte wheels.

Kobus's machine has direct drive motors, which makes a machine sound quite rough. I guess his comment was based on this aspect. I don't think that steel/plastic wheels will make a big difference on noise, but I may still be proved wrong. :-)