Hello Gerald.
Here are some post of the progress. I made a variation on watt you suggest for the spring so it wont change much the original design. Hope you like it. It works nice and is very discrete. Hope to have the machine moving on Saturday. I have a new problem.:confused: I got 100 foot of cable for the motors and if I want to put the control box out side the machine like the original desing, with space to move arround, the cables are not long enough, so I am building the control box in a side of the table . I will post some pictures tomorrow.
Regards.

Hugo, VERY NICE!

Great job. :rolleyes::):cool:

Hugo,

It looks beautiful. Great job.

I think you are as ready to see yours make a cut as I am mine. Your machine looks great.

Hi Hugo

Some good ideas there!

Your plastic cable chains are a bit "unusual":

- They bend to a smaller diameter than the what I have seen before. Who is the supplier and part number?

- You run the cable chains in the opposite direction to what is on the drawing. Have you considered where is the "front" of your machine, and have you got the cable chains at the back? Or do you want to show the chains in the front?

Hugo,

Nice work !! I'm jealous of you and the others who are getting theirs assembled.

Thanks for posting pictures and the progress updates. You can't believe how much it helps.

Hello Gerald and friends.
Thanks guys for all your kind comments. Some extra pictures.
Gerald the chain track is from Igus. I buy in MSC http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/GSDRVS...00000029449345 and http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/GSDRVS...00000029449707 .
Yes, you are right.:o I was so exited about the cable track, the cables and the idea that the "moment" was getting closer that stop thinking and that is the result. Any way, this will be my learning machine (I have welded and unwelded, painted and repainted many times that I will just leave it that way for the moment) . I am committed to have the "beast" cutting on Monday.;)
I was concerned:confused: about how to install a simple and efficient limit switch and end up with what is on the post. One switch will work fine on each axis. What I did wrong was setting the limits to close to the ends stop. I will move the limits to 10mm after the limits of the MDF board so that will give the motor a decent space before they stop and crash the bumpers. I hope to be doing the right thing and wait for your commentaries . I hope to start installing the control box and the cables connection in the next half hour, so I will be like in paradise for the rest of the day.:)

Is your spider plate (10 40 432) 4mm thick? It looks thin - maybe 2.5mm?

I think that limit switch will be a problem when there is a lot of wood lying around. Realise that some wood pieces are actually quite big - bigger than "dust".

That photo from the bottom of the router is interesting. It shows perfectly the air exhaust from the router's (noisy) fan. That exhaust air blows the dust from the cutter up into the air. Here are some ideas for a MUCH cleaner workshop.

The spider plate is 3mm (1/8") thick, if it's one that came from Donald.

Back from paradise.
Like J.R says is a 3mm plate.
I think you are right about the particles and the contact switch. ¿Any idea? The router I am using is a MaKita , small for the Mechmate. I will get a Spindles but first I got to get some air. Thanks for the tip in the vent system. Now I am concerned in a dust aspirator.:confused: It would be nice to see a standard solution for the Mechmate to keep the nice design.:o I know it sounds like we wanted every thing done for us but, you are a better designer .:)
Regards

Gerald I am still deeply impressed. I started Saturday night connecting the computer and starting the machine and every thing went perfect. I agree with Fabrica when he said it was nice looking these machine move. It move very soft, no noise, just great. I guess I was to excited Saturday night but when you spend almost four years experimenting, learning, having disappoints, straiting again, a wife around that don't understand why spending so much money for a "toy" and finally thanks to some one who is not an egoistic man and show a way to complete a dream, suddenly you realize that in front of you is a nice and practical machine that works, you feel a deep respect. Thanks Gerald , thank you very much.:)
I am posting how I end up with the control box and will start to adjust the settings in Mach3 (I did some joggings and they went out nice) The pinions run very smooth over the rails and there is no apparent backlash.

I am happy because you are happy! :)

As you can see, it is not a hobby machine. It is a machine for production, to earn money, to pay for itself.

But, the first thing to do is to make something beautiful for your wife! :)

Well done Hugo

It looks very good - great inspiration

Alan

Hugo,

Looking good !!! I can only imagine what it must feel like to watch it come alive.

I hope Gerald is right when he says "It is a machine for production, to earn money, to pay for itself." I plan on putting this to the test :)

Gerald I just finish connecting the rest of the cables. I went to the axis setting and told in setting axis to run 10 mm . It run 250 mm so I told the machine it run 250mm and the machine made the adjustment . Then I told again for checking to run 1000 mm and run 1000 mm exactly. The same with the other axis. The problem is that it runs to slow . When I jog it moves nicely but running a program in the air goes very slow. The other problem is that wen I jog the X axis and I stop it stops quickly , but axis Y wont stop the same, will run about 250 mm extra before it stops.
I was looking for setting the motors but the forum has grown so much that I cant find the formulas I remember seen before. I set the machine parameters in mm .
I have not got home yet so I will send the Igus information tomorrow.

Hugo,

I believe that all these problems are the so called "birth pangs" I have seen a dozen of the builders face it, I remember on Fabrica's macing the issue with artcam setting, some where some thing , but you will be able to iron out suff soon and have production. I know of people in bangalore who got the chinese woodpecker machines on which there is no Z 0 anywhere and they took 6 months to just understand and start work on them, but now after 2 years it almost 6 times ROI for them. So ALL THE BEST FOR YOU!

Once my servo machine is up and running I wannna bulid a mechmate soon!

Regards
IRfan

You control box mounted on the table looks great and a side benefit is that your expensive cables are protected. I've been worrying that mine might get cut laying on the floor when I get around to buying them so I was planning on encasing them in rigid conduit. I might consider a table mount also.

You can save a lot of expensive cable with a table-mounted control box. But that is totally the worst place for dust. (Those push-buttons facing to the top will get clogged up quickly). You could put the control box on the table, but bring the controls and indicators to a cleaner, more convenient point. The wires to the controls and indicators are inexpensive.

Also realise that you must get a "printer" cable to run from your PC to the control box. These printer cables give problems when they get too long, and the long ones are becoming more difficult to find. (Printers are now mostly USB).

Hugo, your 10mm compared to 250mm is caused by mixing inches and millimeters. When you said "Move 10mm" the machine moved 10 inches.

If the axis takes a long time to stop then I think you have a completely wrong acceleration (deceleration) value.

Be patient and check the settings carefully. Do not use inches for anything!

Hugo, you have a machine with racks & pinions from an inch system, but you want to operate in mm. I also see you have 28 tooth pinions with 7.2:1 gearboxes. Your steps per millimeter must be set at 128.899

I changed the spreadsheet in this post especially for you - and anybody else whose rack & pinion inch/mm is different to the units that they want to run the machine in. In Mach the setting is Config > Select Native Units. Hugo, there you will select "MM's" and on Config > Motor Tuning you must type the value 128.899 into the block "Steps per".

:oThanks.

Hello Gerald.
First, the gift for my wife.;) It was made in 6 minutes at 70% of speed. I just could not believe it. With my second machine (this is the third) it was done in 15 minutes with imperfections. Now I think my wife finally understand. She all ready has some ideas:rolleyes:

Very cool Hugo!

I will get there sometime!

Thanks for the inspiration.

I could not set the machine in mm. I tried couple times, even reset the machine and started again, but it will end up working very slow, so I end up doing it in inches. Now I have to fix a little problem . It happened to me before (years ago) and I forget how to solve it. It is the mirror problem. If I make a desing it will come out perfect but the other way. I mean instead of left to right it reads right to left. (You put it in front of a mirror and it looks OK)

Yes Mark and all the other friends. it is true. If you keep the design and take your time building it your effort will be re compensate. It is a "Blue Beast" that nows how to Rock and Roll..:)

Got it. In Mach3 Motor Home/Soft limits we can reverse de axis direction.

Hugo thats great,

Usually gifts to wife's makes their brain light up with ideas. :D

All here in the group are inspiring a lot!

Regards
Irfan

Hello Hugo

I have been watching your MechMate build. You have done an outstanding job. Is this your first cut with it? Thanks for sharing all the great pictures.


Gene

Okay Hugo, put the MechMate logo on the side and you get the next serial number. :)

What are the big differences between your 3 CNC machines?

Hello Gerald and friends.
Yes Gene, It was the first cut.
About the first machine. I wanted to learn the basics of the CNC routing, so I started with a MDF machine. Then I find MechMate but was not ready for the Beast so I decide to do a design of my own. It worked better but it was still very amateur. Then I thought I was time to tries dominate the Beast and the rest is story. ¿What is the difference? Speed, precision, and force. I always dream with a machine that could carve more then 5 mm in one pass and that I could see the results quickly . Rig now I am using a 2.25 HP Router and I am happy. :)I guess that when I put a 3.5 HP Router or a spindle, will be a better performance.:confused:
I will be putting MechMate logo soon for proudly receive my serial number.:o

Gerald / Hugo
Is there much improvement in cutting performance moving say from a 2.5 HP router to a 3.5HP or to a 5HP spindle? What about price / performance?

Moving from router to spindle does NOT give a 3-fold increase in performance, as you would expect from the 3-fold increase in price. We can go and discuss this over in another thread (it is an important topic), but my basic suggestion is to start out with a router . . . . . you are going to dive that router right into the table, or a clamp, a few times..:eek:

I have been a lurker on here for a long time, I just wanted to say I think you have done a fantastic job on building your mechmate!!! Hugo :D

Thanks Garyc.
Know is time to to build the dust aspirator system. Hope can make a decent job.

Here are a couple of links for dust collectors,
http://cruzanengineering.net/steven/dustcollector.pdf
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyc...tionBasics.cfm

Hello Gerald an friends.
Last week I reset Widows XP(eliminating all the possibilities of hidden bugs and strange programs) and reinstalled it again with no other program except a newer version of Mach3 1.94:D
Start making the regular settings, checked the "bullet test" and no noise, so everything look nice in the screen.
Turn on the main power and push the start buton...... and first surprise:confused:, could not hear the motors lock. Start jogging and second surprise:(....motors wont move. Start running a G-code program and router started, leads on the parallel card look OK, current in an out of the different system was OK, motors where lock(could not move by hand the gantry) but they would not move and I can feel them getting warm. Checked everything again and the problem persist,:eek: so I decide to ask in the Mach support forum but forgot my user name :pand they haven't send yet my user name so I cant post in the forum and in the mean time am anxious to get back to normality.
¿Any Idea off something I have to check?

Gerald I hope I am not breaking the rules of the forum with these Mach3 problems, but I cant ask them yet. One question ¿Does vampires work with Dir and Step low signal inputs enabled?

For the G203v stepper drivers, you must have the COMMON connected to DC GROUND. (The G202 and G201 stepper drivers have the COMMON connected to 5VDC.) Also, depending on your break-out board, you may have to change some jumpers to get the correct signals routed to the G203v drivers. (On my PMDX-122 cards, I only have to change one jumper when I change from G202 drivers to G203 drivers.)

Thanks Richard. I think the problem is that I did not enable the low signal in step and dir. I have my machine an hour from my house, so I am going to drive there and check that. I don't know why I did not notice that before.
Thanks for your coments.

Hugo terminal #10 must be connected to a ground of your breakout board, this was something I ran into when I hooked mine up, do not connect it to your power supply ground. This is how the vampires reference the signal, Your power supply ground gets connected to terminal #1