iam a electronic hobbiest and still dont get why the use of a cnc instead of toner transfer.
well maybe you dont have a laser printer but it cost less then 100uss. and the paper cost almost nothing. some glossy 120g laser paper.

i love those anathemic chairs... and yes.... the mechmate have a great resolution.

Just to prove we could. I made many pcb in college with photosensitive clad. Much cooler to watch the Mate do it. Plus I have no need for a laser printer and why spend 100 when you can spend 7. Just my opinion.

Fernando,
There is a very good reason to not use tone transfer and chemical erosion ... it's absolutely forbidden by M.I.T. prof. Neil Gershenfeld, our teacher in the Fab Academy.
The reason why it's mandatory not to use chemical process is because it's a very nasty enviroment poison and if you don't treat your waste in a safe manner (and it's not possible for hobbiest) there are serious risk to enviroment damage ... when we need to prototype the mill procedure it's ok ... if we need then a production it's much easier to have the circuit made by a service .... We understood that lesson and we agree with prof Gershenfeld to avoid any enviromental risk.

Having istalled a new controller ethernet board ( the UC400eth ) I tested an insane speed of 30000 mm/min (1200 inch/min ) on my MechMate .... my everyday rapids are a more conservative16000 mm/min ....

https://youtu.be/qObm2jiZQVU

Are you using Mach 4 or the UC software?

I used Mach3 and the UCCNC software but I am migrating to the latter ... I already started working with UCcnc, I just need to configure thr joypad plugin and the laser pointer offset ...

Sergio,

Just wondering if you made the switch permanent and how you are liking the software. About to pull the trigger on purchasing hardware and software.

New Ethernet Controller and software
 

Ciao Russell,
Yes the switch is permanent :-). I'm happy with this software, it's very easy and powerfull ... I would like to make a side by side comparison but very little time at the moment.
It worked for many hours now, I still miss some configuration (laser pointer and z zero ... ) because I was very short of time. The biggest advantage of mach3 is the huge community ... you find all the info you need and I worked with it for years now. But the new hardware (UC400ethernet) is absolutely great. I have a very little problem with the software (I think it just need to reinstall), it does not save my joypad config (it did it at the start) so each time (once or two in a day) I start the program I have to set some values ... but I didn't tried any solution at the moment.
In a few word I am very happy, the price is fair (I payed 40 euro the soft and 120 the hardware).
The machine runs faster. I did some intricate cut and the results are much better than mach3, with no rounded corners (the CV is managed better) but in those cases the time taken to cut is longer.
Both UCCNC and mach3 can be installed on the same PC and yes you can use any computer you like to drive the MechMate ( I used my laptop :-) ).

Dismantling a welded MechMate
 

Ciao,
Time to move ande time to change :-)
My MechMate had traveled a lot those years considering also two Makerfaires (were I built a bolted base which unfortunately and naively it's not in my possession) ...
Each time I moved the base table it was a nightmare because is slightly largher than most of the trucks ... so I decided to cut my base table to transform it in a bolted base !
With the opportunity I will renew and repaint everything and much important I will finally add the 4th axis - indexer :-)

Here are the preliminary idea for the indexer.
It will be bolted (and removable) at the front end of the Mechmate, with a max diameter of 400mm and a lenght close to the Y axis capability ...
If you feel something is wrong in the structure idea, please let me know :-)
I probably use a chuck and tailstock commercially available ( http://www.ebay.it/itm/CNC-Router-Ro...gAAOxy3zNShh1N )

I would recommend allowing for the tail stock to be movable (like slide)

I used Unistrut welded open channel up and bolted the tail stock down to move to accommodate different part lengths.

Sean,
Yes absolutely ! the tailstock will slide and have a rapid block lever (still to be designed).
The tailstock support will be the blue part in the picture ( inside the orange box you can see the part which will be welded /bolted together ) it's made of four 80x60x4mm rectangular tube. The part will slide on and inside the two Y C channels (UPN80 ... 80x45mm).
The Chuck support, made the same way, will be fixed in his position.
All the indexer structure will be bolted to the main X beams and will be removable.

That's a better picture. looks like you have it all sorted!
Good luck.

Well you never know untill you've done :-)
Thanks

An Hotel Room Console
 

an interesting work ...

Wow really like that one. Did you made that yourself?

No I just cutted with the Mechmate ... The designer is architect Marco Tonci Ottieri... The same of the Anathemic chaise longue.

A work made by Antonio Iaccarino of Equilibrarte (on his Machmate) on a reproduction of Emperor Augusto fro Musei Capitolini ....

the whole set of pictures: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

Impressive.

Inspirational