Wayne,

Congratulations on Serial #25. Great looking (and working) machine.:)

Here's the updated Builder's Log.

Please let me know the size of your MM. Looks to be a 96" X 48" or 97" X 49".

Also, please provide any comments you'd like for your entry.

Regards,
John

Wayne

Congratulations on #25.

Thanks guy's, I appreciate all the kind comments. This build was very fun and rewarding. I really like the fact that we all built (or are building) the same machine, it's a real opportunity for users from around the globe to share ideas and build techniques.

Gerald, A special thank you goes to you. Without your generosity in both time and resources, we would not have the opportunity to build this great machine or meet so many wonderful people.

You have a very keen eye. The machine is working perfectly...the non-symmetrical holes are by design:D

and U got a nice Serial "25" - show us some more of your RC hobby!

Congratulations Wayne!:)

Thanks Greg.

Strange as it may sound....I am almost sad that it is complete. I spent so much time constructing it over the last four months, that I kinda miss heading out to the shop to mill, grind and drill the parts needed to make the machine.

The machine is now truly complete. I put the final touches on the wiring yesterday....connecting the limit and home sensors, also hooked up my auto-z circuit and built the touch plate.

The touch plate plugs in using a standard bananna jack...this allows for various styles of touch sensors to be quickly installed. The touch plate shown in the picture is solid copper, it is machined to exactly .25" thick.

The copper came from piece of test equipment (ground bar).....it was originally 8ft long:eek:

3D carving - test
 

With nothing left to do on the machine;) I decided I should probably start using it and test the capabilities.

This is my first 3D carving on this machine. It was a free sample downloaded from www.vectorart3d.com. I also used their (free) milling program to generate the g-code required to cut this sample.

The sample was rough cut with a 3/16" endmill, and finish cut with a 1/8" ballmill. Total cut time was about 15mins.

Corner finder
 

Made a couple more tools for my MechMate today.

This is a corner finder, it can also be used to set z-hieght. I saw one of these on CNC Zone....thought it was pretty neat so I made one.

To use this tool, place it on the corner of your material and center the cutting bit over the copper pipe. Lower the bit so it is just inside the pipe and run the centering script.

Note, the bit does not have to be exactly in the center of the pipe just close. The script will determine the exact center for you and set the Mach3 dro's:eek:

Clamping fixture
 

I was struggling with the best method to clamp small parts to the bed of the Mechmate.....this is my solution:D

The whole assembly can be screwed down to the milling bed, or held in place with c-clamps. The small item you wish to clamp is held in place with the cam locks shown in the picture.

Since it is made entirely from wood (except the bolts) your cutters will be safe if you have a mishap;)

On the bottom side you can see that holes were machined to the depth of the nut so the assembly sits flush on your cutting table. The holes are slightly smaller than the nut so they hold themselves in place....once pressed into the wood.

Really nice work Wayne. Very creative. Thanks for sharing.:):):)

BTW, do you have a link for the corner finder? I looked on the Zone, but didn't find it.

Regards,
John

centering tool information
 

John, here is the CNC zone thread:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56079

This is a YouTube video showing the operation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOXY4...eature=related

This video shows the centering tool variation I built.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcHgK...eature=related

Hope this helps, Wayne

Thanks Wayne. Very helpful.

wow your videos on youtube are really inspiring thanks for taking the time to post them I think I am going to give a go on the davidlaser scanner and your corner finder too simple effective

Glad you like the videos Kelsey.

Although it's interesting to watch CNC's cut, it's really interesting to watch your own Mechmate CNC cut :)

I hadn't see a video of a CNC router cutting (nor had I seen any CNC router in real life) when our first machine started cutting in the year 2000. Since then have looked at a couple of videos and fully agree with Wayne - a video is positively boring in relation to the real thing!

Just quick comment on your cam clamps; they work very well with "down-cut" spiral bits, but they can be risky with "up-cut" spirals which lift the work off the table. The up and down forces of spiral bits are a very signicant factor in deciding on the workholding method.

Gerald, you are correct about the clamps. Anything more than a light cut with a up spiral bit and it lifts from the holder. I found out the hard way:o

For my gear reduction components (shown here), I taped them down to the table with double faced tape. Holds tight but still can be removed from the spill board without much effort.

Tabs also help retain the part when cutting
 

Tabs can also be used to hold the part in place when cutting. Tabs can be used to prevent the cutter from hooking the loose part and causing damage.

Wayne nice looking parts. What is the material ..... delrin? You're going to like what they do for your machine.

To hold mine down I machined 4 holes in the material (out of the way of the parts) then screwed it down. Next I machined the 2 center bolt holes in all the plates. Then moved the the cutter out of the way, screwed them all down using these holes, then finished the rest of side 1, flipped it over screwed it back down (nice and referenced) and machined side 2. All of this was incorporated in the cut file. No tabs or tape to deal with.

When screwing the motor to plastic, I would consider adding a 2mm thick alu plate in between, being oversized all around, to help with heatsinking. The alu could be bent channel-shaped, with the bent flanges vertical to get more exposed fin area.

J.R. - Yes, this delrin....nice stuff to machine. I like your idea for holding the parts down. Not having to reference again certainly saves time and the chance for error. Perhaps we should make a tool plate for making parts like this....that could be bolted to the table and referenced once per use. Here is the front and back if my plate.....these were cut with just two operations:D

Gerald, I wondered if heat conduction would be a problem.....so far today the motors temps are about normal. I think I will just remake these from aluminum if temperature becomes a problem.

Here's a couple of pictures of the complete reduction units...all axis's now have a 3:1 reduction drive installed.

There is a noticable difference in the smoothiness of operation and cut. Definently a worthwhile upgrade.

Lowcost - 3ph spindle
 

My current project is a lowcost "brushless" spindle. Here's a teaser photo of the prototype:D

Don't know how well this will work.....hope to complete and test the prototype this weekend:eek:

Spindle spec's:
2000watts (~2.5hp)
10,000rpm
ER-16 collet

VERY interesting stuff!

Pendant design complete.
 

I have been working on a pentant design for a couple of weeks.....this layout seems to be usable, so I cut the front panel. Thought to use the control pendant for awhile and see how it feels and change it if necassary.

The box is really cool....I got it from EBAY for 6 bucks plus shipping.:D

Wayne,

Very nice. What do you think you have spent on your new control box?

Wayne,
Looks good. Could we get a little more info for the technical guys?

Nils - I do not have much invested, most the switches and knobs are from old equipment. The joystick is from one of my old radio control transmitters. The only money spent (besides the box) was the the electronic interface....it cost $79 + shipping.

Heath, I am using an interface device that emulates a keyboard. Windows(mach3) does not know the difference....it believes you are pressing key on the keyboard.

Here is some information about the U-Hid device.....I copied it from their website. www.u-hid.com

hope this helps
Wayne


What is a HID?

HID stands for Human Interface Device. This is a term used to describe certain types of PC peripheral, usually connected via USB.
Windows and Mac OS support a number of "native" HID devices using in-built drivers. The U-HID board appears as the following HID devices on the PC:

Keyboard
Gamepad (including analog and digital controls)
Mouse
LED outputs

The way in which the board emulates natively-supported devices means it requires no special drivers or host software, with the exception of LED output control.
The board has 50 connections which can be configured to any of these HID device types providing a truly universal interface. For example, you can connect pushbuttons to generate keyboard keystrokes, trackballs to act as a mouse, pedals to act as analog game controller joysticks, or hundreds of other device types. The PC will see all the devices as something it recognises, so all standard applications will work.
The menu headings on the left give more details of each type of device.