Need a shot of the machine with logos.

Time for Metalhead
 

Send message to Mike Ray aka Metalhead

Up and Running
 

Well, I should post this before everything gets messy! Because its about to. I have to true up the Z-axis a little still, but we're getting close. As soon as I'm done with the current project (which doesn't need the Z to be perfect) I'm going to go through and adjust the rollers a little bit. I'm only a couple thousandths off currently. Shouldn't be too much of an ordeal to get it right. :-)

I see you made a little more robust cable chain attachment on the y carriage.
Was that to get your chain - in - plane or did you need an alternate hole pattern?

I didn't like how sharp the bends were coming out of the cable chain, just attaching to the pre-drilled holes. I need to cut out a couple of links on the chain, unfortunately, because I increased the length of the cable chain with the bracket. It also had the added benefit of bringing it more in-plane, and making that corner a little easier for the cables to go around.

Well, in running today, I'm a little concerned about my motors. They are definitely warm to the touch. I'm using MotionKing 34HS9801s, specs are here.
I'm going to adjust them tomorrow at the trim pot off my Gecko 203V's, as they screech a little while I'm running at speed. I tuned them before, but I think I was moving absurdly slowly compared to how they're running now, so that may be part of the issue, I think? Would that be something that would generate excess heat? They aren't hot enough to burn my hand, but they're certainly uncomfortable to leave my hand on.
Thoughts anyone? They'd been on (though just holding position for a fair amount of the time) for about 4 hours when I noticed it, but had noted the heat they were generating before that as well.

Also, had my first 'accident'. I misunderstood how helices were programmed, and managed to plunge my bit directly into the work, instead of a nice helical progression downward. Any G-code Gurus want to explain how the P descriptor works in a G2/G3 command? I assumed that, based off what I read, it set the number of rotations to reach the final depth, but that is apparently NOT the case.

Bit survived, my toes and fingers survived, machine survived, but it lifted the piece out of the clamp as it retracted when I hit the E-stop. Lesson learned: side clamping is insufficient, clamp downward as well. That and use downcut, not upcut spirals.

Lathe Crash
 

sorta did the same thing today with my lathe. Had the feed rate set to high and crashed a tungsten carbide bit into steel part. crack!!! Trash bit and part.

Ouch! You have a Mechmate Lathe, or another kind?

Grizzly
 

Sorry, I have a Grizzly G4003g lathe and a Grizzly G1007 Mill. Both are fun to play on. I am trying to learn how to cut threads with it. The general stuff I learned after I came out of trade school. I worked for a Fortune 500 company in one of their proto-typing labs.

Very nice. How do you like that mill? I did a lot of manual machining in high school and first few years in college (but that was 10+ years ago), but the CNC world is a lot newer to me. Loving it, though. This MechMate is amazing. Finished a project yesterday in 2 days work that, previously, would have been about 60 hours. Got it down to 16 on the machine, with about 6-8 spent on the computer. And that's with a couple of more spectacular screwups too. :-P

I picked up a metal lathe on Craigslist last year that I'm just now getting around to tuning up. It needs it pretty badly, but I'm optimistic I'll get it pretty well dialed in by the time I'm done with it. Its an old Clausing 12x36 bench-top model. Next thing to get is a proper tool-holder. The old ones just aren't as stable as I'm looking for. Think I'm going to get a knockoff Aloris, the wedge type...

Grizzly G1007
 

I really like the Mill. Someday I would like to convert it to CNC

Did Mike ever give you a number?

Not yet.

Mike give him a number! ;)

Ok
 

Please send Michael Ray aka Metalhead a private message.
I am Michael Ray Hursh aka Hurshey

By the way you were mentionimg that you wanted to get an Aloris post. Do it. I love mine. I just added two more tool holders. I bought right and left cutting tools with tungsten carbide inserts. I also bought the knurling tools. I have modified a couple of tools. It improved their functionality and safety. Best of luck.

Wow - I cant believe I have not given this machine a number !!

You get #115

Sorry for the delay on this one !!!

Congrats !!!

Updated Builder's Log
 

Eric,

Congratulations on completing you MechMate, Serial #115.

Here's your Builder's Log entry.

Please let me know the "cutting dimensions" of you MechMate for the Builder's Log. I see the mention of 9' X 5' and 10' X 5', but I notice your comments about these being the overall dimensions, rather than the cutting dimensions.

Well done #115.
I am glad that someone else has taken the baton.
Long may this relay run.:)

Thank you! I don't suppose anyone has a font set for the MechMate logo, as I want to design up a few more decals and add a serial number to the mix on the control box?
Next up: Dust collection foot, because Holy Dust Everywhere, Batman!

Congratulations on your now numbered machine, she looks good.
You can find the logo in dxf format together with laser cut parts designs.

Logos
 

These should do you.

The # and number I drew and printed on to paper.
I cut them out of spare material from the MM logos from the print shop.
I cut them out using a straight edge and a razor blade.
Hope this helps you.

Mike, A.K.A. Rip Van Winkle, nice!:rolleyes:

Congrats on a number!

Thanks! By the way, cutting area is 5'x8'. I'd originally planned on doing a 5x10 with 2' of that dedicated for a 4th axis on the end, but I'm just going to build a small purpose-built rotary MechMate. So I scaled down to 5x8 cutting area as my base machine. :-)

Thanks for the dimensions, Eric. I've updated the Builder's Log, here.

Congratulations on your build number.
Nice looking machine.

Great Job Eric.

Congrats on a fine build! :)

Congratulations on 115 Eric!

Thanks everyone! Been a busy month with lots of sawdust made, but I ran into some issues very abruptly yesterday. Plunged a bit when it wasn't spinning, caught it and stopped the program running. But now I'm suddenly getting odd movement on two motors. On the Z-axis, I'm getting intermittent loss of power, and some odd grinding noises. On one end of the gantry, I'm also getting odd grinding sounds, periodically unpowered motor, and very unpredictable motion, almost like it is getting random signals. I thought it might be electrical noise, but with the loss of holding power on one end of the gantry, I really doubt that. Thoughts? I've gone through and checked my wiring, it appears to be in good condition, but I'm going to take a multimeter down there tomorrow and see if I can't sort it out better. Anyone have something similar happen and know what the deal is?

Have you checked that the gantry and Y-car is still well seated on the rails, I have had a few occasions where after a crash or stall that the wheels are not seated properly.

Everything is seated fine still. I can turn the motors by hand when they should be energized and holding.

The only thing that occurs to me is the motor set screw sliping...

do you hear the stepper motor engage. Are you using G203v as drivers? The light should be green. If red you have an issue. If you have a VOM check the voltage on each leg of the stepper motors. Or power down and do ohm test of each wire. Oh! if you have geckos check the little green fuse. best of luck

Check your earthing (Grounding)
I had some phantom e stops.
I earthed the computer to the machine frame then ran a wire to a steel post in the garden.
Every so often I throw a bucket of water on the post.

If you are using LPT port, with this kind of symptom, most likely the LPT cable came loose.

It might be worth taking the cover off your computer and control box to check for dust.
Vacuum the printer connection pins and circuit boards.

The problem appeared again after a well-behaved morning as I was jogging the Y-car along the gantry. #1 X-axis motor jerked back and forth like a fish out of water, than lost power completely. I am rather mystified.

Well, update... Checked all my wiring, cleaned out the computer and connectors (control box is still pristine, no dust there...) and everything ran fine for two cycles through the program I'm doing. After the second cycle, I hit 'Tab' to bring up the manual jogging. I immediately got the same symptoms I'd seen before. The motor basically going haywire (goes back and forth, both directions, for short times, angry sounding noises). Am I potentially looking at a Mach3 problem here? Should I uninstall and reinstall? It seems like it is triggered by me going into manual jogging mode, when I have a cut program loaded, but it doesn't always do that, it seems like. I am going to let everything sit for a bit, then see if I can reproduce the problem with those same parameters.

Ran fine for a while, then just after beginning the second cycle, problem reappeared. Does not appear to be repeatable under specific circumstances that I've been able to find thus far. This time it started mid-run.

Under what conditions does the problem go away? Do things just start working again? Do you have to restart Mach3? Do you have to power cycle the control box or computer? Do you have an IR thermometer so you could take temperatures of the steppers as well as the gecko drivers?

Do you have a second computer you could install Mack3 onto and test again?

Just throwing out things you could try.