long awaited picture for vishnu -

Hi,

So after a long wait the control cab's seem to be Twins. Good looking.

Vishnu

G' do I qualify for the longest build ever - starting 12 Feb 2007 and still in progress - I hope to so some record breaking atleast. :D

BTW - I got the water pump for the spindle cooling - its a submersible fountain pump.

Vishnu promised to send me the grinding skates today and the plunger tool to correct the v wheels -

and I will finalize the wiring of the controller the coming week if all goes well

RGDS
Irfan

Irfan,
Those computer cabs turned out excellent. :)

Thanks heath !

Irfan, do we need a fresh title for your thread? :)

Irfan,

Hang in there. It takes as long as it takes. May be you are working off some Karma. You need to give Ganesh some attention to help your build!

No G' the title is good as it is -

Today I just finished the controller for the servo machine - and the dust proofing the same. - it required so much effort and finally its done today - tomorrow onwards I am targeting Mechmate controller to finalise

Nils I am presently giving more attention to Vishnu (also a form of GOD) by calling him up almost daily. he's yet to send me the parts I need to complete my Mechmate. :)

Vishnu are U listening - please help me GOD :D

will post the new controller pics tomorrow - of the servo machine.

btw the wireless keyboard works like a charm.

RGDS
IRfan

Very Nice built Irfan.. Keep it up man :)

Hi Irfan!

I realized I hadn't seen much from you recently but I rechecked your thread and there's a lot of progress!

Just wanted to check in and see how you (And Vishnu) were doing on your builds.

I agree with Heath, those computer cabinets look really good!

Keep the pictures coming. Looks like you should be seeing motor motion any day now. (it is a most blissful moment!!!)

I'm also curious as to how that spindle is working out but I realize you may not have it hooked up yet (unless it's on your other machine)

Best Regards,

-Jeff

HI Jeff, thanks for those kind words, its been tough for us coping up with the global downturn - its started affecting us already. thats why the slow progress

I am having a week off every month now :)

I am still waiting for vishnu to send me the parts (especially the grinding skates)

Meanwhile I finished the controller cabinet for the smaller servo machine -

thanks to all in this forum and especially JR and Alan - for setting the example.

Thank you folks

RGDS
IRfan

Folks I have a question - my touch screen is getting hot - the glass surface itself gets hot - is this normal?

its an ELO SAW touchscreen.

RGDS
Irfan

Irfan,

I have no experience with your touch screen, but I know that it is NOT GOOD for electronic devices to run hot. Since you have mounted the screen inside of your own enclosure, I'm wondering if you have inadvertently restricted air flow that the touch screen depends on for cooling.

Is it possible to take the touch screen out of your enclosure and still operate it? If so, you could test it outside of the enclosure and see if it still runs hot.

Regards,
John

it was previously outside and did not run hot - I will try to add a switch to turn the monitor off when the program is running - or add a fan to circulate internal air -

Ah - problem after problem :(

Hi Irfan,

I agree with John, your touchscreen should not be getting hot and John's
suggestion of removing it to see if it goes back to working normally would be a good debug step.

However, before you remove your touchscreen, you might also put a thermometer inside the enclosure just to measure the temperature for future information.... Most consumer electronics will start to fail after a short time above 70C and industrial electronics fail at or above 85C. (I'm guessing
the touchscreen is an industrial device)

The only reason I bring this up is because your computer is also inside the enclosure right? I'd hate to see that start to fail too.

A fan to push that internal air out might be a viable solution although it would add yet another hole for dust to intrude...

However, don't worry! It seems like problem after problem but you'll figure something out.

Keep us posted!

-Jeff

I put a internal recirculating fan - now the touchscreen is just warm - we notice the enclosure getting warm now - so its working alright - HURRAH!

computer table
 

Hi follks - had been designing this since today morning - will cut it out tomorrow.

hope it comes out good.

RGDS
Irfan

computer table update
 

Ok folks here is the finished unpainted product -

Wow, that's cool! I like how it assembles.

Some more pics of the computer table and the sign for my shop.hope u folks like it :)

Nice Irfan, now you will get a lot of customers visiting your shop...good luck

Very original design Irfan. Nice.

Thanks folks - :)

G' I have run out of space for the attachments - kindly increase my quota.

Okay, done.

Irfan, I like the computer table. Care to share the DXFs? :):rolleyes::cool:

Irfan,
Yes, That table looks real good when you have it all assembled. :)

Thanks Heath -

Mark I sent you a PM / email - can you email me your email id so that I can email you the file :)

RGDS
IRfan

Pictures and video of cooling setup
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a04a_FtbR44

finally the cooling part is sorted out and I am pretty happy with the pump I have - the pictures and video show much more

+ the gear box setups have been mounted - I am presently going to setup the proximities and hard stops and then start running the machine - there is still a lot of wiring left to do in the controller

Hope to have a running Mechmate by this week end!

RGDS
IRfan

Good luck Irfan. It will be nice to see the machine cutting. You had a couple of set backs but you manage to overcome them all. Well done!

Thanks Johan - most of us have problems - and we solve them too - I just share them so that no one repeats the mistake I have done :)

thats it :)

Have copied the water cooling posts to Water cooling a spindle

some updates
 

Ok made quite some prgress in the build - had all the gearboxes mounted and most of them wired too - here is what we have


Attachment 4461

The above picture shows the mounting of the proximity switch for the long axis - its very near to the estop box on the gantry so wiring it would be simple.

Attachment 4458

the above pic shows the proximity for the Z axis - though it seems will interfere with the dust evacuation hose - at present I feel we have plenty of space still.

Attachment 4463

the above pic is of the relays which wire the limit switch in series and is the main interface to the proximity switches, e stop - pause - start - auto z-zero connections

Attachment 4456

I did go out to purchase a gas spring- but I was so tempted to use the spring as it was very cheap - just INR 35 - that's for a one footer. (under one USD)
I just attached an angle piece to the spider plate with a couple of screws and
got the spring attached -

Attachment 4457

after a couple of adjustments it was just fine to carry the weight of the spindle - I got an extra for any replacements required

the above pic is how it is attached to the Z tube

and here are some other views

Attachment 4458

Attachment 4459

Attachment 4460

any comments suggestions are welcome.

Good progress, you should be cutting by tomorrow!

hope so G' - but my controller is in a mess and I need to get the hard stops for the x and y -

list of things to do (for myself - to look over at office :) )

1. get the wiring plate mounted on the controller cabinet
2. route the wires to the contols
3. test the proximities
4. chk wire continuities
5. chk resistances on the gecko's
6. attach control cable from spindle control board to the VFD
7. Copy SSC dll to mach folder
8. make mounting for internal circulation fan
9. Make 220V available for water pump.
10. Design a simple flow switch and wire it to e stop on machine
11. get a tank for coolant
12. make hard stops for x and y
13. chk for spindle straightness to the gantry
14. make holes for the proximity to sense.
15 wire the computer switches to main panel
16. add main relay firing to key on CP
17. wire the VFD
18. CHK earthing (grounding) to all parts of the control cabinet including the CP facia.
20. chk for abnormal touch screen heating
21. add additional fuse to coolant pump.
22. remember to take wireless keyboard dongle.
23. Grease the Racks
......


most important have to tighten all bolts and also bolt the MDF sheet to the machine.
Hope I can fire up tomorrow - have to yet go to office in the after noon.

some more progress

Finally I have motion on all three axis- G' kindly don't yet move this thread to the completed machines thread - I want to complete it fully and once I have "Mechmate" on my machine - then it will be appropriate - I have some questions to ask i will ask in the trouble shootong section.

RGDS
IRfan

If you don't want the thread moved, then don't cut (or write) anything under control of G-code. A little cursor movement is something we do on kitchen tables. :D
But yeah, any progress on your project is welcome - congratulations!

Ah - thank you :D

but still I request serial number 33 to be reserved for my machine. I am very near it and certainly not cut anything until I have the complete controls including the auto tool zero setup :)

RGDS
IRfan

Hi IRfan,
I like your idea for the cabinet and the touch screen is a professional touch.
I did not understand if the cabinet is provided with holes for ventilation, I am sure that a sealed cabinet would preserve from dust but if you close a PC in a sealed cabinet you will have troubles, PC and monitor are electronic devices that need to dissipate a lot of heat. It's mandatory to provide enough dissipation, the easiest way is to let air get in and out of the cabinet possibly in from the bottom and out from the top ....
perhaps I'm obvious .... a good air cleaner filter or a car air filter could help avoid dust .... but if you like a more complicated solution .... maybe liquid cooling ? what kills electronic it's not dust but heat (dust create heat because avoid dissipation).
ciao
Sergio