I did earlier but my domain name had expired, they had my old email and couldn't notify me, it's up again. As I learn more and do some wood cutting I will try to put more short video up. It's on the last page of this site

www.pueblopipesteel.com

Ed,
Congratulations on your new machine. It looks (and sounds) great. Great job!

John

first small project
 

I engraved the part values on a turret board for a 1987Marshall tube amp, that I am building for a customer. It turned out okay but I think on the next one I will work on the font or the depth of engraving better next time so that it is easier to read. I was pretty excited though for a first try. I was a nervous wreck thinking the bit would crash through the material and table, being the first job for it. Kept my hand on the estop button for awhile until I could see that It was going well.:):)

I am going to make a faceplate also out of the layered plastic so that when engraved the inner color highlights the lettering, I just have to find the website for the plastic.

Ed,

When I get my machine built, I am thinking of engraving plates also so I will be interested in your progress.

This may be a silly question but.........

If your doing a job that has multiple tool paths and requires changing tools, are you supposed to save each tool path that uses a new tool as it's own gcode,so that you will be able to change tools, or do you do the whole project as one gcode and use the pause/resume for tool changes?

I am doing a plaque for my wife that need a 1/4 endmill for the outer profile, but the lettering and everything else will be done with a 90 degree bit.

Ed,

I use SheetCam and it has built-in facilities for tool changes. Basically, with SheetCam, you place each separate Milling operation on a layer in your drawing. Then, in, SheetCam, you assign an operation to a layer and using a bit defined in your tool collection. It is easier than it sounds. Do you use Skype? I could give you a quick demonstration of Sheetcam and let you watch over the internet. It would take you about 10 seconds to see it and have that "AHA" moment.

I know that Doug Ford also uses SheetCam. Let me know. Happy to help.

Thanks Marc,
I looked at SheetCam but decided to go with Vcarve pro because it seemed to be more user friendly and has a few more features that work easier with the type of stuff that I would like to do. I see it has the layers on Vcare and probably works the same or simmilar. Guess I should watch a couple of demo tutorials.

I plan to buy VCarve Pro as well but plan to use it for carving. I still plan to use SheetCam for cutting out 2d parts. I would love your thoughts on Vcarve Pro once you get better at using it. Please keep us posted. Thanks.

little plaque I made
 

I did a little plaque for my wife, she is a park ranger at the White Sands Natl. Mon. I made if from some left over bubinga wood that I had used on a guitar. It looks really nice, but I can see some small flaws with the carving. The second cutt pass on the lettering was off slightly. I am not sure what caused that. I am in the shortest spring tension holes for the motor springs, wonder if it would help to tighten those up to the middle hole? Anything else I might check?

Ed,

It looks very nice.

I can only imagine how your hart started racing when you saw the first « steps » of your new MM !!
Now, you fell joy after so many efforts inn for this new beast to work & at the same time worry about you little mishap &!?
Surly your wife will still be trill & grateful !

Wishing you success with your new toy.
That is… a toy only for grown boys :D
Robert ;)

Did it loose some steps? You know I battled a problem with Mach3 and loosing steps in my Z - installed the new "alpha" version and it fixed the problem... go figure...

Also be sure to do the test on the diagnostics page where you tell the axis to move x inches and then you measure it to make sure it moved the intended length.

Also including some close up photos of the problem might help to narrow down the problem.

here is a close up. The feed rate was 100ipm. This is about the hardest wood that I have ever seen, when you drill it the shavings come off the drill in a cork screw like steel, and it will polish bare with no finish coatings.

I am wondering if it may have shifted slightly, maybe only a few thousandths of an inch within the clamps I used since it is such hard wood. Today I will try the same carve with soft pine and see if the results are the same.

Ed,

I know you just started cutting with you machine but how new is your bit? That might also make a difference.

Ed,
Your test is what I was going to suggest. On very hard material, a few thousands is a mile when cutting. My initial thought is the part moved. Try on MDF or similar solid material (or soft pine) and see what you get. MDF usually shows the tool path line the best.

I assume the error is the shift of the base of the letters to the left in the photo? Is so, is this shift exactly the same throughout or does it "grow" as it moves accross the part? Other than a bit change to do the flats at the bottom, was the job stopped on the v-bit at anytime and restarted (such as hitting a limit or a false trigger limit switch)? Have you run the step calibration tests in Mach3 on X, Y and Z - did they come up correctly (running from 0 to 97, 0 to 49, 0 to ?)?

Can you post the g-Code or source file (v-carve?)?

Is it possible that the bit slipped upwards in the collet?

It seemed to be random, or inconsistant and got worse each time I ran a gcode. I readjusted my vgroove wheels and ran a dial indicator on the z slide and it was holding steady with no side to side movement.

I was about ready to think it was incorrect setup in mach 3 or something. I started trying by hand to move parts on the MM to see if there was any movement and the x axis had about 3mm of play or movement. I pulled the motors and the pinion setscrews were loose. Not sure if I forgot to tighten them or if the vibration caused them to come loose. I fixed that and now it is working alot better.

Feel kinda foolish for not checking those before hand:o

Ed may I suggest backing the grub screw (Gerald's term) out 1 at the time and putting loctite on them. Make sure it's the type that can be removed.

Self-locking "set screws" (grub screws) are also available.

Removal is quite easy.

Greg,
Could you plz elaborate what are these ?

Sharma,

McMaster Carr (www.mcmaster.com)
Part Number: 98796A132

That part number is for an assortment of different sizes.

Thanks, I will either get some removable locktite or order the self locking ones, I sure don't need that to happen on an expensive wood project.

Cutting wonderfull now, it is amazing the detail that the vcarve did on the park service logo trees , mountain, and arrowhead. Lettering is good now also. A little final sanding and a tung oil finish and it will be ready.

ED,
Great looking sign! :) I also read somewhere if you need some removable locktite in a flash, go raid your wifes nail polish. It will hold the screw a bit better but will still be removable. Dont know if it is as strong as the real stuff but will work in a pinch. I wonder if she has it in Mechmate blue? :eek:

WOW, nice work Ed.

I'm hoping to get motors turning this holiday weekend, but my wife wants to go to Las Cruez and pick up a new car.

Ahhh, the set screw issue.
Gerald also has (and me too) ground another flat spot on the pinion shaft so the set screws set against a flat surface and not the round. The Oriental Motors only provide 1 flat spot. Those "little" motor's have a lot of torque....thus...lock it down!

Congratulations on a great looking sign. Only a "SIGN" of things to come from the Mechmates in the desert SW.

Have a good holiday.
Sean

Ed,

Its amazing to see MM's capacity. Really nice work. How much time it took?

Greg,
Thanks for info.

Sharma,
I spent about an hour on the computer, and about the same setting up and actual cutting. I wouldn't think too much about that though because I am new to this and I took my time and had the MM cutting at about 60ipm. It could have probably been done from start to finish with vcarve and MM in about 30min to an hour I would guess maybe faster if you know what your doing.

now that I have it saved though the next one will be very fast.:):)

Ed,

Here are the links for the dust control system.
The first one is Bill Pentz's site. Everything you ever wanted to know about dust control, but were afraid to ask. :)

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

The second link is ClearVue's site.

http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/

Ed,

Thanks for the help on the router / Mach problem. I had everything wrong. It works great now.

Figured out the homing/limit issues yesterday.

Again, Thanks.

Sorry I didn't get on the computer Sun., sounds like you got it going!
I will be waiting patiently for some pictures with sawdust:D:D

small job
 

did a faceplate for an 18watt amplifier that I build. I turned out beutiful. I am starting to see what the MM can do. I finger jointed the wood for the amp cabinet also yesterday and got it glued up today. when I get it all together I will post a photo of what the amp looks like.

ED,
Did you finger joint the cabinet on the MM also? If you go to the talk shopbot forum, and search for finger joint and knapp joint you will find some pics of guys doing this on their cnc. :) The front panel looks great. how did you get the yellow, was it painted or two layer plastic?

Ed,

I like it. :) Very nice.

Hey, while waiting on the VCarve Pro, I've been playing around with motor speeds, etc. You may want to consider changing pinions to the 35 tooth for the X axis. I'm not cutting, so these are not valid tests, but, my gut tells me that this MM is well designed.

Greg -

I'm guessing you moved from 30 to 35 tooth with the 7.2:1? Whats the thinking on moving to the 35's over the 30's?

Thanks,
david

David,

This is my first experience with any kind of CNC. So I'm learning as I go.

When I started this build, Doc Tanner was using this combination, and having good results. That's the main reason.

Also, the pinions are relative low cost and easy to change out. If I didn't/don't like the results, I can always change to another pinion.

Well I will say that you only drop .0001" of resolution from going from 30's to 35's. You also drop your stepping speed from 25.5 KHz to 21.8 KHz - imporant for those with slow computers. Also your motor speed drops over 250 RPM, thus giving your more torque (if you need it).

Here is a good thread on this topic:

http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=768

The finger joints yes it was easy to do on the MM, I just sandwiched the two pieces between two spoilboards vetically to the end channel of the MM and set up a simple profile path in vcarve, then did the opposite tool pathe for the top and bottom pieces. I used a 1/2" bit and cutt slightly deeper than the thickness of the boards. The plastic is from www.Johnsonplastics.biz They have an endless variety of colors. The surface is a different color than the inner, that gives you contrast on the lettering. The also have reverse engraving plastics where you engrave the letters bacwards on the back of the plastic then fill the void or paint the void a different color for the contrast. Basically the same way they do amplifier faceplates.


If the resolution is good and every thing else is working good is there a reason besides the travel or cutt speed to change the pinion size?

Actually it seems to move plenty fast for me with the 20tpi pinion, I have been slowing down the letter engraving to about 60ipm. The bit was hot enough you couldn't hold it in your hand after cutting the plastic at that speed.

Here is a source for engraving bits for wood and plastic, they have pretty much anything you may need.

http://store.multicam.com/osc/index....qp3tjuu79cn6g1