I also want to offer my congratulations to you Sean! I can't remember anything in my life that tops or will ever top when our children were born. Congratulations again to you and your wife.

You can recognize God in the children.:)
Congratulations Sean

Update:
Finished making all the cable chain mounts and e-chain support rails. Remember, my machine is pre Mamba, so I did it old school - shoot from the hip!
Anyway, all the cable chain mounted and working well on the x and y axis. Just a z slider and wiring and I am up and running!
Sean

Sean,

If you did it (cable chain mounts) different than J.R.'s, would you mind posting pic's.

Greg

Of course I will post pics! I left my camera at home last night, I' ok try to get them up in the morning. Mind you, my routing is simple - not sexy keeping with the mm mantra.

Sean,

Thanks. I've been working on the Z slide this week in the evenings. I don't know why it is, but a warm shop (currently snowing), music and a couple of resting dogs sure makes for a peaceful mind.

Should get started on the cable mounts this weekend.

Cable chains installed.

Looking good Sean,

Boy, I didn't realize that you had some paint going. Your way ahead of me. :)

I'll take parts of yours and J.R.'s, mounts and fab something tomorrow.

Sean,

Looks good. Soon, I will be coming over to see it cut.

Sean,

Looks great, can't believe your wife has been letting you out long enough to work.

Note:
Can't you invert the last piece of the longer chain so that your wires come out on top of the "cable tray" running to the other chain?

See ya soon

Matthew
the clearance is tight on the chain loop, thus I underhung the chain to keep it flush with the bottom of the gantry and main beam. Leaving room for the indexer tailstock on the other end of the machine. (photo left for those followin along) What you don't see is the 3 holes that are marked to chase the cable up to the same plane as the y chain. Were on the Same page! Btw, I had to sneak out to get some CnC fun in last week :D

Move the Chains! 1st and 10 to go.
 

Attachment 862

Attachment 863

Okay,
I put the x chain back were I started with it. This is what I get for trying to make decisions while sleep deprived.
Gerald, Please delete the previous "bad location" cable chain pics in Post #167
Thanks

Sean,

That looks like a very tight bend radius coming out of the cable chain. Is there more to the picture.

Sean, if those pics are deleted then some of your subsequent posts will become strange. I'll try to add notes to them and then you can decide if you still want them removed.

Greg, I see his cables exiting the chain below the metal bracket (overshooting to right and then wrapping anti-clock to top of bracket.)

Ah, I see it now.

Thanks, Gerald.

Is there an advantage to Sean's cable routing over mine (coming straight out and route along Y axis).

Just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Greg, I don't see a major difference. Your chain has a much bigger natural radius than Sean's, so it stands up taller when you keep the bottom leg in line with the bottom of the main beam. I am not wild about the idea of the chain standing up taller than the rail because you may want to load the table from that side. If you already know at which point you are loading heavy sheets (and they can be very heavy) then you will work around the chain.

Have another look at this thread to see a tighter radius chain below the x-rail.

Realise that I havn't used x-chain yet - we have umbilicals hanging well clear of the table top.

Yea, I really didn't like that either.

I'm going to lower it like Sean's and figure out a clean way to route the cable. I looked at the Mamba design, but I really don't want to go to an outside source for a special part. Don't get me wrong, I like the Mamba design allot, just getting to the point where I want to start cutting wood. :)

The lower "tray" can be hung off the legs & uprights of the table - it doesn't have to attach to the beam.

Thanks Gerald,

Stay tuned. Lets see what I can dream up. :)

Gerald,
Thank you for adding the notes to the original chain post. I like the idea of having the brackets "some what" adjustable vertically for the x chain. Therefore, you can still hang the chain from the main beam, but "pick-a-hole" for height depending on the chain that you order. Ideally, one should order the proper radius chain. As for me, I happened to have about 16' of the appropriate chain here at the shop.
I tried to emulate the mamba location on the chain attachment to the gantry. I REALLY like this location and it seems to not induce any weird yaw or drag on the carriage. Plus it makes the cable runs up to the gantry and z axis really easy.
Back next week - traveling this week.
Sean

...today was grind the vertical z slide day. About 3 hours of work and I have a really nice profiled z-slide. Tomorrow, drill some holes.
* note *
Because I used the Mamba skate to grind the z-slide, I started with a 30" length of cold rolled flat 1/4 x 4 tool steel and ground the entire edge. I will trim the z-slide to length tomorrow to remove the skate runoff area to the correct length (22.4") as noted in dwg #10 40 334.

Sean

I was thinking of using 4 pole Neutrik Speakon connectors for the motor runs. 30A continuous capacity per pole and they twist lock. Any reason not to???

Sean, that's a nice looking build. *thumbs up*

Sean,
Is Tool Steel harder than angle or tubing? Was it more difficult to grind than the rails with the skate grinder? I have seen a lot of posts from people saying they had the z slide plate done at a machine shop. I thought it was due to the hardness.

Heath,
Tool steel is "a little harder" the brinell and rockwell ratings suggest the real values. Standard Tube and Angle is A36 carbon steel and is "soft"...tool steel is similar in composition, just formed or hardened (either induction or heat). I personally used for my z slide A36 Cold Rolled flat. From working with the plate yesterday and today, it was very easy to grind and the drilling hasn't been an issue. I actually thought it ground better than my rails! So far, drilling all the holes went fine. Although, I haven't countersunk the plate screws yet.

Speakon connectors are really nice connectors. They tend to have a larger form factor than xlr....but easier to solder and make the wire connections in. It's really a user choice. I use speakons often and like them. No reason not to use them except if you make the cable connections before you run the cable thru the cable chain...you might find that it doesn't fit! I would double check the internal clearance and the OD of those connectors before I got to far on wiring the motors.

Sean

Sean,
Is A36 cold rolled flat the same as tool steel? Is that what I should ask for, or is that a sub you did? If it is a sub, is there any downside like wearing and such? You can tell steel is not my best subject. :(

If you want whats specified in the drawings,
ask for "tool steel" which is usually a D2 grade, but a little pricey.

• CHARACTERISTICS -D-2 is a high carbon, high chromium heat treatable tool steel intended for applications requiring high wear resistance.
• WORKABILITY - Machinability is medium. Grindability is medium.
• APPLICATIONS - Blanking Dies & Punches, Thread Roll Dies, Trim Dies, Mold Inserts, Injection Screw Components, Draw Dies, Forming Rolls & Dies, Gauges.
  
  Sold only in 18" standard lengths.

I used Cold Rolled Flat and ground 1/4" x 4" because I could get it in a longer length so I could grind the finish using the Mamba Skate. D2 was not available at my supplier in anything but 18" lengths. I used a 30" length and cut it to the Metric Length of 19.7"....I liked the extra on top like in the Sketchup model.

Gerald has made provision for using the stock length using a grinding method described in the other parts of the forum using a table saw, grinding disc and some ingenuity.

The tool steel will wear better....the Cold rolled was an easy substitute to get me cutting until I change over the z-slide later to use with a spindle.
Additionally, the cold rolled is not any softer or will wear any differently than the rest of the machined/ground rails on the MM. Thus....steel is steel for now! :)

A good source, if you can't find it locally is http://www.metalsdepot.com/

Sean,

I'm ordering Ferrules (and crimper) from ferrulesdirect.com (how cool is that). The starter kit has 3 series, W, D, and T. What does series mean and which one is best for the MM?

cut and paste from ferrulesdirect:
(found here:http://ferrulesdirect.com/singleinsulated.htm)

Q. What’s the difference among Series W, D and T?

A. The only difference among the three series listed below is the color of the insulation. All other physical and dimensional features are the same.

Thanks Craig.

Greg,
I ordered my ferrules from ferrulesdirect. I got the starter kit and was pleasantly surprised how few I actually used! Invaluable making the very small wires to the PMDX look clean, isolated, insulated and better for my large hands to handle on final termination. You won't be dissappointed. I think the cost was around 25 bucks for the kit plus crimper.
Happy wiring :)

Sean,

Thanks. Shielded cable is 3 weeks out. Got plenty to do until then.

Painted first part tonight. Geeez, can you image someone from the "outside" reading these posts. They must truly think we're nuts. Put a coat of primer on some metal. Big whoop.

I could care less what anyone thinks. I'm having a blast. :p

I think the cold-rolled is a good option as well, but I didn't spec it for the drawing because that size is not common here.

Just a small correction to Sean's assumption that the z-rail doesn't need to be different to the other rails. Not quite true because the z-rail gets loaded and worn over a very small distance all the time. With the ShopBot, the z-rail wear was a big headache. But that was with 3/16" thick mild steel and the rollers were a lot smaller in diameter.

Gerald, Sean,
Thanks for the reply. I might try the cold rolled as then I could use the skate as well. I could always change to a machined tool steel slide later.

Sean,
From metalsdepot, which one would you recommend for cold finished steel, the C1018 or the 4140 alloy. They also have hot rolled, geez there is a ton of different steels avail. :confused:

Tool steel grinds quite easily - the skate will have no grinding problem with it. But you will have a length problem. The skate's wheels need extra distance at each end, past the finish ground surface.

Table saw grinding is so easy and so quick. It won't damage the bearings of your saw at all if they are the sealed type (as they should be for sawdust)

Thanks Gerald.:)

almost done. Just wiring to do
 

I made quite a bit of progress this week:
-finished the z-slide and is mounted on the y car
-mounted motor and spring mount
-made custom holddown for y car. I substituted a 1.625" of cam follower with stud for the roller per plan. I will post pics later tonight.
-all painted.

Only thing left to do is wire it up. Shielded cable arrives on Monday. Maybe I might be cutting by next week if I am lucky.

Sean

progress photos...
 

As promised, a few photo's from the dusty shop!
Attachment 944

Attachment 945

Attachment 946

Sean,

Nice progress. Would you mind taking another picture of the router mount (when its convenient). I had to cut the back corners off mine because they interfered with the fastening hardware on the V-rollers. Not a big deal, just curious why yours fits better.

Started painting parts this week. Cleaning up shop tomorrow and making permanent home for the beast.

Looking forward to your first project. And they thought Picasso was good :)

Greg,
First of all, that is a K2CNC porter cable 7518 mount.
It has 6 - 10-32 mounting bolts. To make the clearance, I just put in a machined spacer 3/8" long on each spot to achieve the proper clearance.

As far as the first job - I have already built all the cabinet files that need to be cut asap. Lots and lots of cabinets and specialty fiberglass core shapes.......I can't get this beast done quick enough.