JR,
I know you have heard it a lot lately about free time, but your work is "craftsmanship" of the highest level and I am often envious of your accomplishment.

The MM you are building is a work of art and the attention to detail makes it even more fun to watch & learn. Additionally, working on the machine - or anything - in the shop is the best hobby and mental therapy I have ever had. ...The hands work, the mind wanders, the finished product is perfect. Nice job!

***

On a machine note - the bearing post hold down for the Y-car...did you turn the shaft or did you buy pressfit shaft material for the bearing?

I am actually contemplating purchasing a really nice post and Cam follower bearing with the appropriate shoulder bolt for a substitute if I can't get any lathe time in during the next few weeks.

Thanks,
Sean

Have you sold these yet or changed your mind? I would be interested in your parts.

Craig, sorry they were gone the first day

At last, she is wired. I will do a move and cut test sunday.

Sorry Sean just realized there is a question on the table.

I used 3/4" cold roll steel. The shaft was just a little smaller than the bearing so I chucked it up in the lathe used the knurling tool and it became a nice press fit.

J.R.,

Very nice !!

Lots of room in that box. Wondering what your future plans might be.

An old trick, in the absence of knurling, is a lot of center punch marks with Loctite.

JR,

U still got a plenty of space in ur cabinet, how about the fifth and sixth axis :D

Ur electronics are gonna run really cool with all that space.

RGDS
Irfan

I am a little nervous of the heat transmission through the wooden box - time will tell. Summer is still a long way off for you guys - don't forget to check inside the box on a hot day.

I tried to setup the software today and discovered I have no 5 volt output from the power supply. I'll pull it tomorrow and trouble shoot. So no cuts today:(

Looks like you really wanted it. Go to bed!

I think the question is "Looks finished, but does it move?" I can now answer that with a positive YES.

1 small problem so far, the e-stop is activating on its own with no button pushed. When it does ............. it stops. Any ideas? There is no pattern, when you click reset it may stay for 10 seconds or minutes.

JR.
Check the PMDX wires that feed the Estop contact on the board.
Excess electrical noise could be causing this. Check the cable routing and see if a little more separation helps. Additionally, in the Mach control setup pages there is a setting that helps Bounce/debounce the signal inputs to the board. I know you can adjust the standard inputs, I'm not sure about the Estop input.
Also, check for an intermittent ground connection on the estop loop that goes to the PMDX.
That's all I can think of at the moment.

BTW - CONGRATULATIONS! That's a HUGE step and kudo's to you! Well done.
Sean

It MOVES!! :D:D

but then it e-stops :confused::confused:

JR, Sean is sending you in the right direction. There is interference which could be a bear to track down. . . . . .

Too few grounds, or too many grounds (both can be culprits). Easy to start checking for too many - disconnect some to see if the problem goes away.

Shielded cables must be grounded one end only (not both ends)

PMDX must not be grounded.

Try plugging computer into same, or different, circuit to the control box.

Shorten E-stop cables by disconnecting some buttons.

Check E-stop wires not inside the same shield as mains wires (E-stop buttons must have two separately shielded cables.

It air cut almost to the end of the roadrunner file before the e-stop kicked in :D:( It jogs over 8' in 5 sec. including ramping up and down, it's fast.

E-stop has it's own shielded wire.

CONGRATS J.R.!!!!!!!! I'm happy for you Bud.

You might consider disconnecting your e-stop circuit from the terminal strip and replace it with a 2 or 3 inch loop of wire so that the circuit is completed and the system will still run. Then cut for a while and see if it will quit on you. At least that way, maybe you can narrow the problem down to either the cable circuit or the control box.

Thanks everyone it was only the debounce setting of 0, set it to 1000 as per Sean and the mach3 forum and it runs perfect.

Ran the roadrunner file 6 or 7 times without any problems whatsoever.

Thanks Doug, it IS music to your ears ............ really

Confession time. The power supply problem last nite was operator error. Wired the 5 volt DC backwards - to + and + to -, didn't seem to hurt anything :o

Now we're talking. I am glad it was a quick fix! Funny thing about that debounce setting. I often have to debounce all my proximity switches when programming to detect a vehicle on the track. Its really a guess sometimes. I am joyous for you and full of envy that I'm not done yet! Have a great night listening to the sounds of music. P

That was then... What about now? Cutting? Pictures?

Way to go J.R. !!!!

It really is fun watching everyone's progress.

Agree with Marc, more pictures please.

Great job J.R.:).....Looks like you might have to take #0000004;)

J.R. your work is an inspiration to me. I hope to have a MechMate 1/2 that nice when I am done.

John

Thanks
I have plans for a video release later today, maybe a pod-cast or a sim-u-cast ............ just joking about the last part, don't even know what they are. If I can figure it out ..... You-tube, I have never uploaded there before.:cool:

Greg S/N 0000004 or S/N 0000005 are both easy to say. I just have a hard time with tthhhuuu....rrreee.

Doug I hope you know I'm just having fun with this, and there is no substance to it at all, I'm as proud of your machine as I am of mine....well almost.....:):D:cool::o:p

Gerald get your stick pin ready!!!!!!!

Congrats J.R., hopefully you will all start seeing more progress on my machine soon, been gathering bits of steel and other sundry stuff.

All you guys are just making me put more pressure on myself :o

J. R.

Congratulations and I am eager to see more photos and videos. What do you plan to cut?

I know you are just kidding around JR and I've been enjoying it. However, I wish it wasn't a joke because I'd be more than happy to swap machines with you so you could have SN#00003 and I could have your masterpiece!!!

Nils the first cut was the surfacing of the table. It took 2 passes about .0025 each and now I have a flat table. I tried to upload the video to youtube ...didn't work. I'll try again Saturday.

So it does cut! :D