Joypad versus pendant
 

I am curious as to what peoples thoughts are regarding a joypad versus a pendant for controlling the Mechmate. CNC pendants seem to be more traditional, but it seems a joypad would be more convenient to use.

Alot seem to use wireless Xbox controllers, there are drivers available on the Mach site. I know I will be using one when the time comes.

I rely on a wired joypad. Wired.. because an emergency stop needs to be wired imo... and wireless can act up, and if it does can ruin your job/machine/body...
Great program to use is joytokey, you can hook up any key of your keyboard.

The visual feedback on a pendant is nice though. Then again you can buy a lot of joysticks for a pendant like that.

Pete,
I did not realize that. At least the cheap ones on ebay, did not seem to show a display.

The wiring continues
 

Continued pulling cable this weekend. The X1,X2 and Y steppers are wired and cables pulled to the cabinet. Also The X1,Y1 estops and proximity switches are wired in. I need to pull and attach cables for the X2 proxy and the Z-stepper. After those are pulled I can start wiring things up in the control panel. I hope I do not need to pull anymore cable. Things are getting a little cramped in the e-chain.

I also had to make some brackets to hold the connectors for the steppers. The bracket can be seen attached near the stepper below. In the center of the picture is a jig I threw together to hold the plug side of the connector so I can solder it. It is an extra cable gland that fortunately fits and a wooden dowel on the other end holds a neodymium magnet.

I also ordered a cnc pendant off of ebay. After watching a few youtube videos of those in use, I decided that a pendant would give me more control than a joypad.

You are close!!
Looking great!!

Yeah, Looking real good!:D

Cable trying to pull out
 

I have continued with wiring today. I worked on getting the proxy switches and switches terminated at the terminal blocks.

I have noticed that one of the stepper motor cables is trying to pull itself out. As I move the gantry back and forth, the X1 stepper cable(the one of the e-chain side) starts working itself out. The other cables seem to be stable. X1 was the first cable I ran, so it sits at the bottom of the cable run.

Has anyone else run into this problem? Should I try using something like talcum powder to lubricate the cables inside the chain so they slip past each other a little better?

Cable tie the cable to the cable chain

Is tying the cable to the cable chain a standard procedure?

It solved my problem :)

On the industrial machines I've used, the cables are tied where they enter and exit the chain, not within the chain itself. Typically the end pieces of the chain have provisions for tying the cable to them.

I normally tie them on one end only

First Stepper Motion
 

Did more wiring today. Ran the wiring for the 120V E-stop circuit. I am waiting on hooking it in until I get some DIN rail mountable fuseholders.

I could not wait any longer though and decided to see a stepper move for the first time. Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Q_hzK4hm4

The only thing that caused me problems was getting the step pin and the direction pin reversed in the mach3 configuration. I really need to get those X-Rails welded!

Just couldn't wait could ya?:)

Couldn't wait on the remaining three steppers either. :) Hooked those up last night. Got to see the Z-axis move up and down for the first time. I also hooked up the pendant. That is going to be nice to have. Might have a go at attaching the Y-rack tonight so I can see Y move.

Pretty cool feeling, huh?
Bites of the elephant....congrats!!

Assemble the quartet!

Getting there!

That's funny, Ken...:)

My son is on his way with his violin...be there soon ;)

Y-Axis moving
 

Got the Y-Axis powered up today. You can see a short video of it and also the pendant at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8-7W_UE8A4

I think that is all I will really be able to do in the evenings this week. This weekend I will finish wiring in the e-stops, proxy and weld up the x-racks. Hopefuly I will have all axes under power by the end of the next weekend.

This is one of the greatest mile stones in MM building journey.
I feel your excitement :)

ALMOST THERE!!!

X-Axis moving
 

Wired in the e-stops and proximity sensors today. Also spliced the extra 6 inches of length to the X-racks. The welds are not pretty, but they will do. After a little bit of configuration in Mach3, I got the x-axis moving. Video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7iJpCtsdBQ

I still need to configure the proximity sensors inputs for Mach3. I also noticed that one of my gantry wheels is running about a half millimeter off the rail center. So I will need to shim that out a little. Obviously I need to do some configuring of the step rate, but I will leave it slow for now until I am sure that everything is behaving nicely. Less chance of crashing something.

Next big step is to work on getting the spindle mounted to the Z-axis and wiring up the VFD. I hope Mike gets me those Mechmate logos mailed soon. I would hate for that to be the only thing stopping me from getting a serial number.

Sounds like a wind-up toy. ;)

LOL. I had not thought of it that way!

Chinese spindle mounting block.
 

Took a closer look at my chinese block of aluminum spindle mount. There is not a square pair of surfaces on that block. I would have been better off if they had sent me a raw casting without the spindle hole bored out. Then I would have had some room to square up the surfaces and bore an inline hole.

As it stands now, it looks like I would have to make a mandrel to mount the spindle block onto to get everything referenced to the bore.

Still trying to decide if I want to try and make this mounting block work or go with a different mounting method.

I made my own, copied one from someone on the forum. Mine still has the material info on it, doesn't matter, it works.

Below is a pic of what I am trying to accomplish. I already planned on making several modifications to the mount. There are mounting ears that would not clear the guide wheels. So those would be cutoff in addition to cutting some extra relief. I was also going to cut the mount in half to space out the support.

Relative to the mounting surface, the bore of the mount deviates about .2mm over 80mm. Not great, but I can live with it. A 1/4 inch bit would be out of level in that direction by less than .001 inch. Side to side though, the bore deviates by roughly 2mm from any usable reference surface.

What I need to do is figure out the line of the center bore to drill my mounting holes. Get these off and the spindle will not be square to surface and no way to shim it out.

Actually as I am typing this, I think I have way to handle it. I will go ahead and made the modification I planned. I will get one hole drilled. Then mount the spindle, mount and z-axis rail to the mill. Then I can align to the spindle and drill a starter hole. That hopefully will take care of the side to side alignment.

I finally figured out how to get the center line. Pic of the layout setup below.

Basic steps. Lay spindle with mounts on surface plate. Lock down the mounts. Mount spindle in V-block and make sure mount is now perpendicular using angle block. Measure top of spindle, subtract off 80mm/2 or 40mm. Mark center line.

Just another day of building a mechmate! :)