I appreciate the help from everyone.
Ken, in post#230 above, I understand you to say that I can go into ports and pins, outputs, and assign a Hotkey to pin 14 by assigning it to port 1 pin 14 of the "enable 1" and by pressing the L as I toggle enable, and click apply, it will work?

I've tried every possible way of doing this, and nothing.
press L, toggle enable
Hold L while toggling, etc.
Clicking the enable button turns the laser on/off, but the L doesn't work as a Hotkey.

I'm gonna have to step away and catch my breath.:o

If you open the screenset in screen editor (screen4) you can see what hotkey shortcut is, its CTRL+W (32855)

Success....(sort of).

Finally figured out how to get the flood coolant button to switch the laser, and the spindle icon is now controlling the K1 relay. I'll wire in a 30A contactor and use the K1 to switch the coil.
It will be worth all the hassle in the end. (I hope).

The best thing I can tell you is learn one part well before moving to the next. It is better to have a great understanding on one thing than know very little about a lot. It is easier to build your knowledge base once you have one solid step to build off of. If you have it working, that is great. Now you can take your time to study and see if there is a way you can improve upon it in a way that is not affecting your work time.

All I can say is "WOW'.
I rushed to try out my MM once it was "complete".
Used it for a lot of jobs without really fine tuning it.
Never hooked the proxies up, etc.

Finally decided to make things a little tidier.

Took about 10 times longer than it should have to get all this setup the last week or so, even in its most basic form.

Now that I've used the 2010 screenset auto Z-zero and laser offset a few times, its like using a new machine.

Black box vac source (painted blue of course...:)) is complete, and it will suck your hand into the inlet fitting.
now to get it under the table and plumbed in....
Next will be a kiosk type monitor and keyboard holder, with room for the PC.
I load all the files with a usb drive, so I'll probably incorporate that into the face.

It's the little things.

Danilo answered your question.
Its more fun taking small baby step to improve the MM. :)
Climbing the learning curve is as tough as it is, life is short, why add over expectation & demoralize yourself when simple stuff would work? Glad that you got what you want for now. Surely, you will grow to higher expectation along you knowledge eventually, for now, have fun!

Thanks Ken, and everyone else.
It definitely is fun...sometimes frustrating ,but fun.

I built a Mechmate with a 6' x 20' cutting capacity, primarily for cutting aluminum sheet. As it worked out, I haven't done much in alloy but the extra table area is nice for operations that involve several milling processes as you can set up your different hold downs, reference stops etc. Fact is, though, I could do quite well with a 4 X 10 as it's now a hobby machine.

Chuck

I agree Chuck.
As I've stated before, if I were to expand into multiple machines, the next one would be a
4x4, as it would be big enough for most of my work.
Couldn't do without the 5x12, but wouldn't need another that size.

So, the black box vac souurce is complete and works fantastic except for one minor detail.
It generates enough vacuum to collapse the 2 gallon bucket I made for a filter housing.
Back to the drawing board with a piece of 10" schedule 40 PVC.
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...ps37ed1733.jpg

Are you running a variable speed motor to control the amount of vacuum when you have ports restricted. I don't know what you have. Metal would be the better option. Vacuum is a powerful force. A 10 inch piece of pvc might work but you have a lot of vacuum and a lot of surface area to pull on. We have vacuum furnaces were I work. I can't tell you much because of confidentiality but I can tell you that I saw the inside vessel wall which is 1/4" thick be sucked in. The furnace opening is 60" round. Vacuum is more powerful than you think.

Awesome work
 

Thought i would chime in that i really like seeing the pictures of your machine and work keep them coming great build thread to browse. Cheers!

Hi Pete, the rest of the piping is schedule 40 PVC, and I have a piece of 10" handy, so I figure I'll give it a try. Can't hurt.

Hi Mojo, thanks for the kind words.
I wish I had more time to work on all the things I have running through my mind.
I desperately want to re-skin my paintbooth doors to look like an old steel mill wall, with some heavy I-beams and cast brackets, and rivited panels, all made from MDF and faux finished to look like rusted patina steel. Even a couple portholes for looking in, something between Art Deco and Steampunk.
Since its not an income producing job, it keeps getting pushed back.
It may never happen, but it looks cool in my minds eye...:)

You sure are having lots of fun :)

I had a collapsed box made out of MDF, now I have an inline uPVC pipe instead.

SCH 40 pipe will work.

Darren,
How did you make out? You have it up and running yet? Is it working as you expected? With some of the work you have done, so far I am sure it will be a great addition to your machine and output.

Hi Pete,
I had a cabinet job that had to go out the door, so I've been using the vacuum with the collapsed bucket.
Works fantastic, even better than I expected, but I reallly need to make the time to rebuild the filter housing with the piece of 10" schedule 40 PVC I have laying next to the machine.

I have never seen one in person but have only read about them. I like the concept but have a little understanding on how it would hold a smaller part than the layout pattern. I hope you have pictures later.

Finally finished the table for myself.
Bought a used glass top table/chairs off CL for a few bucks, sized the wood border to fit under the glass.
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4cfbc830.jpg

Beautiful Darren! Nice work.

You know what would look better....use a Cubs logo :D
Just kidding...looks great!
Mark

Been cutting cabinet box parts all day out of UV coated 3/4 plywood.
15 sheets and nary a wiggle using the "black box" vac project.
It will pull a sheet with a 1/4" bow along the width flat in just a couple seconds.
I'm calling this one a huge success.

Tks for sharing ;)
Always good to know !

Darren - can we see your vacuum pump and setup, I am pretty impressed by what you say about it!

Regards
Irfan

I can take a pic, but it looks identical to the ones posted in the SB thread linked below.
(Except its pained MM blue, of course. :D)
I didn't do anything differently than what is shown there.
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11813

Darren, those light house motors - wow never thought they would work so fine -

what was your source for them in the US

R/IRfan

Bought mine here.
http://www.centralvacuummotor.com/shopbot.htm
Great to deal with.

those motor are very strong.

http://www.solostocks.com/img/vacuum...-7440723n0.jpg

i have test it with my vacumm and they are very strong.
caution! there typically two models. one is licuid compatible thats have separate motor air ventilation same has the photos here show. and there is another model that use vacumm air flow to cool the motor. so if there is no air flow the motor eat and die.

i cant find it right now but there is a desing of a person using 3 vaccum motors for the table.

Nothing sexy, cutting cabinet boxes out.
The MM is easily the best employee I've ever "hired".
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...ps502e96b3.jpg

Hey Darren,
What software are you using for your cabinet work?

Right now, I just draw everything in Aspire.
Not the fastest way, but it works.
Been looking at cabinet specific software, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet.

The free version of cabinet parts pro looks interesting.
The full version is not that bad price wise either.

That's one on my list...
I should just crawl before I walk, but I'd really like to have one program that can do 3-D renderings for clients as well.
It is very counter productive designing in one program for a presentation rendering and then having to use another for the cut files....
What I'm doing now is probably the slowest way possible, but I'm learning a lot.
At 48 years old, and a carpenter my entire career, I never dreamed I'd be woodworking in three decimal points.....

" I never dreamed I'd..... "
See.....dreams to come true :p
:D

I guess the correct term is "to three decimal places". :)
EasyCab
CabinetPlanner
and CabinetPartsPro
are currently on my short list for cost vs. value....

I know what you mean. I had drawn it up in cad in 3d with the layout of the room then had to explode each and export the dxf of the cabinets to bring into Aspire to layout. There has to be an easier why but I haven't found it yet.

Darren, How do you tint the epoxy? I love looking at the tables but I am a little timid of the process?

Hi, I use Fine Arts oil paint to tint the epoxy.
You have a wider range of tints and subtil or vivid colors.
The oil paint keep the Epoxy transluscent.
If you want an opaque tint, add some marble dust.

The tint and the dust may be mixed first with the hardener.
When the coumpound is uniform, mix it with the resin. ;)

Axel is exactly right about the process.
If you need more color than 1 pour will provide, mix the color into enough part B for the entire job.
Believe me, if you can build a MM, you can do this.

First kitchen with plywood cabinet boxes cut 100% on MM with vacuum holddown.

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...psc98816bd.jpg

Nice job Daren !
How type of joinery did you used : dadoes ? rabbets ? hardware ?