Sean, nice work. With that load of MDF coming in be sure to snap a few photos of the beast at work if you can. Maybe even a video? :) So this is what I thought of when Gerald said #5. It's alive!

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/images/johnny5.jpg

:D

Sean,
Congratulations on #5. :)

Sean,

Congratulations !!

Brian.
And #5 is alive is exactly the reason I titled my forum entry as such. #5 alive brings back WAY to many memories of jr high school and the 80's.
Thanks for the photo.
Sean

haha glad so, just as long as you don't get down to your shop one night and find that your machine is talking through the stepper motors? :)

All proximities and relays installed in machine. A little wiring action to do tomorrow and all the proximity switch limit/homing will be done.
Gerald, I had to enlarge the 5/8" diameter hole you have in the top plate of the y-car for the connector to pass to the 12mm proximity sensor.
I enlarged it to 20mm for the QD fitting and cable to pass to the sensor. Minor....very minor.
I will post pics when I am done.
Sean

MechMate Proximity Limits Done and working
 

Proximity limits installed on all axis.
Works perfectly. "ref all" in Mach, and the machine finds home, then set my g54 (work offset) to the spoil board x/y o,o. Thus, the machine finds mechanical home, then moves to the spoilboard "soft home" and is ready to cut.
Schematic for installation:
prox_layout.pdf

Details: FactoryMation
qty description
3 SI12-C2 NPN NO H m12QD proximity sensors, 10-30vdc
3 PIR6W-1P-12VDC slim relay
3 MOD.14/4 LC5 5m qd cable. I extended each cable with 4 core cable to meet my needs.

I wired all in the control box via the 12vdc tap on my antek transformer.
Currently, I have only 3 sensors wired, so all the x, y and z work. The second x axis will be wired next week when I have the time.
NOTE: to keep the same logic as the rest of the machine, I bored a 19mm hole in the back side of the z-slider and attached it to the spider via 2 10-24 tapped holes so it finds "up". Also, I have ordered a smaller, 25 mm barrel length version of the same sensor to replace the one in the photo. The one shown in the photo "may" interfere with the dust collection, I have about 5" clear, but I would prefer a smaller form factor to keep everything neat and tidy.

Easy, about 4 hrs worth of work and around 125 bucks and I am in business.

Note all the dust on the machine....she has been working hard for the past 2 days :D

Sean,

Thanks for all your hard work and information.

Ah, it's great to see a plan come together! I have been dreaming of this approach for a couple of years. :)

In the drawing set, there is a "washer" with an off-center hole. The idea is that you drop the washer in the hole and use the eccentric effect to "tune" the target point for trigger distance. Does that make sense?

I could try and include a position on the spider for the proxy . . . .

What I don't like about this is all the extra (expensive) cabling from gantry to control box. Since the switches are all effectively connected only to each, the bulk of the wiring (plus relays), should ride on the gantry.

Sean,
I have seen a lot of posts with you mentioning how hard your new beast is working. How about a few pictures of some of your cuts if you get a chance. :)

Heath.

I second domino's request. We need photos/video :D

Sean

I need some motivation bring on the videos.......

I'll try to get some video up this week. I am in the weeds trying to get a few jobs out. Of course, the MM is a big part of all that. I'll see what I can pull off.
I made a temporary dust foot today to work with a shopvac. The real dust collector is a couple of weeks off.

My BIG MM working
 

Here's a few pics that Gerald requested last night.
Working away. See no power outage here!:D

Hey, I like the rough shape of that foot! :) Sean, go check out the 4th evolution on JR's pages.

Gerald,

Yep, that is what we were cutting. 1/4" ply. Like cutting paper.....

Ooo . . . I love work - can sit and watch it for hours . . . . :)

Sean

What is it that you are cutting out? Looks a little like Marine plywood.

hey ya'll. Thanks for commenting. That being cut is 1/4" lauan that is being tek screwed to a steel frame, then fiberglassed to make a very architectually odd awning. Top and bottom skins, matte, then glass. One of the Many things we do at austin2paris.com.
The dust foot is VERY temporary. I cut JR and Marks foot idea to match my router base and 2.5" shopvac hose. The real dust collection and foot will come in a few weeks when I move her to the final home a few buildings away.
I figured some dust collection was better than no collection. My lungs thank me:)

What my real dust foot will end up looking like in a few weeks. Or at least I am shooting for this type of pressure foot.
I have already modified my K2CNC router bracket with tapped holes to accept the plunge bar....I know from past experience that this was the 1 thing about my Multicam machine I really liked! IT held down polycarbonate and thin sintra sheets really well. It did have a tendency to scratch the surface of the sheet, but that was fixed by cutting upside down or leaving the paper on.

Another great trick with plastic laminates is to squeegee on sign vinyl transfer masking tape to one side of the plastic before cutting...this keeps it dust and scratch free.

Sean,

The link didn't work. Not that I'm waiting to see what you do. :)

dang greg...that was quick..fixed.

I've always said that this MM site / CNC router / etc. etc. etc. was addicting.

Oh yea, watching your progress has helped allot also. Don't forget that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. ;)

Greg,
Heck I don't mind people watching closely and copying things...just don't blame me if some of my ideas don't work so well :eek:

Hurry up and get your MM done...I have to compare notes before I start machine #2 !

Yes sir,

I'm getting there. I finished framing up some walls and dry walling a new home for the beast. Tonight, I finished the stop blocks and ordered the prox. sensors, relay and cable ( ordered a shorter Prox for the Z, thanks). Tomorrow will finish the last little Y end stops. Friday, I'm taking off work to farm. Sat. and Sun. are for painting the beast.

Almost forgot, shielded cable came today. :D

Maybe we need a new password system to this forum. . . . . you only get to see pictures of other guys making moneysawdust when your own machine is finished? :D

Gerald
is that like a secret handshake for the completed mechmate? Now we really need t-shirts made!

Besides the handshake, you need some hats!

Nah, how about kilts?

OK, wait a minute, I got in trouble when I first mentioned hats or T shirts and now Gerald is wanting kilts. I didn't know you were Scottish Gerald? :) :eek:

I meant the nice geometric aspect of the tartan.

Right, tea-break is over.....get back to work!

Gerald,

Which tartan is Ford Blue?

The icy cold one

Hmmm maybe we need a MechMate coat of arms also

lol, I knew I would start something :)

Sean, the contactor that you are using for your dust collection and router is that a 25amp feeding both? I was thinking of doing something similar with the contactor feeding an electrical outlet mounted to the outside of the case and have the router and dust collector plugged in to it as the dust collector will not be dedicated to the MM and will used elsewhere when the MM is not in use. I was looking at the contactor cn-25r-f6 at factorymation.

Craig
I am feeding my box 25a/220, thus I have easily 20amp/120v "available" for each switched circuit. The dust collector and router both have secondary breakers post contactor to limit consumption beyond rating in case of failure or surge/short. I am using a cn25 contactor. Thus,i am switching 2 hots and 1 nuetral. Did that help?
If for some reason I need to just use a "dry contact", I have made allowances to easily change the contactor from "feeding" to truly just switching.

yes I see the mains feeding to both sides through the disconnect then one side going to each contactor, but is the contactor to the left that you are using for the router/d.c. wired into the E-stop on the schematic it looks like only the one on the right is wired to the E-stop loop.

the contactor on the left is fed from the relay on the pmdx. Thus the estop condition on it is controlled by the pmdx but run thru the main estop contactor. This way, electrically either system will cause an estop for any reason the bob logic fails during a estop(my hand is in themachine) type of condition. I added this little extra routing. I added an extra set of contacts to the main estop contactor after photos were posted. It really is just a series connection thru a NO contact. Does this answer or explain what you are looking for?

I think so, I just ordered a bunch of stuff from McMaster,Factorymation,automationdirect so in about a week I will probably have a bunch more questions :D Thanks.