- Joined
- Jan 20, 2016
- Messages
- 602
The enclosure is about set now except for the doors. The windows have been installed, they are just .093" acrylic sheet and have 6 holes drilled, then 6 matching holes are drilled into the MDF and screws and nuts are used to secure it in place. I made a few parts with the machine and even without doors, I am containing well over 90% of the chips. There are only a few cuts in a few directions that manage to send chips out the front of the enclosure. I got my LEDs installed and that makes a huge difference. They are cheap ebay units, they cost $10 for the 2 of them. They are wired directly into an AC line and come on when the machine is powered up.
I had an issue with the Z axis driver cutting out and dropping the head, which obviously is not what you want when you are spinning a cutter... I lost a part to that and I am not 100% sure why it happened. The drive wasn't hot, but after leaving the machine off overnight and running it with an extra fan blowing on the electronics, the machine cut for probably 6 hours (spindle time, probably 10 hours total on time) with no problem.
For the spindle draw bar, I wired a button into the box where the chip guard interrupt was. I simply took that out, shorted it so that it assumes the chip guard is always closed, then the hole was the perfect size for a button I had on hand. Just wired it in to the solenoid and now when you press the button, the tool releases, release the button and the tool is secured. I forgot to take a picture of that, but you can see it easily in a few of the other pictures I have.
I am going to need to come up with a better work holding solution, because the vise I have isn't ideal. Using the vise, the max usable Y axis travel is a little over 4". In one direction, the vise runs into the way covers, and in the other direction it leaves 2" unreachable past the front jaw. I am considering either trying to find a vise that doesn't stick out as much in the front or making something suitable instead. There are other methods of workholding, but a simple and effective one that cuts your travels by 40% isn't ideal.
I finished making an encoder mount to give the controller some feedback and hopefully increase the reliability a little bit. I know a lot of people aren't fans of encoders since "properly designed" stepper systems shouldn't need them, but I am not an expert, and this system is far from properly designed. $30 for 3 encoders and a few hours of machine time to prevent lost parts due to stalls, drives overheating, etc is worth it for me.
Up next is some pulleys for the steppers and encoders, some motor covers, making the doors, a control panel, and continuing on the ATC. I have some of the parts machined already, now I need to figure out the air cylinder for it and the sensors. I got an inexpensive 7" usb monitor that I think should suffice for the control panel, along with some buttons and switches. I was looking into a motion controller for the machine, but I wasn't able to find one that would run linuxcnc for a decent price. Instead, I may just try to replace the control computer with something a little better.
Here are the LEDs I got. They are 10w each and are plenty bright.
It makes it nice and bright inside. In this picture you can see the button on the side of the head for actuating the drawbar.
Here is a side view through the window. There is some glare off the LED and the cracked camera glass, but you get the idea. The wiring needs to be cleaned up, but in due time. I plan to fix all of that when I make a new electronics box (Not enough room in the current one) and control panel. Here you can also see the drawbar button. The wires and hoses will need to be run through the cable track once I figure out how I want to mount it.
Here is the little USB monitor. It is only 7", but as you can see that is plenty to see linuxcncs interface.
Here it is working on the encoder mount. It is using a 5/8" 2 flute indexible carbide endmill in a homemade holder. Everything is much easier to see with the lights.
Here that part is after finishing everything but the backside. It is looking pretty good for the most part. There were some issues with chatter doing the corners during a finishing pass and there were some marks left by imperfect backlash compensation.
Shiny.
Backside.
Using super glue work holding for this part. It needs just about every inch of the 7" of travel the machine has (actually more like 6.8" due to an error on my end). The stock is 6.5" long. The first part will be done on the mill, then I will mount it on the lathe to cut the outsides down to size.
I need to work on my Fusion skills, because every program fusion gives to run, something like 30% to 50% of the time it spends just moving around and not cutting anything. On this program, it was 45 minutes in total, and 15 of those, it was just walking around doing random whisper cuts.
Lotsa parts getting made. Some of them need some work on the backside done, but it is coming along. There is some corrosion on a few of the parts because I get my material from a recycling center and sometimes they sit outside for a while before I can rescue them. The discoloration usually comes right off with some sandpaper.
I had an issue with the Z axis driver cutting out and dropping the head, which obviously is not what you want when you are spinning a cutter... I lost a part to that and I am not 100% sure why it happened. The drive wasn't hot, but after leaving the machine off overnight and running it with an extra fan blowing on the electronics, the machine cut for probably 6 hours (spindle time, probably 10 hours total on time) with no problem.
For the spindle draw bar, I wired a button into the box where the chip guard interrupt was. I simply took that out, shorted it so that it assumes the chip guard is always closed, then the hole was the perfect size for a button I had on hand. Just wired it in to the solenoid and now when you press the button, the tool releases, release the button and the tool is secured. I forgot to take a picture of that, but you can see it easily in a few of the other pictures I have.
I am going to need to come up with a better work holding solution, because the vise I have isn't ideal. Using the vise, the max usable Y axis travel is a little over 4". In one direction, the vise runs into the way covers, and in the other direction it leaves 2" unreachable past the front jaw. I am considering either trying to find a vise that doesn't stick out as much in the front or making something suitable instead. There are other methods of workholding, but a simple and effective one that cuts your travels by 40% isn't ideal.
I finished making an encoder mount to give the controller some feedback and hopefully increase the reliability a little bit. I know a lot of people aren't fans of encoders since "properly designed" stepper systems shouldn't need them, but I am not an expert, and this system is far from properly designed. $30 for 3 encoders and a few hours of machine time to prevent lost parts due to stalls, drives overheating, etc is worth it for me.
Up next is some pulleys for the steppers and encoders, some motor covers, making the doors, a control panel, and continuing on the ATC. I have some of the parts machined already, now I need to figure out the air cylinder for it and the sensors. I got an inexpensive 7" usb monitor that I think should suffice for the control panel, along with some buttons and switches. I was looking into a motion controller for the machine, but I wasn't able to find one that would run linuxcnc for a decent price. Instead, I may just try to replace the control computer with something a little better.
Here are the LEDs I got. They are 10w each and are plenty bright.
It makes it nice and bright inside. In this picture you can see the button on the side of the head for actuating the drawbar.
Here is a side view through the window. There is some glare off the LED and the cracked camera glass, but you get the idea. The wiring needs to be cleaned up, but in due time. I plan to fix all of that when I make a new electronics box (Not enough room in the current one) and control panel. Here you can also see the drawbar button. The wires and hoses will need to be run through the cable track once I figure out how I want to mount it.
Here is the little USB monitor. It is only 7", but as you can see that is plenty to see linuxcncs interface.
Here it is working on the encoder mount. It is using a 5/8" 2 flute indexible carbide endmill in a homemade holder. Everything is much easier to see with the lights.
Here that part is after finishing everything but the backside. It is looking pretty good for the most part. There were some issues with chatter doing the corners during a finishing pass and there were some marks left by imperfect backlash compensation.
Shiny.
Backside.
Using super glue work holding for this part. It needs just about every inch of the 7" of travel the machine has (actually more like 6.8" due to an error on my end). The stock is 6.5" long. The first part will be done on the mill, then I will mount it on the lathe to cut the outsides down to size.
I need to work on my Fusion skills, because every program fusion gives to run, something like 30% to 50% of the time it spends just moving around and not cutting anything. On this program, it was 45 minutes in total, and 15 of those, it was just walking around doing random whisper cuts.
Lotsa parts getting made. Some of them need some work on the backside done, but it is coming along. There is some corrosion on a few of the parts because I get my material from a recycling center and sometimes they sit outside for a while before I can rescue them. The discoloration usually comes right off with some sandpaper.
