Sold to a new home!! #46 - Netherlands

[riesvantwisk]

Hey All,

yesterday I spoke to my father in law about building a MM over here and he is very exited to make something like that here in Ecuador. He is a very good metal worker and have been making machines in general for the last 40 years.

Also, You don't see to many CNC machine over here so it might be good business, although we currently we make it for our own fun and help us with some of the woodworking we are doing. He will make the mechanical parts and I do all the electronics + computer work.

We are basically at zero, decided to start but nothing else we need to decide yet the size of the machine suitable for the current woodworking we are doing, we make mostly tables, desks, chairs etc.. I can imagine the bigger the size, the bigger the motors so we want to make a tradeoff here, reasonable sized table so we can use reasonable sized motors and stepper drivers.

My wife needs to translate the plans from english to spanish so he has a better understanding how it needs to be constructed, if anybody is interested let me know so I can re-post them again in spanish.

I don't think we will hit any roadblocks except the usual items other people have because most material can be found here in Ecuador, if not my father in law can make it, he is the kinda guy that makes a race car for fun including his own gearbox if he has to. (picture : http://www.racerchicks.com/racers/morales.html) the lady is my wife now... he made the car).

The only thing would be the stepper motors and drivers and some other special items not easely found in Ecuador or ridiculous expensive but will order that overseas.

Anyways,
I will come here more often once we get started and have questions..

thanks for the great work you have all been put in the MM over the years
Ries

[bradm]

Welcome, rvt (or Ries?)!

I think you will find that the size of the machine does not influence the size of motors. There are existing machines in the 2500mm x 6000mm range.

The machine sizing is usually based on the size of the stock materials in your area and how much room you have to place the machine.

Here in the U.S., sheet goods come in 4 foot by 8 foot sheets (48" x 96", or slightly larger (49" x 97") in some cases. A MechMate that can cut a full sheet takes up about a 6 foot by 10 foot (72" x 120") floor area. You need an additional area on one or two sides of the machine to walk around in.

I think the maximum metric sheet sizes are 1500mm x 3000mm, although the 1220mm x 2440mm (US size) is apparently common, as is 1250mm x 2500mm. What size does Ecuador use?

[Gerald D]

Welcome Ries!

Surely with that name, you must have Dutch heritage? :)

.. I can imagine the bigger the size, the bigger the motors so we want to make a tradeoff here, reasonable sized table so we can use reasonable sized motors and stepper drivers.

That is not true - the motors stay the same size for big or small tables. (You do not need a bigger engine to drive a longer distance). You only need longer cables/wires, and longer gear racks.

[riesvantwisk]

@all,

name is Ries here.... My father in law's name is Jairo...

yes indeed... I am, dutch an moved to Ecuador 5 years ago. I am actually a software programmer with a electronic background (looong time ago for teh electronics part).
I have made like 15 years a go a little roll pen plotter usomg steppers... very small project but fun....
When reading this forum some of the issues are known and similar, specially the vibration parts back then it was driven from DOS sending signals over the parallel port using the serial IO (com1) as a high resolution timer.

@Gerard I could imagine that if the Y get's bigger, it also means more mass to move over X (need to read what is X and Y here...), but it's indeed good to know so we can consider a full size machine. From the top of my head sheets go for 1220mm x 2440mm in Ecuador. Here they tend to follow US sizes, except we use mostly metric rather then inches/foot and soem technology is 10 years behind europe/US. I couldn't find a ring transformation anywhere for my amplifier!!!

anyways,
Will keep in tuch... hopefully next year Jan we can start building.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

hey All,

I am not sure if this is the right part of the forum, if not let me know... I don't use to many forums in my daily work.

However I investigated in motors and from this forum I find it hard to come to a conclusion, but this I had in mind:

Breakout board: PMXD-122
Controller for the motors : G203V
Motor : RS34-600 (Nema 34 types)

I think the above would give me a good price/quality ratio if ordered from http://www.homeshopcnc.com/ and also for me in Ecuador I can get a lot in one package, customs can drive you crazy here in Ecuador.

Notes:

1) I would love to order the G201 Gecko controllers (saves me $30 each) , but looking at the G203V feature set when it comes to short circuit protection I think it's a saver bet, for me in Ecuador I simply cannot order them quickly in case something is wrong and last but not least, most people seems to use the G203V's

2) From reading at the posts it looks like that 600oz/in is a motors that could drive the MM directly without a belt reduction, although I am not sure.

I could also get the Nema 23 570 oz/in which is a lot cheaper, any thoughts? According tho this thread not a bad idea.. http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16515&postcount=10

Ries

[Gerald D]

Ries, I think the RS34-600 motor is okay if you will have belt or gearbox reduction, but it will be too light for direct drive. The RS34-900 will be okay for direct and will be excellent for belt/gear reduction.

Nobody has yet used Nema 23 on this big table.

[riesvantwisk]

Gerald,

thanks for the answer, reading this post :http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255 I was under the impression I should stay below 800oz/in and the first stepper in line was the #RS34-600.

I did read from Kobus that he was using the Motionking 34hs 9801 types, I send him a message how they where doing right now, but from his posts from june this year he created some awesome with these motors, and direct driven I believe, I also asked Motionking for a pro-form invoice to see what it cost to send them to Ecuador.

thanks, have a nice day!
Ries

[Gerald D]

When you wire a RS34-900 in half-coil (unipolar), it is less than 800 oz/in.

Believe it or not, the first thing I look at is the mass of the motor. We need about 3kg [6 lb] for a direct drive motor, which is a double-stack, Nema 34, housing/casing length about 95mm.

Triple stack Nema 34 are getting too big and rough.

[Kobus_Joubert]

Hi Ries I am still happy with my cheap Chinese steppers. No gears nothing and at the moment I have no intention to gear them

[riesvantwisk]

all,

This morning I got a mail from MotionKing

34HS9801, $50.00/pcs, 5pcs ---------- $250.00
China Post Parcel ---------------------- $174.00
SUM ------------------------------------- $424.00

Since Kobus does have good experience with it, I will order these aswell.

We also checked for a CNC laser cutter, and they only seems to have plasma cutters here, I would need to check again to be sure... If we cut it plasma, are there then any concerns? (I am not a metal worker....Jairo is but doesn't have a lot of experience with Laser vs plasma systems...)

Ries

[Gerald D]

Alternatives to Laser Cutting - Waterjet, Plasma, Oxy-fuel? (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83)

[Kobus_Joubert]

Ries you are lucky, my postage to South Africa was more than the 4 steppers.

[riesvantwisk]

Lucky me!!

We found a laser cutter and it is rather close to the workshop. I have prepared all material, just need to buy ink-cardridge for my printer so I can print photo's of the parts to cut/bend and give them to the company aswell so they have a better idea what needs to happen.

Ries

[Gerald D]

Ries, that sounds like a new, inexperienced company. Typical mistakes with cutting are to omit holes or select the wrong thickness material.

The bending is where most mistakes happen . . .
- bend in the wrong direction is the most common mistake
- bend in the wrong place, if they don't have lines
- bend to the wrong angle
- bend with a radius that is too big (using a V-block that is too wide)

[riesvantwisk]

Gerald,

I am not sure how un-experienced they are yet, but for sure I will find that out once I get my material back, there is just one way to find out really :)
And it's for that reason that I am preparing everything to the best I can including a print-out of the photo's of various parts so the one who is going to do the job will have a better understanding what I want, how it should look like as an end product.

I was today studying the first two PDF files and I am truly amazed into what detail you put this together, me as a non metal working can understand very well what's happening and why, great job, it's a masterpiece!

Ries

[domino11]

My bender has the most trouble with the spider plate. First batch of parts I had to get him to retweak some of the bends to get the part as flat as I wanted it. The second batch he got spot on the first time. Most of the other bends are not too bad. For the Y car I give him the other parts that fit into it and he bends everything to fit nice.

[riesvantwisk]

hey All,

Here a quick update.

Got my BoB board a couple of weeks ago and received 5 gecko V203 in at 200 USD each including transportation, my walled complained a bit about that!!
But well, what I hear is that they are the best and I don't want a project to fail on the drivers. I am still waiting for my 5 motors and hoping that China Postal will arrive soon so I can spend a other 3-4 hours just to pick them up from the postal office (they are not that efficient here in Ecuador, bank is at the other side of town to pay the taxes).

Anyways, here is a photo of the metal work that has been done.

We are currently planning to build it in 4 parts.

1) top gantry
2) left side of the table
3) Right side of the table
4) Table itself.

So far we could find most of the material, except the y-beam and we replaced it for the rectangular 3mm structure rather then the U structure (10 10 302D) The one structure we could find was extremely heavy and expensive.
I hope we are fine with that...

Ries

[Kobus_Joubert]

Put those wheels on the table and you can pull it to the next job. Nice going.

[riesvantwisk]

Still going strong here and all the legs are on (no photo yet) We do have some problems finding good materials, unfortunately. We had to use bended steal instead of 'gegoten' (not sure what gegoten is in English) steal. Our current roadblock is vinding the Racks. We asked them to make it here in Ecuador and guess what.... "Sir for the requirement we can offer it to you at a remarkable good price of $3000USD".... My reaction was gulb......

From Vladimir I got some address which I am still tracing, at least at the address here in Quito they didn't had it... going to call Guagaile and see what they say... If not I think I need to order it from the USA or Brazile.

My 5 motors where received in good health from Motionking...

I need to keep looking to find the racks for a better price :)

What would be a reasonable price per meter in USD???

Ries

[YRD]

Ries,

Here (http://www.atibrasil.com.br/index.php?pag=produto&id_produto=JPRT0PON2U0XW72JV8AS) :) in Brasil

[Kobus_Joubert]

I think Gegoten is CAST ...but I can't imagine it is cast iron...maybe cast steel if there is something like that....shows how much I know of steel.

[Gerald D]

I think that Ries is using beams made from bent plate, instead of hot-rolled channel sections.

3710

[riesvantwisk]

Gerald,

yes indeed.. I have teh bended once for the large X beams. Not cated.. Sorry I am not a metal guy and don't know the right therms.

@Yru: We talked to the company here in Quito and they didn't had them, and we need to talk to the office in Guayaquil still.

It's strange to know that simple things are sometimes so hard to find...

Ries

[Gerald D]

Ries, you will be very impressed to see how they make those "gegoten" beams. Actually, they are not gegoten . . . . they take a lump of hot steel and then force it between a set of special rollers to give the right shape:

3717

. . . . there you can see a I - section coming out of the rollers (the rollers are sprayed with water). That is why it is called "hot rolled" steel.

[riesvantwisk]

After a looong search here in Ecuador I decided to buy them in Brazil or USA. Here in Ecuador apparently it is VERY good business to create these racks.

My highest price for the racks where $5000 USD (yes USD DOLLARS!!!) and my lowest was $1500USD. I cannot believe that they don't import them here.

Anyways this was quite a bummer for me to hear how hard it is to buy these...

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

After a looong search here in Ecuador I decided to buy them in Brazil or USA. Here in Ecuador apparently it is VERY good business to create these racks.


One single response by mail yet, I think I would need to call them up. Only deitech from HongKong responded..

I have one light at the horizon, we found a company that seems to have the machines to make the racks. At 50USD per meter... hurraaayy!!!

Will keep you guys updated.. No pictures..

Ries

[Gerald D]

Is there perhaps a kind MechMater in the USA who can do a shipment to Ries? I suggest that you limit the racks to 36 inch lengths to make packaging and transport simpler - joining racks is easy.

Quito, Ecuador is a fascinating location, on the equator, at nearly 10 000 ft above sea level, in a valley formed by active volcanoes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quito

[ria@mooregear.com]

Ries,

I think Moore Gear & Mfg in the US can help you with gear racks for your table. We have 4 foot long gear racks in stock, which would be easier to package and ship internationally, as Gerald suggested. I don't know what pitch you would need but our stock racks range from 3DP to 20DP, so I'm sure we'll have a size that would work best for your table. We can also mill and match the ends for joining the racks, or you can do it yourself if you prefer.

We have a downloadable .pdf file of our stock racks at http://www.mooregear.com/gearracks.html. Please email me at ria@mooregear.com if you would like more info.

Ria

[riesvantwisk]

hey All,

For some reason I didn't get and mails about forum posts in this thread, But I do thank you for the support. In the end I found a supplier in Hong Kong Dietech, control and spoke to Harry who has helped me greatly.
The price was good aswell and they are on it's way by DHL, if I remember correctly the package price was 365 total including DHL. For that I got 10meters of racks and 6 gears.

That was so much cheaper then that I got offered here that I couldn't resist :)

@Ria, for sure I would have contacted you if I just got the mail from mechmate.com but the forum didn't send it to me so I didn't knew....

So with a little luck I can finally continue working somewhere between now and two weeks.

Ries

[javeria]

Ries - Dietec is a very good supplier - 365 for the whole rack and pinion package was great.

harry particulary though based out of Europe - help's us a lot.

we have vishnu running the spindle and steppers they supplied. it seems good, I will also run my spindle soon.

my best to you in your build. Have fun

RGDS
IRfan

[ria@mooregear.com]

No problem Ries. I'm glad you were able to locate some gears and rack. Maybe next time Moore Gear can help. Keep us in mind!
Thanks and best regards,
Ria

[riesvantwisk]

<frustrational text>I am having some fun getting it through customs now in Ecuador.
Bloody DHL didn't contact me and it's sitting in customs because of some HS code. Customs now want's to charge me 90% taxes over 365 USD, I supplied the HS code and they say 'this country doesn't recognize this code' WHAAAAAT.
now I need to find a good HS code to get it in with 30% tax :s </frustrational tex>

anyways, it took 4 days from hong kong to Ecuador, it takes already over 10 days in customs :D

Ries

[Gerald D]

Our South African HS (Harmonised Schedule) code will be 8483.40 and it will be free of duty/tax. In the United States the the code will be 8483.40.90 and it will have 2.5% import duty/tax. In Ecuador it should also be in the 8483 family.

[riesvantwisk]

Last weekend we did some grinding and tomorrow we will do a bit more on the constructions.
We are about the order the laser cut parts also... We do need to change some drawings because some materials do have different dimensions.

Anybody knows a free CAD tool for teh mac, to modify the drawings?


Ries

http://www.rvantwisk.nl/~systemcms/_DSC3344.jpg

[Gerald D]

Lots of free CAD programs mentioned in this part of the forum: Graphics & CAD (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9)

What sort of changes do you need to make? I could help you with small changes.

[riesvantwisk]

Gerard,

de 2 large beams of the gantry are of different size. I am going to measure this up this afternoon and see what the exact difference is.
I will checkout the CAD links also, I prefer doing it myself... I need to learn it anyways, right?

if I come into trouble and have questions, I will for sure post a message for advice!

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Hey All,

I need a little bit of help today with a file that needs to be cut..

I finally found a plasma cutter (no laser here!!!) that can do cutting and bending for a reasonable price, 400 usd in total.

However I had to modify all plans to add 2mm for the plasma cutter because there software couldn't do that automatically. However one plan that he cannot read anymore on his version of autocad (I use qCad).

Is anybody that can check design for me? I suspect it are the ovals that Autocad cannot do, this because all ovals I found within the original plan are made up of a lot of little lines. I might need to change the ovals, but I would like to test this with somebody before I go back and forth to that workshop.

Attached the design :

Ries

[Gerald D]

Hi Ries

It is okay to cut the ovals as a lot of little straight lines. It is also okay to cut them on the original lines (without 2mm offset) - your oval holes will be slightly bigger than ours, but it will make no difference.

(I cannot open your file with AutoCad)

[riesvantwisk]

Ok, great!

I modified the change by copying 'your' ovals into my design.

Attached a new zip file, this should work then...

Ries

[Gerald D]

That is okay. (Is the plasma cut really as wide as 4mm? - with half the width added to the part)

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Gerald,

yes the plasma is indeed 4mm, and the flame (if I can say so) is not round but more like a oval... so my parts are slightly off on each side with around 0.25mm difference kinda problematic, but really my only option for now.

So I already have all parts back except 1030455PB and they are all workable but need to put some amouth of work in to make it work. For example I did remove (had to..) all holes <10mm because the plasma cutter couldn't work with them well.

I will send them my new dxf and see if it works...

Ries

[Gerald D]

Here is a version with 2mm added inside your ovals:

5866


Adding an offset onto lots of joined lines is something that you have to do a lot for CNC cutting. In AutoCad, it is done with two important commands.

Boundary: it makes a joined polyline of all the little lines. Similar concept to hatch: click once inside the area enclosed by the little lines. Hatch fills the area, Boundary gives the outline.

Offset: One click gives the offset right around the whole boundary

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Gerard,

thanks for the file!
I have most commands here on qcad and used the office command to make a 2mm offset to the designs. I couldn't find a equivalent for Boundary yet...

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Hey All,

currently I am spending around 5-8 hours working on the mechmate a week, trying to do as much as I can, but time is a bit limited as always.... However I managed to find a plasma cutter that could cut my parts and bend them properly, they actually did a very nice job. Only the plasma left some debris I had to clean up, and I had to drill more holes myself because the plasma cannot cut thàt precise. Holes < 10mm are out of the question, besides, I liked to drill them anyways so they are more precise. Bottom line, if you can laser cut I would pay the extra bucks, will save you quite some time...

I did learn some welding hurraaaay, I think we have a mig/tig machine here and we used mig, quite cool and learning a lot. I only used to solder electronics the size of transistors, SMD and such... so this is quite a different story.

Today I bought all (almost all?) nuts and bolts so my father in law can do some turning on it where needed and prepare the second grinding.

As you can see, going strong but plenty of things to do, I am highly curious about how correct (or not correct) the current build is, but so far we double check everything and we take time to think about our actions. Hopefully next week we can try the the setup with the V-Rollers.

We decided not to cut the L rails lower and I am not sure yet the consequences. Should we expect problems when not cutting these?

Attached a photo of our progress.

have a nice day!
Ries

[riesvantwisk]

For some time (1.5 weeks now...) no work on the mechnate.... :( Family business took some time and my mom is coming over next week and had to make some furniture, to be precise a bookshelf and a 'new' table...

The bookshelf was needed because we don't have one in the house and we thought it would be nice to build one before mom is here. The attached photo's shows the stage of almost done, I only need to make rounded corners on it, I never made rounded corners (straight corners where always easer) so I was just thinking to make a block of wood and use some good gold sanding and shaving. I think it will work fine.... People must have done it already before electricity, right? :)

The table's legs are actually 20 years old made by my wife's uncle and looks nice, only the table top was made with a multi-plex and some very ugly borders nailed into eachother. We decided to replace the table top with 40cm mascarey and slightly bigger then the origional. As you can clearly see in our 'professional' workshop (my wife helped me with it, so I am fine...really!)


Ries

[jhiggins7]

Ries,

For your edge round-over, if you don't have a router or shaper, you can use a table saw, or joiner (set at an angle) to remove most of the wood and then rough finish with a surform file (http://www.shop.com/21_295_SURFORM_FILE_TYPE_TOOL-28979871-37971860-p+.xhtml?sourceid=298) or wood file (http://www.pferdusa.com/products/201/20109/index.html), before finally using sand paper. Of course there are power sanding options as well.

If you're prepared to select and purchase the router (toolhead) that you will need for your MechMate, you could easily complete the round-over with the router now and use it for the MechMate later.

[riesvantwisk]

hey Irfan,

this is mostly what i was planning to do.. I made my 'shape' today and already cut most of the wood out.
Tomorrow gluing it one the frame, then removing the the wood using a shaver, then sandingf very rought. My wife will do the final sanding.
I already printed a 1:1 shape of the correct negative circle as guidance during sanding, I think it will look fine...

The table is ready to pay pained with clear satin water based varnish...

Ries

[MACHINEMAN]

Hi Gerald
I worked there a few years ago at a site about 3 hours from Quito, 13500ft above sea level awessome view most times looking down! on the clouds.
and now I am almost down the road from you in Fish Hoek:)
starnge how it all glues together!

[riesvantwisk]

Some more work has been done today,

attached a link to a youtroep video that shows the gantry rolling (I push it...) to see how that goes, how it rolls out etc... This seems to work fine as far as I can see and hear.

I also started to attached the little things that goes on the mechmate like the E-Cables holder, that is... if I can find them here for a normal price.. As always in Ecuador things goes for 3 times the US price, e-cable at 120USD/meter.... I might build a cable chain out of some materials for starters..

Here is a video of the gantry rolling : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOxyzZZ_vFI


Attached some Photo's also of:
1) Quality of the plasma cut
2) Grinded V-rail
3) A good weld, or at least it looks good to me...
4) Grinder setup
5) Home made V-Roller (made by my father in law)
6) One of my first vertical bad welds :)


So far this has been a great experience, never did any serious metal working, never welded or really grinded.

This week I am going to start gathering a list of electronics stuff to buy and a bug to put it all in.

Ries

[isladelobos]

Buen vídeo Ries, rueda muy bien ese pórtico. se ve que tiene un buen suegro :D

Good video Ries, wheel good this grantry. i see you have a good father in law :D

[riesvantwisk]

Today was shopping day,

left at 10AM, came back at 5PM.

I bought most parts in one shop so I am pretty much good to go...
There are some small issues though,

1) shielded cables (2 and 4 core) was something we couldn't find yet. So for the time being I bought un-shielded cables. At 1.06/meter for a 4 core AWG 16 I think this is a good experiment. We might beable to buy them in a other valley (100 meter rolls) but since that is around 1.5 hiurs away I decided to first go for this, after all... a cable is easy to replace, just I need to be reminded that if the steppers do 'weird' I need to take teh cable into account for any problems.


2) A 35V / 500VA transformer was also quite impossible. Funny thing is, if you tell them that you need a transformer for 500VA, they look strange at you and ask you if you really need 500 V. Then I am generouse and tell them I need them as around '15 Ampere' (I calculated 5 engines, motion-tech at 4 Ampere each)

Needs some small stuff still like Alu-plate, 'trek ontlasting' (no idea what that is in english) and some other small things.

That's all for the quick update!

Ries

[Robert M]

Ries…
'trek ontlasting' (no idea what that is in english)

Not sure where you got this…but it is dutch and in English it's “ pull relief ” !
Maybe you are looking at some Netherland parts supplyer ?

Good luck with your build & shopping !
Amicalement, Robert ;)

[riesvantwisk]

Robert,

I got it because I am dutch, just happen to life in Ecuador...
Pull Relief/Strain relief will do it for me :)

Ries

[Gerald D]

Ries, you are doing okay! Goed gedaan! Maybe practise some more welds on scrap first. With MIG, go downwards when you do a vertical.

[riesvantwisk]

Thanks Gerald, and having fun aswell :)

Today's project was all about kitchen science.

Although I don't have the transformer yet, I was going to make the rest and left enough room for a big transformer in the size of 110x130 on the back plate of the cabinet.

Pictures are attached.

The first picture shows the global overview of the wiring.
The second just a nice 'look through'.

Todo still:

1) Make room for the cables for the micro switches.
2) Add resistors to Gecko's
3) Triple check the high voltage 115V wiring.
4) Ti-wrap the high voltage wires if I know for sure everything is fine and tested.
5) Attach the transformer to the backplate
6) Create cable holes in my cabinet, we needed to buy a puncher for this but we couldn't find one yet...

On the Mechmate itself I need to do all cabling and I need to order and drill the Z plate still, the Y car is also done....
I think I will assemble it first without the paint, and if everything is file I will dis-assemble, paint and re-assemble, so I know for sure I don't have to do any welding after painting.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Hey all,

today I could finally test my control box. I used EMC2 for testing because MACH3 refused to start on my Dell C840 computer, it just hung there waiting for something I have no idea about. Not sure but well, it didn't work. Although EMC2 also didn't work in the beginning, for some reason I messed up the installation on teh computer and had to re-install EMC2. However, I do have some latency problems with testing because it's a laptop, sometimes the latency jumps through the roof from 8000ns to several ms. I am trying to get hold of a new old computer to fool around with and see how that will go.0

Here is a video of todays work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHiGlzrYlA

So today it leaves me with a working control box, didn't test all gecko's and steppers though but it looks good. 115V circuit is working, PMDX is working, ventilator, switch for router.
Since I am still missing my transformer I had to make a sacrifice to get a transformer of my amplifier, I will put it back in, but for now it's my test transformer. (25VAC 150VA), good enough for testing I think.




Todo is still:

- to wrap cables to it's final position
- get the transformer!!
- make some more holes in my cabinet a punches was sold here for 150USD so I need to find a better method :)
- strip cables, the usual...

Ries:)

[KenC]

Ries, looking good! Hole saw are expensive & you still need to drill a hole. Hole saw will do the job at a fraction of the price. A light deburr with a needle file after cutting will yield great finishing.
7323

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

correct... in the end I indeed bought a 22mm hole saw, and I noticed that when I did it really slow, I get a nice cut.

I do need to buy one a bit small for my cables. Then the control box is done :)

Ries

[KenC]

For your cables, are you using connector or just letting cable through the chassis. The later also call for some rubber gourmets.

I will to use these US$~1.0 5 pins 5A rated industrial connectors I found at local store for the stepper cables. they do come with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 pin. I choose the 5 pin just in case...

7326

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

at first I was planning to run them through the cabinet using the rubber gourmets and then connect them straight to the gecko's, I think most people did it this way, right?
I will hardly disconnect the cabinet anyways, so this seems like a good option for me.

However, I also like the idea of these plugs, I would need to see if I can get them here through.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Here is a quick update from my end.

After a 6 day holiday in Florida in the beginning of Dec and some holiday and family time, I could manage the squeeze in two full days of working.
Last week I welded plates for the feet aswell as finalizing welds on various places that where initially some tack welds and we are getting ready to have the whole system to be painted!

I am starting to be more excited about it, because now it finally will look like a real MM :)

Oo... and still, my welding is not as good as I would like it to be, but I am having fun with it.


In the mean time at home I have been playing a lot with EMC2. I have been re-compiling a Linux kernel with just the modules and settings that I needed to, aswel as compiling RTAI 3.7 and the latest version of EMC2. I used Debian lenny as my base system and installed xfce4 as my desktop environment leaving me with a much faster and responsive system that looks very appealing. I need to find some cool looking mechmate colored background for my desktop and login screen....

In EMC I set my pulse frequency to 40Khz, which seems to be plenty enough as far as I can see and at the same time I can plug in USB stick, do network communications and such. I have been even tempted to do some programming around Q-CAD, but first I need to finish the machine.

attached a picture of me and Jairo and the machine in it's state of last week.

Ries

[Gerald D]

Proud parents for sure :)

I see you have very high x and y rails, and I see the one stop block on the x-rail is low down - I hope you understand all the factors with the high rails. (Have you tried to fit a motor and rack yet?

(Your y-car is the wrong way around, probably just for the picture)

[Claudiu]

Happy to see news from you, Ries.
Happy new year and good luck.:)

[riesvantwisk]

@Claus, thanks!

@Gerarld:
1) The y-Rails are indeed higher then was planned, this was mainly due to bad grinding disk available here in Ecuador so we decided to just leave them high.
We already made provisions so that the stepper will fit (tested) and that we have slightly different stop blocks.

2) I don't see how the Y-Car is wrong :confused: I did check if a router could fit and tested if I can reach the whole bed with it. Would it matter if it's rotated 180 degrees?

thanks for the quick peek on my build!

Ries

[Gerald D]

Ries, in the above photo, I believe your 0,0 position is furthest away from the camera. (Can confirm that by the x and y cable chain brackets).

However, on the y-car, the 45 degree bent lip for mounting the pushbutton box, should be towards the 0,0 side.

[riesvantwisk]

I think I see what you mean, my 3D brain isn't working at the moment almost 12 here...

However, we can turn the Y car around.

thanks for the look.. something to remember.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Gerarld,

you whew right... I did orient the car incorrectly, however at the same time I discovered that my I car was bend in teh wrong directions...Ooops. Nothing mayor though, I just moved the par that connects the rails to the other side of the Y-Car.

Current status is that the control box houses my old laptop (thank you shipyard Jongert!) and fully tested with EMC2 and my control box is ready... My transformer is on it's way to Ecuador from the USA. Send from Antek to a friend.. he send it to me...
My Z-Plate is ready.. hurraaay! because it took me some time to find one in the first place, not a gauge plate but this one will do for my kinda work, it's stainless steel and hardened aswell. Broke on bit on it :)
Table and all other parts are ready for painting.

Hopefully by the end of this week I will have it painted, need to say how my freelance programming works goes... Don't want to have to clients waiting :)

As soon as it's painted, I will post pictures again.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Unfortunatly I didn't had time for the paintjob myself, but my father in law did find some time to make it all blue.

It's one base layer and 4 layers of blue and I think it even looks close to the original MM blue !

Here is a picture: http://www.rvantwisk.nl/~systemcms/IMG_0227.JPG

since my control box is ready and well tested by powering up/down my laptop and testing all realtime related items in EMC and electronics I am ready to do some wiring. So tomorrow we will start doing just that.

I have also tested the path going from q-cad to EMC2 using a dxf2gcode converter that runs right in the control box aswell as doing this really fancy in pro/engineer and pro/nc, makes me very happy.. although I still need to learn a lot in that area.

But first I need to concentrate on wiring and thinking about the correct order of doing so...

Ries

[Gerald D]

Hi Ries, would you mind reducing that photo size please? (Or give me permission to do it)

[riesvantwisk]

Gerald,

sorry about that! It's rescaled to 600 width, I though that the forum would do that for me with external URL's....

Ries

[Gerald D]

Maybe the forum could be set to re-scale external pic size, but that wasn't the BIG problem . . . . your file size was 2 000 kB and no forum can scale that! :)

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Guys,

We are more then happy to announce that our mechmate is born, is breathing, humming and did made it's first baby steps into some wood working (at 600mm/sec).

First of all I want to thank Gerald for his excellent design, during the build I keep being amazed by it's simplicity but well though of concepts and design. When my motors are 'engaged' the thing is amazingly ridged!!

Second I want to thank all the forum members here for there support towards other builders give ideas help out and find solutions, amazing!

For what we initially did, it worked perfectly, both EMC and MM did work very nice together and I have almost guesstimated correctly (at 5cm over the long axis) the site of the table correctly in EMC's settings.

We had a slow build of around 12 Months (looking back at my first message, and first build image :) ) but this was well worth, we took the time, no rush for us in-experienced people... We (my father in law and me).

Status right now is since that the baby is born, we need to write the emergency stop still (important!) build also the start/stop buttons. For now I am going to leave out the limit switches, I am not sure if I need them at this point, it seems that when proper homed EMC/MACH protects you quite well, need to have some more experience in that though.
Also we need to tighten up some wires on the MM and control box, stickers!+ number, we need to have a vac (some day) we need to have a cable chain (impossible here in EC!)

Anyways, here is a little video of that we did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nPUuqPKtYc

PS: turn of the sound, I made a mistake with the music... I am uploading a new one, but first I need to sleep....

Ries

[Gerald D]

Congratulations Ries! You did everything at the right time......you researched and planned and took it step by step. It must be the Dutch blood that we share ;):D

[jehayes]

Well done Ries. Congratulations (Felicitaciones!) Joe

[Kobus_Joubert]

Well done and enjoy.

[KenC]

Congratulation Ries! Well done!

[Gerald D]

Oops, I forgot to mention Jairo and Karina, who were the biggest helpers for Ries. Felicitaciones feliz cumpleaños! :D

[Claudiu]

Great progress Ries. Congrats for your first cuts and your upcoming number. You did a great job. Claus

[sailfl]

Ries,

Congrates and well done!!!

[riesvantwisk]

Thanks everybody!

Jairo was a huge help and I couldn't have done it with out him.
I am also going to teach him to use the machinel. He is a retired metal worker and always in for a challenge, since we met 5 years ago he started to like some woodworking and he seems to like it. It's funny, I speak just a tad spanish, and his english is limited to 5 words, but together we could pull it of using hand and feed signs, and showing examples of ideas using materials.
He always made is drawings on his work using MS Paint, but I am planning to teach him some Q-Cad so he can make better drawings, so that can be fun to...

I will keep posting pictures...

If any of you have questions, please let me know...

Ries

[KenC]

Ries,
If getting cable chain is difficult, why not make one? Read this (http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25257) from CNCZONE & tell me what you think?

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

thanks for that link, it's a good source of ideas.
As it turned out, I cam also up with much similar ideas a couple of months ago. The little sleeve will get removed because I cannot cut that and already had other ideas, just not put them on screen yet...
All in all, I will for sure make my own cable chain...
Here some pictures if what I thought of.

Ries

[KenC]

I can think of 2 ways around it,
As it is drill holes at the corners. just like how jigsawing square hole by drillinf 4 holes at the corners...
Make recess end a round one & round off the mating edge, may have to increase the length of the recess for a good "bite".

Hope these help.

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

based on what I have been reading on the cnczone forum I will have a nice idea to make this in such a way they I can use one bit to mill it all out. When time permits I will post new pictures, I need them soon anyways.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Did some work yesterday again..

I had a bit of fun yesterday cleaning up more on the table, finished attaching the ground throughout the complete table. And configured the machine to speedup it's work, still taking the speed slow to get confident in and around the machine, it's just scary to let it move really fast..

I also did setup the stop blocks so I can square the gantry using Geralds method by pushing it against the stoppers, then power on the control box. I was off with around 1mm, not bad I must say...

What I also did was setup EMC so then when 1 meter of movement is requested, the machine is also moved by 1 meter, this turned out to be a bit more problematic then I initially thought... I 'think' I am off with around 0.5mm over a length of 1220mm (teh size of my wood in width..) not bad, BUT!

How does one measure 1 meter when you don't have a good tool around to measure one meter in the first place? I do have a couple of metallic tapes (the one that roll up), but they all don't have there accuracy printed on the back. And if I measure two or tree next to each other, they all different.

How do you guys calibrate your machine?

Next, I tried to create some letters in Aspire (the demo version) but got kinda lost on how that system works. I got so far to create a tool path, but there seems to be no (clear) option to create a G-Code file.... Need to dig into the docs to see how that works. Also I am getting confused by there 2D system of designing and the lack of parametric methods, but will figure that out some time..

Next is to buy my bits for the machine, I have currently no idea where they sell that here and I might need to use the cheap tools in the beginning and order something online, any suggestions in this department?

Ries

[KenC]

I'm watching your progress with great interest. In fact, subconsciously, I followed almost exactly your suggested test procedure of the Kitchen table project :).

I recon you can try by visiting/calling local industrial machine & tool supply outlets if they don't carry those milling bits, you can ask them point you the direction. That how I found endmills & other cutting bits & tools.

[Gerald D]

Ries, you will drive yourself mad looking for an accurate tape measure. You only need to find the same tape measure that your customer will use when he has to decide if he pays the bill or not. :)

In our case, with racks and pinions from Italy, we trust the rack pitch and calculate the "Steps per mm" from there, with no checks to any tape measure.

[Claudiu]

Ries, After you create the toolpath in Toolpath Tab, you have to check the toolpaths you want to have as a GCode output. Then go down to the very right button in line before the last one, you will see a little disk. A new screen pops up which says Save Toolpath, here you can check if you want all toolpaths created to be in one file, or choose separately each toolpath. Mostly you choose all toolpath which use the same bit, as we do not have yet an ATC. Then you choose what format your GCode file will have and the place to save it when pressing at the bottom Save toolpath button.. Give it a try and let us know your progress !
Good Luck

Claudiu

[riesvantwisk]

@Gerald:
I currently simply uses the width of the wood, something I can refer to if people ask.. Edimca (The mayor wood working company here) can't be wrong, right?? :)

I will try to find out my Pitch Diameter I looked on the internet, but they talks about PD and module 1, but not how to calculate it when knowing the diameters of the pinion and the number of teeth, may be it's in my mail from the company I bought them from. On the other hand, being 0.5 'off' (from teh wood reference) over a length of 1220mm (0.041%) isn't to bad.

@Claudia, yesterday I spend some time and could figure that odd, maaaaan that's a odd program with buttons at the wrong places, I am missing a good workflow in that program. But in the end I couldn't output anything because I have a trial version. The price of that program is currently to high for me, so I need to find a other solution for my occasional v-carving.

Ries

[KenC]

Ries, the subject on lead screw pitch, its can be culculated using the result of "Gear Speed Step Frequency Calculator.xl" Which I downloaded here.
Devide the result of "Step/mm" by "Motor step/rev", & you get (Rev/mm).
My MM is not running yet so I can't confirm that. but you can;)

[KenC]

Found the link for "Gear Speed Step Frequency Calculator.xls (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1140&d=1207125382)"
screen shot,
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1139&d=1207125349

[Gerald D]

I currently simply uses the width of the wood, something I can refer to if people ask.. Edimca (The mayor wood working company here) can't be wrong, right?? :)

You are in for some BIG surprises! :D
If you get the forum members talking on how the sizes of their sheets can change day by day because of suppliers (and moisture) then you are going to need a new thread! :)

PS. 48 inches is 1219.2mm . . . that is nearly 1mm less than 1220mm. We normally see at least 5mm extra on the "theoretical" dimension so that nobody can say they want to send it back because the edges are slightly damaged.

[riesvantwisk]

Gerard,

when measure with a tape the size was 1220 (or very close to...) the thing to remember is that this is Ecuador, there is no such thing as a extra because customers can complain margin, and they don't like to give away for free :D If you complain people here simply walk away or turn there heads to a other customer. With any formal complain what so ever you have a very slight change to get your right...

Anyways, I will do some additional checking this Saturday and get a couple of tape measure to give me a good average. The XLS image Ken pasted is very helpfull and going to check that out, can't believe iI missed it...

Now I need to please some clients with bug fixing :(

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Had a good day today, no pictures but promise some pictures next week.

My lovly wife went out to buy and cut sticker for the machine, but came back with a very large role of white sticker with the message 'You cut them yourself honey!' Apparently in EC they are a big fan of large format printers, and nobody seems to have a little roland anymore to cut stickers for me...Ooo well.. tomorrow I will cut some stickers :)

Today I noticed that my computer was highly likely shutting down again due to thermal issues, so I am afraid I have to build a ventilator and a air filter in my box to get some colder air in, it doesn't happen when my box stays open... I also tried after starting up doing some work when the control box was still closed and that worked fine.

Next, using a artcam file I noticed that the MM started to vibrate as low speeds, and when looking at the EMC screen it started to push lot's of lines, so it looks like that artcam doesn't optimize the paths very well, something I believe is still possible within artcam, need to look that up... However, even due to the vibrations, the cut was quite nice.

Question to Kobus if he reads it, I know you use the motionking stepper 9801, and also gecko steppers. To what amperage did you setup the drivers? I currently using 4Amp, and my cooling plate get's very hot, to give a impression... after 10 seconds of touching the plate you want to remove your fingers. I still think I am within range of the drivers, but what I read here on the forum is that the plate shouldn't get that hot. Correct? My motors get fairly warm, but still very much touchable, next week I will measure it with a temperature meter...

What did I learn today? a lot.... specially the software like EMC and understand what bot cut's in some way. Next week I will also go out to buy better router bits....

My last letters I routed looked VERY nice, no need for sanding (even though the vibrations) and looked smoooth, I am very happy.

RIes

[Claudiu]

Sounds vrey good, congrats for your achievements.

Claudiu

[Kobus_Joubert]

Hi Ries,

I went to check...I have 100k resistors in my Gecko 202. (Brown , black , Yellow)
On the Gecko it is printed 62k for 4 Amp and 120k for 5 Amp.
I had the 100k available and used them...this should give me around 4.6 A I would guess.

My Geckos does not get that hot...I can touch my Alu. Heatsink and keep my hand on it as long as I want....BUT
My motors really get hot when I do carving where the motors has to work.
When cutting big pieces the motors stay luke warm.

Hope this helps.

Must add that my heatsink is a piece or Alu.Heatsink about 400mm long with nice fins.

[KenC]

Congrats!
No idea what you guys are talking about, but I'll get there... soon I hope...

[riesvantwisk]

Kobus,

I am currently at 62K ($A) and I was reading here on the forum that 3.5A was advised see the post of Mike here (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21653&postcount=29)

I think the mayor difference is that you use a cooling plate with nice fins, I couldn't get that here unless I open my wallet a bit wider, a small piece here was already 20USD, and I couldn't even find a big one. So for now I am using a 4mm alu plate of 35x80xcm (top of my head) with the fan underneath using Geralds design.
However, I have also mounted my old laptop for EMC in the same box, and may be both of them generate more heath then the box can dissipate, with EMC I have to turn the fans on fast and disable SMI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Mode#Entering_SMM) so I can get good pulses (I wonder how Mach3 disables SMI....)
So my computer can also run pretty hot and both of them.......

I think my solution will be to ventilate my box with 'fresh' here, Jairo suggested a small air filter used in cars engines and buy a small ventilator. Air filter at the top left, ventilator at the bottom right so I can draw a cool air across the box, given that it sometimes get 25-30 degrees outside here it might not be a bad idea.

@Ken: We are talking about that my gecko drivers get pretty hot in my case and my computer goes into terminal shut down when my box get's to warm. Some people don't need active cooling teh box, apparently I do and this is possibly also because I mounted my old laptop in my box.

Ries

[Kobus_Joubert]

Must have missed that post. Maybe I will go a bit smaller to bring motor temps down....but after a year of PLAYING the Chinese are still singing.:)

[riesvantwisk]

@Kobus, that's good to hear!

Any EMC users/pythons programmers reading this?

To educate myself into python coding and Gcode I decode to make a python script that can create G-Code to create classic dovetail joins on a Mechmate.

The code I created is stable enough to not crash, it generates the gcode for the metric people out there (something is wrong when I set it to Inch, properly something simple). The following items are on my todo for this:

- Cleanup code
- Make preview image look better, centered in various dimensions
- Allow to store several presets for several jobs
- optimize gcode under some conditions, currently it sometimes can cut in air...

Next Wednesday I am going to test it myself, and see if I made any calculation errors

Anybody want to checkout the code, if so.. send me a PM and I will send you want I have.

Ries

PS: Next dovetail project will be one that can be created by just a endmail and a simpler setup, however the classic dovetails look so cute...

[riesvantwisk]

Today I attached my stickers! They are hand cut stickers because I couldn't find a place where they had one of these cheapo Roland vinyl cutters.. But it still looks nice I think, the machine looks finished.
When I am back in holland I will cut some better stickers at a friend of mine and place them instead of these...

I also made better progress understand v-caving and they way how artcam generates a tool path (dead ugly so far). At some point my machine started to vibrate/resonate a lot and when looking at the screen I did see 3000 lines passing by just to carve 'Jairo' :eek: . From my G-Code lessons with my dovetail program I learned that there where G64 G61 codes and looking at the artcam file there where no instructions at all about how the machine should act at such lines. Next thing I did is rushed upstairs because I knew I had free internet there (open WIFI connection :D ), and looked up the G code reference see G61, G61.1, G64 Set Path Control Mode (http://linuxcnc.org/docs/html/gcode_main.html#sub:G61,-G61.1,-G64:), so next thing I entered 'G64 P0.1' into EMC2, and the MM started to carve the letters beautifully, just a very light sanding with 180 was enough. We did little tests in all kinds of wood, all looked great (with family around it called in :) ).

Attached some pictures in random order. Clearly is seen in one of the pics that the cut is not great, while in the other (after entering G64 P0.1) it looks very smooth. This was cut with a standard 90 degrees bit, you know.. the one you buy for 5USD.. I also did buy some end-mills, but all carbite for alu/steal cutting. We couldn't find any pro wood router bits, but for now I really don't need them straight away, need to check that for online ordering one of these days.

Cheers,

[swatkins]

Both the stickers and the cutting Looks Great Ries :)

[Gerald D]

Your machine looks finished now! #46 it is! :)

We can talk about the lumps and bumps in the letters after enjoying the "birthday" party. :D

[MACHINEMAN]

Brilliant job well done Ries

[Claudiu]

Congratulations for your beautyful machine and your #46.:)

[aniljangra]

Ries, The cuts will get smoother as MM learns, Yes machines do learn :)
Enjoy the feelings of achievement for now..

[Lex]

Good luck and well done Ries.

[hennie]

Ries is going to build a body for that chassy next to the MM .Well done!:)

[Kobus_Joubert]

gefeliciteerd

[sailfl]

Ries,

Congratulations and welcome to the club.

[Sergio-k]

Congratulations Ries

Very nice cuts !!!!!

[KenC]

Well done! #46.

[riesvantwisk]

Thanks guys!

I really enjoy getting the support from everybody, reading the forum, and give that back with my little knowledge to the community :)

For my feeling the cut quality is really good, specially on the third picture that was just sanded a tiny little bit, once you understand the control software and things to take care of. The best part of this whole project is it's reliable, not like some other DIY projects where 'things' go wrong, this baby does it right each time, it WORKS.

I am in for my first real project now :)

I am happy with my number, FYI.. it's a 4x8 table (1220x2440) build from 1 Jan 2009 to 3 Feb 2010. Router is a old Bosch that is like 10 or 15 years old :)

Ries

[Gerald D]

When somebody gets their number, I enjoy looking back at where that person started. Ries is a Dutchman living in a Spanish country and at first you could tell he was nervous and a bit insecure about building the mechanics of his own CNC. (The look back reminded me that his wife Karina is a race car driver, following in the footsteps of her father Jairo).

Today we see Ries as a very confident guy, freely giving good advice wherever he can, and very comfortable to use English.

Unfortunately, once a lot of guys get their machines going, they disappear from this forum. Let's hope that Ries stays on a while - we need you! :)

[riesvantwisk]

Gerald,

thanks you for the kind words... One correction though, I don't think that the Ecuadorian people would like to hear that this is a spanish country :) The main spoken language is Spanish, and a bit of kitchua ( 'mischi awa', is the only thing I know..), the kitchua is the kinda of language you would here on the startek series where Mr Wolf speaks Klingon :), I am not sure if they would liked to see that comparison though :)

my current plan is here to stay as much active as I can.. Learning g-code to the best I can and a bit of python so I can make nice quick routines to do simple tasks.

Ries

[jhiggins7]

Ries,

Contratulations on a great looking (and cutting) machine and Serial #46.:)

The Updated Builder's Log is here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&hl=en).

Please review your entry and provide and changes you would like.

[smreish]

Ries - excellent! Feels good doesn't it? :)
Welcome to the "done" with more work to follow club.

Sean

[domino11]

Congrats Ries! Excellent looking machine. :)

[javeria]

Reis - some how I get a better finish with the CV on and not the exact stop

[riesvantwisk]

@All,

again, thank you all guys, I couldn't have done it without you!

@Irfan, I think specially areas where curves are needed, the CV method (G64 codes) will give you a much smoother finish, you can also clearly hear these from the motors, Ken would say 'they sing smoother with CV'.
I do wonder if it's possible to create a combination of G64 and G61, I wonder if I can instruct EMC or mach to run in G64 but go to exact stop G61 or G61.1 when a corner is sharper then XX degrees. This will give you the speed and smoothness from G64, with the accuracy of exact stop, going to ask the EMC channel about this :)

Ries

[aniljangra]

Yes you can do that. Check "stop CV on" setting.
It switches from CV to exact stop mode depending on the approaching angle in next line of code. Set the angle here :)

[Rad Racer]

Welcome to the club Ries, you have built a great looking machine.

I am looking forward to seeing some of your projects.

[KenC]

Ries, how did your leadscrew pitch setting went?

[riesvantwisk]

Anil,

I am not sure I have seen that setting, is this a Gcode function or a Mach3 setting?
Come to think of it, when I issue G64 P0.1, it should follow my lines within 0.1mm and also carve me letters smooth enough, I need to experiments a bit I think...

@Wayne, thanks.. I indeed have that club feeling and very happy with the number and the machine, I got my first RFQ already... and this is just a hobby!

@Ken: I didn't change it yet, My main problem is that my supplier didn't gave me to much specs but it's Module 1, 22 tooth pinion and my teeth are 6mm apart.
From the spreadsheet you send me I cannot makeup in EMC what I should fill in because when I fill in the value the spreedsheet creates, I am simply way off. In this case it usually means I have no idea what I am talking about :D so I will properly put a bit more trial and error in calibrating the machine rather then doing this scientifically.

Ries

[KenC]

did you divide the values of step/mm by step/Rev?

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

in EMC I need to fill in how much the gantry will move per revolution, and from the current pinion I have no idea how to calculate that, and it doesn't match well with the sheet of gerard, I have properly some weird module, but not 1.5. I did a rough estimate once and based on that I did a bit of trial and error to get closer and closer to the final number, top of my head I set it to 92.xx mm/rev.

If I have the outer diameter of the pinion, and I know the distance between each teeth, wouldn't it then be possible to calculate the movement of my gantry per revolution, this would possible even depend on the type of teeth?? Gosh......

Ries

[KenC]

Ries,

(Step/mm) / (step/rev) = rev/mm
Which is what EMC2 stepconfig wants to know.


but since you don't know what gear you are using, then I have the Gear dimension formular, hope it helps.
8466

[aniljangra]

Anil,
I am not sure I have seen that setting, is this a Gcode function or a Mach3 setting?

That is a setting/function in mach3 .
I was using a simple program "Turbocnc" in past and just now installed EMC on my machine.

I'll post as soon as come across any setting (or another way to do it) that do the same thing as "stop CV on angle" in EMC.

[riesvantwisk]

Anil,

the guys from EMC did start implementing something like 'stop CV', the idea was to switch to G61 or G61.1 when some angle where sharper then XX degrees. However, this turned out not so reliable because when you have designs with different angles the final output can look weird because of the decisions the machine made during cutting.

What I am planning to use is G64 P0.1, for my letters that gave me very nice results while maintaing cut speed. G 64 p0.1 (in metric mode) simply means follow the line while keeping your velocity but stay accurate within 0.1mm.

The accuracy highly depends on the accel/deacceleration settings of the machine with the maximum speed taken into account. if you don't allow your machine to go fast and acceleration and de-acceleration values are low, then you will not notice this. However, when you have high velocity, then you will see the effect.

Here is the G-Code:
G21
G17
G40
G90
G94 F16000

G61
G0 X0 Y0
o100 call

G64 P0.1
G0 X10 Y10
o100 call

G64 P1
G0 X20 Y20
o100 call

G64 P10
G0 X30 Y30
o100 call
G0 X-10 Y-10
M2

o100 sub
G91
G0 X75 Y0
G1 X-75
G1 Y75
G90
o100 endsub

[Gerald D]

Also remember, to cut a sharp inside corner is different from a sharp outside corner. (On an outside corner, the toolpath is allowed a radius movement and the corner is still sharp)

[riesvantwisk]

Gerald,

you mean during cutter radius compensation, G40, G41 and G42, right ?

I created a little movie with CV mode on and cutter compensation left with a tool diameter of 5 mm, the speed of the tool is not realistic, aswell as the compensations in question for a real machine, it just shows what gerald is mentioning. The white lines do have rounded corners, while the part in question if cut out on your machine will have sharp corners.
The 4 corners still shows with no cutter compensation (left) to 0.1, 1 and 10mm settings.

Movie (http://screencast.com/t/NjliZTQ3MzUt)

note: The blue/green lines show the 'part', the white line shows the planned path, and the red line shows the actual cut path.

PS: It's a nice exercise to understand what's happening and how the machine + control software behaves. I can encourage you all to play with gcode and settings within for some time to get a better understanding.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Small update,

I decided to add an additional ventilator in my control box to suck in some fresh air through a filter on the top left of my controlbox, and get it out on the bottom right. I had two times my computer shutting down, only when the control box was closed. It's a bit scary aswel, because my router turns on and off quickly for a split second, don't want to have my hands there. I now turn of the router before I change a bit to be sure.

Here is a little video I made during cutting the channel for my hold down system on my spoil board. video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BYY1KDiFZY)
I decided to create the same hold down system as Mark has. Link (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?p=37204&postcount=14)

Given the a mouth of dust I have seen last Wednesday, next project is going to be a dust foot and dust management, not sure yet if we are going for a cyclone or a bin/bucket cyclone.

Ries

[KenC]

What sort of ambient temp in Quito? I know its 2000ft above sea level, but is it any cooler then near sea level? I'm asking because I want to know if I must cut a hole on my control box for the fan.

[Gerald D]

Ries, you have the computer inside the control box?

The router should not switch on/off if the the PC start/stops - in Mach, the "charge pump" takes care of that. There must be something similar in EMC.

[bradm]

There is a charge pump function you can configure in EMC. You'll want some lines in your config file similar to these:

loadrt charge_pump
net estop-out charge-pump.enable iocontrol.0.user-enable-out
net charge-pump <= charge-pump.out
addf charge-pump base-thread
net charge-pump => parport.0.pin-16-out

[riesvantwisk]

@Ken,

we are at 2400 meters (7200feet) average temperature during the day is like 24 celcius at 2PM, at the coast it's much warmer (32-35).

@Gerald: my CPU is mounted inside of my controlbox. This works fine untill the temp goes up. When my computer shuts on/off my router goes on for a split second, the router doesn't have time to go to full speed.

@Brad: I do have the CP enable, I am pretty sure of that, but I will check next Saturday to give this a other inspection. I did some test here with my kitchen table project and for example I couldn't jog in stepconf, but it worked fine in Axis.

Theory:
The CP protects you when the computer goes on and off while EMC/Mach3 is not running. THis because the software can properly shutdown and startup the CP
However not during a computer/software crash. I tried to find the CP circuit in the manual (http://www.pmdx.com/Doc/PMDX-122_Manual_111.pdf), but it's only written is a block diagram. The documentation states "100 Hz minimum square wave on pin 17." I can only imagine the CP is implemented using capacitor/resistor circuit with a hold time of roughly maximal 10ms. So when a computer crashes, or shutsof while EMC/Mach3 is running, it might switch a output for max 100ms because the CP is active.

Tomorrow I give it a quick inspection on the jumper still, can't be sure enough.

Ries

[Gerald D]

Yes, there is a short time delay for the capacitor to drain via the resistor, but I thought it was too short to energise the router and the contactor/relay switching the router?

[riesvantwisk]

Gerald,

I do hear the relays switches very fast, given the nature of a relay (mechanics), this might be just enough to switch on/off very fast. With a solid state relay I might not have this problem because they can switch much faster.

A relay tend to hold itself for a brief moment, something with flux.. Don't remember the terms anymore. But when a coil get's released of it's supply, then the coil lends to hold itself for a moment longer. This will make my router turn, even though the pulse to the relays is only around 10ms.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Small update...

the ventilator and filter in the control box really helped well, the machine has been on for the whole day and didn't shut off, without the extra ventilator and the control box closed this would take around 30-45 minutes and it would shut down, so I think I am good there.

Given the amouth of dust cutting the T slots for the hold down system generated, my next project was creating a dust feet connected to my little vacuum cleaner to see if the initial design worked. I work with a 'iron man', so you see a bit of iron there :) We where in for a nice surprise, because we forgot how much air the router pushed downward, at first we generated more dust then we sucked up. We solved it by redirecting the air of the router back up with a small 1mm plate directly under the router and opening teh wood. I am going to design a new dust feet now we know that this setup worked. Also notice that the front of the feet can be removed and currently hold by a elastic. THis is going to get changed by a system that I can open and close, so I can start the MM, and if everything looks good I close the dustfeet.
As you notice I use a small hose for the dust feet instead of a big one, the rationale for this is that I wanted to create fast airstream rather then a slow one with a big pipe. I also mounted it on the side instead of the middle to make sure the air swirls around in the dust feed. The size of that pipe is subject to change, but given the <1HP vacuum I have, I though a bigger hose would be less effective here. There is no science behind it, but I just thought this was a good idea.

Also going to make a mini cyclone, size of it would be around 30x48 cm, same smaller size to make sure that the internal airspeed is fast enough for my size vacuum so I can separate wood chips from air effectively, bigger is not always better :)

Attached some images showing:

1) 15mm MDF close-up to show off cut quality, very happy with that...
2) Dust feet created, this going to get replaced...
3) For Ken I promised a image of my M1 30 200 A A
4) Image of the T channel I created for my hold down system
5) Basic design of the cyclone...

[KenC]

Nice work & thanks for the pix.

[riesvantwisk]

hey Guys,

have haven't been active on my thread for a bit, got new clients for my work that keep me buzy.
Good for getting some $$$ in, bad for mechmate work, so only now once a week at my machine for a moment :(

Anyways,
I need to by some bits and considering to buy china/japan. I checked some of the bits in the US, europe but they are way to $$$ for me right now. Given also that I am a newbie, I rater buy something cheap now that I can break and play around with, rather then I break 30USD in a snap...

Anyways,
I want to do plyboard cutting and MDF, and also carving. What sort of bits should I have in stock in general?

Ries

[dragonfinder1]

I used to buy carbide cutters, spiral cutters when I could find them. That got real expensive in a hurry. I would break one every couple of days or so. Then I went to carbide tipped, but the finish wasn't what I wanted. Then I found Onsrud.com. I started using their HSS series 40-1xx.

I cut mostly soft wood, and the top edge would splinter, so I now use the Downcut for the first cut and then change the cutter to upcut, now I've cut the finishing at least in half. I do a lot of tool changes, but the end result is faster in the long run.

The HSS cutters last longer than the carbide for me because I can run them longer with out breaking the tool.

You can check their web site, I don't know if they ship world wide or not, but their prices are very good.

They do have carbide cutters as well and I may use them once I get real familiar with my machine, but for now it's HSS all the way.

[Jason Marsha]

Dave,
Why not use a compression cutter that finish in one pass giving a clean bottom and top cut?

[sailfl]

Dave,

You will get better cuts and the bits will last longer if you use solid carbide bits. If you are breaking so many bits it could be that your feed rate is too fast.

[dragonfinder1]

I've thought about compression cutters, I just haven't had the nerve to cut 3/4" wood in one pass. People do it all the time, I just haven't tried it yet.

I'm not breaking cutters because of feeds and speeds, but because of really dumb things that I'm not going to admit to. Solid Carbide spiral cutters are real easy for me to break.

I will start using carbide cutters again one I get to the point I'm really comfortable doing what I'm doing. Until then I'll use the $7 HSS cutters.

As far as the tool changes I do lots of pockets and lots of lettering which requires V Bits. When I do the pockets, I also do the top cut then switch to the upcut cutter. Not all that bad really.

[liaoh75]

Dave,

What size cutter are you using? 1/4, 3/8, or 1/2 inch? I used to have the same problem but after I went up to 12mm (~1/2"), I haven't had a bit break yet. I'm using Solid carbide two flute up cup spirals. Have not looked back since. I still use 6mm (~1/4) on the occasion for things that really need it. Good luck!

[sailfl]

Dave

It is true you can't beat the price of a $7 bit.

[dragonfinder1]

I use mostly 1/4" cutters. I use mostly dimension lumber and come as close to nesting as I can, so any cutter than that won't work. I also use 1/8" and 3/16" cutters plus ( v-bit cutters that are carbide ). I have larger cutters that are carbide and I use them when I can.

My problems are mostly g code errors ( trying to make short cuts ) or pushing the wrong buttons on my hand controller.

[riesvantwisk]

Hey All,

in May I am heading for Dallas for a short period of time and I would have a possibility to buy one of the cheap Chinese spindles.

I now that sumbum had one for sale and I was in contact with him about it, but unfortunately he is out of reach at the moment so I am not sure if he still has it or not.

How long would it generally take to import one of these spindles from China? I have a friend that is willing to receive it for me and I am meeting him in Dallas. on the 22th of May.

Or better, does anybody have one of these spindles + VFD for sale?

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

Hey All,

here is a little video of my Auto-Z I created yesterday for the Mechmate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8d1zG0YnIg

The system consists of a little metal box containing a hand full of batteries, a resistor, a LED and a 4n35 opto coupler, this to separate my ground from the BoB's ground to prevent ground loops, high-odd voltages and what not the can be out-there. the PMDX is not well protected so I thought this was a good thing.
The idea was 100% taken from http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/emcinfo.pl?ClassicLadderExamples#Single_button_pro be_touchoff and I must say this work just fine!

if anybody is interested in the clp (classic ladder) file, I am more then happy to post by complete config (whish is work in progress... as always :) here.

Ries

[riesvantwisk]

hey Guys,

today I have been working on my homing squence. I didn't had a lot of time this weekend so I thought it was going to be a nice little project.
I basically followed the instructions here (http://www.linuxcnc.org/docview/html//config_ini_homing.html). I am using the second method, where there is a search velocity and a latch velocity.
In short this means that EMC will find quickly (search velocity) the switch position, then goes back under search velocity like 5mm orso. Then goes under latch velocity to find the switch again, but slow and more precise.
This seems to work very nice and I get repeatable results when going back to my touch off location. For my homing switches I used the 'good old' micro-switches because they where really cheap here. I also had one sample of a proximity sensor, and when asking what 3 of these would cost it was 300USD, decision was made fast after that :D.


attached a couple of images of my work of today it will properly not win a beauty contest, but it's very functions and saves me from finding the 0,0 position of my project after a crash in one form or a other :)

Also attached my Mechmate files I use to make that screenshot for anybody that is interested. It's not a drop-in replacement for your current configuration file but it give you a solid idea how to make your own buttons and how to create a ladder diagram for special functions like to pause buttons (single press start/stop), how to use autoZ and how to attach your own buttons to MDI commands.

I hope you like it.

Ries

[KenC]

Nice stuff.
I pop your files in my EMC2 & find your custom panel really interesting, but since I had yet to install home switches so I really can't play with your features.
Question, what is the Rotate Orientation for?
I had a go at the pyVCP & classicladder. its been a while since I started and still climbing the learning curve...

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

the Orientation buttons is a new feature of EMC (supported by G-Code). It simply allows you to re-orientate the CNC files. This can be handy under some situations. For example if you setup the design vertical, but at your machine it turns out that the wood clamps better horizontal. THis is in EMC2 2.4 or 2.5 (I forgot).

Classic Ladder is really cool!! it's amazingly powerfull, the auto-z is designed with CL.

[KenC]

Have you moved on to Ubuntu 10.04?

I can see the use of the position orientation feature it is ground breaking, a part from this are there other significant difference between EMC2_2.3.4 & 2.4 or 2.5?

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

I did follow this with half a eye and I didn't see a need to update yet. Properly partly because I don't use ubuntu but I compiled my own kernel and version of EMC on Debian. And since my MM is in a location without internet which makes it harder to do this task.

I do, however feel that if you have the chance to upgrade, you should do it. De 2.5 version of Axis coems with a patch I created :)

[KenC]

Thanks for your generous offer. I know who to look for when I decided to go that way :)
You made software customisation look so simple :confused:
I have to admit I'm completely useless with Linux (and a lot more systems) after I put my leg into EMC2...I'm still scaling the software learning curve... before I could get comfortable with the version in-hand, many new releases had went by...
IMHO, advantage of sticking to LTS release is that the documentation, teaching aids & forum help are easily available, in such that I don't have to haunt my friends to answers my questions ;)

I get advise like yours from other friends, they did mentioned Ubuntu is overly tweaked... but for now, as I don't even know what tweak is... I will stick with Ubuntu 8.04LTS until either EMC2_2.4 + Ubuntu 10.04LTS realease in live Disc or I feel confident to go Dabien 2.5.
BTW, out of curiousity, does De 2.5 handle multicore processor?

[bradm]

<chuckle> Enthusiasts in any field always disparage the mass-market solutions. It's hard for an enthusiast (myself included) to remember that others just want a tool to get a job done.

Stick with the stable standard release until you have a specific need to upgrade and you'll save yourself some headaches. There will be hot-rodders screaming down the street in sexy looking vehicles, but theirs won't be as reliable as yours.

As for customization, you can do a lot of that without having to be an expert. Learn how to maintain more than one configuration (easy, just create two or more), and you can then play without worrying.

The standard linux kernel has handled multiprocessor systems for well over a decade. Multicores are a variant of multiprocessors with different packaging, and they are also supported by pretty much all Linux flavors. However, if we're speaking specifically of interrupt driven machine control applications like EMC, the benefit gained from the extra cores can be minimal. So, yes, all Debians handle multicore processors seamlessly.

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

I didn't want to make the feeling that you should upgrade, but if you have the change (and also confortable with it) then it's ok, there are no strange bugs or what so ever with EMC 2.4 or 2.5, I thought THAT (are there any bugs..) was the tone of yoru questions. Sorry I did mis-understood you.

I am also just on 2.3 still because it works :) 2.5 only contains apatch I made that will confirm if you really want to re-home, if you pressed that button by accident.

2.5 is only really nice if you really want to rotate you workpiece. It's actually just a g-code, that should also work on Mach3.

Ries

[KenC]

<chuckle>
The standard linux kernel has handled multiprocessor systems for well over a decade. Multicores are a variant of multiprocessors with different packaging, and they are also supported by pretty much all Linux flavors. However, if we're speaking specifically of interrupt driven machine control applications like EMC, the benefit gained from the extra cores can be minimal. So, yes, all Debians handle multicore processors seamlessly.

Brad, thanks for the explanation. I admit my knowledge in this thingy that I don't even know what to ask to get to this answer. Now I know. Thousand thanks

Ries, you has always been helpful, the problem is with me, I just don't know enough to ask intelligent questions on the subject... :o
Thanks for being patient with my idiotic questions.

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

not a problem at all... I sometimes have the tendency to be to technical to, stick with the version of EMC you are comfortable with, I am using a 2.3 version without problems at all.

Ries

[rallen71366]

Hello, this is my first post in the forums here, but I just wanted to let you know that there is a new release of EMC2 out. http://www.linuxcnc.org/content/view/21/4/

It's based on Ubuntu 10.04 and EMC 2.4.x

I'm currently building a desktop mill to "get a feel", but looking forward to building my own MM (in obligatory blue :D).

[riesvantwisk]

hello Russ,

I think EMC and Axis are quite awesome! I follow the development fairly close and I think the guys at EMC are doing a really nice job. So far, EMC didn't fail on me, and each time I start my old laptop, teh system works very smooth.

If you want to get a feel, but you are confident, why not build a MM from start, given that you want one ;) it's really not at all that hard, and with the help from all teh people on this forum we can tackle the problems.

[KenC]

Hi Russ,
I second Ries's suggestion, building a MM takes about the same work of any other "get a feel" machine.

[rallen71366]

I'd love to, except for 2 small things. Money and Time. I'm literally building this first "machine" with junk from the scrap pile. Old PC, pieces of bed rail for linear slides, etc... If you can find me a 26 hour day, I'll gladly take a case of them. :)

On the plus side, this first pile of junk can help me make money to make the next machine. Got to walk before you can run, eh?

[riesvantwisk]

hello!

I am looking for somebody in holland that can make me the belt reduction plates and may be also deliver the appropriate additional items like the belt and the pinions (forgot there names in English, timing belt?).

Anybody knows a person i can call or who can make these?

Cheers,
Ries

[Polder48]

Hoi Ries,

Send you a pm.

Groet Polder

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Guys,

I haven't been active for a while but picking up the project again.
I finally bagan testing and installing my Spindle and VFD, got my gas-spring and ordered some cable chains.

There are a bunch of reasons I wasn't active, new Job, new house, making some other higher priority items like a 2x2 dining table and benches are in progress.

One other project I have been working on is LibreCAD. LibreCAD is a fork of QCAD that will continue developing a open source version of QCAD. Two developers have been very active on on a day-by-day basis and they are doing a outstanding job.

I hope, I can continue adding CAM functions to it myself, and have been already doing some mayor work on it for profiling options in LibreCAD.
you can look at the project here: http://librecad.org/

Cheers,
Ries

[riesvantwisk]

hello,

I had to make something for Sinterklaas so I made something that's called a 'sinterklaas plankje' it's a mold to make cookies and who doesn't want to make cookies on a home made mold? Exactly!

Alls you need is a mechmade (or any CNC router capable of wood routing), a 6MM end mill and a 60 degrees vbit.

First use the file : speculaasplankje_6mm-endmill-1 this will make the pocket.
Then use the file : speculaasplankje_60deg-vbitl-2 this will make the details.

I hope speeds are set correctly for you.

Ries

[pblackburn]

Cool idea, thanks I will try it sometime.

[rischoof]

Nice windmill Ries. Home sweet home. I definitely will make one for hanging on he wall in Taiwan. For the not dutch, or dutch related, this evening is Sinterklaas evening, and the kids have to unpack some presents

[skillalot]

Lol, didn't know there were that much dutch people on this forum.

Ik dacht dat ik de enige was :)

[rischoof]

No there are some more dutch, but I see that you are in Holland at this moment.
first thing I made, were some Dutch town name plates, but I still have to paint them. I live for 4 years in Taiwan, Are you living in equador?

[riesvantwisk]

Rik,

I still live in Ecuador indeed. My plan to use the mechmate for building part of the house we where planning to make didn't really go well. So, I have a nice Mechmate now making mostly little things once a while, very unfortunate..

I am planning to sell it somewhere next year if I can find a buyer to get some of the investment back.

But, as long as I have it, I do have good fun with it when I need to make something. I put new gears on them because my last set wasn't that good, and with the new spindle it now runs very smooth for whatever I need to make.

[Hans]

Hoi Ries, wat zijn de maten van de speculaas plankje
hi ries what are the dimentions of the sinterklaas plankje?

gr uit een besneeuwd - snowy NL
Hans

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Hans,

I totally missed your message my apologies. The size is about 75x95mm.

[riesvantwisk]

Hello ALl,

I just wanted to share my latest addition to my Mechmate. Last weekend I decided to use my spare motor and spare Gecko drive to make a little indexer, best decision ever!

Since I am not using the machine professionally, I kept the indexer as simple as possible. All I needed to buy is some nut's and bold, scape material and 4 ball bearings.

The plastic pinions where cut with a 3mm HS bit from something I got from my brother in law. The wood are 'tablones' in the size of 200mmx4mmx2000mm and cut to size.
The metal bar in the center is actually one of these 'screw' bars, sorry I don't know the correct english term. All was put together in 3 mornings in the weekend.

First thing I made was a mini baseball bat, sounded simple enough and turned (pun intended) just fine. Next I made a coffee tamper and a citrus reamer.

The design's where created in pro-engineer and then loaded into cut3d. The Y axis was set to 360mm and using a text editor I replaced Y for A to create angular dimensions for LinuxCNC and beable to control the 4th axis. This 'turned' it to work fine, but I rather have some software to understand a real 4th axis so it can 'keep turning' instead of going back and forth that slows down the process.

Anybody happen to know better software for controlling the 4th axis?

I am working on a little bit of software to 'wrap' the 4th's axis in a more smarter way, this is just not as easy as it sounds to do reliable.

Anyways, here is a youtroep video to show it in axis and 3 items I made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2KubSyjtNw

Ries

[sailfl]

Ries, very nice.

[KenC]

Nicely done!
nice LinuxCNC screen too :)

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Ken and Nil,

Ken, I can send you my LinuxCNC config if you want. It's very simple but so far didn't let me down.

I am planning to add 'auto-y', so it will automatically find the center of the Y axis for the indexer. For the above 3 projects I just eye-balled it.
Auto-z works fine and it's centered on the indexer.

[domino11]

Have a look at this site for indexing wizards that some people use
for doing a bunch of indexing stuff.

Wizards by Rich (http://wizardsbyrich.yolasite.com/)

[KenC]

Ries,
Your work re-ignite my desire for a A-axis, would love to have a copy of your config file.

Thanks

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Ken,

the little indexer was very easy to make and specially if you only do small parts once a while it will do fine. The citrus reamer I made took my like, two hours? (start to finnish) not really something I want to do for a living, but if you need that special part for some larger project, then yes it will benefit.

If you want I can send you some more close up photo's.

[riesvantwisk]

Ken,

attached a copy of my config file.

Domino,
for the wizards are a tad expensive for what you get, so I haven't bought it.
Instead I am making my own little tool that can do what I need to do.
http://skitch.rvantwisk.nl/~rvt/xplane/java-20131013-164100.jpg

The idea is somewhat similar to Wizards by Rich, but since I wrote it myself I can whatever I need to do with it :)
At a minimum it will allow some general wizards, like making from round stock a square stock, it will do facing and wrapping, you can use it as a 'bin' to copy/paste your own G-Code in it so you don't have to keep them as separate files and thus organise them better. So, it will not be a tool 'just' for indexers but for general g-code.

At this moment it's project based and each project can have multiple operations and each operation can generate a g-code file, or if you have a ATC you can just create on large g-code with all operations. It can also manage your tools and tool numbers.

I am also planning to make it so that you can easily create your own wizards with input's and then generate some g-code out of that based on the groovy language.

This tool will work in Linux, Windows and OSX so it's multi-platform, just in case you prefer some OS better then a other OS, or when you want to run it on your CNC machine that runs MACH3 or Linuxcnc, it will all work.

If there is enough interest I will also combine it with OpenSCAM or at a minimum have it capable to view the generated toolpath for both indexers aswell as a XYZ table, that are just thought's and idea.
If I get enough 'developer' interest I will also open source this and have this tool available on github.

For now, I first want to create a stable version that can load/save data and have at least some wizards available. Current status is that the attached screens all work including a wizard that can create from a square stock of wood at make it round efficiently (shortest possible time), saving needs to be implemented still (that isn't very hard) and some form validation does need to be created still.

[riesvantwisk]

Hello everybody!

Unfortunately I have to sell the Mechmate :(

It's currently located in storage here in Holland (N.H.).
It's a complete 'standard' build Mechmate with motors, spindle+driver, driver's (gecko's Vampire 5 pieces) cables and everything to get going. The only think that's not in a great shape is the CPU, it currently run's LinuxCNC and I guess seems everybody is using mach3 I think that needs to be replaced. Apart from that, everything is in working condition and currently in a well stored location.

The reason I am selling it is when I moved to holland I was hoping to get a garage or workshop of some sort but unfortunately the house we bought doesn't have that and there is not enough space to build that out.

If you know somebody or perhaps you a re interested let me know and we can see how we can work thing's out.

Ries

[IMMark]

Sorry that you must part with your #46, best of luck!
Mark

[darren salyer]

Same here, Ries.

[Hans]

zo te zien zitten we in het zelfde schuitje . .

[riesvantwisk]

Thank's for the kind words everybody!

[riesvantwisk]

Hey All,

I got a question from somebody and he asked:

Cutting 18mm multiplex in one pass, is that possible?

I always did cut that in two passes with a 10mm end mil and 2.2Kw spindle.

What sort of size (in Kw) Spindle would a person need to cut 18mm multiplex in one pass? I understand it depends what type of multiplex yada yada, but a ballpark estimate would be fine, jsut to give the guy and myself an idea. Properly a 20mm end mill but teh sort of Spindle, I am not sure.

[Alan_c]

From my experience that will need at a minimum a 5Kw spindle but a 7.5 or 10 would be better and yes a 20mm cutter would do it.

[Tom Ayres]

A compression bit does it in one pass, BUT, I'm not sure if a 2.2kw will push it. I've thought about buying a compression bit many times but never got around to it.

[Robert M]

Why would you want to do that ?!
I finish pass is a usually the good practice....if "nice" finish is needed / call for anyway !!.

[Tom Ayres]

I think you would only cut things where you need speed and the finished edge doesn't matter, like case goods. I do know you need to have an excellent hold-down system or method in place because the side force is so great. There's a compression bit made by Vortex that the minimum feed rate is 650 ipm and cuts best around 1100 ipm in MDF:eek:, Lots of side force!

[Robert M]

Do you really need that kind of speed ??!
DO the math, not worth it unless it's a daily need at over....say 75% of CNC time usage !!!:rolleyes:
Don't get "caught" in this....speed thing, just for the "sayk" of it....or to brag :rolleyes: ???
My 2ct :cool:

[Tom Ayres]

I completely agree Robert. These bits are used mostly by companies who need to cut 60 to 125 sheets of material daily. Quality over speed.

[Alan_c]

And they would be doing it on massively rigid big iron machines $$$$$...

[Robert M]

...you mean....they also have MechMates :eek: !!....:D

[clarson66]

I run a 10mm compression bit and cut my carcase material 16mm melamine on particle board, run the spindle at 12000rpm and feed rate at 5m/min. I find as long as scale the spindle rpm down to match the feed rate it's fine. The bit according to the manufacturer should be run 24000 rpm and minimum of 10m/min. Chip free cutting and no problems yet.

Just my 2c worth

[riesvantwisk]

Very interesting info!

When I worked with my machine I never had the luxury for such bit's, then again.. it was just hobby and I was fine with a couple of passes. :)

[riesvantwisk]

Hey Guys,

the Mechmate is sold!
I had a wonderful time here on the forum, even though I haven't been very active on the last few years. Although it sounds strange, one project that was the result of the Mechmate was LibreCAD. It's still a very active project and we have had over 1.3million downloads just on sf.net on the windows version. The project is still very active and we have a few maintainers that are working hard on LibreCAD version 2, they are great guys and deserve all the credit now on LibreCAD and it's development.

bye all!

[Tom Ayres]

Well Ries we hope you can still hang out in the forum. I'm sure imparting your experience can be beneficial to those who are here. Best of luck with your future endeavors.:)

[IMMark]

Best wishes to you Ries.
Mark

[servant74]

I would like to request you to see if the new owners join and participate too!

Don't drop away, keep up to date with the LibreCAD tool chain too!