Carving books #37 - Weiser, Idaho

[William McGuire]

just read Hasse's post and thought I'd better get my build finished also...

I've got everything up and running EXCEPT my router (Milwaukee).

I'm coming off the bottom two connections on J1 on the PMDX-122 to a relay ((SSR 225DIN DC). From there it goes out to the router.

On Mach3, I've enabled output#1 on the output signal screen (ports and pins) and set it for port 1 pin number 17, but am getting no voltage from J7.

Is there another Mach setting I am missing?

thanks much..

[Gerald D]

Look at posts #7 and #8 in Solid State Relay (SSR) for switching Router under control of Mach3 (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290)

[William McGuire]

Thanks Gerald....
Don't know how I got those mixed up...

If it weren't 20 degrees outside right now I'd go out and try to cut a roadrunner... hopefully tomorrow:)

[Gerald D]

Bill, a normal relay (or contactor) would be connected to J7 but a Solid State Relay (SSR) goes to J8.

[sailfl]

Bill,

You are going to love how quite the Milwaukee router is. It is one of the best descions I made. You walk away from my garage and you can hardly hear that the router is running.

I think I may have found a source for different size colletts since Milwaukee only has 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2. The business must have been closed Friday. I will try call them again on Monday.

[William McGuire]

I changed the router connection this AM as per Gerald's post and cut my 1st roadrunner!

Fantastic feeling:D

I received the 1st parts of the machine steel, rollers, etc. November of 2007, and the PC two weeks ago (I saved the computer until last because I have always been a Mac fanatic).

My major parts:
Power supply: Antek PS-6N56R12R5 )I ordered this before the lower voltages became more the norm...)
PMDX 122 Breakout board
Gecko 203V drives
Oriental PK296A2A-SG7.2 Stepper Motors (wired full coil)
Milwaukee 5625 Router

90% of the work was done by Gerald, Mike, Doug, Greg, Doc Tanner, Art Fabrica, Hugo, Sean, JR, Alan, Brad, Ed, Sharma, Nils, John, David, Kobus, Mickey, Pierre, Fabio, and the rest of you guys. The only thing I did was copy your moves to the best of my ability (which, at times was not too good:D)

I still need to put the logos on, set up the proxies, and figure out why this computer wants to keep beeping at various times and stop working... minor inconveniences...

Thanks to all of you!

[YRD]

Excellent Bill, :D

If they continue to complete the MM this speed, my (if I get the # ;)) will have a serial number XXX (three digits) :eek:

[Greg J]

Nice work Bill,

Allot of your hard work pays off with that first cut. It's only going to get better. :)

[sailfl]

Bill,

Well done. The machine looks great.

[Gerald D]

Hey Mike, Doug, Greg, Doc Tanner, Art Fabrica, Hugo, Sean, JR, Alan, Brad, Ed, Sharma, Nils, John, David, Kobus, Mickey, Pierre, Fabio, the rest of you guys and Bill, nice to see our machine running! :D

[Kobus_Joubert]

Well done Bill. Just remember there is a file in Mach3 that set up your computer to cut out unwanted commands etc.....I think...:o

[Gerald D]

Kobus is referring to this one:

Win XP Optimization (http://www.machsupport.com/downloads/XP_Optimization.txt) : This file is to aid in optimizing your Windows XP OS to remove interfering processes.

found at http://www.machsupport.com/downloads.php

[jeffh]

Good Deal! Congrats Bill!

Your machine looks great!

I was working on the same SSR issues as you just this morning. I came here to the forum, saw your post, saw Geralds response, and got mine to work too. The guys here at the forum are awesome aren't they?

Again, Congratulations.

-Jeff

[gmessler]

Great job Bill :)

[William McGuire]

Gerald and Kobus...

I saw that optimization file, but this machine has given me the five beeps of death even upon turning it on... before opening Mach3.

I have a couple of Windows "Guru" friends who told me they would look at the machine and get rid of extraneous stuff and see why this machine is not as friendly as my Macs have been...:D

[Leko]

five beeps of death...:D

That sounds like a bad RAM chip, or not seated properly.

[Bill McGuire]

Hi guys...
I haven't been on the forum for several months... managed to get up and running in February, but had a death and several illnesses in my family so I put the beast (and many other things) on hold for awhile.
Attached is a picture of the machine, the electronics, and a book i did for a nonprofit group (the lettering isn't on it yet).
Before you ask, the 1st book was near completion when the router decided to move to antother, unrelated position before continuing its cutting (I seem to remember the phrase "cross communication between wires" or some such phrase). I checked several connections and ran the machine through air and a million line project 4 times and it then worked great for the second volume.
I still have to get the proximity switches up and running... after I spend a few weeks remembering how I wired this thing and what those weird parts do :D.
If someone would be so kind to direct me to the page where we can get our number, I'll put my motors, gear ratios, transformer size, etc. for posterity and go back to catching up on months of valuable info.
And Gerald... thanks much for keeping this site up... and building the first machine... and sharing your time and knowledge... and... helping us novices... and...:D
And for anyone wondering if you can really make one of these, just read some of my posts over the past couple of years. YES... YOU CAN!:)

[sailfl]

Bill,

Congratulations on building and cutting. Sorry to hear of your problems but happy that you have your machine up and running.

[jhiggins7]

Hey Bill,

Congratulations on your machine and Logo's.

It's just after midnight in South Africa so Gerald's probably asleep. But, he is the one who awards Serial Numbers. You already have an entry in the Builder's Log here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&hl=en) on line 28, so when Gerald gets a chance to see your progress, I'm sure he will award you the next Serial Number. Once he does this, I'll update your entry in the Builder's Log. Please provide the cutting dimensions of your MM as well as any Comments about your particular MM for the Builder's Log.

Bill, you will notice that we have combined your latest post with your original Build Thread. This helps others find information about your build all in one place.

As for the motors, gear ratios, transformer size, etc. for posterity, please feel free to add that information to your Build Thread...just add it as the next Reply in this thread. We appreciate your adding that information since is helps other builders and prospective builders.

[domino11]

Bill,
I am sorry for your loss, but happy for your progress on your machine. Hope all is better with you now.

[Gerald D]

Hi Bill, sorry to hear of your pad period, nice to see you on the recovery road. #37 you have.

[Bill McGuire]

thanks guys..
There's a little magical trick in which you ask someone to choose a number between one and a hundred. The numbers must be odd numbers and not the same digits.
Number 37 is almost always chosen...
Should be easy to remember.
Good to be up and running again...:)

[jhiggins7]

Bill,

Updated Builder's Log is here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&hl=en), line 28.

Please provide the cutting dimensions of your MM so that I can add them to the Builder's Log.

Also, please let me know if you want any other changes to the entry.

Again, great job and congratulations. I really like your carved books. I'm anxious to see them completed.