Finished writing plugin for Mach3 to control the VFD via RS-485 - Adelaide, Australia

[MattyZee]

Hi All,

I've only posted a couple of times but like many who find this site, I have been reading sooooo many of the threads the last few weeks.

About 2 years ago i decided i wanted to build a CNC router and got started designing my own build. I made good progress but then work was halted when my first daughter was born (a few weeks early). It took me another six months of slow building to finish it of. It was a great learning experience but there were a few things i could have done better. It has been a great workhorse for the last year but i recently decided to make a few mods. So i returned to CNCZone to get some ideas and stumbled across a post about MechMate. I remember looking at the MechMate when i was designing mine but at the time i only wanted a small machine and linear bearing for that size weren't too costly.
I became addicted to this site about 3 weeks ago and have slowly realised that if i want to make these mods, i might as well make a bigger machine and what better machine than a MechMate!
I am still getting quotes on a lot of the parts but i'm taking some leave (vacation) at the end of the week and hope to start building then. I will keep you posted and hopefully this thread will progress to the "Started building" and eventually the "Already Cutting" thread :D

Thanks Gerald and all the others who contribute to this forum. Thanks also to Jayson who answered all my PM's when i first got hooked on this site. Its great to see a fellow Aussie finish the build.

Thats enough for now. Thanks for reading!

[jhiggins7]

Matt,

Welcome to the Forum. Looking forward to watching your progress on your build.:)

Regards,
John

[domino11]

Welcome Matt!
Come on in, the water is fine! :)

[Jayson]

Here we go...

Looking forward to seeing your build of the second one in Australia.

:)

[skippy]

It's good to see another MechMate will be build in Australia.

I have started to get the parts together but with the Australia dollar so low I have been waiting hopefully for it to recover before getting the motors and the geckos etc from overseas.

[MattyZee]

Thanks for the welcome.

Paul, did you end up finding a local source for the laser cut parts? Have you started the mechanical build yet?

i'm in a pretty similar spot. Haven't ordered my motors or the geckos yet. Paul, would you be interested in splitting shipment costs for some steppers from ms-motor.com? Their prices are hard to beat but the shipping is a bit pricey.

[skippy]

Matt

I have not done much on that as been following Gerald recommendation of starting the MechMate build in the area of your experience as I'm a Electrical Engineer (Electronics) I was starting with the kitchen table project. but may get better price in joining together as a group buy but shipping may kill the saving.

That would be good but we need to watch out about total invoice amount due to fact of import tax / GST. why give more of our hard earned money to the gov then we need too.

[MattyZee]

OK, as everything will be shut for the Easter break, i decided to go out and by the steel today so i don't have to wait till Tuesday (i'm on holiday as of now!!)
I ordered the Laser cut parts last week and picked up the last of the parts today.
Also, amazingly, my V-wheels and eccentric bushes came today. Ordered them thurs last week. Thats pretty fast turnaround. Thanks Rick @ Superior Bearings!
Still getting quotes on other parts but i have enough to keep me busy for a while.

I need to do a few mods to the grinding skate before i can start grinding. Thats the first bit i plan to tackle as its the bit i'm most concerned about. I only bought enough angle for Y rails for now.

The ecconomic downturn has been pretty good to me so far as its brought down the prices for the steel and laser cutting.
Heres a summary of what i've bought to give other Aussies an idea of cost for a build here in oz. Will try and keep updating as i purchase more bits. I've included approx US$ for comparison

Lasercut parts: $436 (incl GST) (~US$305)
V-wheels & Bushes: $360 (US$242.20 @ 0.67 converison) incl shipping from US
Steel (Everything except the X rail angle & cross bearers): $710 (~US$497)
Rack & Pinions (3x 2m lengths & 4x 25T pinions): $340 (~US$238)

Will officially start the build on Saturday as i'm having a family day tomorrow for Good Friday.

:)

[MattyZee]

I started my build on 11th April (Easter weekend) and have been making slow progress ever since. I started with the ground V rails and then moved onto the table frame.

I've finally got around to taking some pics of my progress. I have nearly finished the table metalwork and have the gantry and y-car ready to paint too. I am going to get a quote from a local paint company this week to paint it. Forgot to take pics of the rails but they're done, trust me. :D

I decided to go with a 6 leg table design, so its got bit of a pool table feel :) Its a bolt together frame with two side frame, 3 cross frames and the two main channels. It will allow me to transport home more easily (I'm building at my Dads place with his help, he's my welder). He's how it looks at the moment. The plan is to have it going by July.

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[Gerald D]

That looks like a sturdy animal :)

[MattyZee]

Yeah, i made the legs from 70x3 SHS to 'match' the main beams (close enough) purely for the aesthetics. I like the looks of the nice thick legs. The rest of the frame is made from 50x2 SHS again more for aethetics. Structurally it could be smaller section braces but i like the look of thicker braces and the cost difference was small.

[Jayson]

Looks good Matt. It does look very sturdy.

Keep the pics comming.

Can't wait to see it finished.

Jayson.

[MattyZee]

Here are some pics of the electronics side of things.

I bought some Lapp Cable for the Motor, Spindle, & Contrl cables.
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Its Lapp 810 CY cable. Looks like nice stuff.
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The motors are from MS Motor. Amazing prices but shipping is a killer. Best way is to find someone else to go 'in' with and share the shipping.
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Electronics layout starting to take shape. PMDX board is on its way and i will order the rest of the DIN terminals this week.
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My first machine didn't have enough control & e-stop buttons so i decided i won't repeat the same mistake again by "doing it later once its running". So i have bought the switchs now to make me do it straight away.
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Got a good deal on eBay for some proximity sensors.
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This is my favourite addition to the collection. A water cooled 2.2kW spindle. cheapo from China but will do the trick. I think its exactly the same as the one Jayson has.
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[Gerald D]

The photo quality in the last post is excellent.....and nice small file sizes! Matt, I have increased your storage quota already - you have yo give us a lot more! :D

[javeria]

HI Matt - what Camera are u using - even at these small sizes the pics just look great

are u editing them before posting.....

The spindle is cheapo - but performs really great!

[MattyZee]

Thanks Gerald. I was looking at my allowance as i was uploading thinking i would never use it up @30kB a pop. now i have over 22Mb?:eek: better get snapping...

Irfan, i use a Canon 20D Digital SLR with a 50mm macro lens. A good size flash helps. I sit the items on a sheet of Depron (polystyrene sheet, that i use for making model planes) and bounch the flash of the ceiling to diffuse the light. The photos aren't edited, just re-sized to 15% of original in MS Paint.

[javeria]

Ah! professional!

[stan stuart]

Matt
I like what I see and have ordered rails and wheel but am chasing somewhere to have laser cutting & bending done.
Does the price of $436 include the bending because in brisbane it's a lot more expensive than that.
Stan

[MattyZee]

Hey Stan,
Don't have the quote in front of me. When i originally got the quote I didn't include the two cable chain support brackets. I ended up ordering the brackets as well which bumped up the price a bit. But yeah, it included all the bending.

So have you gone with Aluminium rails? where did you source them from?

[stan stuart]

Hi Matt
I am waiting for the rails and wheels from Yitong in china USD28.5 per mrt. the aluminium is 80 x 40 I will pick up local and cut the short leg down to suit I have a quote for the rack & pinion from TEA but the laser cut parts are to expensive up here. Who did you get to cut them.

[MattyZee]

The Yitong rails are carbon steel right? How much was shipping? Did you get the YT or YTS rails?

I got my parts cut at Sonnex laser in Adelaide. I would suggest getting them cut locally in case there is anything wrong with them and you need parts 'tweaked'.

[stan stuart]

Matt
I am getting YT3 rails and all wheels have eccentric bushes frieght
USD198.
It still might be worthwile to have the parts cut in adelaide as the cheapest price I have here is about $800.

[stan stuart]

Matt I see you have no gearboxes on your motors. Are you using direct drive or using a belt reduction

[MattyZee]

I am planning on having a belt reduction drive. (3.2:1). The geared motors are too expensive for me an i think i remember reading the performance of the belt drive should be superior than the gearbox motors (esp. w.r.t backlash).

Here are some CAD pics

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[domino11]

Matt,
Those pics look good. Are you planning on cutting them on the MM once it is done with the direct drive llke JR did?

[MattyZee]

I am in the process of seeing what they will cost to be made. I would try and cut them with direct drive but my motor brackets have a bore slightly smaller than my motors so they don't fit directly to the plates. So the Aluminium plates has been sized to fit my undersize motor plates and accept my motors. I will post pics when/if/how they are made.

[stan stuart]

Hi Matt
Under motor selection it does say the belt drive is better as far as backlash is concerned. If the price is ok woud you be interested in getting 2 sets made at the same time.

[Robert M]

Hi Matt,
3.2 :1, interesting combo !!
I too am planning to make my trany,

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not only to save a few $$$....but mostly and the obviously, doing it for this sefl fuzzy fun feeling of making your own...:D

I managed in the past to find source & material (drive, driven gear & belt) to get 3.0:1 reduction, but could not find source & material to configure 3.2:1 ?
Could I ask you to tell us more about your source & part# for your gears & belt set up so we all could look it up ?
Thanks in advance, Robert ;)

[MattyZee]

Hey Robert,

Nice CAD model. What pitch belt are you using there?

Funny we a re talking about this today because my pulleys and belts arrived today.
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I have gone with the T5 (5mm pitch) size. To get the 3.2:1 i have chosen a 15T &48T combo. Used with a 56T (280mm) belt gives a centre distance of ~55mm. This only gives 5 teeth engaged at any one time which is 1 less than the recommended 6 so i went with the wider 16mm to compensate. It allows for quite a compact design.

I sourced them from a local supplier. www.piesau.com.au (http://www.piesau.com.au/) i'm sur they can be sourced easily anywhere.

[Robert M]

Matt,
My drawings and part for this drawings are strictly for a temporary conception purpose. I used for this set up a “XT pitch” with a 3/8” wide belt.
I understand it may be “frail” for our MM set up !!
Haven’t gone spending the required in verifying & calculating this YET :o
This tempo set up has an easy 6teeth engaged, so I stop at that and figured when time comes I’ll take the required time to select the proper set-up...TBC !

Out of curiosity, would you know who makes (what brand) are those pulleys ?

[MattyZee]

I picked up the table from the painter today. It was too late in the day to take a pic of the table parts so heres a pic of the Y-car. I feel so much closer to finishing now thats its painted.

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And some other painted parts
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Actually, not all the parts are painted yet. Still have the Z axis parts and the E-chain brackets. I wanted to wait until i had the e-chain to make sure i installed it at the right height. Well it arrived today, so i should be able to finish off those over the weekend and get the final parts painted next week.

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Will post more pics of the painted table over the weekend....

[MattyZee]

I have nearly all the parts for my control electronics now. I'm going with a slighty different layout to Geralds standard. I'm having all the geckos mounted in a vertical pattern. This will allow the motor power supply to enter from the left, the control signals from the right, and the motor wires will run under the heatsink up to the top ofthe box where they will pass through grommets outside the box.

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Its hard to see, but the black heatsink has fins running vertically. This arrangement will also allow more natural convection but i will probably add a fan anyway.

I'm also doing my earthing a little differently. Rather than making the heatsink the earth point, i'm going to put a brass stud through the control box as the earth point. This will allow me to connect the earth wires more easily both outside and inside the control box. So having an anodised heatsink is no problem.

P.S. Man is that a big capacitor! I calculated i needed a 30,000uF and it was cheaper for me to get a 47,000uF than two 15,000uF ones. I hope it doesn't blow fuses on powerup with the current inrush!?

[domino11]

Matt,
I would not worry about the 47000u cap. It will just filter a little better. :) You wont get that much more inrush from the 47 to the 30. Just size your fuse accordingly.

[MattyZee]

Finished the final parts that need to be painted now. Here is my spider plate with v-wheels fitted. (yes, i know i still have to drill the hole for the gas strut)
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and the other side.
How does everyone bent that little tab over? my bender said it was too small to bend without the metal cracking. was thinking of just taking on a small tab or using a screw instead.
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and with the z plate in place (rhs stiffener not fitted). got a local machine shop we use at work to machine this for me.
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My X axis echain is the wider of the two option that Gerald has designed for. To better support the echain (and to use what i had on hand) i re-used the offcuts of the rail angle instead of the 10mm rod.
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I also purchased some enclosures for the control buttons. The enclosure is designed for the 22mm buttons and comes with the 3 holes predrilled. I don't like how the mushroom head button is so close to the pause button but theres nothing i can do about it now.:(
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Didn't make as much progress as i'd hoped, but thats been the case since i started :D My deadline hasn't shifted though so the next two weeks will be busy!

[Gerald D]

Looks good Matt!

The bend of the small tab has no more chance of cracking than any other bend. I grab them in the vice and coax them 90 degrees with a hammer. If they really do crack (odd grade steel), they won't fall off - run a weld over the crack. Or, "pre-crack" them by grinding them 1/2 way through, bend, then weld.

[WFY]

Hi Matt,
Gerald beat me to it. Here is what I did to reinforce the crack.

[Alan_c]

Nice clear sharp pics - good going.

[anton]

Hi Matt (matty Zee),

Where did you get that spindle from? Internet perhaps?
What did you pay for it? WOuld be nice to replace the 2700 usd spindle option from the states with a cheaper option.

Anton

[MattyZee]

Yeah, got it from an eBay store that someone mentioned, linearbearings2008 i think is his user name. Paid about AU$770 (US$620) delivered. But make sure you ask for it to be really well packaged, particularly around the water connections. I had heard of some spindles arriving with broken water connections caused in transit.

[Jayson]

Making great progress Matt. It should be cutting soon.

Jayson.

[MattyZee]

I really hope it is cutting soon Jayson. can't wait! I moved the old router out of my shed tonight to make room for the MechMate. I will be moving the frame from my folks place later in the week so i can finish it off at home.

I had another job for the laser cutter and it came in under their minimum order so i added one of these to make use of the few extra dollars i was going to be charged either way.
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I calculated my power supply needed to be 600VA and it was easier to find two 300VA transformers. This bracket allows me to attach both, and their fuses and the bridge rectifier neatly on the one bracket.
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Unnecessary, maybe, but it effectively didn't cost me anything.

[javeria]

thats cool Matt!!!!

[Gerald D]

I am a bit worried about coupling the 2 transformers in parallel, unless their voltages have been closely matched. Best to check with the transformer suppliers if they are happy that you do this.

This aspect further discussed in Two transformers in parallel? (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1884)

[MattyZee]

Thanks Buzz for your pics. The little tab bent over rather easy and only a very small crack appear at one side. I didn't bother welding it as its still got plenty of strength.
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I promised pictures of the painted table but this is all i have at the moment. Its finally in my garage now and i have started aligning and shimming the x axis rails. The wooden blocks are used to hold a line of cotton as a straight guide to shim the rails. (i just sat the gantry on the rails for the photo)
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I'm not sure how others attach the Y axis cable trays. 2mm wall is a bit thin to tap M6 holes. I know its not holding much weight but i decided to borrow the rivnut tool from work and installed some rivnuts.
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And here is the cable tray installed
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For those in Australia you may find as i did that the 3M tape is not easy to get hold of particularly in short lengths (<50m). Jayson put me onto Husky (http://www.huskytape.com.au/) tapes and i called their local distributor. The stuff they have which is 'equivalent' to the 3M tape is Acribond A5200W (http://www.huskytape.com.au/acribond/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=12). Its 2mm thick. Its is cut to the required width on order. So i got it 15mm wide to match my rack. It comes in a 15m roll. Cost ~$50 including shipping. Pretty pricey for tape but the prices i was getting for the 3M stuff was many times that.
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[Doug_Ford]

1st class craftsmanship Matt. Beautiful.

[Gerald D]

Matt, a weld here would have been good:

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[MattyZee]

Yeah, i knew you were going to pick that up :) There is only a tiny tack weld there but the other welds are pretty big and i'm pretty confident i won't have any issues there. Thanks for picking out all my errors! :p

[MattyZee]

While a belt reduction is not a new idea i thought i'd share pics of my pulley reduction drives. I got a friend of a friend to machine them for me from 1/2" 6061. Its only a 2.4:1 drive.

Pulleys and pinion bored to size and shaft. Still have to put flats on the shafts.
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Machined plate. The counterbore for the motor is slotted by 3mm total (+/- 1.5mm) for belt tensioning.
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Machined second plate. These were made to fit snuggly in the motor bracket plates.
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The mounting screws protrude by a little over 2mm in the pics but i didn't have the spring washers fitted yet.
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A with the pinion (not fastened yet, just sitting there)
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Yes, the belt does clear the spacers :)
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[Jayson]

Well done Matt. Great pictures.
These should work well.

Jayson.

[jhiggins7]

Great work Matt.:) Very professional. Thanks very much for sharing such detailed pictures.:) We are standing by to see how they work for you.

[javeria]

Lovely matt - that Alu will sure help a lot to dissipate the heat from the motors, tellin from experience!

[Doug_Ford]

Wow!!! I told my wife that I'm getting a complex just looking at the beautiful work some guys are able to turn out. 1st class stuff.

[stan stuart]

Hi Matt
I've been lurking in the background watching your progress "DAM FINE JOB"

Stan

[MattyZee]

I have been progressing quite well behind the scenes and hope to have to motors driving the table this weekend. Here are some update pics.

Here is one of my motor mounts attached to the gantry. Fits great.
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I decided to mount my control box on the side at the end of the cable chain carrier. This allows a neat flow of the cable into the box. Normally its a no-no to mount cables into the top of a box, but this is an indoors project not subject to weather and the grommets are rated at IP68 anyway. In the photo you can see the 4 motor cables entering the box. The other two grommets are for control cables. below the isolator switch is a sealed USB connector which wil interface my smoothstepper to my control PC.

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And i've got the z axis all assembled. Still have some fiddling to do to get it plumb.
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and here is the spindle attached. Still need to attach the z axis spring.
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As you can see, i still have to terminate my cables but once thats done, i'm pretty close to driving this thing around! Then once i sort out my spindle coolant circuit, i'll be making dust :D

[jhiggins7]

Looking GOOD Matt.:) Good luck this weekend.

[MattyZee]

Thought i should add a overall shot...
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[javeria]

Matt - very good!

does one of your friend has a excitech router?? i was reading the Excitech on the zone thread and think a name similar to your was mentioned?

[Jayson]

Nice Matt, very nice.

[MattyZee]

Thanks guys.
Yeah, Rocket67 on CNCZone has his business only a couple of minutes from my work. He bought his Excitech about 18 months ago. He's a very nice and generous guy. Why do you ask?

[domino11]

Looking good Matt. Good luck with the first cuts. :)

[javeria]

Ya matt - i read on some page that u folks were working to get some sort of software for cabinet making - could you kindly pass on the information to us Mechmaters - may be we can also add on to our business portfolio :)

[AuS MaDDoG]

Inspirational Matt great photos and great progress!! cannot wait to see it making some dust.
Cheers
Tony.

[MattyZee]

Well i have my table zipping around but i haven't made any dust yet as i have an issue with my smoothstepper and the spindle. I'm having the same issue as here (http://mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1835). Table moves fine, but as soon as i fire up the spindle, Mach3 loses comms with the SS. Makes it hard to cut anything :(

I don't have a parallel cable handy so i can't try control with the parallel port. I put all my faith in the smoothstepper but i think i might ditch it now.

[MattyZee]

Hey Irfan, sorry, while i'd like to say i wrote some software to make cabinets, thats not the case. Not sure if you're confusing me with someone else maybe? I have helped Rocket out with their V-Carve toolpaths so they resize their profiles to suit different door sizes more easily, but thats about it.

[Gerald D]

Matt, sorry to hear that you are also having SS problems. My son mostly resolved his problems with wiring changes, but we are not 100% convinced it is all clear now.

[MattyZee]

Yeah, A CNC router is not the kind of thing you want flakey control. I'm going to take my wiring diagrams into work tomorrow and have our EMC Compliance Engineer have a look at it for me. When ever i have had a problem with other hobby projects he sorts me out with filters, chokes, shielding etc where needed. Hopefully he can point me in the right direction.

But i'm pretty happy with the machine otherwise. Got it up to 40m/min. Didn't try any higher as i didn't have the acceleration set very high and was worried about thumping it into the end stops.

[MattyZee]

Maybe it was a little premature to rat out on the SS.
I went over the earthing strategy with our EMI compliance engineer at work and he gave me a number of things to do. (He wasn't all that impressed with the Chinese VFD) I'm sure i'll get a heap of resistance from you guys for this, but he told me earth the motor & spindle cables braid/shield at the motor end. He says the effect of ground loop is insignificant when compared to the shield acting as a large antenna. Without any disrespect to you guys i'm going with him on this. (He is a well experience EMC/EMI engineer who has all the right equipment to measure this stuff)
In addition to that, he told me to add an EMI filter on the power input to the VFD and a toroidal ferrite on the motor output as pictured below.
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The IEC cable filter was the only one i could get off the shelf at my local electronics store. I will change this to a normal spade terminal one and neaten the wiring.

But this has fixed my SS problem and i no longer lose comms with it!! It was so much fun driving the table around with the spindle going. I need to finish my water circuit for the spindle but should be cutting in the next couple of days when i get a chance!

[Gerald D]

Matt, I have also recently started becoming aware of alternative strategies for grounding shields. What is coming through is that power cables (motor or spindle cables) should be grounded both ends, while signal cables (the milliAmp stuff) should be grounded one end only.

We have added ferrite rings on the input and output (2 rings) of our VFD - it is recommended in their handbook. But, what really got our SS going was routing the USB cable far away from anything else.

Anyway, great to hear that you have reliable movement! Now we want reliable sawdust! :)

[MattyZee]

Finally today i cranked it all up and had it making dust! :D

It was very satisfying seeing it moving around flicking up dust. I don't have my dust shoe done yet but it will be first on my list of things to do tomorrow.

Here are some final pics. These were taken just before covering the place in dust.
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So do I get a serial number? :rolleyes: I can't get my decals until monday...

[Jayson]

Congratulations Matt. Looks great.

Now the fun bit starts.

[Robert M]

And another happy MechMater :)
Congrat Matt….Like many would say, keep those photos coming.
Forecast.... Busy week end ahead for this new happy camper :D

[javeria]

hi matt - congrats

[KenC]

Congrats Matt! I'm so envious of your progress.

You did mention grounding the shield of the motor & spindle on the motor end, motor is the sepper motor? If so, how this ground connect to the earth? Just wan to be sure.

Cheers

Ken

[KenC]

Congrats Matt! I'm so envious of your progress.

You did mention grounding the shield of the motor & spindle on the motor end, motor is the stepper motor and both end grounded? Gerald got me confused, if both ends are grounded, the faraday cage effect will deminish.
If ground on stepper motor end, how this ground connect to the earth? Just wanna to be sure.

Cheers

Ken

[Kobus_Joubert]

Well done and enjoy every minute working with the beast.

Just remember to SURFACE you table.

Good luck

[domino11]

Congrats Matt. Where is the picture of the first cut though? :)

[Doug_Ford]

Absolutely beautiful work Matt.

[AuS MaDDoG]

Awesome!!

[Gerald D]

Well done Matt!

[MattyZee]

Well, other than trimming the two 6mm MDF boards to square the gantry my first cuts were of a quick and dirty dust show. I read somewhere that someone had a dust shoe with a removable front but ended up not using the front much as it worked just as well without it. At least thats what i though they said. better go back and read that again as that is definately not my experience. Need to get a proper dust shoe fitted quick smart...

Anyway, here's a pic of my first proper project, some toyboxes that are WAY overdue. Here is the first one assembled ready to be pulled apart and painted. Its a toybox/seat. I made one for my daughter earlier in the year on my old machine and have made a few now. The seat lifts up so you can store toys inside.
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Thanks to everyone for their positive comments and encouragement along the way. Much appreciated!

[smreish]

Matt,
That looks about right! :) just dirty enough
Nicely done.

[domino11]

Matt,
That is a good looking toy box. Congratulations. :)

[rnixon]

Matt,
Great looking machine.
Inspiration to the rest here in Oz - need to get mine going:)
regards,
Rick

[Robert M]

Hi Matt,
May I ask you an update on your situation with your smoothstepper as you reported in your below post #63 ?
By the look of some work, you’re doing fine !?
Thanks, Robert ;)

[MattyZee]

Hi Robert,

The EMI filter on the VFD input and the toroidal ferrite on the VFD output to the motor (as pictured in post #67) was all i needed to do to stop the SmoothStepper from losing comms with the PC. I haven't had any issues since. I still want to implement RS-485/MODBUS control of the spindle so that might open another can of worms. I'll let you know how it goes.

[javeria]

Matt, may I ask what wire (1mm sq or 1.5mm sq) are you using? what is the ferrite dimensions and the number of rotations.

RGDS
IRfan

[Robert M]

Hi, Matt, Thanks for your follow up.
Yes, please let us know how you’ll be doing with your RS-485 experiment / set-up ?
Amicalement, Robert ;)

[sprayhead]

Matt

Just an enquirie about the motors. Im thinking about getting these ms motors also, but motor with gearbox 3.6:1. By the looks on the pictures they look great, are they performing good?

thanks
francis

[MattyZee]

Hi Francis,

They have been great. No complaints here. But i can't talk for the gearbox version. I have heard (not confirmed though) that these motors are the same as the ones sold by Keling in the US. They have the same part numbers and specs minus the 'KL'. As i think i said elsewhere, if you can find someone to share in the shipping cost you will get an even better bargain. But my motors+shipping cost less than the equivalent Keiling motor not even including shipping.
In short, very happy with them.

[wiwatto]

Absolutely, Well done MattyZee !:)

[sprayhead]

Hi Matt

I am in Sydney, I'm after a 40volts 600VA toroidal transformer or like you, 2x 300VA... Can tell me where you found yours? and also what kind of outputs it has.

I found this on ebay but I am not sure if they are suitable:

Toroidal 300VA, 40-0-40Vac

It is centre tap 40-0-40 output. There are two modes of connection.

Mode A (Series for Double Volts)
3.3 amps

Mode B (Parallel for Double Current)
6.6 amps


thanks,
Francis


by the way, I bought the motors from MS they look great. http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2214

[MattyZee]

Hey Francis,
Sorry, not sure how i missed your post. I bought my transformers from Altronics. http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=M5535
I'm no expert in transformer wiring, but I didn't think a centre tap winding will be sufficient. When you parallel the windings you need to connect the two starts and two ends of the windings, but thats not possible on a centre tap as the start/end the two windings are connected.
Good to hear your happy with your motors. Can't believe you're using such are large module rack!

[gmcclure]

Hi Matt,

Love the look of you stepper belt drive, How is it preforming? How smooth a radius cut are you getting with 2.4 : 1. Any change you would make with hind sight? Do you have drawings for the plate parts that you are preparded to share.

Tanking you in advance

Graeme

[gmcclure]

Hi Matt,

sorry about all the questions, Could you indicate details of the stepper motors you are using? How are they going for you? About at the stage to order stepper motors. Looking at MotionKing 34HS9801 however should consider suitable steppers from another source.

Any comments on source, part number approx. cost, delivery issues?

Feeling godd bearings arrived this morning. steel parts are cutout but not bent yet.

thanks

Graeme

[MattyZee]

I still want to implement RS-485/MODBUS control of the spindle so that might open another can of worms. I'll let you know how it goes.

For those that are interested, i have finished writing a plugin for Mach3 to control the VFD via RS-485. I have posted it on the Mach3 forum here (http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,14182.0.html). I have been using it for the last few weeks without any issues so i hope it works for everyone else.

[javeria]

congrats Matt !

[Claudiu]

Great, I will try it tomorrow and let you know how it works.:D

[skippy]

Thank for that Matt, our USB to RS-485 converter's should be here any day now. And when feeling better I can finish wiring up the BOB's and everything else I can build the coolant flow sensor circuit.

And I forgot to say feed the fly pigs. (I got a lot to do)

[southernduckie]

Lasercut parts: $436 (incl GST) (~US$305)
V-wheels & Bushes: $360 (US$242.20 @ 0.67 converison) incl shipping from US
Steel (Everything except the X rail angle & cross bearers): $710 (~US$497)
Rack & Pinions (3x 2m lengths & 4x 25T pinions): $340 (~US$238)


Matt could you advise your supplier of the rack and pinions im having problems finding some at a good price.

Regards Andrew.

[shaper]

Believe linear bearings do rack and pinion not sure if you've been in cotact with them or the price but they sell in 2m lengths, have offices in most states