More progress, it cuts ! #109 - Hampshire, UK

[Andrew_standen]

On the South Coast of the United Kingdom.

After three years of watching and finding other things to do, I have started.

Control box on its way.
PMDX-126
Gecko's 201X
PMDX-107 speed control for vfd.
Have managed to get a motor PK296-E4.5A eight wire, turning in test mode.

Will be building an 8" by 4" machine.
3.1 Belt reduction.
Have ordered Wheels and Track from Superior Bearings.
Steel will be ordered in the next week.
Going to use I Beam and rectangular tube.

Need to make this a bolt together job as I will be moving within the next 24 months.

Did think of using a 2.2kw spindel made in china, but have decided to go with one made in Germany.

Will put up better photos when I have something to show you guys.

Cheers
Andrew

[KenC]

Welcome,
Looks like you are almost done with your Kitchen table project.

[darren salyer]

You look off to a great start.
Welcome, and good luck with your build.

[domino11]

Welcome Andrew! :)

[MetalHead]

Welcome !!! Looks like a great start.

[Andrew_standen]

Lots of bits arriving today.....
getting excited.

Wheels, bushes and V cap rails from Superior bearings in the USA.

Aluminium rails

and a big box of laser cut and bent parts

then a 2.2kw water cooled spindle from Germany with radiator, pump, VFD and all cables and tubes.

must order the Table steel work tomorrow
Photos to follow later this weekend.

regards
Andrew

[Andrew_standen]

Thursday my steel delivered at work in Southampton, they wouldn't deliver to home as I didn't have a fork lift truck to unload.

So I had to take the front passenger seat out of my car to get the main beams home one at a time, got all the steel home in two trips.
Heavy dirty stuff this steel.
Not used metal before, wow so dirty and heavy.
Took me an hour to get it out of the car!
My main beams are I beams 23kg per mtr. length 3040.

Saturday I borrowed a chop saw and cut up all the other metal parts.
Took me most of the day. The saw was fantastic, made the whole process so easy and fast.
Really pleased with the progress.

My plan was to start drilling and start practicing my welding on Sunday.

Sunday morning and I'm having problems standing up straight let alone walking, I underestimated how hard moving 437Kgs of metal was, or overestimated my strength, should have done this when I was younger, I'm only 53 but wow some of that metal is heavy !
Funny how all my sons went missing when I needed a hand !
A couple of days and I will be back to full strength.

On another note, most parts of my gearboxes 3:1 are complete just need to put them together.

Awaiting delivery of racks and cable.
Cheers
Andrew

[Red_boards]

Andrew,
I feel your pain.
Make a friend of a skateboard or two. Great for moving heavy things.
Red

[madosta]

Nice! Keep us updated. Wish I could help!

[Tom Ayres]

Andrew, you're moving along nicely, welcome and the best of luck to you.

[Andrew_standen]

Cross members in red oxide primer.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iLp5GhUE6GeVGcYj3YrV7NMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink

[Andrew_standen]

Hi guys, do I paint my vee cap rails?

[bradm]

You can, but the bearing surfaces won't stay painted. I suggest that you mask the actual vee and paint the rest; that way the passive surfaces are protected from corrosion, and the bearing surfaces stay shiny just like train tracks do.

[Andrew_standen]

Thanks Brad,

Will keep the paint clear of the vee top.
Have putthe frame together all painted and looks nice,
Just busy painting parts before assembly, most parts done just need painting.
Will put up photos when I have it looking good, currently it's in a very small garage and it will have to live there for 16 months before I move house and find a better home for it

Thanks for the advise

[Andrew_standen]

Gonna need a bigger garage, but this will have to do for a while

[Andrew_standen]

More photographs

[Andrew_standen]

Hi Guys,

I have got progress to report.
The Machine now moves on the keyboard jogging keys.
Spindle works by manual on the VFD water cooled and sounds good.
I have only read the PMDX107 manual twice, so still not sure what to connect to the vfd, to get it under mach3 control to my powtran vfd, hope to have that sorted out soon.

Next job is the proximity switches and push button boxes, hope to have the machine cutting by end of this week.

I have an e-stop question, I have looked hi and low on the forums and have seen both ways just need an opinion, which should I use?

Should the E-stop kill the power to the gecko transformer and spindle but leave the BOB Pmdx-126 live or should the E-stop kill everything including the BOB?

thanks
Andrew

[KenC]

I vote for killing only the power to the stepper motor PSU & notify mach3 of the E-stop signal.

I strongly recommend spending time on setting the machine squareness & installing a Z-touch off. others can wait.... :P

Don't worry about the limit switches & Mach controlled VFD control, I've been cutting without them since day one. POWER OF PROCRASTINATION!!!

[Andrew_standen]

Thanks Ken,

I agree with you on the notify back to the mach3, I tried it both ways last night and it feels better to me.

I will spend the time on squareness.
Will let you know how it all goes later this week.
Only get to work on the machine in the evenings and weekends, spend my day programming 2 Weeke machines for oysteryachts.com

Still looking forward to this evening.
Thanks for your advice.

[darren salyer]

Looking good!!
The last 5% will feel like it is taking the longest, but stick with it.

[Andrew_standen]

I'm sure it will Darren.

But it's getting there are already puts a big smile on my face.
Thanks for your help.

To quote another " There are many others like it, but this one is mine !".

I might adopt that ! I like it.

[pblackburn]

I am using the PMDX-126. An emergency stop should kill all potential (air, hydrualic, electrical, etc) except if the potential is more hazardous if disabled (like an accumulator holding up a 10 ton ram). I kill everything with my estop wiring. I have used it many times and it has been needed. Just remember an estop is not a control stop and should not be used as such. When you have to hit is it is assumed that the need is greater for safety than protecting the product. If you have followed your wiring, the estop circuit is required with the 126 and the jumper is to be removed. That being said it is common practice with a PLC to kill only the outputs and leave the inputs live for diagnostic purposes. So you could use a relay to disable any power to the output relays that have dangerous potential but leave power up to the PMDX-126. Keep that in mind.

[Andrew_standen]

Thanks Pete,

I have wired to kill all dangerous power and leave the bob live to send a signal back to the pc.

The question arose when looking at the original wiring diagram on the mechmate plans which showed e-stop killing all power as it killed the supply to the transformer feeding the BOB( although the 126 is supplied with mains voltage).

Looking at the PDMX drawing shows killing power but leaving the bob live to send a signal back to the pc.

I have adopted the latter and I'm happy with that, all other wiring is as the mechmate plans and through a contactor, so e-stop will break supply to the contactors coil and therefore kill power to spindle, and motors etc.

I have sat next to this for six years and used it once in anger, when one of the 9kw spindle broke its bearings , although I test it once a week.

This e-stop kills both of these machines ...

[Andrew_standen]

It cuts ! Just got a lot of things to sort out, limit switches, push buttons, z zero; but it cuts very well; first test cut was micky mouse for my grand daughter, 60 degree vee cut 1mm deep 12000 rpm on the spindle feed 3000mm on x and y and 1500 on the z axis

[pblackburn]

Good news that is. The first milestone is made.

I used 2 parallel ports with the PMDX-126 to give me the amount of inputs I needed. The limits and home use the same inputs for X, B, Y, and Z so only 4 needed to be used for those. The A-Axis only uses a home. I also use a touch probe mounted on the crossbearer for my Z Zero touch off setting. The two remaining inputs are feedhold and start that are interpreted through brains. I hope that helps give you some ideas.

[Andrew_standen]

Thanks Pete,
I have Managed to fit and wire up The push buttons, got them talking to mach3 and the bob
Next job was the auto z with a floating plate and a fixed plate, managed to get them all working with mach3 and the 2010 screenset , very happy with all of that.
Have fitted proximity switches and run cables back to the gantry where I am going to fa junction box.
Fitted a laser and trying to get that switched through a relay k2 , I can get the led fir the relay to light up but the contacts do not change state, something still not right there, never mind will get there soon.
I can set the vfd speed by hand but haven't managed to get it running using the pmdx 107 speed controller, thought I had wired it correctly and set the parameters on the powtran vfd , but it just wont work, spent two days trying to get that to work in the end I took the cables iut and reset back to manual. Will contact the vfd people for help on that, main problem is connections and settings theres not much else to it, but I think I have gone as far as I can with that .
Still its running and cutting parts
Using alphacam will put up more photos later this weekend
A big thanks to Gerald for making this all happen and to Mike for taking over and keeping this all running and to all you Mechmate builders out there for inspiration and help, if itwas not fir you and your posts I could never have got this far, I salute you all

[Andrew_standen]

Well I thought I was getting closer and then the PC locked up !!
I had the spindle speed working as well, cut two parts and then the pc died, I guess that's the problem with old secondhand pc's !!

I re booted and got it running again and it lasted five mins before dying.

I have spoken to the shop where I got it from and they dont sound that helpful !

So Im looking for another pc and I need it like yesterday.

All the pc's in the shops are multi core ! can I use one ? any advice as I can't find a single core processor anywhere.

[Andrew_standen]

Ok I think I have answered my own question after reading and reading,
I think i have found a pc, an old pc with a 6 month warranty. it's an
HP d530 PC. Intel Pentium 4 HT, 2.8 GHz, 3GB RAM, 160GB HD. Windows XP Pro.
I Think I will get that and see how that goes.

At least I managed to get the spindle speed controller working, after finding a German clip on youtube setting up a Powtran VFD ( i don't speak German) but managed to work out what he was saying, the power of the internet.

[Andrew_standen]

Chipping away.

Thanks to help from Steve at PMDX I have full control over the spindle speeds in my programs.
Had an issue with an incorrectly set factory parameter ( last place I was going to look).

Happy to say running with my new pc and chipping away.
Made a couple of Chopping boards from some scrap Maple.

[parrulho]

well done, congratulations!

[Gerald D]

Well done Andrew! Why do we have so few MM builders from the UK? :)

[Andrew_standen]

Not sure Gerald.
I didnt find anything too difficult and this forum has all the answers if you look hard enough.
Could be the cost. Every time you see a dollar sign I see 2 pounds.
I purchased a lot of parts from the USA as the UK parts were so expensive even after shipping and import taxes the American parts were still cheaper. In some cases still 50%.
If anyone in the UK reads this and needs help, just ask me.
I'm no expert but I can cut parts now.
Talking of cost.... Mechmate decals !!! Trying to find some that i can afford, been quoted £60 , thats too much , and i need them to apply for a build number, but I'm not paying UK prices.
After all that, I have a smile on my face like a Cheshire cat , ear to ear.
And I have a Mechmate cnc machine.
Thank you for all your work.
Regards Andrew

[pblackburn]

I often wondered that as well. Never thought about the cost with the added taxes that you guys have over there but that makes sense. You did a nice build and now you have bragging rights. It is nothing anyone can take away from you. As far as decals, Metalhead might be able to send you some. They are $10 here in the US, I do not know your currency there.

[Andrew_standen]

Is it good enough for a build number?
Its fantastic to use

[Andrew_standen]

Photos re sized

[MetalHead]

Outstanding! Looks like your ready for that serial number! Congrats on a great build.

[HomeMadeCnc]

Congratz! Now the real work begins :)
Cheers

[servant74]

Whoop! Great!!

[cleyte]

Congratulations on a great job!!! You now go from builder to operator and that's where the rewards await.

[Andrew_standen]

Cutting up scraps of timber, maple, oak and walnut

[Andrew_standen]

Thank you all your kind words and help guys, now the fun really starts

[MetalHead]

Great build !!! Glad you could get those logos local :o :) !!! You get #109

[Andrew_standen]

Thank you Mike.
Proud owner number 109
Andrew

[darren salyer]

Very well done, Sir.
Now the real fun starts....

[Andrew_standen]

Ran the Mechmate for 3 hours last night. Largest card is 250mm by 430mm.
Maximum depth 2.5mm into 6mm material.
Kept the good lady happy.
And now I have a few more to make !

I want to make chairs......
but all this machine has done is to increase my honey list !
Lol.

[KenC]

Nice job!

[jhiggins7]

Andrew,

Congratulations on completing your build and earning Serial Number 109.

Here's the Updated Builder's Log (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AttqjIPMBEXKcExveGc4d3U0V25zQmMyX1U1eUVhU Xc&usp=sharing)with your entry added.

[Andrew_standen]

Thanks John.

[HomeMadeCnc]

Congratz on the build and your projects! This machine will change your life, good luck on the schooling, lots to learn ;)
Cheers!

[MK_CATANZARO]

If you mirror those tarot cuts and roll ink on them, you have a nice set of printing blocks. I've been doing a few of these lately and it works beautifully on the mechmate. I use Extira for mine because of the moisture resistance.

[Andrew_standen]

Thats a good idea. Might try that. Cheers

[Andrew_standen]

Having fun with this. Found a use for scrap ply from work.

[darren salyer]

Very nice. I've never been able to get ply to look that good.

[KenC]

Loving it!!!
Would you care to elaborate what that tooth brush is for?

[sailfl]

Ken,

That is what he used to stain the wood.

[KenC]

Nils,
Thanks for the heads up.

[Andrew_standen]

Used Gaboon plywood scraps from work.
Nice clean 18mm plywood.
Cam was aspire.
Running mach3
Cutter onsrud 30-25 I think. 1/4 inch shank. 0.020 inch tip on 30 degrees
Running at 2100 rpm. Feed 2500mm per min. 1.3mm depth of cut. One pass.
Program ran for 2hours 3mins.
Wax (applied with old tooth brush) is liberon bison black walnut.
Comes up with a nice shine.

[Andrew_standen]

Opps that should read . Running at 21000 rpm.!

[lonestaral]

Looks good.
Better than the plywood we get here.

[Andrew_standen]

Had to have a go at a makecnc.com dolls house for my grand daughter.
So I ran this on 6th mdf then painted it.
2.5mm cutter on 6th mdf. 12000 rpm 3000 mm per minute. 4th depth of cut.
Result.

[pblackburn]

My wife and I commented about if we had daughters or young nieces that would be an awesome thing to do. That is some nice work. Thanks for sharing.

[Andrew_standen]

Trying wooden books. Maple faced plywood. 6mm thick, engraved 1mm painted black sanded then Danish oil.

[Andrew_standen]

A couple of bit made today.out of American black walnut. 35mm thick.

[Andrew_standen]

Playing with dovetails. Drawing in alpha cam . Put a flat end my mechmate to hold the material. Works ok but not pretty.

[darren salyer]

Very nice work, Andrew!!

[Andrew_standen]

Thanks Darren.
I'm working on all sorts of things.
Would like to cut portraits but not sorted that one out yet.
I've been working on chairs for the last five years.
I'm not fast that's for sure.
The adirondack chair has no screws or nails just wooden dowels and folds for storage.
The small chair is a chair I made for one of my granddaughters. Made matching tables.
got three granddaughters so have made 3 so far. Good for 1 to 3 or 4 year old.

[servant74]

Looks Great

[parrulho]

Very nice work, perfect dovetails.

[andrewuk]

Nice work,especially the key.

[Andrew_standen]

Hi Andrew. I've just got to make a jumbo padlock .... lol

[Andrew_standen]

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jTt9L9FzavI/VOWr9uRYZiI/AAAAAAAAAcI/5TpQtfK6_RU/s1280/20150219_084918.jpg

Hi guys. Not posted for some time. Been very busy. Had to make a stamp to go on some products. Though I would try Brass. Worked ok for my first attempt. Still stunned how well this machine cuts.... details 10k rpm feed speed 1000mm min. Doc 0.2mm cutter I a 0.5mm dua ball nose. 0.25mm Rad. Total depth cut 1mm. Time 35mins

[Tom Ayres]

Very nice Andrew, I'll have to use your set-up for reference should I need to cut brass.:)

[pblackburn]

Good hearing from you Andrew. Nice work.

[Robert M]

amazing how small this is....and done with your beast!! :cool:
Well done ;)

[Andrew_standen]

Well I'm up and running again... been 6 months.. Moved to Dorset...built a 6mtr by 5mtr workshop in my garden and moved the machine in over Christmas.. now busy cutting a dolls house for a grand daughter.. nice to be cutting again.

[Andrew_standen]

Mechmate #109 is now for sale.
Christchurch Dorset.
Photos to follow