Back Doing Some Arcade Fun #19 - Smith's Falls, Ontario, Canada [Archive]

bradyaero

Mon 25 February 2008, 16:19

Does anyone know how to wire the PK296A2A with the gecko 203? I have my motors and everything is ready to go, just have to get the motors connected for a test. I can't seem to find out exactly how to hook up the motors to the driver.
My PS is wired for 72vdc so I have to wire them using Bipolar Series.

My best guess is to ignore the middle lead on the coils?

Thanks, Greg

Roadkill_321

Mon 25 February 2008, 17:07

1025
Greg,
Here is the diagram from the Oriental Motor website that I used. The PK296-A2A motor is a 6 lead motor, so you can connect the Black and Green to Phase A on the Gecko 203V, and then connect the Red and Blue to Phase B. If you need to reverse rotation of the motor, you can just reverse one pair of wires.
Hope this helps.

John

bradyaero

Mon 25 February 2008, 17:50

Thanks John,

That seems to work although I am only getting one motor to fire. (X). All the lights are green on the gecko's and the signals on the PMDX122 are green as well. I must be missing something basic!

smreish

Mon 25 February 2008, 18:13

make sure in Mach you have all the ports and pins correct. Them make sure they are enabled on. The quick set up in the Mach video tutorial will walk you thru this if you haven't done so already. Sean

bradyaero

Mon 25 February 2008, 18:35

It's all good, the only thing I'm missing is the actual step per value (i have 3000 by default) and the real step pulse and dir pulse (which I set to 5).

(my dir wire was before my step wire so I had to reverse the fields in mach3 and away it went!)

It sure feels good to see 4 motors moving :)

many thanks, Greg

Gerald D

Mon 25 February 2008, 21:37

. . . My PS is wired for 72vdc so I have to wire them using Bipolar Series. . . .

I don't catch the logic, but then it is only 6.30am here . . . . Explain please?

Glad to hear the motors are all spinning now! :)

Richards

Tue 26 February 2008, 06:39

The A2A motors have an inductance rating of 6mH series and 1.4mH half-coil, so 1000 * SQRT(6mH) = 77V MAX bipolar series and 1000 * SQRT(1.4mH) = 37 V MAX half-coil.

bradyaero

Tue 26 February 2008, 06:54

Hi Gerald,

From what I have read because I have 72vdc I have to run the steppers in full coil mode.

I've noticed that the gecko's are running a bit warm (I can keep my hand on one but it is warm); this is just running the roadrunner program using quantum. (I am using a 22k resistor and the motors are staying cool)

Would it be a better idea to drop the transfomer down to 25vac and then run the steppers in half coil mode or am I over-reacting?

Many thanks, Greg

domino11

Tue 26 February 2008, 07:23

Greg,
Do you have the Geckos on a heatsink plate? If you can keep your hand on them with no heatsink, the plate will improve the situation. Just being able to keep your hand on it doesnt sound like they are getting very hot. Should be no problem. Are you able to measure case temp? Thats the best way to know if you are close to the limit on the Gecko spec. Just remember you need to keep in mind the temp in your case and temp rise during the warm months.

Good to see someone in my neck of the woods

Heath.

bradyaero

Tue 26 February 2008, 07:49

Hi to everyone on the forums, and many thanks for all the help and good advice. It's a great group to be a part of and I thank Gerald for the tremendous effort he has put into this community.

I'm building a mechmate for the purpose of cutting foam for molds including windmill blades and for airplane parts. My challenge with the mechmate is to get as much z as possible. I'm trying for 8 inches of cutting clearance.

For my kitchen table project I decided to use the power supply and case from an old pc. I tore apart the power supply and then bolted in my torroidal (wired at 50vac) and ran the wires to the existing power supply switch. I also wrapped 18 loops of wire around the torroidal to power up my PMDX-122 (7.6vac) using the aux connector on the PMDX.

I then put the PS back into the pc case and added my PMDX-135 ac/dc converter. I then added my terminal blocks and wired them to drive the gecko 203's. I took a CDROM apart and used the case as a mounting point for the gecko's.

Based on forum advice I chose the PK296A2A- SG7.2 steppers and will be running with 30 tooth pinions. I wired the steppers in unipolar mode (full coil) and used a 22k resistor on the gecko's.

I installed quantum and was able to get a motor turning quite by accident. With some advice I configured the parallel port pins and all of the motors now turn. I now have to work on what the correct settings are for the motors in order to get an accurate feed rate going.

My next step is to get started on the table itself. I'm enjoying this project immensely and will post updates as they happen.

Here's a few pics of what I am up to:

Gerald D

Tue 26 February 2008, 08:27

Greg, this thread is for you:

Understanding & Selecting gear pinions - setting the steps per mm[inch] (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239)

bradyaero

Wed 21 January 2009, 11:20

Hi everyone,

Wow does time fly.. it's been eleven months since I got my controller working!

Here's a quick update for my MechMate. The goal for my MechMate is to obtain 16-18" of Z-Travel, the table is 132 x 78 inches. I made a square tube fixed frame that will have a 'bed' that can be raised or lowered depending on the job at hand. This may be sprocket/screw driven or it might be pinned to the sides, or it might be both.

To attach my rails to the frame I went with aluminum angle and drilled and tapped the BWC rails to attach. I originally cut adjustment slots in the aluminum angle to pre-position the rails. This made alignment really easy; I set one side straight and then rolled the gantry along squaring the other rail as necessary.

The rail leveling went surprisingly well. There were a few spots that needed to be raised. As soon as this was done I drilled and tapped more rail positions. I used a machinist level all along the frame and everything is within one line on the level.

My gantry also worked out well. Square was pretty much dead on without shimming, Wheel contact was also close. One wheel was out by 1-1.5mm so after adjusting it's height all four wheels touch with level rails.

The Z-cart was also bang on. Motor wiring has gone very well, I'm running tests with no load at 1000 IPM. I'm anxious to get the Z-axis done.

I'm waiting for my limit switches and my z-slide to complete my MechMate. I'm going with Gerald's original design that used a linear slide vs spider plate. (I found a 1.25" rail / slide with 33 inches of travel for $120.00)

Many thanks for all the help, Greg

* shameless plug * domino11's laser cut parts were top notch, accurate and well cut.

Gerald D

Wed 21 January 2009, 11:34

Greg! You are still alive! Welcome back! :D
(Don't worry, I'm not going to kiss you):p

Nice progress

bradyaero

Wed 21 January 2009, 11:38

whewh! I was more worried about getting yelled at :rolleyes:

Kobus_Joubert

Wed 21 January 2009, 11:47

Well done...maybe you can shorten that cable chain and send it to Marius ..:)

domino11

Wed 21 January 2009, 13:21

Greg,
I think you forgot to mention that it MOVES. I know I have seen it. :) Glad the laser cut parts worked out good for you. Nice to see some picture of my parts in the builds. Sorta give me that fuzzy feeling.

bradyaero

Sat 31 January 2009, 06:37

Well done...maybe you can shorten that cable chain and send it to Marius ..:)

Lol yes, but I better shorten the cable and send it to Heath! Otherwise he'll have my head!

bradyaero

Sat 31 January 2009, 07:20

Hi Gerald,

Finally, my linear slide showed up! On to making a working Z... Do you think I should bend a solid piece for my Z bracket or use angle iron with cross pieces like you did for your original z slide? The assembly weights about 35 lbs, with about 5 lbs for the slide, 30 lbs for the rail. I'll cut about 10" off the rail which will bring the weight down to about 20lbs for the rail which will be the moving part right? Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks, Greg

domino11

Sat 31 January 2009, 08:32

Lol yes, but I better shorten the cable and send it to Heath! Otherwise he'll have my head!

My cable chain looks good on your machine. I will need it later when my garage is done though. No rush for now. :) Or you could just lengthen your table and the length would be ok! :eek:

Gerald D

Sat 31 January 2009, 11:21

If I had to do it again, I think I would prefer 4mm plate to the angle iron idea.

bradyaero

Mon 02 February 2009, 22:51

The 4mm plate worked fantastic for the bracket. I welded up some plate and bolted it to the Y-cart and then bolted the linear slide to it. I then took the Z motor bracket and cut it from the spider plate and mounted it to my new bracket and test fit the Z stepper. I thought gee that's great for a day's work! but my friend Todd came over and said 'lets get it cutting' so off we went.

We cut (with a skill saw) some 5" x 1/2" plate and bolted that to the linear rail, Mounted the K2 bracket for my Porter Cable Router, mounted the rack, sprung the motor, soldered the wires and turned it on!

Of course I accidentally zeroed the Z to the bottom of a test board that we clamped onto the frame. The Mechmate was able to cut 1.5" pass at about 200 IPM with some screaming. I then e-stopped the machine and restarted it, accidentally driving the bit through one of my metal beams!

I got the Z zero'ed properly and was able to run the roadrunner program at about 1/8" depth on my test board (using a 2 flute 1/2" cutter -- slightly dulled tip!). I slowed the feed rates down to something realistic and the cutting went very smoothly.

So there you go for a days work! From no Z to a working Mechmate. The linear rail is incredibly stiff, I'll measure my runout soon to see how accurate my cuts are. I have 14" of Z travel right now, I have to move my linear slide up a few inches to get the 16" that I was looking for.

My next job is to make a proper bed and get my limit switches installed. And of course, I have some painting and a MechMate logo to install!

Gerald D

Tue 03 February 2009, 00:11

Well done Greg & Todd!

Now we need a pic of the hole in the metal cross support :D

domino11

Tue 03 February 2009, 07:33

Greg,
Looking Good. Did you get any video of the first cuts? :rolleyes:

bradyaero

Wed 04 February 2009, 18:50

Hi Gerald,

It's covered up with sticky MM blue! Althought it was suggested I stamp my initials next to it as my first beauty mark :)

Heath, I hope to have a base board on it tomorrow as soon as the paint dries! Will take some vid on the next cuts, is there a MM g-code file around?

Thanks, Greg

bradyaero

Thu 05 February 2009, 15:04

Hi Gerald.

Here it is in MM Blue! I'm still waiting for the paint to dry on the lower unit to put my spoil board on.

Thanks, Greg

domino11

Thu 05 February 2009, 18:26

Hey that looks like almost serial number time! ;)

Kobus_Joubert

Thu 05 February 2009, 22:23

Just have to get MORE dust on it...Well done looking good and enjoy the addiction.;)

Gerald D

Thu 05 February 2009, 22:35

#19 it is! Thanks!

Tried to figure how you connected the cables to the motors and scrolled back through the thread a bit. Those 2 wires that are not used should be separately insulated - it they touch ground, or each other, either the gecko or the motor will smoke a bit.

sailfl

Fri 06 February 2009, 03:19

Smoking Gecko, boy I don't want to see that.....

Congratulations on #19 from #12.

bradyaero

Fri 06 February 2009, 06:55

Thanks #12 from #19. I'll get those wires capped right away Gerald!

I'm going to bolt my bed assembly to the bed for now and then work on the 'raise-able bed idea'... I've really got the itch to get cutting!

domino11

Fri 06 February 2009, 07:18

Greg,
Congratulation on the #19! :eek::)

jhiggins7

Fri 06 February 2009, 07:35

Greg,

Congratulations on a great table and Serial Number 19!:) The updated Builder's Log is here (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pLoxg8wu4WnsBc2_U5yEaQw).

Looking forward to seeing how that extended Z-Slide works out for you. Pictures please.:D

Regards,
John

bradyaero

Fri 06 February 2009, 15:25

Lots of photos to follow!

I got the bed in place, there are two positions, the low position has 14" of Z and the high position has 6" of Z.

I think it's beer time here so the MDF will have to wait till tomorrow!

btw, does mdf exist in 6x12? The best I could do was 5x12 at around $80/sheet! So I am covering the full base with 3 4x8 sheets and then using the 5x12 down the middle.

Have a great weekend everybody!

sailfl

Fri 06 February 2009, 17:13

Greg B,

To many Gregs.....

Your build in looking good. Thanks for the photos.

bradyaero

Thu 12 February 2009, 08:06

I decided to use my MM to trim my spoil boards. Here's a quick video of how my machine cuts at the bottom of it's Z.

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/trimming.mpg

Also, my friend Todd made me up some 1/2 bit holders for 3/8th bits! Here's a pic.

I spent some time working out the post-processing between RhinoCam and Mach3. (My earlier tests were all G1's so even with CV on thinks weren't as smooth as they should have been). I found K2's Mach 3 post and I was happily generating G2's and G3's and my MM smoothed right out.

Also I had to drop my parallel port speed down from 100K as there was a bit of glitching happening when jogging. I'm at 45K and could probably get up to 75K no problem (100K gets an Excellent Rating in the Driver Test but I was noticing some small glitching, I haven't optimized the machine for Mach 3, so there could be some task interference but I don't really think so all is running well now0).

sailfl

Thu 12 February 2009, 15:45

Greg,

Would you please post the link to the K2 Mach3 post or send me a PM.

Thanks

bradyaero

Thu 12 February 2009, 17:21

Greg,

Would you please post the link to the K2 Mach3 post or send me a PM.

Thanks

Sure thing!

Here's their post:

http://www.k2cnc.com/Mach2_Mach3_setup.asp

Got my bed cut and positioned, will screw it down in the A.M.

Gerald D

Thu 12 February 2009, 22:58

Greg, we had a beer bottle on the left and now we have racing fuel on the right! :)

bradyaero

Fri 13 February 2009, 05:18

The beer to ward off evil spirits, and the fuel to make welding more interesting :rolleyes:

bradyaero

Mon 16 February 2009, 09:23

Hi,

Today I completed my circle testing. There's a pic below of some of these tests. I am getting excellent circles now. I decided to cut a test part to see how well it worked. First thing I learned was about burning out HSS bits in MDF :)

I switched to a carbide bit and cut out a pick-guard. when I overlaid the part on the cuts everything fit very well. The final part is in mother of pearl, but I have to wait for my customer to be here to cut it!

So my MM is cutting very well, and I now need to figure out how to install hold-down's etc. I might do a grid of holes that can be used to clamp things on.

Here's a quick vid of some of the pickguard cutting:

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/pickguard.mpg

smreish

Mon 16 February 2009, 10:48

Greg,
Leko here on the forum found a great solution for holddown for my table. Slatwall. It's available in all sorts of materials - PVC, MDF, etc. and has t-slots on varies centers. Or, since you have a cnc table, by a t-slot bit and make your own!

Sean

bradyaero

Mon 16 February 2009, 14:38

Ahh Interesting,

I'll look into it!

Thanks

domino11

Mon 16 February 2009, 18:12

Sean,
Great idea, did you cut your own? How did that go on the CNC?

smreish

Tue 17 February 2009, 09:53

slatwall (http://www.slatwallsystems.com)
t-slot cutter (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11061&filter=t-slot)

to make your own I used a 2 step milling of a sacrificial MDF sheet on top of the spoilboard.

1/2" mill bit, followed by a T-slot cutter.
Then t-slot bolts and hardware from rockler.com

Alan_c

Tue 17 February 2009, 10:40

With that particular job, you could drill the countersunk screw mounting holes first (when it is still part of the original square blank), then screw the blank down to the table using those holes. Once fixed to the table, all the other cuts can be done safely without the job moving or having to worry about running into a clamp.

smreish

Tue 17 February 2009, 12:46

Alan,
Also a neat feature that MM users may not know, you can actually Identify the clamp areas in your cut file so the the machine won't hit the clamps. Or at the least, the file will pause so you can remove or move the clamp and progress on.
...Even LazyCam has this feature!

bradyaero

Tue 17 February 2009, 15:43

Sean,

My spoil boards are 3/4 inch. Will this be thick enough for the T-slots?

smreish

Tue 17 February 2009, 17:31

Should be....But you may want to actually want reinforce the t-slots with the slatwall PVC strips made to reinforce the slots. This will allow for you to surface the top flat and still have a "strong" slot for holddown.
Sean

sailfl

Wed 18 February 2009, 02:09

Are you running the T-Slots the length of X or Y? What kind of distance are you putting between them?

I like the idea of putting the hold down into the code. That is a nice feature.

PEU

Wed 18 February 2009, 05:04

First thing I learned was about burning out HSS bits in MDF :)

Are you sure HSS was the problem? maybe it was slow feedrate or cut too deep and the mdf chips (powder?) did not had an easy exit way and stuck to your cutter.

Pablo

bradyaero

Wed 18 February 2009, 09:06

Hi PEU,

It's probably what you said, slow feed rate combined with high rpm (24,000)! I cut the ends of my spoil boards today with RPM 16000 at a bit higher feed rate and there was no problem.

Any suggestions on how to hold down the spoil boards? Spray on glue? I have no idea!

smreish

Wed 18 February 2009, 09:15

I use a roller and Elmer's wood glue.
Put a bunch of temporary screws or weight on top, then when dry, remove screws and weights.
Surface the MDF...when the sacrificial board gets to thin, I just add on top again!

Alan_c

Wed 18 February 2009, 09:17

Any suggestions on how to hold down the spoil boards? Spray on glue? I have no idea!

Woodglue (elmers, titebond etc) spread on with a roller, position board and weigh down with sand bags, timber, what have you...

sailfl

Wed 18 February 2009, 13:41

Elmers Wood Glue.... cheap and it works.

bradyaero

Fri 20 February 2009, 13:10

Got my Limit Switches finished up today. I am using 3 switches wired in parallel, normally open for limits and homing. I used button top bolts for my limit stops. In the future I will probably switch to proxies but for now this is working great.

Here's a quick vid: http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/homing.mpg

domino11

Tue 24 February 2009, 21:37

Had a real nice visit with my buddy Greg yesterday afternoon, here is a pic of us and the machine. Greg on the left and Heath on the right. Big blue thing is of course the Mechmate! :)

bradyaero

Thu 26 March 2009, 07:15

Damn Heath, ain't we pretty!:) Thank god for brains or we'd be sunk :eek:

Here's a quick update, I changed over all my pinions to 20 tooth, and upgraded my grub screws to 1/4 28 thread. Pinions are now staying nice and tight. Speeds are excellent, lots of torque, I think the changeover is a great idea (unless you like to jog at 1500 IPM). I finally installed a gas strut for my Z (getting rid of those pain in the a#$ springs). I'm getting a solid 13.77" inches of Z-travel (limit of the strut).

As a fun test, I cut out a cub-car for a friend. The model was just a primitive mesh that I imported into rhino and then used rhinocam to process into gcode. One rough pass, then a finish at 45 and finish at 90. My friend went away really happy, especially since another club always manages to out-do them every year, this time they have a weapon :)

The weather is finally getting warmer here, I'm looking forward to some good long runs!

domino11

Thu 26 March 2009, 07:25

Greg,
Not sure if the brains make up for my mug. :) I would need a PHD. So where are the cut comparison pictures for 20t and 30t pinions? :)

bradyaero

Fri 27 March 2009, 06:49

Hi Heath,

Cut quality between pinions is minimal (it probably would show up more with 1/8 and smaller cutters), but with 3/8 to 1/2 cutters, you can't really see any difference; the acceleration factor is the key to smoothness when doing any point to point cutting as we discovered.

bradyaero

Sun 19 April 2009, 15:15

First, let me say that it has been just fantastic to see the progress that everyone has been making on their MechMates, what a great group of people!

For my latest update, I finally finished my T-Slots. What I did was glue down the first board, and cut the bottom of the slots. I then glued on the upper board and cut my center slots. The standard 3/8 T-Slot bolts fit well, but even better, the leftover cut piece from my aluminum rails fits the slots and they run the full distance of my slots. So I am drilling and tapping holes into the aluminum to use with the standard hold-down kit. That will give me alot of hold down strength.

The toughest part was cleaning out all the MDF dust from the slots!

Here's a few pics:

sailfl

Sun 19 April 2009, 15:35

Greg,

The slots look great. Nice touch using the aluminum.

Did you try blowing the slots out with you compressor?

Sound like a dust collection unit is next?!!!!

domino11

Sun 19 April 2009, 19:09

Greg,
That looks really good. Now you will have to show everyone stuff you are cutting with the new hold downs. :)

berzer

Tue 21 April 2009, 09:19

Hi,

Sorry for my language skills...but...
at the one of your pictures I saw bottle of beer

http://www.mechmate.com/forums/attac...d=123363937 7 (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3588&stc=1&d=1233639377)

.... what is the name of that bear? "Zubr"? It's a bear from POLAND :)

bradyaero

Tue 21 April 2009, 18:18

Hi Nils,

A vacuum system is most certainly in my near future. But first I have to move the MechMate into the room that you can see at the back right of the above picture. Should be interesting!

Heath, As soon as I get my ball-nose bits in the mail I'll be starting to cut some interesting things :) I am now making some long clamps for use with the aluminum in the slots. Looks really promising.

And yes Berzer... it is Zubr, the king of all Yak beers... my favourite beer of all time!

berzer

Wed 22 April 2009, 00:16

Hehe... it's nice to hear that you like it. But I'm supprised that this bear is available in your country :)

Gerald D

Wed 22 April 2009, 04:11

Zubr is brewed by the Dojlidy brewery, which is owned by Kompania Piwowarska, which is owned by SABMiller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SABMiller), which originated as South African Breweries. It must be a good beer! :D

berzer

Wed 22 April 2009, 14:50

True...true :cool:

bradyaero

Tue 16 June 2009, 19:13

Hi everyone,

I finally got to put some time in on my Mechmate again. This time I got it moved to its permanent home and leveled it. I made up a console out of some scrap bits I have kicking around; it turned out simple but effective me thinks.

Heath -- while testing I noticed that my MM runs rougher with the 20 tooth pinions; I tried everything, port speed, steps, velocity, acceleration, CV modes, but no luck getting acceptable smoothness... I also cleaned the rails and wheels -- it made a small difference. I disconnected the motors to test the gantry and y cars :both roll very smoothly!

I'm going to leave the 20 tooth on the Z, but change back to 30 teeth on the X and Y and see how that works. Will update with results.

Hope all is well, Greg

WFY

Tue 16 June 2009, 20:15

Greg,
I have some 35 tooh 20 DP .500 shaft gears if you would like to try them for comparison.
Buzz

domino11

Tue 16 June 2009, 21:57

Greg,
Is that new paint on the shop floor? Or is it just cleaner than the last time I saw it? :eek:
The machine is looking good. Let me know what you find on the pinion gear comparison.

Gerald D

Wed 17 June 2009, 02:11

Looks nice Greg!

Small gears will run rougher under the spring-loading than bigger gears, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the cut quality is going to suffer. (From what I've heard, the smaller gears give the smoother cut, even though they may be noisier)

bradyaero

Wed 17 June 2009, 09:10

Hi Buzz,

Hi and thanks for the offer! I think my 30 toother's will suffice for now. Are you the Buzz that Heath has been telling me about? It's great to have another MM builder in the local area; we have enough people for a MM club :cool:

bradyaero

Wed 17 June 2009, 09:13

Greg,
Is that new paint on the shop floor? Or is it just cleaner than the last time I saw it? :eek:
The machine is looking good. Let me know what you find on the pinion gear comparison.

I just haven't gotten around to wrecking that part of the floor yet :) In the SmoothStepper forum, dmoore was warning that 20teeth pinions with 7.2OM are approaching the limit of the parallel port 42khz. I'm really interested in trying out the SmoothStepper when I get some more feedback on how it is working. Gerald any luck yet?

Thanks, Greg

Gerald D

Wed 17 June 2009, 09:25

I heard from son Sean this morning that he has got a Smoothstepper working a few days ago.

WFY

Wed 17 June 2009, 09:54

I am the one that Heath knows. Heath fixed me up with the parts to get this started. I did the cabinets and millwork for the Macs Milk store at the corner of Abbott and 15 hwy. a few years back. :)

domino11

Wed 17 June 2009, 10:35

Gerald,
Was that Sean D or Sean R?

Buzz, Greg,
Maybe we can start the OMMBG, Ontario Mechmate Builders Group? Catchy name no? :)

Gerald D

Wed 17 June 2009, 10:52

Heath, thought it might confuse, so I said:

. . son Sean . . .

:)

bradyaero

Wed 17 June 2009, 11:44

I swapped over to the 30's and things smoothed out quite a bit. I'm excited about the Smooth Stepper though. I think that would convince me to put the 20's back on.

We're going to have to figure out a get together for the three of us sometime this summer!

domino11

Wed 17 June 2009, 14:48

Gerald,
I never noticed that when I read it the first time. :)

Gerald D

Thu 18 June 2009, 04:46

Heard today that the Smoothstepper is not going that smoothly . . . .

SmoothStepper looses communication with PC (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1835) in the Troubleshooting Forum

bradyaero

Fri 19 June 2009, 12:18

I started cutting a bigger job with my server2000 machine as controller and ended up with a watchdog error which killed the job. Too bad as it was going well. I upgraded to XP and more ram etc. and I was able to get through the job with no unwanted interruptions. I'm running my printer port at 35k and am happy to run jobs at 200 ipm.

I have to add some brushes to my rails, I get lots of build up on my rails from styrofoam that is a pain to clean off.

My X axis steppers are running around 45 deg C. Is this ok?

Smoothstepper --> I don't really like the idea of putting the smoothstepper in with my computer. I wonder if ground is the issue. Maybe its related to the USB voltage difference bettween USB1 and 2?

Have a great weekend and happy cutting.

Gerald D

Fri 19 June 2009, 12:50

45 deg C is very cool for a stepper motor.

Brushes for cleaning rails have never made sense to me - there will be no scrubbing, only sliding. I think a "scraper" with a v-notch will do a better job than the side of a bristle. Scraper made of plastic or even brass. Or oiled hard felt.

bradyaero

Fri 10 July 2009, 18:25

Here's a few pics of my first real 3D cutting on the MM. It's working really well so far but man that pink foam cuttings gets everywhere!

sailfl

Fri 10 July 2009, 20:02

Greg,

Is that a sailboat design I see sticking its hull out of that foam.

You have my attention. I would love to make some of them. Tell me more, please.

smreish

Sat 11 July 2009, 06:17

Greg,
You want to see foam shavings! I filled a 3 Yd dumpster on Friday...of just the shavings. :D
What CAM engine are you using to create your files? The step over control looks very good from the picture.

(not that I am proud of that or anything)

bradyaero

Sat 11 July 2009, 16:23

Hi Nils,

Actually, it's a one half of an airplane that I have designed. I am making a 1/4 scale version for RC testing. But I've attached a teaser for you of one of our boat designs.

Hi Sean,

I'm using RhinoCam for my gcode. Next time I cut, I am going to do things differently. I'll profile the outline in 2d first, get rid of the excess material and then jump right to my finishing passes. I figure I'll save about half the time on a job.

I had quite a time with foam shavings building up on my rails, rollers and rack. I've come up with what looks like a cheap and easy way to cover my wheels for my next job. What do you think?

smreish

Sat 11 July 2009, 17:10

sailfl

Sat 11 July 2009, 17:16

Greg,

It sure looks like a boat hull. I would like to see more of the airplane when you cut more.

That boat looks very fast. What size will it be?

I like your dust covers also. Did you put some felt inside? I would think you still have to have a way of cleaning the wheels because I am sure form will get in there.

domino11

Sat 11 July 2009, 20:31

Greg,
Where is the dust collector? :)

Gerald D

Sat 11 July 2009, 22:00

Heath, with a foam block that soft & deep, the dust collector either misses it or damages it - take your pick.

domino11

Sun 12 July 2009, 18:27

Sounds like a messy pain the the rear. :)

smreish

Sun 12 July 2009, 18:38

During these operations, I actually removed the dust collection and router blast shield. The downdraft of the router keeps the cut area very clear.
For dust collection, I installed a box fan and filter in one door in the shop, and leave the main bay door open. This way I suck most of the mess one direction. Clean up is with a snow shovel and vac at the end of the session.

...respirator a really good sealing goggles for me and anyone else in the room.

(reminder, some types of EPS and Poly.based foams can give off very bad fumes when cut, use the appropriate organic filter and cartriges in your Personal protection everyone) My little safety note for the day.

domino11

Sun 12 July 2009, 19:43

myozman

Sun 12 July 2009, 19:58

You could just rub lotion on yourself and stand next to the machine (Tar & Feather dust collection) :D

That stuff gets everywhere and sticks to everything. When your cleaning up, the static makes it stick real good

smreish

Mon 13 July 2009, 06:29

Mike,
Funny you asked! The other day I was walking to the shop during a later afternoon rainstorm. 10 minutes later, I looked like the michellan man!

hennie

Mon 13 July 2009, 07:21

Sean show us what you are making !:)

sailfl

Mon 13 July 2009, 07:26

Hennie,

Not to speak for Sean but it is all top secret stuff. I have been to the shop but he won't allow any photos but the work he is doing is really nice. Nice detail.

smreish

Mon 13 July 2009, 07:28

Yes MM fans, the stuff I am currently working on is under NDA and can't be shown. Sorry, I promise after the project is released to the public, I will post all the photos. I have documented the process fairly well.

Sean

bradyaero

Mon 13 July 2009, 07:36

Greg,
I am using RhinoCam as well.
I have found that I do a region that removes enough foam for clearance for the final tool bit. Then, Only create one parallel finishing pass w/ a high rate of step over....like 25%. Saves A LOT of cutting time. On the average I am shaving a hour off the cutting of each face. Currently I am cutting either 2 faces / 180 degrees out or 4 faces / 90 degrees apart.

I like your dust covers.

I have installed scrapers on the rail just infront of you dust box out of UHMW that "scrub" the rails like a cow pusher on a train. Works well enough so far.

Sean

Is it a Bird, a Plane or a Super MM???

Your cutting strategy makes total sense. Getting rid of the horizontal roughing will cut the snowflakes down by at least 50%.

I am slotting my dust covers so that they will act like a scrapers. I'll glue some felt on the insides to make sure that as little as possible makes it in.

Also I'm going to try a small clip to hold them on instead of having to unbolt them to clean the wheels.

I'm also looking for some 6" x 1/2" two or four flute ball nose end mills with 3-4" cutting length. Do you know of any tooling company that sells these?

Thanks, Greg

bradyaero

Mon 13 July 2009, 07:43

I was thinking an exhaust diverter like this one
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11070&postcount=158
would work better so that the dust extractor could suck up as much as possible? Maybe that doesnt work that well in practice though, as Gerald mentioned the dust foot getting in the way.

Sean,
Did you make one like in the above link or use a purchased one? Just curious.

Hi Heath,

Interesting concept. What would be even more interesting would be to use this and bring the vacuum pipe down onto the motor. (if you could reverse the built in fan). But still something would still have to suck up the chips. Interesting to think about!

Gerald D

Mon 13 July 2009, 09:06

Greg, are you telling us that you don't use an exhaust diverter? That is unforgiveable! I thought everyone did that as standard - once you have tried one, you will think that anyone who doesn't use one is nuts! :D

bradyaero

Mon 13 July 2009, 10:30

Every cutting day is like Christmas around here Gerald :)

I had no idea :o

domino11

Mon 13 July 2009, 14:17

During these operations, I actually removed the dust collection and router blast shield. The downdraft of the router keeps the cut area very clear.

Sean removes his for foam though?

Gerald D

Mon 13 July 2009, 21:00

This shows my lack of experience in cutting foam :D

bradyaero

Sat 01 August 2009, 05:06

I installed a touch-block into my table for zeroing tools. I used pin 13 on my PDMX and ran a wire to it under my table. The grounding through my table was fine so no other wire was required.

I then had some fun in mach 3. I adjusted my 'All Ref Home' button to zero x, y, z (to the top) and then zero the z with tool to the table. This means on startup I am ready to go. I made a Change Tool button to move the router to the end of the table where it is easy to change tools and I made a Zero Tool button for changing a tool while in the middle of a job. Works really well so far. Mach3 scripting is pretty easy once you get the hang of their button and dro id's.

digger

Fri 02 October 2009, 13:36

Buzz, Greg,
Maybe we can start the OMMBG, Ontario Mechmate Builders Group? Catchy name no? :)

Heath,
count on me. I am in Toronto, DVP & 401. Would like to meet you guys.

Milosh

sprayhead

Sun 04 October 2009, 17:04

Hi Heath

got a question in regards to the X axis Racks.

Did you have foam building up on them? I suppose not as much since they are "far away" from the job and also upside down.

thanks!
francis

domino11

Sun 04 October 2009, 20:39

Francis,
This thread is for Greg's machine, mine is still under progress. Well actually on hold until my shop is complete. :)

sprayhead

Sun 04 October 2009, 22:15

Francis,
This thread is for Greg's machine, mine is still under progress. Well actually on hold until my shop is complete. :)

Ooops.

Greg, I'm passing the question to you now. :o

thanks!
francis

bradyaero

Wed 07 October 2009, 12:58

Hi sprayhead,

Yup the foam went everywhere. Ends up as black scale building up on the x-rails and wheels the most. The y-axis gets dirty too, but not half as bad as the x-axis.

The best way to remove the stuff was Sunlight Dish Soap and water on a cloth. (Better than scotchbright pads or sanding) :)

sprayhead

Thu 08 October 2009, 01:11

Thanks Brad

I really thought that the X racks were not going to be very affected. Please mate if you cut foam like that again could you post a picture of the racks, thanks. Nice cuts!

francis

bradyaero

Mon 26 October 2009, 10:40

Hi Sprayhead,

Talking with domino11, we both believe that a big part of the dirty rail issue is can be solved with an exhaust diverter on my router. I'll be testing this out shortly and report back the results.

Of course a liquid cooled spindle would probably help if someone would like to donate one :)

digger

Tue 27 October 2009, 17:06

Greg,

what do you think about 'grounding' rails. I know it sounds silly but my logic is that charged particles of foam needs to be discharged somehow. When they touch rail they will fall off because there is nothing to hold them - they loose their charge. I believe you've noticed some rubber 'tape' attached to the body of a car touching the ground - against static electricity. I think that applying same logic, probably you may solve the problem.

Just my 2 cents.

domino11

Tue 27 October 2009, 18:05

It would be easy to test. Just atatch a clip lead for a test to ground. :)

bradyaero

Fri 30 October 2009, 09:12

It's worth a try; next cuts I'll try it out, keeping in mind that it is literally snowing when the foam is being cut!

digger

Fri 30 October 2009, 10:53

Greg,

winter is coming and we need a Santa. :D

Show as a photo how it looks like.

Friend of mine was working in entertaiment industry - video games. Once he told me that they had a problem with static in one of their game room. Carpet was so charged that when people are touching a chassy of the game, game got crazy. They found solution that every morning before opening, they spray carpet with destilated water mixed with detergent with anti static additive. Is it something like that feasable for you? What I mean not to spray carpet of flor, but foam aroung the cut or something...

hennie

Fri 30 October 2009, 12:07

That is the reason why one can get under your MM, it is to clean it:).I always have a 2 L bottle of water that I spray onto the floor help with static,helps with dust when you walk in your shop and makes it easy to sweep the floor.

bradyaero

Thu 08 September 2011, 09:42

Here's how to have some arcade fun with your Mechmate:

1. Whip it up into a 2d file and cut it.

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/cnc1.jpg

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/cnc2.jpg

2. Glue it together

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/cabinet.jpg

3. Paint, trim and sticker it....et voila! Oh ya... don't forget the computer!

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/done.jpg

That was easy, on to the next project!

domino11

Thu 08 September 2011, 14:05

Hey Greg,
That looks really cool! Did you do the whole cabinet or was that for a customer?

sailfl

Thu 08 September 2011, 15:34

Very cool. I am interested in hearing more also.

Regnar

Thu 08 September 2011, 16:25

Very nice build, I have been trying for years to build a Mame Cabinet and for some reason I can never get any of the games or the front end to work for me. :rolleyes:

Either way great looking cabinet. I think I found my next project as soon as I finish up all my sub horns.

What site and or directions did you use for the build?

MetalHead

Thu 08 September 2011, 20:18

Wanna share that console cut file with us?

hennie

Fri 09 September 2011, 07:44

I like that, I can put my wife in one of those:)

Alan_c

Fri 09 September 2011, 09:09

Hennie! jy gaan in die k@k kom pel :D

bradyaero

Sat 10 September 2011, 02:34

Hi Heath,

Not sure about your question, but I built the arcade machine as a fun project.

Here's a link to the dxf's if anyone else wants to play around with a similar project.

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/neonmamecad.rar

I got the controls from www.ultimarc.com, the breakout board plugs into usb and the spinner and trackballs both are usb as well (they act as extra mice)

the blue t-mouldings and cutter from www.t-molding.com,

the paint is special speaker cabinet paint, it rolls on using a foam wheel making a nice strong texture

the screen is a 32" lcd

I used mala for my front end which is very easy software to setup, the machine boots rights to the front end which uses the joystick and buttons to launch games.

my mame download was 24 gb and I had to get some machine bios'es separately for lots of the games to work.

the machine works great and gives all those arcade games an authentic feel.

http://www.crosstrainer.ca/downloads/space.jpg

smreish

Sat 10 September 2011, 07:36

Also an awesome supply of game and kiosk parts is HAPP Controls (http://na.suzohapp.com/).

Rusty Nuts

Sun 11 September 2011, 08:58

Great job on the arcade game. Thats will be a future project. I think Pac Man and Space Invaders. Those were always being played when I was younger. Where did you get the graphics?

I noticed you were using T track on your table for your hold down clamps. I was looking at some yesterday while at the Woodcraft Store. Are you satified with using them and did you use wood screws to secure them to the table top or use machine bolts with nuts on the bottom?

Gary

domino11

Sun 11 September 2011, 09:04

Greg cut out his own t track in his spoilboard I think if I remember right.

smreish

Sun 11 September 2011, 17:31

I cut my own too. If your really creative, you can cut the t-slot with a t-slot router bit cutter and reinforce the slot with real material. Or like I did on one table. I routed a groove, filled in the groove with glass reinforced epoxy, then machined the t-slot. Made for a really robust t-slot for little cost.

Plus, I was able to cut intersecting t-slots and custom layout.

Best,
Sean

domino11

Mon 12 September 2011, 12:32

What about using some thin CA to reinforce the cutout? Maybe too expensive....

bradyaero

Mon 12 September 2011, 17:14

I did my spoilboard in two layers. First I cut a 1" slot in the base board. Then I glued the upper spoil board on and cut the 1/2" slot in it. Gave me a nice t-slot.

I then used the aluminum that I had left over when I cut the v-rail mount for the t-slot hold downs. I also have a hold down kit that I use when necessary. Overall it works very well, but I would still like a vacuum system for more delicate stuff.