Hello Newbie from France.
 

I'm presently looking in to building an MechMate.

The uses will be mainly to making furniture and possibly cutting the odd aluminium sheet.

Any ideas on commencing would be appreciated.
Thanks

Hi Paul, welcome. Maybe get in touch with AureA who also just popped in from France. I think it helps to have someone in similar build stages to work through questions and maybe bulk buy parts. The first thing to do is just start reading as many threads as you can. One of the things I find "numbered" machines in the register where the description seemed to match my intent and then read that persons build log. I also read the build logs of people geographically close. Also check the new posts regularly you'll see other builders questions and the discussions and that will help.

Finally, just start, start welding or wiring or playing with SketchUp. You will learn more and faster when you have specific problems to answer. The answers, mostly, are in this forum but you'll find answers on CNCZone and Mach3 forum and other places too.

Dale

Bonjour Paul,

Je pense que nous nous embarquons dans la même aventure! Je n'en suis qu'au début, j'ai acheté les plans il y a quelques mois et à partir de ceux-ci je vais modéliser en CAO la MM que je souhaite construire (en fonction des dimensions de panneaux que je veux usiner et la fourniture que je peux trouver). Bon courage dans ton projet, peut-être à bientôt pour une entre aide mutuelle!

Hello Paul,

I think we embark on the same adventure! I am only at the beginning, I bought it plans a few months ago and from them I'll CAD model I want the MM build (depending on the size of panels I want to be machined and providing I can find). Good luck in your project, maybe soon for a mutual aid between!

Aurea,

Thank you for also posted in English. I appreciate being able to read, learn, and help when I can. I wish I was multilingual, but sadly, in my 60's, I doubt that will happen.

Jack, all you need to know is: une bière se il vous plait.

I did live in ElPaso for 5 years, so 'dos cervezas por favor' was a common phrase at that time of life!

Hello! ;) I'm also new here

Bonjour Paul,
je viens juste de démarrer la construction de ma machine, et serais heureux d'echanger sur le sujet.

Vincent.

Hi Paul,
I just start building my machine, and would be happy to exchange on the subject.

Vincent.

Hello,

Glad to see some frogs on this forum :)

I'm based in Brittany and am thinking about building some version of the MechMate, to machine foam blocks to be used for molds, and also cut foam/plywood panels. Problem is that I will probably need to modify the plans to have an extended Z capacity, although I'd rather stay with the proven original design...

We could exchange ideas and tips about suppliers if you are interested,

Have a good day !

Lezard,
Look at MM #5 (my 1st machine) the construction threads towards the end (post 25o and above) you will see my modifications for a 48" modified Z axis for foam carving on a 4th axis.

If you have any direct questions, please post to forum and not in PM as I can share with the entire community.

Best,
Sean

http://mechmate.com/forums/showthrea...&postcount=490

100mm x 150mm x 7mm flange aluminum I beam, custom spider with extended rollers ( I have the cad file somewhere I sent to the laser cutter if you need it), 35# spring balance with 1/8" cable attachment.

Hello Sean,

Thank you for your reply. I have read with a lot of interest your thread about the extended Z-axis, and I think I'm going to do something similar. The machine would be dual-purpose :
- carve 3D shapes into foam (or MDF, machine permitting) blocks to use as mold elements
- cut foam and plywood panels

The extended Z capacity would be used only for 3D carving in soft materials, so the lateral cutting efforts shouldn't be too high. I would build the machine with a removable work plane set at a 'normal' height for panel work.

I'm concerned with two things :
- In the original design, the support board and cross bearers give a lot of lateral stiffness. When you (re)move this to set it much lower, the structure must become a bit wobbly. How does it behave when moving the Z slide around on the X/Y axis ? What maximum speed can you use without compromising quality/precision too much ?

- To change from 3D machining to panel cutting, I would lift the work plane and bolt it in the higher position. This would probably have an impact on the machine's geometry, especially the X rails parallelism (?). If I use dowel pins to position the work plane on the fixed part of the structure, will that be good enough to retain the original precision ?

I realize that trying to do two different type of works with the same machine is bound to generate problems, and will require compromises. I would really value your feedback, considering that you have gone down this road and gained experience.

Thank you for your help, this forum is a great resource :)

- In the original design, the support board and cross bearers give a lot of lateral stiffness. When you (re)move this to set it much lower, the structure must become a bit wobbly. How does it behave when moving the Z slide around on the X/Y axis ? What maximum speed can you use without compromising quality/precision too much ?


The assumption that is not as rigid in the x/y plane is correct, but not as bad as you can expect. The machine is pretty darn well laterally cross braced with most of the middle missing. When I made my convertible table top, I used the machine top from the http://www.3dcutting.com/ as an example. My table was a 5’ x 10’ table, and I made the middle 8’ removable, thus keeping 12” of spoilboard in place on 2 of the cross bearers on each end. I did add two extra cross bearers to make this possible so the MDF spoil board was supported on 12” centers. This provided adequate cross bracing the x/y plane for what I was doing in foam. Ideally, if I was to do it over again, I would build the table as 5’ x 12’ with the same removable area for more stability.

- To change from 3D machining to panel cutting, I would lift the work plane and bolt it in the higher position. This would probably have an impact on the machine's geometry, especially the X rails parallelism (?). If I use dowel pins to position the work plane on the fixed part of the structure, will that be good enough to retain the original precision ?

I never considered this as an issue. I had a “home” point and switch on the machine at the 0,0,0 position that I reference for all work whether on the spoilboard on the “a” axis rotation. If I understand your question, the parallelism never changes. The x rails never moved, the machine stayed the same with the exception of the removal of the spoil board center section. Only on certain foam cutting procedures where as the foam block was on the floor and I was cutting the top of the block, did I use a local “top of work part” reference in my tool path files.

Hi Sean,

Thank you for your reply. I will go further and draw the structure I plan to build, taking in your advice re. rigidity.

I understand (I think :o) what you say about the references on the machine that don't (have to) change wether you are working on the lower or higher plane. My worry was more about unintended changes i.e you align the X rails with as much precision as possible with the table (cross-bearers and spoil board) set in the higher position, and this alignment moves slightly when you move/reset the table from high/low position. I will include dowel pins in the table design in order to minimize this.

Any comments / after thoughts on your design for the Z-axis ?

Thank you again for your time

Hello I guys I am new to this forum. And really to have me here. I would like to share my knowledge and off-course learn from you talent people definitely help me to enhance my knowledge. Thank you

Welcome Gameplan.

Are you planning to build a MechMate?

Details on the long z on #5

http://mechmate.com/forums/report.php?p=29121