So Darren. Read yer whole thread. Awesome work.

Couple of questions. How many hours do you think you had in this build? Just curious for what kind of time to allow. With a full court press what could start to run be?

Did you fabricate most of your components? If so, what level of equipment was needed?

And the biggie: what was your investment for this new employee?

Also, how do I get going?

Is the main difference in cost on a larger machine mainly the cost of the steel?

I'll get to you in a minute, Pete...lol

Here is a pic of a cradle I cut out using the SB "cradles for charity" as a start.
Changed it up a bit to simplify it, and cut enough parts out of scrap 1/2" BB plywood to build 10 cradles.
The local 4-H club, which our kids belonged to when they were younger, are coming on Saturday to assemble and paint, and the Sewing Leader is working on blankets and dolls.
The club will then donate them to an organization who will see that a very deserving little girl has one this Christmas.
10 this year...... planning to save the BB scraps and at least triple this for next year...
Makes this old coot feel pretty good.
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...psca442ca2.jpg

That's pretty cool

Thanks, Armando.
Pete, I had to go back to page 5 for a link to the build log....5.4 months, from actual start to making sawdust.
I think I could have easily cut that in half if I had had the finances to order all the parts at once. My biggest fan now that its cutting (my wife) was my biggest critic when I was burning up the CC every month.... I hope she doesn't sell it for what she THINKS it cost...lol

I stick welded the main frame and Mig welded the y-car and gantry. If you can do that stuff, everything else is simple tools. No real fab work on my part outside of grinding V rails.

With the vacuum table, my 5x12 was right at $6k, but I did some judicious buying, finding my main beams on CL for 50 bucks, etc.
Budget 7.5k and you'll be golden.

To get started, hmmm, decide if you can wait 3 months to quadruple your production.
if so, get the plans from Mike, read a lot, ask informed questions when you can't wrap your mind around something, agree with me that 5x12 is the machine size you need, and just GET STARTED.....
If you read my whole build thread, you've seen just how much I didn't know when I started. We were all there. And we are all here when you need us, too.

EDIT: only major cost difference in a bigger machine that I can think of is steel. Little more wire, little more cable chain, etc, but same electronics and motors.

DO IT MAN!!!

(every one else:... I know Pete and his business pretty well, he is a great guy, and has a business that screams for a CNC machine....(subliminally 5x12)

And hey, Pete, take a weekend and come visit, I'll give you the tour, even though I know you are CNC-savvy.
Goes for anyone else here, too.

Thanks for the invitation.
I would love to visit but time, distance and lack of funds rule it out.:o
Keep doing the lottery.

Would love to be able to visit a working MM, alas none (that I know of) close to me. Guess I'll have to wait until mine is running then I can go visit it :)

Great job Darren, I am sure the kids will be overjoyed by the cradles, awesome donation, well done.

Well... my Daughter is in Nashville .... Wentzville would be just a small detour and the checkbook would be with me so she could be educated (actually she is liking the concept)... My 92 Lincoln is needing a trip to wear out some of the carbon. Only 81,000 0n it so this might help.

Now back to hours. Actual man hours to build.. not counting research and head scratching... any concept? 200.. 300.. 600?

Let's say between 2 and 300

And a finished product, all ready for a little girls playtime.

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...psdc7f71a6.jpg

I do envy most members creativity with the stuff made. I wish I had half the wood working ability you all have. Simple yet effective designs and practices. Very nice Darren. As allows I enjoy following your thread.

Now I help you move your 4th axis question to here. :D

Darren
I like the T-re al ot, I intend to cut one as soon as I am done with Christmas presents. Did you draw the T-Rex or use a file from the net? If from the net would you mind sharing the source?

Thanks

Jim,

Refer to post 395

Thanks, Pete.

great work

I had a Facebook friend who messaged me asking if I could cut out 3 letters for her.
Here is how she used them...

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...ps846575bc.jpg

That picture is backwards...assuming it is for someone named Leon?
:D
Best wishes for the holidays to everyone!
Mark

Darren, I sadly have to admit...I don't get how this is used. I get that it has 6 sockets to hold 6 cups...is it just a tote to get from the bar to the table kinda thing?

Exactly. Lay it flat on the bar, put a cup in each opening, pick up the holder, and carry all 6 cups back to your group.

Table working height?
 

Was looking at your build pictures and several others and was wondering how high the machine is off the floor? Say from the top of the main beams to the floor? Or maybe top of spoilboard to the floor? Is surely not critical to any of the mechanics of the build...just wondering what height people set them at? Typical countertop height is 36"...

Jeremy

Top of my spoilboard is 33.5". It could go an inch lower, if I were to screw the levelers all the way in, but I rough set them to halfway in, and leveled from there.
I wouldn't want it higher. Lower would be OK.

I actually built mine for the spoil board to be the same as my plastic set up tables....28" so I could easily load sheets without lift....glide things around the shop.

Mechmate height
 

My thinking is this. This isn't a production setup yet...A hobby machine that had to be 12' cut capable to handle the hobby. But 99% of what I'll be cutting is gonna be under 8'. I DON'T have room for assembly tables, so I'm setting the machine height where I can cut 12' but when done I can drop a "worktable" top over the far end of the machine frame to use as a sanding bench or glue-up station or assemble the kids tricycle table...whatever. The tabletop will rest on the main beams, not the ground rails, and will not bother the use of the machine on the other 8' while it's there. Think of it kind of like a removeable leaf for a dining room table...when you don't need it, you can pull it out of the way

Your section dimension looks good.

If you are indeed just doing sanding, tricycle assembly and the like, there are no reasons that come to mind that would prevent you from laying a piece of MDF on your spoilboard and using that as a workspace.
I've done it with no adverse effects. Keep it Simple.

Understand the K.I.S.S. principle for sure...in the airplane world there is a saying...a part not on the airplane can't fail :-) this is just something maybe unique to my goal...lots of assembly tasks for the hobby require clamping parts to the edge of the table...so the removable worktop fits the requirement...just adds the "requirement" to set the top of the main beams lower than most. I apologize, Darren...got a bunch of MY project planning in your build log :-\ Was just wondering what was a common height in the Mechmate world. Mine will probably be a little lower than most...can always weld on some extensions if I need to raise things a bit.

1planeguy, posted an answer/opinion on your thread.

Well, The MM was happily cutting away one minute, and in less than 20 seconds, the Milwaukee 5625 router RPMs ramped down to zero. Luckily I was close enough to hit the feedhold button, but now the router is stone cold dead. It wasn't making any unusual noises, so I'll hope for brushes needing replacement, and not the speed controller.....

What speed controller are you using? Any electrically odors in the router?

the routers internal speed controller.
Nope, no bad electric smells, and no smoke released from the router.

Power to it?

lol. yes.

I know I thought how funny myself :D

The Speed controller can go bad. I bought an extra just to have around. They are some thing that the local repair guy carried. I will bet that is your problem.

Do an ohm reading of the motor with your DMM with the power off. Even with a speed controller you should have a reading probably in the MegaOhm range. If it is OL then something is open. Milwaukee has the wiring diagram and other information on their website that you can use for troubleshooting the router. The link for the service parts list is a little wacked but just remove the extra characters that it should not have at the end of the url. Opening the router you can check the winding ohms as well and make sure they are not open. This should help you start to isolate the problem.

Track ball
 

Hey Darren, hope you get your router sorted out as painless as possible.

Got a dumb question, do you use the trackball in your former ATM machine cabinet? Have thought about building a cabinet for the PC and doing something similar...was also looking at getting a touchscreen monitor...don't know much about driving MACH 3 with touchscreen other than a few clips on youtube. Will be doing some research on that one.

But didn't see where the trackball in yours had any buttons? Seems the benefit would be being able to lock it down...I'm constantly knocking my mouse off the pull out keyboard drawer on my current machine although a separate work station with a lip around the top would cure that I bet.

The two buttons directly above the trackball operate the same as mouse buttons.
I feel incredibly lucky to have found this on CL for 100 bucks.
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8a11b338.jpg
http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/...pse9d51bff.jpg
These pictures are before the MM blue paint job.

Does my ATM card work with it

Thanks for the close ups...that is just too slick :-) I'm seeing building a similar stand with a couple of drawers under the keyboard to hold the misc. bits and such...

And I'll have to build one...cause I'll never have the luck to catch one of those for $100...