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-   -   Electric Kits (http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2921)

MetalHead Mon 19 July 2010 06:20

Electric Kits
 
All I have been pulling together more and more pieces to make building the MechMate easier for us.

I am now working to get Electics Kits pulled together and want to know what the interest is in these kits. I want to make a kit that can be adjusted to fit your needs. Full Kit, Medium Kit, Basic kit etc.

I am looking at putting this it together (Full Kit) with these items. (partial list at the moment) so you can order this stuff from one source.

1. Case 20x20x8 (or 20x20x10)
2. Power Supply
3. PMDX
4. Drivers (Gecko or Keling)
5. DIN Rails and mounting Hardware
6. Terminal Blocks
7. Contactors, Handles and Power Switch
8. Motors
Oriental Motor PK296A2A-SG7.2
or
KL34H260-60-4A 465oz easy to wire 6 Amps 1.7 Inductance
or
KL34H280-45-8A 640oz easy to wire Bi Polar Parallel 6.3 Amps 2.2 Inductance

I have chosen these three motors becuase they are very common.

I want feedback to see if folks want this.

This will save you TONS or research time and ordering things all over the place.

This kit will not have wires and/or instructions. You can source the wires and this forum is the instructions.

Thoughts?

smreish Mon 19 July 2010 07:07

Mike,
I would add, Xtra deep 3 and 4 button boxes. The standard depth are just (too) shallow for some of the e-stop contact buttons.

bradm Mon 19 July 2010 07:35

Maybe proximity sensors.

I think that if your have demand for the elect kits, you should consider selling wire. It's hard to track down and source good wire for this application, and order the medium size quantity we need. I would think that sourcing it by the spool, and selling it in 50 foot increments would make sense; those placing the box close can use one, and wanting an extra 12 feet of range can buy two.

sailfl Mon 19 July 2010 08:21

You guys are going to take all the fun of building the thing.

MetalHead Mon 19 July 2010 08:50

Funny - I doubt that it will take the fun out of the build.

I know that diggin in is part of it, but I think it is better used learnin how all the pieces work together.

Who knows. No one may even want this kind of kit. That is why I am asking.

KenC Mon 19 July 2010 09:06

For an electrical & electronics idiot like me, digging for parts was half the fun & a major part of the hands-on experience. Still can't claim I am competent in this field, but the least that I know is where & how to get replacement & I will know how to go about it in anycase that exact parts are not available.
but everyone is his own...
I do think there is a big market for such kit. surely there are more people who prefer to pay then to going through the hassle & tussle of digging info in this forum till 2am in the morning...

PS, why not sell completed control box excluding cable?

obuhus Mon 19 July 2010 09:37

I think, it is possible to add the complete set 5-pin and 8-pin connectors, for joint of cables with control box.

smreish Mon 19 July 2010 10:15

Selling a completed box get's into significant Product Liability use that often fall under industrial control UL508 or others. I don't think Mike want's that UL inspection fee or yearly insurance requirements.

...Just saying.

gooberdog Mon 19 July 2010 11:38

An easy source for wire would be handy.

Kurt Rose Mon 19 July 2010 15:50

Anything that will speed me up when I'm ready (probably in a few weeks) would have my vote. Especially coming from a guy that has been there. Mike. I have the CV supply site bookmarked and will be ordering soon. I would love to see the site expand it's inventory. Keep up the great work.

JamesJ Mon 19 July 2010 17:12

Personally I found sourcing the control box parts to be helpful to my understanding of it's function.
I'd second what Brad said about wire for the controller. Finding quality wire was easy if I wanted 50 - 250 feet but getting 10 ' was a bit more trouble.
Quality connectors (Amphenol, etc.) would be a help also.

Jim

screen_name Mon 19 July 2010 18:03

I was hoping to find a complete kit for the following reasons:

1. I don't have the funds to purchase a new CNC Router
2. I don't have a tools required to cut and weld the parts to assemble
3. Or the time to cut and weld

But, If I could purchase a complete kit, for 5k - 10K. I would make 10-15 days to assemble it.

domino11 Mon 19 July 2010 18:54

Curt,
I think Mike is just taling about the control box items. Not a complete Mechmate Kit.

Regnar Mon 19 July 2010 19:06

Mike I know I had a hard time finding a way to connect a printer cable to the outside of the box. I ended up having to buy 20 25db to ribbon cable connectors.

I have to agree with others on the cables. I had Nils help me out but with out him I dont know where I would have purchase cables from.

Just a thought.... but if you plan on selling the kit a great how to instructions might be in order. I would save you a lot of support calls and returned products because someone hooked up a connection wrong or didnt read the directions. What every you do dont use the PMDX instructions as a example:D

screen_name Mon 19 July 2010 19:07

Yes, I agree. I was presenting another possible kit for others like me.

qroger Mon 19 July 2010 19:13

This appears to be far outside of the old school, but maybe it is the new school. It seems there was some controversy previously over the generation of a parts list.

Where angels fear to tread.

MetalHead Mon 19 July 2010 21:19

Well first and foremost this will not be a turn key type item. I do agree that having to dredge around to figure things out is what makes this site what it is. A great resource.

I like the idea around the wire and that is the kind of feedback I am looking for. I do not want to have turn key solutions. Just some sources to help kick off builds like the Laser Cut Parts kits do.

I will say again. This forum is the instruction manual for the MechMate and the folks that contribute and support it are what makes it alll work like it does.

I also agree I do not want to get into UL issues. So no finished items for sure at this point and a note that we all must take great care when building an industrial guage machine ... for sure.

Keep the feed back coming. Seems to be a good topic !!!

gooberdog Tue 20 July 2010 06:57

Another item (like wire) that would benefit from the distributor model would be the 3m tape for mounting the racks. Most of the places I have found sell by the case and I need a roll. I don't know if cable chain would be worthwhile except it would be convenient.

Mountaincraft Tue 20 July 2010 08:02

I would ask that once you put such a kit together, please leave the option to buy some of it piecemeal. Especially the more expensive parts (ie Power supply, drivers, motors)....

I have had to take a drastic lifestyle change due to the economy and where I live having largely destroyed my industry.. Hence the reason I have decided to quit dreaming about doing this, and actually start moving in that direction.. This build will take me two to three years, mostly due to having to scrounge up the funds to pay for it as I go..

That and it might take me that long just to clean out the workshop to make room for it...:)

The more likely I am able to break purchases up into bite sized chunks, the more likely I am to buy from that source... And nothing would make me happier to create profit for the owner of this site in return for supplying the resource he does.. as long as the mark up wasn't 'too' over the top....

For me, it would be useful to even buy the laser kit in two or three bits, but at least it's not 'too' out of reach the way it is... Just means I save a little harder for a few months... Anyone interested in purchasing a hardly used one of a kind belly button lint collection?:D

Mojo Sat 21 August 2010 14:33

Very Interested
 
I would be very interested in any electrical kits myself as most times my research time is limited. I admit excitement to get started over comes good sense sometimes.

cleyte Sat 21 August 2010 15:18

No Kits - but access to parts
 
I agree that the greatest benefits of this forum comes from reading through the contributions of its members. There is no better education and incentive than watching another machine take shape by a builder's own hands.

However, some of the more "hard to find" parts could be made available to lessen the store hunting. In my case, shopping took as much time as reading the manual - the forum. Suppliers in my area are few and expensive. For example, I priced the machined parts at a local machine shop and it was cheaper for me, with shipping in, to get them from Mike (metalhead). Some stores do not ship outside the US (McMaster) and some items are next to impossible to find elsewhere. Adding these to the list of available parts at CVSupply would be a great time saver. Items such as v-wheels, gas shocks, springs, teflon washers and the car stopper blocks (the ones with the adjustable bolt) are a few suggestions that come to mind.

Having these items readily available to builders will not lessen the demand to read and learn.

Clayton

MetalHead Sat 21 August 2010 21:07

I am working on these types of things for the very reasons you have mentioned. I want to keep the spirit of the build, but provide some of the harder to get items. As I move forward you will see more and more stuff showing up in the store.

Red_boards Tue 24 August 2010 03:54

Mike,
I think it's a good idea. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out specs for parts (amps, voltages, etc). Once I had those it was "easy" to source the parts. A single source of matched parts will be a great help to builders like myself.
There will always be people who want to "tune" their machines. Even if they have a "standard" kit they will be able to adjust voltages and wiring to up their torque or speed.

qroger Tue 24 August 2010 09:37

I haven't figured out why Gerald started this thing in the first place, so, being Old, I come down on the side of the less tinkering the better.

Metalhead certainly will put his own stamp on the community, and (speaking of stamping), the lasered and bent parts kit has to be seen as an unqualified positive thing.

The Car-Kit guys like http://www.bruntonauto.com/ supply staged bit by bit kits, up to a complete kit, and possibly complete cars. That is one model. Ron Champion published a book, Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250 and Race It!, that was the start of a huge on-line Lotus 7 like car community, and the completely opposite business model.

Just so it doesn't wind up like street beasts, a good idea gone bad. http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ud_controversy

midmod Tue 24 August 2010 10:57

i like the idea of an electronics kits because it would be nice to be able to source the right parts through 1 transaction or one source and feel like i had gotten the right parts. The electronics portion of this build is my weak link in this build. I have the ability to figure out the electronics portion, but by the time i figure out what I need, source it, and make a transaction, I am exhausted and usually don't complete the transaction. I definitely don't want an assembled control box. This project is for us to figure out, and do the math, measuring and fabrication so that we know this machine. I think a source list for parts and part numbers and a suggested price for the part would go along way towards helping people complete there machines. I just hate to walk into my local electronics supply with a dumb look on my face and walk out paying 3 times the price for a part that could be ordered and know that its the right part. It can just take alot of research to get this to work and i find that i end up copying someone elses build so that i end up with all compatible parts that work together. How hard would it be to put together a source list? even if we had to buy too much, at least we know we are buying the right stuff

wjaggars Tue 24 August 2010 16:41

I like the idea, my customers have asked me to do the same for the products I sell, therefore I need to step up production and build a quality cnc router.

Mountaincraft Wed 25 August 2010 08:30

Quote:
Originally Posted by MetalHead View Post
All I have been pulling together more and more pieces to make building the MechMate easier for us.

1. Case 20x20x8 (or 20x20x10)
2. Power Supply
3. PMDX

What is PMDX?

Mark

MetalHead Wed 25 August 2010 08:34

Also know as the BOB or Break Out Board. PMDX-122 is the one we see used most often in the MM builds.

Mountaincraft Wed 25 August 2010 09:07

Which brings up another question I've been wondering.. What is the breakout board and it's purpose?

Thanks,
Mark

MetalHead Wed 25 August 2010 09:14

Ah - for that Grass Hopper you must study - the answers are within.


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