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  #1  
Old Tue 12 February 2008, 19:50
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
The red beast is cutting planes for the Red Baron? #8 - Alamogordo, NM

I have my sides welded up and sent off to be sand blasted. Today I finished cutting the angles on the 3inch channel cross pieces. Everything seemed to go well with the sides. I am building the 4ft x 8ft size. I have my skate for beveling the rails about half finished.
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File Type: jpg side frames.JPG (55.8 KB, 2179 views)
File Type: jpg cutting channel braces.JPG (51.0 KB, 2170 views)
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  #2  
Old Tue 12 February 2008, 20:50
Doug_Ford
Just call me: Doug #3
 
Conway (Arkansas)
United States of America
Looking good Ed. You've also got some nice equipment there in the background.
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  #3  
Old Tue 12 February 2008, 21:54
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Ed, looked at your website in your profile and see you are a steel man. That's going to be very useful!

Those square tube rings are interesting - how do you get them rolled so tight?
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  #4  
Old Wed 13 February 2008, 06:23
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Ed,

Nice to see one started in the neighborhood.

Is yours going be for a plasma or a router ?
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  #5  
Old Wed 13 February 2008, 08:06
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg J View Post
Ed,

Nice to see one started in the neighborhood.

Is yours going be for a plasma or a router ?
I originally was thinking of trying both with one machine. I sell plasma cutt metal designs cutt by another company already but they are not moving very well. I think it is like most arts and crafts, after it has been around awhile it doesn't sell as well.

Since I am new to this and will probably be driving everyone crazy with alot of questions, I thought I better stick to a table that is dedicated to just one thing so I decided to go with the router rather than plasma. If this project goes well and I like it I can always make a plasma cutting table in the future.
I am a little nervous about the programing and computer parts of the cnc, but hopefully by the time I get to that part of the project, and have time to read more of the threads, I will understand more about it.

Gerald D,
I don't bend the square tubing rings, I am mainly retail here. Trying to get away from welding anymore, it's too hard on the body. Good question though, they use a roller with a die that creases the inside of the tube and it also keeps the outside of the tubing from swelling outward. To make such a small ring though they must use a die with a removeable end to get the finished piece out of the die. Those are made in either Mexico or China I can't remember.
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  #6  
Old Wed 13 February 2008, 10:06
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Ed,

I should be cutting wood pretty soon. The offer is always good to come and visit my machine. The beer is on me.
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  #7  
Old Wed 13 February 2008, 13:30
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
Thanks Greg, I may just have to take a run over and see. The photos of it look real nice. You did a good job on it.
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  #8  
Old Sat 16 February 2008, 07:25
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Ed,

I saw you were ordering laser cut parts from Alabama. Apparently there isn't a laser cutter and bender in Alamogordo. Is that true or just not good to work with ?

At some point in the game, I want to build another machine. I'll start looking for a shop within a 4 hour drive. You would think Albuquerque would have those kinds of shops. Next time I'm up there I'll look around.
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  #9  
Old Tue 19 February 2008, 08:42
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
I didn't spend alot of time serching around here. Alamo is like being on a deserted island as far as parts, and custom work. Alb. should have a laser table but finding them may be harder than just looking for laser cutting on the net (3-4 hrs driving around using $3+ per gallon of gas would be more than the shipping on parts). I just sent the list of the part files and quantities to the place below to get pricing just in case the Alabama deal falls through. I dropped a hint about the quote from Alabama and that there are probably others interested in the same parts.


http://www.tigermanufacturing.com/laser.html

Last edited by ekdenton; Tue 19 February 2008 at 08:45..
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  #10  
Old Wed 20 February 2008, 16:55
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
a little progress

Got my x rails cutt and ready to grind. What alot of dust, I hate the smell of abrasive wheel dust. I used a respirator but your clothes still stink afterwards.
Got the table painted, couldn't find blue so I went with red. I will be waiting for laser cutt parts before I can do much more.
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File Type: jpg MVC-060F.JPG (173.5 KB, 2051 views)
File Type: jpg MVC-061F.JPG (180.3 KB, 2051 views)
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  #11  
Old Wed 20 February 2008, 17:03
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
Ed,

Great looking table. You are making great progress.
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  #12  
Old Wed 20 February 2008, 17:07
cbboatworks
Just call me: Gene
 
Wilmington NC
United States of America
Nice looking table. and Thanks for sharing the pictures
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  #13  
Old Wed 20 February 2008, 20:33
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Ed,

Making fast progress there. Looks great.
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  #14  
Old Wed 20 February 2008, 20:37
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Great pictures.
I especially like the forklift working table for cutting rails down!
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  #15  
Old Wed 20 February 2008, 21:58
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Yup, Ed is a steel man for sure! Even followed the plans....mostly.
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  #16  
Old Thu 21 February 2008, 09:36
Marc Shlaes
Just call me: Marc
 
Cleveland, OH
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to Marc Shlaes
I hope he can scare up some blue paint!
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  #17  
Old Fri 07 March 2008, 15:09
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
a little progress

got my xrails ground, that went well, seemed like the closer to finish size the easier and smoother the skate ran. I recieved most of my parts for my kitchen table project, the boss said that it's not going to happen on our kitchen table though I am using a pretty big box so I should be able to fit everything and still have alot of room to spare. I have had my computer on order from Dell for 3 weeks now. I think the hold up must be the parallel port, not sure what else would delay the delivery. I have everything else for the test run and I am anxious to try to make the motors turn

Hopefully we will hear something on our laser cutt parts being made in Alabama soon, I think they should be cutting them soon.
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File Type: jpg mvc-062f (2).jpg (140.6 KB, 1938 views)
File Type: jpg DSC00006 (2).jpg (80.9 KB, 1930 views)
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  #18  
Old Fri 07 March 2008, 17:27
jbmclain
Just call me: Joe #42
 
Birmingham, AL
United States of America
Great work

Ed that looks Great!!
Your lasered parts are hopefully getting bent next week.
Keep taking pictures of your build in front of that beautiful backdrop. WOW!!

Joe
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  #19  
Old Fri 07 March 2008, 20:36
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Making nice progress Ed.
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  #20  
Old Tue 18 March 2008, 17:19
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
My computer is due here on Thursday, I am ready to test my control board and try to make the motors turn. I downloaded vcarve on my work computer to see what it was about. I like it so far, it is kind of expensive but I think it wouldn't take long to recoup the cost of it. Thought I would relax this weekend and do some climbing since I am waiting on parts. Hey Greg I past the Hagerman turnoff going to this climbing spot down at the Guadalupe pass. Winds were 80mph up on top of the canyon and about 10mph down in the bottom of the canyon. What a different world. Lot's of artifacts everywhere. Beautiful canyon. Steep climbing on huge handholds. Awesome.
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  #21  
Old Tue 18 March 2008, 17:43
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Very cool Ed.

For me, building this MM is allot like climbing a rock cliff.
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  #22  
Old Tue 18 March 2008, 19:29
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Ed,
I upgraded my version of LazyCam to LazyCam pro so I had the ability to use the pocket and offset features. 75 dollars cheap "lets try it" money. If you have an outside way of generating your dxf file (coreldraw, autocad, etc) then this may be enough for you to get by until your comfortable searching for the "right" software package.
Personally, I like Enroute3 - and it's "fairly" affordable. Depends on your needs and use.



Good luck.
Sean
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  #23  
Old Mon 24 March 2008, 09:06
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
I am going to try to do some more wiring on my control box and I see that some of you guys are using XLR plugs at the box and at the motors. What is the reasoning or logic behind using the XLR or any connectors at the control box and at the motors??

I work with XLR connectors with my music stuff and the ones that I normally use are the three conductor type. Well actually one of the pins is a case sheild (for sheilding wire) and the other two are "hot" and "cold", so you have two useable conductors. That gives me one pin for grounding the sheild and two wires for the motor, I am not sure how that works with four wires from the motor to the geckos. How are you guys doing that? My gecko's show that they need two individual wires for each half coil (or full coil depending on whether you wire uni or bi) four wires total. Maybe you are using an XLR type connector that has more pinouts??

Seems like it would be better just to wire directly from the motor to the Gecko with no connectors. Once I get it going I don't see any reason to to be disconnecing any of the driving motors unless one burns up or has a problem and then I would be rewiring anyway even if I had XLR's or other type connectors, so it won't matter. I could be wrong but I am thinking the fewer connections from the motor to the gecko the less chance of corrosion or oxidation on pins, ect...., besides saving the cost of any type of connectors.

I am thinking out loud, so if someone has any input on using connectors on the motors and the box could you chime in and let me know your thoughts?
Trying to decide now if I want to use the XLR's so I can start thinking about modifying my box for them or not.

The only advantage that I can see is that the actual case of the XLR is connected to the sheilding so by having the XLR case attatched to the box gives your sheidling a ground point without actually running a wire from the sheilding to a grounding point.
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  #24  
Old Mon 24 March 2008, 10:38
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
For faultfinding, it is convenient to be able to swop a motor from one drive to another. However, in our limited experience, the fault we were seeking was mostly with the connectors themselves. The fewer breaks in the cables (and their shields) the better. Only use pluggable connectors if you plan to swop control boxes at less than 6 month intervals
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  #25  
Old Mon 24 March 2008, 14:57
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
Getting ready for a smoke test - Mach controlled relay power for router

Getting ready to fire up my kitchen table project which is actually not allowed in the kitchen LOL so it's at work. I have a 25Amp relay for my router that can be run off 3-32Vdc. Is there a thread or info on how to connect that to the breakout board, and how to program Mach when to turn it on and off? I have my Estops and pause resume buttons wired and I found the thread on how to set Mach for that.
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  #26  
Old Mon 24 March 2008, 15:10
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Ed,
if your asking if you can turn on/off the router via the BOB...Yes, you can.
To handle the high current switching, I used the small relay located at J7 on the PMDX board. You may refer to page 20 of the PMDX manual for connection details. Essentially, I used a 110V, low current source to go through the PMDX to pull in the coil on the larger contactor, thus Isolating the small little relay on the BOB for a much bigger (and easier to replace when it fails) relay.

In your case, you could supply the NO side of the relay with 3-32V from your power supply (which would switch) your larger relay on/off.

Configure your relay in MACH 3 to respond as a spindle.
The video tutorial for Mach 3, the second one on the list, details the setup of the relay for spindle use.....

Good luck. I really hope I just made sense!
Sean
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  #27  
Old Mon 24 March 2008, 15:49
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
Okay thanks Sean, so I run the 12vdc from my power supply to the relay on the BOB J7 NO and COM. I am a little confused as to which wires from my DC source go to which pins on the J7 terminal. Do I just run one of my voltage source wires through the BOB relay then the from the other and the other voltage source wire to the other side of the control coil of the larger 25amp relay? I will post a drawing of what I think your saying and tell me if that is what you mean.

Also I have other issues when I pushed the start button the light came on but goes back off when released. I am using a NO momentary contactor for the on button, is that correct?
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File Type: jpg RELAY.JPG (20.8 KB, 1759 views)
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  #28  
Old Mon 24 March 2008, 16:48
ekdenton
Just call me: Ed #8
 
Alamogordo, NM
United States of America
On the relay of the 120V 25amp contactor in the control box on 10 70 115
Is the relay coil wired NC or NO? The plan looks like NC but I haven't worked with relays before and I wanted to make sure I have that part wired correct.
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  #29  
Old Mon 24 March 2008, 23:01
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Ed, when you say your relay has a 3-32Vdc input, that is most likely to be a solid state relay or SSR. Have a look at this thread:
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290

But, I suggest you slow down a little . . . . . . .

First get Mach3 to switch the output LED's on the PMDX on and off at your command. That makes later troubleshooting much easier. Settings in Ports & Pins and some M codes put into the G Code file. Must be described in the Mach documentation/videos?

I think your sketch above is faulty, but I am still having my first cup of coffee . . . . . .
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  #30  
Old Tue 25 March 2008, 03:05
Richards
Just call me: Mike
 
South Jordan, UT
United States of America
Ed,
Usually a Solid State Relay that is used with a TTL type output (such as the output on the PMDX board), has the (+) control terminal connected to 5VDC and the (-) control terminal connected to an Output Line that goes LOW to turn on the SSR. (An SSR with a control voltage rating of 3-32V can accommodate other control voltages.) An SSR requires about 10mA of current in the control circuit to work properly. Also, the Load being driven by an SSR needs to be large (several amps) in order for the SSR to work properly. Smaller loads can be switched, but they may require specialized SSRs.

Your circuit diagram has me scratching my head. You're showing a requirement for a 24V voltage swing while the PMDX-122 only gives a 5V swing. If you need to switch 24V, you'll need to have the PMDX drive a relay or transistor.

Last edited by Richards; Tue 25 March 2008 at 03:09..
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