MechMate CNC Router Forum

Go Back   MechMate CNC Router Forum > Personal Build Histories > MechMates already cutting
Register Options Profile Last 1 | 3 | 7 Days Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old Mon 01 September 2008, 17:57
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
G540 running under EMC2 and Linux #10 - Somerville MA USA

I've started my build, pictures to follow soon.

So far, I have rails cut and ground, the beams cut and capped, and the Y car welded up. I've also cut the carrier beams for the gantry, and begun on cutting the bed supports.

Why the odd order? I used the 20' major beam as a work surface for the rail cutting and grinding (also in 20' form). To take it easy on my grinder, I'd run for about 15 minutes, then put a freezer pack on it and do something else for 30 minutes, then go back to grinding.

The Steelmax saw is truly amazing. Ripping the Angle for the rails was easy.

The rail cutting car worked well with the Milwaukee grinder I ended up with. I started out with a left over 4.5A grinder I had lying around, and although it worked, it would have taken ages to finish. The Milwaukee did all 80' (20 + 20, two sides) of rail with one disk, easily.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old Mon 01 September 2008, 20:59
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Glad to hear that things are going well!
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old Tue 02 September 2008, 07:11
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Brad,
Welcome to the forum! Maybe you could post some pics of your progress.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old Wed 03 September 2008, 04:22
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
Pics are a requirement to a build.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old Thu 25 September 2008, 22:16
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Update, still no pics.

I have been taking a few pictures, one of these moments I'll sort out how to post them, honest.

With two jobs, and two kids, and winter coming, I've been more focused on getting the work done in the little two hour windows I get.

I've built a bolt-together, 50" x 98" capacity table. Welding is all done, rails are done, all three axis assembled and gliding when pushed. The table disassembles into 2 beams, 2 X axis leg and brace units, 2 Y axis brace and table support units, and the spoil board and table supports except for the two end supports.

I've relearned welding after a 20 year hiatus, and some of the welds don't stink, especially after getting cut and ground out and redone.

My G540! and motors ( PK296A2A-SG7.2 ) arrived today, and I have one motor running reliably on a table at speed. I haven't seen any prior reports on using a G540, so I thought I'd mention it's looking good.

When grinding my rails using a skate, I discovered that a little paraffin lamp oil (kerosene) was the wonder cure to keep the height bolts gliding smoothly. I tried all kinds of bolts: stainless, galvanized, zinc; the combo of the paraffin and galvanized seemed to glide the best.

Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain hard the next two days,so the next progress report will be a while out.

I've also made at least a dozen mistakes, which I'll pull out of my logbook and write up after I'm sure I'll have the beast painted and inside before it snows.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old Thu 25 September 2008, 22:56
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Thanks Brad - there's tons of good info in that post!
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old Thu 25 September 2008, 23:19
gmessler
Just call me: Greg #15
 
Chicago IL
United States of America
Dozen mistakes? I think I passed that after the first week of work. And I'm sure that I have MANY more to make. What a great learning experience this project has been.

Have to side with Nils.....Pics Pics Pics....
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old Fri 26 September 2008, 07:51
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
A couple of pictures

Okay, I let's see if I can figure out this picture thing:

Here's the start of day one, setup to run the steelmax. This picture shows me ready to cut 2.5" by 2" channel into 2" x 1.1" channel (Ooops!) I went back and did it again, to get 2.5" x 1.1" channel.

Three weeks later, here's me and my nearly finished table. The X axis cross braces aren't in place yet. If you look closely, you'll see that the gantry stiffener bracket for the cable chain is on the wrong corner! I've since cut it out and swapped sides.

Gerald, what's the weight limit on the car?
Attached Images
File Type: jpg dcp_5413.jpg (66.4 KB, 1701 views)
File Type: jpg dcp_5426.jpg (83.6 KB, 1702 views)
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old Fri 26 September 2008, 08:11
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Nice picture! You look well within the weight limit.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old Sat 27 September 2008, 05:17
Marc Shlaes
Just call me: Marc
 
Cleveland, OH
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to Marc Shlaes
Very nice and...

Another beard

Increasingly strange correlation between MM and beards.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old Sat 27 September 2008, 08:59
gmessler
Just call me: Greg #15
 
Chicago IL
United States of America
lightning fast build!
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old Sat 27 September 2008, 09:09
Greg J
Just call me: Greg #13
 
Hagerman, New Mexico
United States of America
Nice build Brad.

Don't worry about the mistakes (lessons). If your not making mistakes, your not doing anything.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 09:18
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
It moves!

I took the gantry out for a stroll on its motors last night.

I'm a linux guy, so I'm using EMC2 ( http://linuxcnc.org/ ). If anybody needs help with it let me know, I've been driving my little tabletop mill with it for years.

The charge pump feature of EMC2 is perfectly compatible with the Gecko 540, once you remember to set your parallel port to EPP mode in the BIOS. That little mistake cost me some hours to figure out.

As the X racks aren't taped down yet, I only ran the gantry slowly from one
end to the other, and then a brief at speed test for a foot near one end. It ran at 660 IPM just fine, which was an impressive sight, and unbelievably satisfying.

As you may note, the G540 uses standard DB9 connectors for its motors.
There's a current setting resistor for the drive across pins 1 and 5; pins 2-4 are grounded for the cable shield, and pins 6-9 are the four leads for the two motor phases. I decided to extend this idea, and so I've placed a DB9 at the end of each motor lead, with the current setting resistor for the G540 so the motors can be tested on the bench. For the mechmate, I've made DB9 extension cords, a female at the motor end that the motor plugs into, and a male at the G540 end. Since my motor cables only have four wires, I placed a duplicate current setting resistor in the male DB9 at the G540.

Now it's time for the big disassemble, then paint, and final assembly. I'll take pictures of the whole thing during this process. If the weather holds and the paint dries, I might be surfacing a spoil board on Sunday!
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 09:50
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Congrats on the movement!

Now, you have some explaining to do....
Your first post here was only 5 weeks ago. I don't recall you asking one serious question. And you want to cut by Sunday!!! Do you sleep? Who has been helping you? Do you want a job in the most beautiful city in the world? You are hired!
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 10:31
Marc Shlaes
Just call me: Marc
 
Cleveland, OH
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to Marc Shlaes
Brad,

I'm curious, what motors did you find that are powerful enough for the MM and still fit the parameters of the G540??? BTW: Well done!

Thanks,

Marc
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 10:54
javeria
Just call me: Irfan #33
 
Bangalore
India
Hi Brad, amazing progress and like Marc, even I am surprised the G540 can pull a mechmate - interested to know more of your electronics.

RGDS
Irfan
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 11:02
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
See above, the Oriental Motors PK296A2A-SG7.2 ( http://catalog.orientalmotor.com/ite...g7-2?&seo=110# )

Wired unipolar, you get 3A at 3VDC 1ohm 3.5mH (I actually wired half phase, but close enough). Coupled with a 24V toroid based power supply, I'm running at about 37 VDC (measured).

The G540 ( http://geckodrive.com/upload/G540%20REV3%20MANUAL.pdf ) wants 2.5 to 3.5mH for "maximum wattage output", but remember that the limiting factor on this motor is the gearbox, anyway, and I'm awfully close to that spec on the half phase wiring.

The other G540 specs are up to 3.5A (almost perfect match), and up to 18-50VDC. I'm comfortably in the middle of the range.

I did spend a bunch of time reading and rereading those specs, because it seemed too good to be true. It's part of why getting that big gantry to dance at almost a foot a second was a big test for me.
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 17:34
Riz
Just call me: riz
 
Lowell ma
United States of America
Hi Bradm this is riz from Lowell ma just found this webb site.I have always wanted a cnc mech but to be able to build one would be even more impressive.One thing if you could give me some dirrection on where to get the materals to build this mech. thanks riz from lowell
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 17:48
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Hi Riz. Sure. I used http://www.turnersteelcoinc.com as my steel supplier; they turned around my orders in a day, and delivered at convenient times. I tried two other local vendors, and neither one could even furnish the beams and angle.

I have a great local hardware store here, Tags, so I was able to grab the majority of the hardware from there, including everything metric, and the usual big box home improvement stores supplied boxes of basics, like 5/16"-18 1-1/2" hex head and carriage bolts.

http://mcmastercarr.com is a convenient source of anything you can't get elsewhere, although you pay a premium. I estimate I could have saved around $200 by getting parts like rack elsewhere, but it was very convenient and stress reducing.

Looking around the forum, you'll find the other suppliers, like Superior Bearing, Oriental Motors, GeckoDrive, and the laser cut parts, which I got from Alabama. In fact, if it hadn't been so incredibly easy to get those laser cut parts, I might not have started my build.

Good luck, and if you start the project, let me know, I'm happy to help. The best thing though, is to print and study the drawings, and then read these forums until you suspect you've read everything. They were unbelievably helpful to me.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old Tue 30 September 2008, 22:34
Kobus_Joubert
Just call me: Kobus #6
 
Riversdale Western Cape
South Africa
Send a message via Yahoo to Kobus_Joubert Send a message via Skype™ to Kobus_Joubert
Nice going there Brad ...with the beard... you did well and when you do your first cut you will be in heaven...MM heaven..
Reply With Quote
  #21  
Old Wed 01 October 2008, 14:40
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
A question for Gerald

I'm doing a full disassembly to paint. It's slightly disconcerting that it only takes one two hour session to take apart what took some 40 two hour sessions to build (one a day, plus bonus sessions on weekends).

I think I'm going to paint the rails, and not paint the racks. After the paint, I'll sand the working surfaces of the rails as part of final finishing. Then I'll surface prep the racks as if to paint, and use the magic tape to attach the racks (unpainted) to the (painted) underside of the rails.

Does that make sense, or should I paint the racks too? Or mask the working surfaces of the racks and the rails and paint?

There, I've asked a question
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old Wed 01 October 2008, 17:37
spank
Just call me: Spank
 
New Hampsire
United States of America
Brad,
My partner and I are about to start our Mechmate up in Portsmouth, NH in the next couple of months. We are busy messing with our frankenrouter that we rebuilt and are happily cutting with at the moment, but we are pumped to start on the Mechmate. I would love to check out your build this weekend if you're around, and so too would my partner. Let me know. Great to see someone else local going for it!
Eli
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old Wed 01 October 2008, 19:24
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Sure, I think ...

... My Mechmate is now in it's constituent pieces, getting prepped for a big paint day Friday. If all goes well, I'll do a rebuild Saturday into Sunday. If not, there might not be all that much to see

Let's check in Friday, I don't want you guys to waste a trip.
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old Wed 01 October 2008, 21:10
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Brad, we have left our racks completely unpainted, It is the only part of our machine that gets an occasional touch of lubricant, so rust is not an issue.
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old Wed 01 October 2008, 21:28
spank
Just call me: Spank
 
New Hampsire
United States of America
Will do. In all honesty, we are pretty into all aspects of the machine, so anything will be interesting to us! What are you planning on cutting with it?
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Old Thu 02 October 2008, 04:26
J.R. Hatcher
Just call me: J.R. #4
 
Wilmington, North Carolina
United States of America
Send a message via Skype™ to J.R. Hatcher
I laid my racks teeth down, put masking tape on the bottom, where the tape goes, and sprayed the side with stainless steel color rattle can paint, no rust problems. When I sprayed my rails I also put masking tape on the ground area. It was easy to just let the tape go down the sides then remove the unwanted pieces with a razor knife. Let the knife lay almost flat and ride the corner angle.
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Old Thu 02 October 2008, 07:11
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Gerald,
Do the V-Wheels need any type of lubricant over time as well? Mine seem to have been shipped with a white lithium type grease on them, is that factory greasing sufficient over the long term?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerald D View Post
Brad, we have left our racks completely unpainted, It is the only part of our machine that gets an occasional touch of lubricant, so rust is not an issue.
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Old Thu 02 October 2008, 07:43
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
I guess an oiled felt wiper would be great for cleaning and anti-corrosion, but ours run bone dry here in a coastal city and we don't see a problem with that.
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Old Sun 05 October 2008, 14:24
bradm
Just call me: Brad #10
 
Somerville(MA)
United States of America
Not Today :( Now next Sat.

The machine is painted and indoors, and it jogs in three directions.

The router isn't mounted, the proximity switches aren't in yet, the estops
aren't on, and I'm out of time for the weekend. I'm also scheduled for a very busy week, so the next chance will be next weekend.

Hopefully Gerald is warming up a nice serial number

And pictures to follow as I get a chance.
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Old Sun 05 October 2008, 22:44
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
If it already jogs in 3 directions you have done extremely well!
Reply With Quote
Reply

Register Options Profile Last 1 | 3 | 7 Days Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
10 20 451WA & 10 20 452WA Question jeffa 20. Gantry 12 Sun 24 June 2012 23:50
Look Ma! no lasers (3d scanning via webcam) PEU General - MM Build 24 Sun 29 May 2011 00:32
10 10 300 W "CRITICAL" note? dmoore 10. Base Table 2 Sat 03 May 2008 22:34
M5 10 160 A & M5 10 200 A Motor Mounting Bolts dmoore Motors & their mountings 3 Wed 16 April 2008 02:06
10 10 302 S - Maximum spacing of cross bearers dmoore 10. Base Table 2 Tue 15 April 2008 06:58


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:32.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.