#121
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ok, got a question for the folks that used a external heatsink in their control box. did you sandwich the control box side between the heatsink and the geckos?...or cut out the control box side to allow the heat sink to contact the bottom of the geckos?
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#122
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I cut the box and used thermal transfer paste so the geckos say directly on the heat sink. Sandwich method will kill your thermal transfer.
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#123
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That was my concern...Was thinking thermal tape on both side of the panel side, but the cutout is probably the way to go.
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#124
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And thanks for the quick reply
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#125
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A steel control box makes an excellent heat sync itself. It has a large mass and surface area.
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#126
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As long as the box is big enough. Yes the box will work. If it is small you can raise the internal temperature up and possibly cause heat issues. Placing the heat outside the box on the fins of the heatsink is preferred.
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#127
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Not sandwiched. Mount the the heat sink out side and cut the panel so that my driver can tape to the heat-sink directly.
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#128
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Ditto on the cut out.
Look at Gary's box here. http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showt...8&postcount=76 |
#129
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For lack of the willpower to tell the whole sad tale...what is the best place to get the prescribed fuses for the inside of a Gecko 203 drive? Mouser or ???
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#130
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Who ever carries them. You can contact Gecko Drive also. They have great customer support.
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#131
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K, have ordered from MOuser before, they were pretty rough on shipping and handling...was hoping there might be another supplier. Will try Gecko
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#132
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Back at it.
Got side tracked for a couple of months with the real job. Blew the dust off the 90% done kitchen table project. Re-discovered the real danger of getting side-tracked from a project like this. You forget where you were at...I started looking for what was still left to be finished and reviewing the wiring diagrams...things just got "fuzzy" after sitting for several months. The net result was sending 48V reverse polarity to the PMDX 134 board with all 4 of my Gecko 203V's attached...promptly zapping their internal fuses. That was the exact moment that I realized spending the little extra money for the 203's was SUCH a good thing, because I would have just turned the cheaper Geckos into paperweights. In this case I made a call to the nice folks at Gecko and ask them how much a set of those little fuses would cost and was informed they "were on the house"...including the shipping. To say Geckodrives has good customer service is the understatement of the year. Those folks are awesome!
A few pictures of the progress made getting the dust blown off the project. Cutting the side of the box to allow the Geckos to make direct contact to the heat sink... Attaching the heat sinks with a couple of bolts and a few blind rivets. Mounted the Geckos to the heat sink with a thermal pad. All was going well...right up until I zapped the fuses in the drivers :-( In other progress, got Mach3 installed on a laptop, IP address configured and talking to the ethernet smoothstepper. Need to verify it is talking to the PMDX 126. Not sure yet if Mach is seeing both of the emulated LPT ports that the ESS provides. Want to hook up a quickie test circuit to emulate a Z-zero touch probe and verify that Mach can see it. Onward... |
#133
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...Gecko has always been awesome with Customer service. Glad you had a good experience too.
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#134
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Nicely done!
Other then lowering the box temperature & cool looking box. The added bonus of a external heat sink is that you free up lots of premium box space instantly. Easier to for organizing your wiring & more room for more bells & whistle. |
#135
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Ken, I thought for a while about sticking the computer in the box as well...plenty of room. Could have mounted the motherboard and everything on the door and made it nice and clean. Theeeeeeennnnnn I went in to a Best Buy and saw how cheap touch screen laptops are getting. I decided the box mounted PC would actually have more cables (keyboard, mouse, monitor) running between the workstation and the box then a laptop setup with a ESS (ethernet cable) So I am setting it up with an old laptop and one day I will switch it out to a touch screen laptop to run MACH 3 to give touch screen control of MACH 3.
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#136
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Well...it is a good thing to have this forum. Without this I would have no one to hear the "WOO HOO's" when I figure something out ;-) Family doesn't exactly "get" the whole CNC build in the garage thing and certainly don't understand the satisfaction of figuring out something that has had you beating your head on the wall for a few hours. Let's just say that MACH 3 is in control of the kitchen table project and things MOVE! Got all motors jogging and MACH 3 controlling the spindle relay. Still need to setup a Z-Zero touch plate circuit. intending to go ahead and install 2010 screenset and figure out the particulars there.
Waiting on about 2 tons of steel to get fab'ed for a bolt together Mechmate table and a hydraulic rubber pad press setup for a related but separate project. The shop is about to get BUSY... Kitchen Table project- MACH 3 in control |
#137
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I am still waiting for the first one to dress up his steppers like penquins and add some flappy feet the to the axles, when I see those laying next to each other on a test bench
Congrats ! Feel nice, heh !? |
#138
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Separating the PC from control panel is a very wise decision, the control panel space vanishes in a hurry when you put the Mobo in... & the wires for keyboard & other mod-cons....
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#139
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Got to give a pat on the back to fellow MechMate builder "Drexel" on the forum... finished taping his gear rack and realized he had at least another machine worth of 3M tape left...passed his extra down the line to me. Still some generous folks out there in the world...good to meet another one!
Thanks again! |
#140
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Hi 1planeguy
Great looking build. Getting the motors turning is great progress, won't be long now till your making chips. Where is Smiths Station? I'll be watching from Valley Grande. Gary |
#141
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Well, the project just got a lot heavier! Had a shop I do work for run the material through their CNC beam line. Everything is pre-punched and cut to length...now time to fire up the welder and stick metal together!
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#142
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Dang, everytime you think you've seen it all... Pre punched cnc cut beams, that's like triple word value in the diy cnc builder world. I thought I was being fancy when I welded mine one a big welding table at my friends shop.
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#143
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That's cheating, (I wish I had thought of that).
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#144
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Its not really cheating if you can afford it or you have friends in the right places.
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#145
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I still think its cheating (only because I can't afford it and my friends are definitely not in the right places )
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#146
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Yep. Cheating is a relative term. It is only cheating because I don't have friendly local vendors and friends with the capabilities either!
It is good to see that someone else thinks out of the box and uses the tools and facilities available to them! Yep, I am jealous because I can't find a way to cheat like that too! Way to go 1planeguy! |
#147
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Alan, look at it this way he doesn't get to experience all of the build like the rest of us.
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#148
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LOL Tom, so what you are saying is we need to feel sorry for 1planeguy?
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#149
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Exactly what I said
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#150
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I'll even admit this is cheating ;-) If you saw the accuracy this stuff is cut to...Y'all would probably throw me off the Mechmate builders site. There are actually 2 projects on that trailer...a 50 ton shop press for doing rubber pad forming and the 5'x12' mechmate. I'm actually welding up the press first. The I-beams are cut within 1/32 of intended length and dead square. I saw a demonstration of the CNC saw that did a squaring cut and then moved the beam down and cut a perfect 1/8 slice off the end (of a 21" tall beam)...it makes trying to make things square a heck of alot easier for sure.
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