New Vacuum Table! #67 - Littleton, NC
 

It's official as parts have arrived (more to come later). Laser cut parts here (thanks Joe). Some of the "kitchen table" parts in transit, rest to be ordered later in the week..

Yippie Skippy.....

Now the questions begin as we (my building buddy and I) start the process...

We are beginning with the y-car. I have reviewed/printed the y-car welding order in the forum.

I think it makes sense, BUT I want to make sure as I'm much better at the wiring/electronics than the fabrication end...

The part that is referenced on the flat surface is 10 30 455 (tower carrier plate). This is the part (along with 10 30 450 - car carrier plate) that must be "square" with the flat reference plane.

Correct?

I'll post some pics in a bit...

Stan (half of the Stan and Ted team)

Stan you will have two Tower Carrier Plates. Between these two plates you will put the spider.
10 30 422, 10 30 450, 10 30 455 belong to each other and are going to get assembled in 10 30 000.

Important is that 10 30 422 is flat and straight and non-warping after bending (on the drawings there are notes with accuracy's if I remember...) 10 30 455 should also be reasonable flat (spider get's attached to it)

If any warping occurs then this will be 'corrected' once you start welding 10 30 450 on 10 30 422 (they are profile cuts but you get the picture) since 10 30 450 will fall in the slots shown on drawing 10 30 422 things will get straightened fairly well.

If that's not the case and you put a car carrier plate on there, then the v-rollers might not be square and even to touch the rails , this can be corrected because for this part you will have adjustable V-Rollers.

Also, don't forget to countersink the holes shown on 10 30 450 before welding.... Post some pictures.

Ries

More pics...
 

Got the zslide and tube in today from Leo Jones.... Thanks Leo!

PS, ignore the feet :D

New string (or is it thread) ;-)
 

My Buddy and I are planning on making a cabinet to house the pc and possibly the control panel/box as others have...

Here's the twist, we'd like to be able to disconnect the pc/control panel cabinet without having to undo/redo bunches of wires and also save on the $$ flex wire (no need to have that from the control panel to the subpanel on the MM).

I have looked at the Amp/Tyco CPC connectors but seem not to find what I'm looking for....

One connector for the steppers (4wire plus shield x 4 = 20 contacts rated at 6a)

One connector for AC router and estop circuits - 3wire plus shield (3-4 contacts w/ 16a rating) and 2 wire plus shield (3 contacts rated at 1A)

One connector for control cable (8 wire plus shield = 9 contacts rated 1a)

any thoughts or other posts to direct me to?

Good connectors are expensive! How often do you plan to disconnect? It may well be that terminal strips inside your control box are actually a reasonable match. Or having the control box move with the machine with disconnects for the power and the computer is more cost effective.

You may find that (4) 4-pin + shield connectors for the steppers is a lot easier and cheaper than a single unified connector.

I would keep the router connection separate from everything else, and since it's legitimately a switched standard power circuit, use the standard edison connectors.

Do you really need 1A contacts on the control cable?

For a budget friendly approach, perhaps a browse through a catalog like http://mouser.com/Interconnects/ will help you narrow in on what you need.

If you want a gold-plated (likely literally) option, you'll find connectors matching your specifications above in these lines: http://www.amphenol-socapex.com/html...l-products.htm You might double your electronics budget just buying the connectors, though.

I'm using the DB9s that come with a G540 for motors, an unshielded piece of Cat5 with RJ-45 connectors for control, and a phono plug for E-stop, all of which were household items. My motor and spindle cables are shielded, the rest aren't. I'm not seeing any problems. When I used a router, I used a simple heavy extension cord with edison plugs at each end.

There's some random thoughts for you :)

Brad: Can you share a photo of how your are using the Cat5 for the control system? Thanks

Joe

Sure, when I next get to the shop. For now, here's the quick description: I'm using a standard plastic "new work" box at the end of a short piece of plastic conduit coming out of my control box. That box has a coverplate with an RJ-45 jack in the middle - standard home improvement stuff. Then there's a piece of ethernet cable with a RJ-45 plug on it that runs through my cable chain to a box on the gantry that contains a terminal strip. This splits off into the local Prox sensor, a wire across the gantry to the Prox on the other side, a wire and plate for Z Zero, and another trunk line through the other cable chain to the Ycar. At the Ycar, there is another box and terminal strip to split it for the Y Prox sensor, and any future additions.

We're going to be MEN OF STEEL....
 

My build partner and I are going to get the steel tomorrow (11/20). Also the bulk of the electronics are here. I did order the wrong stuff (when I get closer I'll post the bom's).

Time to make some dust......sparks.....bloody fingers (nope!).

That would be Manly men of STEEL!!!

that is when my wife says it is ok.....

ps I am the other half of the build, 5 years with CNC stuff, but only in making teeth

Brad#10,
I see you are using an Ethernet cable for some of the wires on your machine,
I am curious as to how this is holding up, I would think you would have limited
life from that setup since, the Ethernet cable is not designed to flex and move like it will in a cable chain, the wire strands are solid and will not take that kind of continuous movement with out breaking the strands,
//chopper

Chopper, my MM sees limited use, but I agree with your assessment. I'll advise when/if it becomes an issue.

Stan and Ted team,

I'm all logged in, watching intently, and looking forward to your new build. Call if you need anything.

Richard

New update
 

One steel pile getting smaller - one getting bigger.....

Check out Ted's Rack... Someone had to take the picture... :D

I guess there's no "skating" around what is coming next....

Seriously, the Harbor Freight Angle grinder only matches up two holes on the skate and enlarging the other holes would end up cutting through the skate on the rear-side.....

So, time to cut-n-grind....

Stan

For your single plug for everything you might want to look up ITT Cannon Plugs. I know they come in 31 and many other pin sizes. It will cost you but we use them on our aircraft so they are well worth it. Mouser has a plastic version of the plugs to that are a little cheaper but I cannot find them right now.

For a quick un-official cost a 31 pin size 16 plug will cost you around 125.00 when you are done.

I think my memory is still good but that desk you are using looks like a old Triumph. What year is it?

Could be a MG?

Nah, maybe not

Triumph TR3 looks good :)

Gerald's right ---- Ted's TR3.... Dang British cars.....

He's the Triumph..... I'm a MG man..

Good news is that the same tools work on both cars....

hammer, hammER, hamMMER, and of course... HAMMER...

when in doubt however you can use a punch....

I had a 62 MG Midget. Great little car. I had more fun driving that thing. I put a set of air horns on it and it kept the trucks from driving me off the road.

Yes it is a 1961 TR3, notice the bonnet (hood in the states) it is in the normal condition----UP!!! I am rebuilding the carbs. It does make a good place to rest our build instructions!!!

Are they SU carbs with needles? With dashpots and oil? :)

For some reasons, it appears to me that you seem to have more potential « fun » with the other toys ( Plane, Tractor, Vtt & the Jeep) then the Britt dust buster :D

Robert,

Lack of appreciation for the run of an old sports car!!!???

Yes the carbs are old SU's, the cork gets dry and they leak gas, right over the hot headers. Not much drive (yes pun) to fix her right now, little to cold for riding around. I fixed old british cars for a living, then found out I needed a real job to support that habit so I went to dental school.

Yet another dentist with a MM. :D We just need to find some big teeth to use this machine in our job....

You should see two things.....

1) his other CNC machine - really it makes teeth (crowns)....

2) my "desk". talk about really not appreciating a run of an old sports car. Ted can attest to my complete disdain of my '64 MGB. Just try to get it out of my hands ;-) When I got it the previous owner used it as a feed bowl for cats (it had fish heads in it). Me, I use it to hold much more useful junk.

One day.... One day... I'll get a "round tuit" and restore it. I get a Moss Motors catalog every now and then and dream.....

First the MM, then the other projects, then the honey-dos, then the MGB.

NOW I'M DEPRESSED.... :D

It is ok about the MG Stan, just sit in it and make motor sounds!!!

You guys need an MG and TR3 pak for your R/C flight simulators so you can drive/burn rubber/race with these things on the runways.....

Thanks for the Mach3 help today Stan.

rodom

I thought I would sit in it and make GENUINE BRITISH CAR sounds....

sounds like clunk, sputter, cough, rrrrr, boom

That is better than GENUINE BRITISH CAR OWNER sounds.....:eek:

Stan

Stan for the connections I have used Auto trailor plugs, they come in 7 pin config and are cheap, durable and plenty of current capability. http://www.spinnythings.com.au/ page 58 of catalog has the plugs. They are also very available here so I can connect the control box up to the mill or lathe just by unplugging and replugging.

what about a way to keep the trailer connector from disconnecting?

Stan the trailor connectors have a lock together system built into them. If they pull apart then something major just happened.
The tines on the plug are large so they look really capable

Cutting the rails....
 

See pics for everyones enjoyment. I've found out what other MMers already knew .... cutting the rails is boring....

I've found something more boring....

Watching my build buddy Ted cut the rails....:cool:

Notice "proper" treatment of Triumph (cover it up so no one knows its there)...

Ted covers his Triumph with blankets, I cover my MGB with crap...

Serious while Ted cut. I worked on the legs.... Plates will be (have been) moved to the rear of the channel between the webs to weld the cross braces on so that the table can be broken down.

Now for a rail cutting question...

One x-rail is beautiful, one isn't. The good one is nice and flat cut, the other is a bit wavy.

I think we pushed the cutting too fast using thin wheels.

My question is going to be hard to answer (because you can't see what I see), but here goes....

Would it be better to cut the rail again (with a thick disk) which would put the dimension closer to 1" (25.4 mm) and re-cut the other rail to match or just shim? The wavy is not really abrupt (maybe changes over a half-a-foot or so).

I guess the question is how much waviness can shimming deal with?

Hi Stan,
If you consider the waves are in vertical direction you can use a grinding disk and go over it again and smooth it down, but take care not to cut down the rail under 25mm. otherwise many things change from the plans...if the dif. is not too much use shimming.
If the waves are lateral direction, you are going to use a gauge rod anyway to adjust perfect dimension between rails and you can fix it in place.
I guess best is to remeasure the rail and see what differences you have in height and judge after that what to do next.

Merry Christmas.

For the cost of it, I'd buy a new angle and redo the rail.

Ah the 25mm question comes up again but this time a bit different.

I realize that going below 25mm as a minimum causes problems but what about the "maximum"? I read a post that mentioned that it really depends on the rack used (metric or inch) but didn't give me a number.....

Stan

Stan, your angle iron may have quite a big fillet radius in the inside, leaving only a little bit of vertical surface for the skate rollers to "grip" on when doing the bevel . . . . that is one of the dangers of going below the 25mm.

If you are using 30 tooth pinions you can make the rail a bit lower and the pinion will still engage properly with the rack, but you won't be easily able to use smaller 20 tooth pinions.

so if my math is correct....

no smaller than 25 mm which would be 0.98" and still use the smaller pinions?

I'm good then because the rail in question is around 1.1 ish.

Stan