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  1. #76
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    From the time I first saw Mike's work of art I wanted to build one. Most router tables are compromised from the lift hanging for the underside of the top and using a spindle overcomes that and frees up the design restrictions.
    CHRIS

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  3. #77
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    Jan 2014
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    Sydney Upper North Shore
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    I love the idea of a spindle BUT as I already have a spare router, i can really only justify going the way of the setup shown in the “proof of concept” thread. If spare funds come my way it won’t be hard to change the lift head to a unit that suits a spindle and I already have a VFD.

    As you said, finding a place that can economically supply small pieces of aluminium plate is difficult. I’ve been doing some hunting through industrial waste bins and a visit to my local scrap metal merchant is on the “to do” list for the holidays.

    Another problem is finding a reasonably priced welder to help with the fabrication.

    Looking forward to seeing your progress Chris.

  4. #78
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    Lappa I see little or no welding in this build just plenty of cutting, drilling, threading and lots of unbrako cap screws and countersunk screws.
    CHRIS

  5. #79
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    Nov 2011
    Location
    Melbourne
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    I’m just sticking my nose in just to follow along.
    Great build Chris
    Also I would be on the same par as Criss I will change a light bulb and that is all I will do electrical lol.

    Cheers Matt

  6. #80
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
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    Caboolture QLD AU
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    I mentioned in post #73 about using low cost linear bearing rails for a really simple means of having the fence move and track accurately and smoothly, allowing a fence DRO to be mounted at one end of the table below one of the guide rails. Having the fence on dual bearing guide rails allows new possibilities for low cost DIY fence locking and positioning, similar to some very expensive commercial designs.

    My main concern was with locking the fence, bearing rails don't allow this to be easily accomplished. I got the enthusiasm (thanks Chris) to have another look and realised that I could make a fence locking mechanism that is based on a low cost lead screw and bearing used in CNC machines, it will incorporate a simple quick release for fast fence movement and at the same time allows true fence micro adjustment and a simple fence position lock. It will be attached to the lower rear centre of the fence and can be released in an instant, all made possible by having the fence tracking on two bearing guide rails, one rail on each side of the table / fence.


    BTW Chris came up with a great idea to add to the fence or table (I'll leave that for him to post) and that would also be simple to incorporate into this locking mechanism.

  7. #81
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    Nov 2013
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    Caboolture QLD AU
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    One thing I wanted to add to the above post, accurate RT fence parallel positioning (tracking) is really only relative when using a mitre slot in the table. When these bearing guides are adjusted correctly, this fence will always be parallel to any mitre slot (if used) and only one central fence locking / adjusting mechanism is required with a design based around these low cost, large, heavy duty bearing guide rails.

    I know, I need to sketch something up for these last two posts to make it clear.

  8. #82
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    Chris had a brainwave late last night, I have had experience with a CNC punch press many years ago and CNC relies on a hard stop at zero for a measuring reference. I am going to put a hard stop on the fence that puts the fence on the centre line of the chuck so it becomes the reference when moving the fence. If a rebate was required 12mm from the edge the fence would move the 12mm less half the bit diameter on the DRO, quick, precise and repeatable. To set zero, raise the stop or engage it, move the fence to the stop and zero the fence DRO and you then have an exact zero to reference from.
    CHRIS

  9. #83
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    Feb 2016
    Location
    Canberra
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    Excellent thread.

    With the tabletop, how are you going to keep it 90° to the router? I'd imagine it needs to be pretty accurate on two of the axis'.

    This is easy enough when the thing is bolted to the underside of the top and the motor is fixed in place.

    Another thing that may be of use, is I use a little laser for veneer cutting. It is controlled by a little Raspberry Pi controller (they are cheap) and two limit switches to stop you from doing Stupid Things with it. Perhaps there is a simple method (a program for the R.P) that can drive the up/down motor and two limit switches...???

  10. #84
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    I’m using an Arduino for mine and it works perfectly.

  11. #85
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    Quote Originally Posted by woodPixel View Post
    Excellent thread.

    With the tabletop, how are you going to keep it 90° to the router? I'd imagine it needs to be pretty accurate on two of the axis'.

    This is easy enough when the thing is bolted to the underside of the top and the motor is fixed in place.

    Another thing that may be of use, is I use a little laser for veneer cutting. It is controlled by a little Raspberry Pi controller (they are cheap) and two limit switches to stop you from doing Stupid Things with it. Perhaps there is a simple method (a program for the R.P) that can drive the up/down motor and two limit switches...???
    I will leave the electron talk to Mike but the 90 deg accuracy won't be that hard. Build it as accurately and as rigid as possible then and the vertical rails could be shimmed if needed. I don't know if limit switches are necessary as the travel control will be manual and read from the DRO, Mike might comment here. If it was a keyboard entry of a dimension then certainly it would need limit switches as a key stroke mistake could run it to the end of the rail.
    CHRIS

  12. #86
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    I believe limit switches would be important if using a stepper, dc. motor or linear actuator It’s always possible to get a ‘run away’ if a fault develops in the controller. They are a cheap safety item to add.

  13. #87
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    Nov 2013
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    Caboolture QLD AU
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    Hi to all, great to throw out ideas, suggestions and especially point out any problems that we may have missed.

    I have locating pins for table to frame registration in my removable table, done to keep everything square, they are located along both sides and the front of my RT, they are a friction fit and there is no movement or misalignment. Having a removable table implies that the cabinet frame is made very rigid to compensate for removable table.

    I use various micros, something simple for up / down control would be a small 4 or 8 pin micro and a few components on tiny PCB, I build and program these things all time. FYI this thread shows a larger micro project with the dust monitor I made and programmed driving an inbuilt touch screen LCD. dust-sensor-tech

    The stepper is the least likely to cause a problem when not using limit controls, a stepper will easily stall (compared to similar sized DC motor), nothing will happen with most stepper motor until a winding overheats and could take quite some time - but a correctly set current limit will take care of excessive stall current, a DC motor winding or brushes will be destroyed in short order without limits.

    As Chris said, it will be rotary encoder control, I program the step rate to increase the faster the encoder is moved, this makes fast moves or micro step movements easy with just one control. The main problem will be force exerted by the reduction drive past any physical limit, so it's this that will require us to incorporate limit switches.

    FYI I could easily include keypad position entry but it increases the cost for little practical gain in this situation, that's more important in some automation situations but I'm not convinced of it's practical use in the sort of work the average WW does on an RT. But I might look into it down the track.

  14. #88
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    Using a rotary divider will certainly simplify things. I used one during my original build. I used a keypad on the one in the thread because I was thinking about a future CNC project so I want to see how much accuracy I could achieve. The cost was minimal. As Chris said, a keypad does introduce an additional area of possible problems due to an incorrect keypad entry.
    For general routing, as you say, the rotary encoder would suffice.
    Looking forward to future progress in this thread.

  15. #89
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    Excuse my clumsy language here as I don't know how else to express myself. I thought about having a target dimension set by a keyboard and press G for go and the fence moves to the position keyed in. Initially my thought was to have it but then reality set in as the fence or the vertical position has a very limited travel when it is all set and done, ordinarily neither axis would exceed 100mm of movement in day to day work. When Mike pointed out that it was not an easy thing to do my mind was made up and I walked away from the idea altogether. keying in a target dimension when you only want .5mm movement seems to be overkill but I do love techy stuff at the end of the day hence my initial thoughts about including it. Some people would say the whole idea of DRO and motor control is overkill and unnecessary and they might be right but I have always liked digital not because it is any more accurate (debatable) but I can go back and dial in the same measurement on the fence a month later and get repeatable results within the resolution of the DRO. The vertical axis not so much as setting the height of the bit affect the zero point but if a known dimension spacer was used between the bit and the chuck face to set the height in the chuck then maybe that is repeatable also.

    As WP will tell you I love developing stuff and going where others have not been.
    CHRIS

  16. #90
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    I’m like you - I love a challenge, which is why I started down this route. Originally my project was to develop accurate drivers for stepper motors used in Automotive, which I have done, so I decided to apply it to wood working.
    In my video you can see that I can key in a dimension and the router will move to that point. It is repeatable. Accuracy depends on how accuracte you want to be - theoretically, with the setup I have, I should be able to achieve 0.0025m but in practice 0.1mm is the most accurate I would want to go and even then I have to use anti back lash fittings etc.
    The other good thing about going digital is I can set a zero point at any height then move the router up or down from that point.
    The thread on the programmeable fence in the General woodworking section shows there are a number of companies offering this feature but it would be nice to achieve this at a lot less than the $1000 offering.

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