Thread: 6040 CNC WIP the journey starts

Good to see Fred. Rod should have heaps of photo's to show. Look forward to see what you do. I went for the 4th axis with the Gecko G540 4 axis controller.
David

I have a very strong steel and mdf bench that the thing will fit on but it is only 600 wide so I am going to mount mine side on and have the x axis as the long side. one advantage is then the artwork is in landscape mode and i don't have to rotate it everytime i do a job. Obviously the 0 point wants to be on the left side but then if u use that as home it is in the way of securing the job. So i will mount the limits at the other end and set Mach to use the left front end as 0, Just have to work out how to do it .
I have some optical interuptors left over from another project so i will use them. These things have an active pullup and pulldown so should be less prone to noise. Hopefully dust won't bother them too much, should be fine with a dust shoe.

Mike

OK, so is the gantry, with the spindle at the start of the X axis, on your left or on your right?

U can set it up anyway u like. mine will home to the right and 0 will be on the left. This gets the gantry out of the way to place material. 0 is usually on the left in CAD


I was just looking at how i will mount the switches and noted how there could have been a few changes to the machine to make it far better. As it is the spindle hangs over the end of the table making it impossible to clamp on that side, the side plates need to be offset about 80mm more than they are. All the "T" slots are under the engraveable area so they are basically useless. Only side that can be clamped is the max end of the long axis. Maybe have to have 2 setups for Mach, one a smaller size so at least the front edge and the outermost T slots are useable, maybe about 380x550. Haven't worked out a way to put some edge strips to create a reference for the 0 edges so it is easier to align the workpiece, maybe just draw some lines. Am starting to think maybe a 20mm MDF top that over hangs the table at the front, 50mm, and both sides as much as possibe

zero is center , run it into its stops( no limit switches ) , then 325x225y offset too zero ( < if that made sense ) 6545CNC
??/
what ever you set up is correct
i wrote a g-code 0.tap , run it into its stops via keyboard , zero x zero y , run "0.tap" zero x and y , wind down z until it touches paper , then zero z, done
a wood turning "cross your corners" for center helps bolt down your work peace
later you will need to set it up with off set , when cutting out from already used material , not that hard

as long as you know where your zero is , you enter it into CAM , and it works ( any of the 4 corners or center )


quote >Question 2 is would one house the VFD etc in a separate compartment < quote

if you cant have 200mm between the gekko's and VDF , put a metal wall between & around them , yes enclosing them you will need fans
running stepper and VDF wire in the cable chain should be fine , if you put 5 volt "TTL" with them you are asking for trouble ( with out shielded cable )
i have my electronics above , and run my spindle wires zipped tied with the coolant lines ( 8mm bunnings cheep spiraled compressor hose ) from the top , and run my stepper wires through the cable chains , ( not saying its the way to go , just the way i did it ) should be able to get my dust extraction hose down the middle of the " coolent , spindle wires " and none of my wires are shielded ,just kept apart

Hello Fred,
I am interested in how this build turns out. For when I have done the CNC conversion to the X2 I want to build a CNC Gantry Router. You have asked a lot of questions that have been going through my head as well. So I am interested in what the collective minds of this forum come up with. Good Luck
Cheers Gerry

Originally Posted by SawDustSniffer

quote >Question 2 is would one house the VFD etc in a separate compartment < quote

if you cant have 200mm between the gekko's and VDF , put a metal wall between them ,
running stepper and VDF wire in the cable chain should be fine , if you put 5 volt "TTL" with them you are asking for trouble ( with out shielded cable )
i have my electronics above , and run my spindle wires zipped tied with the coolant lines ( 8mm bunnings cheep spiraled compressor hose ) from the top , and run my stepper wires through the cable chains , ( not saying its the way to go , just the way i did it ) should be able to get my dust extraction hose down the middle of the " coolent , spindle wires " and none of my wires are shielded ,just kept apart

Thanks SDS, I take that as a yes for a separate compartment for the VFD. Yes, I will be using shielded cable, this has come through in so many of the posts I have read..


The basic design for the CNC router stand will follow the same design ideas I used in my Router Table, it has stood the test of time and has proven a very stable work platform.

I have made a start today and the base frame is together, as well as the castors fixed on.

Have also cut the top to size and thicknessed the edges for same, they will be attached tomorrow.

Will put up some photos then.

??definition of metal wall??? , < aluminium foil glued too MDF will work , but must be grounded

the magnetic field's wave length from a 50hz wire is 6000km wide ,your spindle at 400hz is still over 1000km wide , a 5mm gap wont matter , you can even use metal fly screen so air still flows ( perforated flat sheet )
the power of the interference is based on the "inverse square " law , 2x the distance is 4x less , 8x is 64x less

Your " brawl" of gecko's might like it better in a cage but they come in a metal box to stop them fighting between them selves ??VDF's come in plastic boxes

6040 control box's are plastic , and there stepper driver boards are open

Originally Posted by Big Shed

OK, so is the gantry, with the spindle at the start of the X axis, on your left or on your right?

Fred,

For a gantry router I like to have my zero at the front right. This is with the x axis traversing away and towards the back of the machine and the y axis across the machine. As my x axis is the longest I think it suits me when I draw the parts up in cad as I have the longest part drawn across the screen.

I hope this is clear.

However, on my X4 mill, as my x axis traverses across me as I look at it and the y axis is again the shortest length and moves backwards and forwards to me, I use the closest left position for home. Once again it allows me to draw the product the same way in cad on the screen. I don't have any issues when it comes to routing it out as it will work on both machines the same asmlong as the product fits in the machine footprint.

I'll try to show you in a picture if I get time today to take one of the new gantry router I built.

Thanks for that input.

The "journey" has been rudely interrupted by #2 daughter who wanted me to make a quilting rack, so working on that atm, but should be able to get back to my own project in the next few days.

Fred,
Must be time for an update on your 6040, assuming that you've finished building Quiltbot