Thread: Taking the Plunge - My first Build... pun intended!!

I have been reading through your thread and I would probably look at Rods builds and my baby CNC build these are not welded all that is required is a lot of cutting and Tapping and for the size your looking at building I really think it the best and easiest and cheapest design and I am sure Rod wont mind another copycat .

All you will need is a drill press and a Tap set a cordless drill helps with all the tapping as well .

I have a bandsaw just needs a little realignment that you can cut you steel on if you want to come for a drive one Saturday then you will be ready to go.

Thanks mate. May have to take you up on that offer. I am finding that the design I posted up will end up costing a tad more than planned.

So went to have another 'play' with the motors this evening and it started doing something funny.

Last night they were spinning like crazy and working as intended. Tonight however, they will only spin for about 1-2 seconds and then they seem to lock up. Mach3 then decides that it won't respond either.

What might be causing this? I am using the exact same cable and motor with the spindles of the motors under no load. Could it be Mach3? I don't see any settings that have changed - I could be wrong. I've tried changing the acceleration/velocity settings just as I did last night to no avail.

Any help to cure my frustration would be awesome. The only thing I can think of that I'm doing different tonight is that both the computer and control box are using the same double GPO.

Might try it in different GPO's and see if it makes any difference.

At a guess something to do with your computer and the smoothsteeper but its a guess as I dont use a Smooth stepper but I will say WALK AWAY FROM THE MACHINE WALK AWAY until one of the smooth guy helps you but dont be worried it will be ok I ma sure.

I think it has everything to do with Mach3 and the smoothstepper. When the motor locks up, the INIT led on the smoothstepper stops blinking. The SS manual says:

Init is lit when the FPGA is first powered
up, or there is a configuration error. It
may blink if the PlugIn is configured to

do so when Mach transmits data.

Might try re-installing Mach3 and the smoothstepper driver and see if it helps.

ok. think i have it sorted.

i believe that it was the smoothstepper getting interference from my power inside the control box through the usb cable.

I ended up plugging the usb cable directly from the pc to the smoothstepper (instead of the control panel mount usb cable. worked perfectly after that.

what this means is that i think i need to rewire the control box to ensure that the usb cable is as far away as possible from any electrical sources. will be tough given the size of the enclosure but i;m sure its doable.

on a side note, what sort of noise do your motors make when sitting idle if any at all??

cheers and beers
row.

Try a ground from your control box to the computer case. It fixed my smoothstepper problems.
Motors hiss at idle.

Thanks Rod. I tried the ground as you suggested but no luck.

I have done a complete re-wire of the control box (looking very clean and tidy now).
I put a ferrite on the internal USB cable but this did not seem to help at all. However when I remove the lid and plug the USB cable directly from the computer to the smoothstepper it works okay - still the occasional lock up.

I did some further reading on the Mach3 support forum in the Smoothstepper section and have come to the conclusion that the noise generated from all the other componenets in the enclosure are causing too much interference. Poor little SS likes his peace and quiet .

With that in mind, I'm going to remove the SS from the control box and install it in its own small plastic enclosure similar to this:

Plastic Molded Enclosures Dark Grey ABS - 150 x 80 x 30mm - Jaycar Electronics

I'll then just run a parallel cable from the new SS enclosure to the G540 control box.
Bit of a pain but should be worth it in the end.

The reason for using the SS is because I plan to use a laptop to run my system (when's it built that is). If this doesn't sort out my issues - might pick up one of these. I'm a bit ticked off because I went to their ebay site yesterday and they had these for $49. Next day when I looked again - back up to $99. Oh well.

Quick PC Computer System w/ Windows, Software, Warranty (eBay item 220688441461 end time 30-Oct-10 09:33:30 AEDST) : Computers

Row.

Hi again,
Been far too long between posts but I've made some progress. The hold up was for my new drill press - 10 weeks for delivery. Wasn't very impressed (but worth the wait none the less).

Most of you will notice my build looks strangely familiar . Anyways here's a few pics.

Hi Row,
Very neatly done.

Good choice on design, if you have some cash left over I'd say get it powdercoated, the few machines that I have seen here that have been powdercoated look awesome.

Did you drill all the steel or did you get it laser/waterjet cut?


If your not a fan of the socket head bolts, you can get some button head bolts which have a lower profile.
http://hlmet.com/images/inch_size_ti...s_420cc300.jpg

Or just ignore me if you like them

Thanks for the encouragement Rod. I must give credit to your design, its solid as a rock.

Ch4is,
Its funny you mention it, because I'm currently tossing up whether or not to powder coat. If I don't go the powdercoat route, I was thinking the hammer coat paint might be an option (similar to the ch1 build). At least this will help to hide an average paint job.

I wish it was laser cut.........gotta say the drilling and tapping was a P.I.T.A.!!!

Surprisingly it has turned out rather square. At worst, measurements are only 0.5-1mm out. I purposely drilled some holes at 0.5mm larger to allow for some compensation.

My biggest issue is one of the X rail angle pieces. It has a slight twist to it. Am hoping that some shimming will compensate for it. If not, may have to get a new piece.

Cheers and beers,
Row

Am going to replace the twisted x rail. Think it will just be easier in the end. I thought it would be okay but the twist is so much more evident when put together. I have a few questions at this point:

1. Rod, which piece do you grind for the table supports? The long pieces or the small support brackets? Does it really make a difference?

2. I am preparing to make an order for a spindle and VFD and was wondering what size I should get. I'm thinking for the size of my machine a 1.5kw air cooled should be plenty sufficient. Thoughts ?

For some reason I just don't feel comfortable with the Huanyang VFDs so I think I'll get a hitachi x200 from drives warehouse.

3. I want to use an 80x80 aluminum profile for the gantry and was wondering if going for the lite version is a no no.

Any thoughts or comments would be very much appreciated. The excitement is certainly starting to build now that I can see it slowly taking shape.

Cheers an beers
Row

Hi Row,
I don't understand your first question. I don't grind any of angles or flats.
The adjustment system on the table top level everything there.

1.5kw should be ample

I would use 120 by 80 for the gantry beam.

Sorry Rod,
I should have made myself a bit clearer. Due to the radius on the internal angle on the base table supports, I was wondering which of the two you remove the radius so they sit flat against each other

Picture 001 shows where the two pieces fit in the grand scheme and picture 002 shows the radius I'm talking about. I don't think it really matters, but you may have a differing opinion.

Thanks
Row.

***Edit: Sorry should be the top back edge of the smaller piece (not the radius)***