20 Years in the Making...

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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:27 am

I'm finally making some progress.

I received the extrusions from Misumi to assemble the X & Y axes as well as the brackets, nuts, bolts, etc. I'm going to use the 30% discount to pay for the extrusions for the Z-table. It's quite large once it's sitting in front of you! The extrusions are all 70" long, the rails are 64".

DSC00003.JPG


Here's an interesting item... The heads of the socket-head cap screws that I ordered with the extrusions were too large in diameter to drop into the counterbores on the THK rails I'm using. I had to turn down the diameter of 42 screws on the lathe to mount the rails to the extrusions.

I also received my pulleys and belt from Stock Drive Products.

I've seen several posts about the problem of the Y-axis rods whipping at high speeds. I decided to use larger diameter aluminum tubing instead. Tubing is almost as stiff as a solid of the same diameter, only it's much lighter. So, instead of using 1/4" rod, I used 3/4" OD tubing and turned some ends on the lathe to fit my stepper couplers.

DSC00006.JPG


I finished setting up a dedicated PC for the cutter, installed Mach3 and added a touchscreen.
I ordered the LightObject lens holder as well as the associated mirror and lens.
The real pain is that McMaster isn't shipping my stepper couplers until the 15th.

Next to do is:
build the support table for the extrusions
build the idler and drive gear assemblies
turn the ends for the tubing-to-drive-gear assembly
get Geckodrive and steppers working with Mach3
mount the laser
build the cooling system

Plenty to do.
Last edited by trwalters001 on Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:23 pm

I've decided to change a few things:

Returned the 60W Chinese laser I purchased on ebay that was sold as a 70W.
Ordered a Full Spectrum Engineering 60W as well as their RetinaEngrave card and software.
Ordered larger pulleys so the system would run at 1,000 steps per inch as required by the RetinaEngrave system.

Ordered stepper couplers from DumpsterCNC.com. He was able to make custom couplers for me and have them in my hands in 4 days for $30.
Installed digital readouts on all 3 axes of my mill.

I'm going to try to actually *build* something this weekend...
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:15 am

I had some problems with the DRO on the mill. It took a couple of days to figure it out & fix it.
Seems to be working well now.

Once I got the DRO working, I was able to continue making parts for the build.

I started with the Y-axis drive components. I already had some ABEC-7 skate bearings, so I decided to use those.

I drilled & bored a seat for the bearing:
Y1.JPG
Y1.JPG (85.34 KiB) Viewed 20357 times

Y2.JPG


Then made a support for the bearing assembly:
Y3.JPG

Y4.JPG


Since I'm using aluminum tubing for drive shafts instead of solid rod, I had to turn some pieces to attach the drive gear:
Y5.JPG

Y6.JPG

Y7.JPG

(I made 2 of these assemblies.)

Then, it was on to the Y-axis motor mount:
Y8.JPG

Y9.JPG
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:19 am

I then made the belt clamp assembly that mounts on the X-axis truck:
X_Clamp1.JPG

X_Clamp2.JPG

X_Clamp3.JPG

X_Clamp4.JPG



I'm currently working on the X-axis motor mount.

I'm supposed to get the laser and RetinaEngrave board this week.

I ordered the rest of my extrusions (for the Z-table) and additional hardware from Misumi before Christmas. It should be here soon.
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:57 am

I've made some pretty good progress in the past few weeks.
I received my 60W laser tube, power supply and RetinaEngrave board from Full Spectrum Engineering.
I received the rest of my extrusions for the Z-table from Misumi.

I've gotten my support table built and the extrusions installed:

Table.JPG


I decided to use leveling feet to adjust everything. They adjust to level quite easily with my machinist's level.

Leveler.JPG


I'm getting close to finished with the machining. Here's the Y-axis idlers (I still have to make the mounting plates for them.)

Y Idler.JPG

Y Idler 2.JPG


This is one of the Y-axis drive pulleys

Y Driver.JPG


Here's the X-axis gantry

Gantry.JPG


and one of the gantry mounting plates

Gantry Mount Plate.JPG


Here's the X-axis motor and idler

X Motor.JPG

X Idler.JPG


And here's the lens assembly (with Bart's nozzle) mounted on the X-axis

Lens Assy.JPG


I've still got to make:
Y-axis idler mounting plates
Gantry top mounting plates with integral belt clamps and mirror mount
Rear mirror mount
Laser mount

Plus all the electronics and cooling system. Still a ways to go, but the end is in sight.
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby hoda0013 » Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:38 pm

Looking good Tim. I like the way you've built your bearing clamps.

What is the part number for the machine foot bracket in the second picture from the top? It looks pretty slick.

Are you planning on skinning your entire machine with wood or plastic and then hooking up a blower to that (essentially building a large air box)? I ask because I am debating how to build a fume extraction system for my machine. Right now I am planning on building the cutting table as a 50" x 30" x 5" box that is sealed on all sides except the top and then pulling all of my air through that box. This is because I didn't really build the rest of the frame in such a way that skinning it would be an easy task (for portability reasons). It looks like yours would be a little easier to skin though. I'm kicking myself for it right now because at the moment I can only cut thing sheets of paper due to fume reasons :oops: .

Keep up the good work!
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:07 pm

Hi Dillon,

Thanks for the good words! :D

The bearing clamps were made to fit standard ABEC-7 skate-wheel bearings. I made them with a bandsaw, mill, boring head and slitting saw. I bored the hole about .001 over the diameter of the bearing. The SHCS holds them in nicely. I did find out, however, that I can tighten them enough so that the bearing starts binding. Just snug works very well. That fancy-shmancy textured look on the sides is because I was too lazy to use a regular mill bit. I just hogged it off with a roughing bit... :roll:

If you look closely at the bearing supports and the gantry mounting plates, you can see what a fine job one of those rubberized abrasive wheels does putting a shiny finish on things.

Right now, I'm thinking I'll build a small-diameter-PVC-tubing frame covered with sheet plastic that I'll suspend over the table. I may fix it so it can be raised and lowered. I'm planning on attaching a 4"-6" hose to that and pulling air with a 500cfm blower to exhaust outside. It will really be just a fume hood. I already have all of that, so it will be cheap & easy to try.

The leveling feet are from McMaster http://www.mcmaster.com . It's their part # 6943K1. They come as a pack of 4 for $13.12 + S & H.
Notice that the leveling feet sit in recesses in the edges of the 2x4s. That's to keep the whole thing from sliding off & hitting the floor! :shock:

Tim
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:26 pm

I've gotten it to the point of some initial testing...

This is fairly self-explanatory :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wevamv-8frA

Next, I'll be installing the limit and home switches, finalizing the wiring and installing the laser.
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby bdring » Sat Feb 26, 2011 3:32 am

Not bad for 20 years worth of work :lol:

I like the touch screen. Where is the tube going to mount?
Bart
"If you didn't build it, you will never own it."
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Re: 20 Years in the Making...

Postby trwalters001 » Sat Feb 26, 2011 5:49 am

I'm going to mount the tube across the back, next to the Y-axis motor.

I'm not sure I'll continue to use the touchscreen. It's fairly small. You have to be petty accurate to hit some of Mach3's smaller buttons...
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