Chip Tray!

My morning was full of excitement.  I spent a couple hours planning and mocking up a chip tray to catch the flood and chips.   I'm going to use some kind of Lexan, Plexiglas, or acrylic structure.  I'm looking to keep the tray completely transparent so I can always monitor what is going on.

In other news, I made my first cuts under CNC control!  Started messing around with some wood.  It's cheap and if I crash it I doubt it would be as bad as a steel or aluminum roadblock

Later dudes.

Flood Coolant 2

Got the basic components of my flood coolant system rigged up tonight.  Sweet.  The next step requires design of an enclosure to capture the flood.  I would like to build the chip tray out of clear acrylic.  That would look badass.

G0704 Motor Spindle Control

Busted out the multi-meter and started poking around the inner workings of the G0704 DC motor drive.  

I was able to identify three pins called P1, P2 and P3 that can be tapped to control spindle speed from Mach3 using the MX3660 breakout board.

Basically I need to pull power from pin P3, ground P1 and reference P2.  The reference voltage supplied at P2 from the variable range output 0 to 10volts (or max supplied voltage) of the MX3660 is what controls the speed of the spindle.  The monster is alive! 

To control this spindle to be on or off I need to use a relay.  Since the MX3660 has 4 outputs each supplying 24volts at a max of 70ma of power I decided to order this already assembled relay board.  Free trial of amazon prime? Yes please.  Three dollar next day shipping? Yes please.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IRU0NUC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

more to come later dudes

Ordering Metals

Hey Y'all-

   It has been a while since I made a blog post.  This morning I ordered some 6061 aluminum to begin milling my first parts.  I got a request from a friend to produce some hose clamps for a Ford Bronco engine build.

FYI these two distributors are the best I've ordered from;

www.midwestmetalwarehouse.com or www.speedymetals.com

Midwest metal is slightly cheaper.  Check the ebay store for drops.  Sometimes you can find a steal.

Pictures to come.  After learning the operations of MasterCAM, intricacies of the Mach3 controller and cutting limitation of my G0704 mill I should be well equipped to begin designing a tiny coaster car!

Additionally I've been shopping for a 70 1/2" fine tooth band saw blade to upgrade my crappy craftsman band saw.  10 TPI should suffice.

Matt

MasterCam V6

It's been a while since I made a blog post.  Work has been crazy, but tonight I was able to get my hands on a copy of MasterCAM V6.  I hope to start learning the basics of G code to start controlling my machine.

Today I learned some code lines...let's test my memory:

Line number: N00
Homing: G28
Spindle On: M3
Absolute Coordinates: G90
Relative Coordinates: G91
Rapid Move: G00 X Y Z
Linear Line Move: G01 X Y Z F (feed rate)
Clockwise Arc: G02 X Y I J F
Counterclockwise Arc: G03 X Y I J F

hmmm thats all I can recall.  Much more learning to do. Stay tuned.

Backlash and First Part

I checked the X-axis backlash.  From my measurements I am getting .002 on the X-axis.  I have set this value in Mach3 for backlash compensation.  I;m quite impressed how accurate Mach3 compensates for the slop.  Below is a photo of my backlash testing setup.

I continued to tram the mill and made my first part.  Boy was it awful.  I threw it away. But I've learned many lessons in that short hour of mistakes.  The piece was supposed to be a mount for my X-axis limit and home switch.  It turns out it will not meet my needs.  Having the limit switch mounted horizontal proved to hinder the movement of the trigger arm in both direction because it hit the table.  I was able to turn the trigger arm around to face the back of the switch by loosening the four top screws.  By mounting the switch vertical I was able to achieve my goal of having one switch for both limits of X-axis travel.

I now have homing capability on the X-axis. Tomorrow I will tackle creating a mount for the Z-axis home.  Y will be the most difficult, i'm not looking forward to that.

Motion!

Today was a pretty exciting day.  I moved my computer and controller equipment out into the shop and wired everything up.

Motion now happens on the X and Y axis!  I'm waiting on a coupling from Mcmastercarr to finish the Z-axis assembly.

I've also began experimenting with my limit and home switch setup.  I have the switches arranged in parallel using the normally open (NO) circuitry option.  This allows activation of the limit stop in Mach3 no matter which limit switch is activated.  More importantly this wiring option only uses 1 input of the MX3660.  Which is advantageous because later on those extra inputs could be useful for other operations such as probing or an automatic tool changer.

I noticed the ball screw steel block on the original mill is a perfect size to adapted into a mount for the X-axis limit switch.  When the first chips are produced, this will be the first stock the G0704 biting.

Flood Coolant

Picked up a small 12volt utility water pump from Harbor Freight, $39 on sale.  A bucket test has proven promising for decent flood coolant flow rate.  From what I've read you want flood coolant to surge with enough pressure to wash the chips free from the cutter.  I've got some idea's for coolant collection, I believe a late-night trip to Walmart is brewing.

50psi and 300gph should absolutely do the trick.. Great buy.

I've also got my X and Y stepper motors going mounted and ready to be wired.  Unfortunately I mistakenly ordered Oldham style couplings that came up too short for the stepper shaft length.  I did some improvising with parts I had lying around.  The connection is very transitionally stiff. I do not see the extra extension affecting my backlash numbers, if at all.

Cleaned the shop floor tonight also.  It's looking shiny.