ChrisG-Canada Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 I'm following your build with great interest. I've actually been building my own CNC for the past few months. It's a variation on the 1000mm X-Carve with lots of upgrade modifications and a custom control panel that uses a Gecko G540 motor controller. I'm very impressed with the quality of your project. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 6 hours ago, ChrisG-Canada said: I'm following your build with great interest. I've actually been building my own CNC for the past few months. It's a variation on the 1000mm X-Carve with lots of upgrade modifications and a custom control panel that uses a Gecko G540 motor controller. I'm very impressed with the quality of your project. That's pretty cool, Chris! Have you posted any photos or anything on the build? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cancelleri Posted October 6, 2016 Report Share Posted October 6, 2016 15 hours ago, ChrisG-Canada said: I'm following your build with great interest. I've actually been building my own CNC for the past few months. It's a variation on the 1000mm X-Carve with lots of upgrade modifications and a custom control panel that uses a Gecko G540 motor controller. I'm very impressed with the quality of your project. I picked one up a couple of months ago to tinker with. I'm rather impressed by the out of the box accuracy without any mods. That said, I've made some modifications to it, as I use it to turn my learning of Fusion and getting into the use of a CNC into a tangible reality, make people some things to pay for itself, and use up lots of cutoffs. I do see loads of room for improvements on it to make it an even more beastly machine, but at the cost of entry it's best bang for the buck at a novice level. I'm not banging out cabinets or making car parts. I'm doing mostly contours and pockets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 Today I got the Hitachi WJ200-022sf Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) programmed and the cable connector soldered on so I could test the spindle and my programming. I left the cable long so it would reach all the way over to the enclosure but will trim it once I get the enclosure mounted. The spindle ran backward but since it is 3 phase all I have to do is swap any two wires and it will run in the other direction (which I did right after the initial test). As I expected the spindle is very quiet; matter of fact the fan on the VFD was louder than the spindle. I only ran the spindle at 6,000 RPM for a few seconds because I don't have water lines connected yet. But I'm pleased with this and now I can look at programming the logic controls in the VFD for activating other relays on the 4-channel relay board (the one mounted on an angle). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted October 7, 2016 Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 This is fun build to follow way over my head but very informative even to the computer/technically challenged like me thanks for sharing your progress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 Thanks for following along! It's been fun for me, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 It was time to mount the enclosure to the stand so I disconnected the spindle cable, wrapped up the power cords, unplugged the motors and sensors, and carried it over to mount. This thing must weigh 60 to 70 pounds! A normal man would have difficulty with this but my friends say I'm not in that category... LOL! The holes were predrilled so mounting should be easy except for handling the weight and trying to line up screws so I just put some boards down and set the enclosure on those. Got the first screw in the upper left corner very quickly so I could let go and then had an 'uh oh' moment. I drew a very detailed and well thought out set of plans for this and had everything measured, calculated, and double-checked so I knew everything was going to fit and I would have access to everything required (pardon me while I pat myself on the back...). However, I didn't follow those plans (pardon me while I kick myself in the rear!!). When I laid out the location for the side exhaust fan in the upper right of the enclosure I wanted it as high as I could mount it and still have access to the bolt in the upper right corner. No problem, I set the location accordingly and moved on. But a week later when I actually began to cut the holes for the fan I pondered why it was 1.5" from the top and not 1". So I drilled all the holes and mounted it at 1" from the top so it would be just a little higher to exhaust an immeasurable increase of warm air. Yes, I'm anal like that - sorry. Today I discovered why it was suppose to be 1.5" from the top; I can't get to the upper right corner bolt. For about 30 minutes I tried all sorts of tricks and techniques to get the bolt at least started but to no avail. I can't take the fan out without taking the VFD out. I'm thinking that if I take the VFD out I can get to it ok and it is, after all, very easy to take out. I can probably take the VFD out, attach the bolt, and put the VFD back in place in less than the 30 minutes I wasted trying to 'stubborn' my way through it. I'm just glad my wife wasn't here at the time because she would have said from the start to take the VFD out and quit wasting time! LOL! The only thing is that every fastener in the enclosure is secured with thread lock and I didn't really want to disturb that but I guess I'll just put some more on. On the stand - Inaccessible bolt - it may appear as though a long extension would work but I assure you it will not even come close - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 15 minutes, start to finish with bolt in and VFD back in place; should've done that to start with! Actually, should have mounted the fan in the right place to start with but I digress... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2016 Wrapping up a busy day, lots accomplished! After mounting the enclosure I remounted all the stepper motors. That meant putting thread locker on every set screw and mounting bolt, including the mount for the spindle, and on every fastener except the mounting bolts that go into nylon lock nuts. After I got the steppers mounted and properly tensioned I started running cables through the cable chains. Both of these tasks actually took quite a while but they're all run now and the only thing left to run are the water lines. It's probably going to take just as long to clean up the lines and get them better organized and I still have to solder the leads on 4 stepper motors and 6 proximity sensors. Each will be covered in shrink tubing and carefully placed so as not to rub unnecessarily on anything else in the path but still allow for free movement. Gotta' shut it down for the night, though. Not only because I have been at this since 7 this morning but now I have to clean up for a high school reunion we're going to in about an hour. Tomorrow we have a family reunion and that's going to take all day. So I won't get much done tomorrow. Grounding the frame to the main ground lug in the enclosure and thus to earth ground - Steppers and sensors plugged into the enclosure - Running cables through the cable chains - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2016 We did the reunion trip and I had a few hours after we got home last night to solder the cables to the motor leads. There's a lot more to doing this (and doing it right) than meets the eye - lot of prep work and diligence to keep the solder joints staggered, provide a good mechanical connection before soldering, getting the shrink tubing in place, etc. but the connections are good so that's what matters. 3 down, one to go - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2016 IT'S ALIVE!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted October 9, 2016 Report Share Posted October 9, 2016 On 9/11/2016 at 0:39 PM, difalkner said: Now THAT would be a cool addition to any shop! Woohooo!!!! Congrats and very cool! Motion looks very nice! WAY jealous! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FineLineAutomation Posted October 9, 2016 Report Share Posted October 9, 2016 Motion looks great. Looks you you got a few wires to clean up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 4 hours ago, FineLineAutomation said: Motion looks great. Looks you you got a few wires to clean up. Thanks, Nate! Yes, not even half way finished on the cabling and wires but getting there. 4 hours ago, micks said: Woohooo!!!! Congrats and very cool! Motion looks very nice! WAY jealous! Thanks, Micks!! It was cool to see it doing what I expected it to do. It seems to be very smooth and the motors I picked out appear to be just as powerful as I thought they'd be - I like the entire setup. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elroy Skimms Posted October 10, 2016 Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 Your attention to detail on this build is amazing. Do it once, do it right, is a mantra I have never been able to master. All of my CNC electronics are screwed to a small piece of plywood attached to the side of my table. I told myself that it was only temporary and I would do it up proper when everything was tested and finished. That was 45 cabinets, 2 Adirondack chairs, 1 fireworks controller, 1 end table, and 1 year ago. I'm bad and I feel bad. Any chance you could post a few links for your parts, or PM them to me? Specifically the enclosure and those 4-pin connectors on your spindle & limit switch lines. I have a lot of homework to do! -E 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 (edited) 4 hours ago, Elroy Skimms said: Your attention to detail on this build is amazing. Do it once, do it right, is a mantra I have never been able to master. All of my CNC electronics are screwed to a small piece of plywood attached to the side of my table. I told myself that it was only temporary and I would do it up proper when everything was tested and finished. That was 45 cabinets, 2 Adirondack chairs, 1 fireworks controller, 1 end table, and 1 year ago. I'm bad and I feel bad. Any chance you could post a few links for your parts, or PM them to me? Specifically the enclosure and those 4-pin connectors on your spindle & limit switch lines. I have a lot of homework to do! -E Thanks, Elroy! You're too kind. Hey, at least you've made something with yours. All I've done is build for three months and take a lot of photos - LOL! Sure, I'll send you that stuff in a bit but right now I'm headed back out to the shop. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Got some more wiring finished today, starting with one E-Stop and moving on to the proximity sensors. When I made the bracket for the E-Stop I drilled a hole where the center of the box would be so I could bring the wire in from the bottom to the inside of the box. Since I wanted to make certain nothing rubbed or cut the outer jacket I sized it for a grommet and while I had the cover off for wiring I thought I'd take a photo of that. Finished E-Stop, bracket, and Y- proximity sensor - Y+ proximity - Making certain nothing moves or rubs through the outer jacket on the cabling - Edited October 10, 2016 by difalkner formatting, lining captions up with photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 (edited) Busy day on sensors, including crushing one - ugh! The design locations for sensors on this frame/machine are less than desirable. I relocated the Y axis sensor positions and made some simple temporary brackets for the X axis sensors. However, the Z axis locations have the sensors pointing at the plastic end piece on the linear bearings. Now, if you have 8mm sensing distance proximity sensors then you might get away with this but mine are 4mm. And here's a little piece of info if you're shopping for sensors - the distances given are for steel. They're half the distance on aluminum. I had decided to cut some small pieces of cold rolled steel and attach to the aluminum so I could get my full sensing distance, including onto the plastic for the Z axis. I had set up the sensors for testing and the Z axis was nearly touching the plastic when it tripped but since I planned to add some steel it wasn't going to be an issue. Well, it wasn't until I accidentally jogged the Z axis up instead of down when it was about 1/2" away from the sensor - too far away to trip and just far enough away to fly into the sensor. Here's the result - The jog rate was only 25% but that was enough to crush the sensor. Luckily I had another sensor although replacing one isn't what I started out to do today. So after that I made the steel pads to double my sensing distance and these give me much greater results. Ultimately I believe the sensors should be alongside the traveling carriage or component instead of directly in the path. That's probably how I'll redesign the mounts once I get finished with the build but I won't tackle that right now. Steel pads and the new sensing distance - Edited October 12, 2016 by difalkner formatting for captions on photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 (edited) The other task I completed today was to change out the spindle connector. I didn't care for the one that came with the spindle so I ordered an Amphenol and it arrived today. Getting the old connector off was a bear; finally had to take a punch and bust it up. The new connector went in without a hitch and is much more solid. Old connector (I planned to shrink the tubing but decided instead to replace the connector so the heat shrink is just sitting there) - New Amphenol connector - Edited October 12, 2016 by difalkner formatting for captions on photos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted October 12, 2016 Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 Some days, huh? I think I would relocate any prox sensor that isn't mounted perpendicular to the axis of travel. 8mm is not much margin if you're slewing at 1200 ipm and a sensor fails. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 41 minutes ago, micks said: Some days, huh? I think I would relocate any prox sensor that isn't mounted perpendicular to the axis of travel. 8mm is not much margin if you're slewing at 1200 ipm and a sensor fails. I can't agree more, Micks! Being all new to this CNC world I just started mounting sensors in places that were provided on the frame. As I started looking at this a little closer I quickly came to the conclusion that there's a better way. One of the things on my short list is to move all of the sensors to better locations but I didn't figure I'd crush one this soon. Relocating the sensors moved up on the priority list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 12, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2016 (edited) Ha!! Look what I found under all the CNC electronics stuff - a table saw!! After I figured out how to turn it on and what it does I did a little woodworking; it's been a couple of months since that's happened in this woodshop. I made a shelf for the spindle water reservoir and added a much needed diagonal brace. I knew it was going to be needed but until I decided on the water reservoir size I couldn't put the brace in. As I expected it is now much, much stiffer in the Y direction. The tub for water reservoir is about 7.5 gallons capacity. The shelf is made with a couple of boards from the shipping pallet for the CNC frame. Edited October 12, 2016 by difalkner formatting for captions on photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 (edited) It was time to run the water lines for the spindle and I needed to drop them through the cable tray down to the reservoir so I used a grommet to protect the lines. For about 5 seconds I considered running the lines over the edge but didn't like that. Tonight I mounted the radiator, fan, and box with connectors for the pump and fan. The fan is 120Vac and the submersible pump is 12Vdc. The fan will use the top 3-pin connector and the pump will use the bottom 5-pin connector. Neither one needs this many wires but I wanted them different so down the road I wouldn't accidentally plug them into the wrong spot - it won't always be this easy to see down there. I mounted the radiator right over the reservoir so that if a slow leak starts the lid will contain a small amount of water. Also, if I need to drain the lines all I have to do is remove the lid and the radiator is right over the reservoir. I'll connect the lines and wire the plugs tomorrow and then I can test the spindle fittings and lines. Edited October 14, 2016 by difalkner formatting for photo captions and flow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
difalkner Posted October 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Today I completed the water cooling system for lines and wiring and ran it for testing - all is good! However, not without some hiccups along the way. When I first tried to run the pump nothing happened. I know it works because I tested it, even did a video of me spraying water in the kitchen. So I started troubleshooting and quickly discovered that I had wired the relay inside the enclosure for 5V instead of 12V. That meant I had to do some rewiring with the enclosure on the stand and that's a whole lot more difficult than doing it on the bench. After finding a spot to grab 12V I ran the wire to the common side of the relay and with all the confidence in the world I fired it back up, expecting the pump to run. Nothing, nada, zilch... The pump plugs into a 5-pin connector and I had checked continuity after making the cable and soldering everything so I knew that was good. Finally, after about 20 L O N G minutes of searching for broken solder joints, wires, checking polarity, etc. I decided to check the plug on the pump again. For some reason I had soldered the two leads to pins 4 & 5 instead of pins 1 & 2 (like the receptacle). What a dummy! Now it didn't matter which two pins I used but you'd think it would be a good idea to use the same pins on the receptacle and plug - right?! Right! Sometimes I wish I was smart instead of just good looking... ok, at this point in my life I'll take either one. LOL! Anyway, here's the completed unit; the filter on the intake is for aquariums and it should stop anything 1/16" or larger. I intend to keep the lid on and monitor the water for sediment or trash so I'll add a better filter later if needed. The discharge hose is fastened to the lid so I can see water flowing out and I'll probably add a flow indicator later. The blue fittings on the pump are anodized aluminum, the capacity of the reservoir is 7.5 gallons, and the tubing is silicone with a continuous use temperature range: -60 ℃ ~ 200 ℃ - I expect to be operating the spindle well inside that range! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post difalkner Posted October 16, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Here's a video testing the cooling system - 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FineLineAutomation Posted October 16, 2016 Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 Looks good. When do you think you'll cut the first piece? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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