 Tue, Feb 5, 2008 |
 Sun, Feb 17, 2008 |
 Tue, Feb 5, 2008 |
| Liyu CNC engraver/router | Comparison of results on Roland MDX-20(left) and Liyu. Note the parallel grooves on the part on the right (dwell marks). This was caused by the tool pausing between each step while the onboard controller though about what to do next. | A look inside |
 Tue, Feb 5, 2008 |
 Sun, Feb 24, 2008 |
 Tue, Feb 26, 2008 |
| XY Stepper motor drives and X motor (bottom) | In an attempt to make the machine more "usable" I'm hooking up a PC equipped with Mach3 and bypassing the onboard controller completely. This is the parallel port interface. The boards on the right allows the existing wiring to be used. | Z axis stepper and drive. Z axis header board, breakout board (and XY headers) and 8way relay board (from Jaycar). Stepper, drive and breakout board from Ocean Controls in Oz. |
 Fri, Feb 29, 2008 |
 Sat, Mar 1, 2008 |
 Thu, Mar 6, 2008 |
| burn-in testing the z axis 24v powersupply, drive and motor. I tried a switchmode 24V supply but it was running pretty hot. Trying out an unregulated 3A supply this time. | Mounted the boards to acrylic sheet. These will fit against the back of the machine so there will just be 2 parallel ports poking out. | Parts cut under Mach3 control (left) and the onboard RS232 controller (right). Much smoother and faster cuts. |
 Sat, Mar 8, 2008 |
 Sun, Mar 16, 2008 |
 Sun, Mar 16, 2008 |
| 1/32nd scale treadplate - good test of rapid speed and Z repeatability. | Breakout and relay boards mounted - they're a bit close to the Y motor so I might move the boards over a few mm. | Found room for the Z axis drive up top. |
 Sun, Mar 16, 2008 |
 Mon, Mar 17, 2008 |
 Tue, Mar 18, 2008 |
| Managed to get all the wiring enclosed except the 24V supply up to the Z drive. The orange wire is attached to a piece of 1/16" printed circuit board used as a tool probe (to auto-zero the Z axis) | Thinking about CNC-ing a C0 micro-lathe. I should be able to drive the Z-axis with a threaded rod mounted in bearings with a delrin nut attached to the carriage. | Designing the cross slide stepper mount. Lead screw will run in a bearing inside. I'll drill out the existing mounting holes in the carriage so this can clamp securely. |
 Tue, Mar 18, 2008 |
 Wed, Mar 19, 2008 |
 Wed, Mar 19, 2008 |
| Spider coupler between the motor and lead screw. If I can get the shaft alignment exactly right I can use a direct coupler instead which means the stepper can be mounted a bit closer | I'm going to prototype the mounts with delrin first cause I want to see if this much weight hanging off the side is going to be a problem. There will be a 3mm aluminium plate attached to the back for mounting the stepper. | Plan B is to mount the stepper on the side driving a timing belt which will keep the center of gravity a bit closer in. Can utilise the same bearing mount either way. |
 Sat, Mar 22, 2008 |
 Sat, Mar 22, 2008 |
 Sun, Mar 23, 2008 |
| crossslide (X-axis) stepper mounted. Note the delrin block halfway down the leadscrew - the top will be machined and threaded to attach to the crossslide. Looks like I'll be able to drive the X-axis at 5mm/sec. | original brass nut and new delrin nut. | Z-axis stepper. Still need to make a bracket to hold it in place. |
 Sun, Mar 23, 2008 |
 Sun, Mar 23, 2008 |
 Sun, Mar 23, 2008 |
| The other end of leadscrew is supported in a bearing. The nuts allow endplay adjustment. I was going to make something to mount the bearing in but this seems to be stable enough. | delrin nut | |
 Fri, Mar 28, 2008 |
 Tue, Apr 1, 2008 |
 Tue, Apr 1, 2008 |
| Z axis delrin nut. Plan B: there's a slot machined into the back which will stop the nut sliding around on the bracket. | moving the stepper to the left side. Mounted with 6mm aluminium plate (for rigidity) to the headstock. | brass shim - almost 1mm worth in behind the carriage to help prevent the carriage yawing. |
 Sun, Apr 6, 2008 |
 Sun, Apr 6, 2008 |
 Mon, Apr 14, 2008 |
| Success? Looks mostly like the CAD model and it's the right size. Just need to make 3 more exactly the same. | Compared to the badly shaped plastic ones I'm replacing. | 3 more roughed out. |
 Sat, Apr 19, 2008 |
 Sat, Apr 19, 2008 |
 Sat, Apr 19, 2008 |
| Roughing out one part sure makes a lot of swarf. | New motor pulley to increase torque and reduce spindle speed. | re-centering part for finishing pass. Note brass sheet attached under toolpost to prevent swarf fouling the x-axis stepper. |
 Sun, Apr 20, 2008 |
 Sun, Apr 20, 2008 |
 Sun, Apr 20, 2008 |
| first finishing pass on one. | Look close enough to me i.e as close as I can measure with my cheap chinese calipers- using the first groove to check diameter. | x 4. Next step is to drill a hole down the middle before starting the internal taper. |
 Sat, Apr 26, 2008 |
 Sun, Apr 27, 2008 |
 Sat, May 10, 2008 |
| done... just need to clean up the end... and make the baffles (but that's easy). | Tailstock DRO. Cut down $15 chinese caliper. Aluminium bracket mounts behind chuck. Uber-strong magnets hold slide/readout in place. | |
 Sun, Jun 1, 2008 |
 Sun, Jun 1, 2008 |
 Sun, Jun 1, 2008 |
| Super X3 cncfusion deluxe ballscrew conversion. Z axis motor. | Have to cut a chunk out the the rear housing on the Super X3s. Normal X3's have a hole here. | Have to see if I can get some clearance between the cablesand the motor. |
 Sun, Jun 1, 2008 |
 Sun, Jun 1, 2008 |
 Sun, Jun 8, 2008 |
| 200mm cut from the rear housing. Also removed part of the angle brackets on each side. Used a 1.5" cutting wheel. | Done - don't know if it'll move yet. | 19" enclosure. Driver board, 8 way relay board and PS. |
 Sat, Jun 28, 2008 |
 Sat, Jun 28, 2008 |
 Sat, Jun 28, 2008 |
| new toy: Emco compact 5 PC lathe. replaced stock steppers and hooked it up to mach3. | old Emco motors removed. | I'm only using half of this board and a small 24V power supply to replace... (see next pic) |
 Sat, Jun 28, 2008 |
 Sun, Jun 29, 2008 |
 Tue, Jul 1, 2008 |
| all of this is now obsolete. | emco compact 5 PC - first test cut | Phase II QC toolpost from littlemachineshop - perfect fit in the existing 10mm mounting hole. |
 Wed, Jul 9, 2008 |
 Sat, Jul 12, 2008 |
 Sun, Jul 13, 2008 |
| Emco electronics enclosure | M2.5x0.45 thread cut on Emco to test spindle speed feedback. | Managed to coax the Mach threading wizard into cutting a left hand thread. This is a 4-40 LH thread for a scale model turnbuckle. |
 Sat, Jul 26, 2008 |
 Sat, Aug 2, 2008 |
 Tue, Aug 19, 2008 |
| X3 electronics enclosure is getting kind of crowded. There are 3 power supplies 5V/12V , 24V for the mechatronics board and a 42V reserved for the Z-axis (waiting for gecko G251 drivers to become available) | Workbench. I can put a sheet of perspex on the left side of the mill to keep chips away from the electronics. | Call me crazy but should I really have to re-machine the internal taper of a collet chuck to eliminate a 0.08mm runout? |