5' x 5' CNC Router Build

So one thing I forgot to mention was my issue with the double coupling on my X axis. The smaller coupling with set screws kept slipping and started doing it again. After looking at my placement of the ball screw I determined that I had enough room to move it closer to the motor and I could remove the motor shims to get the connection I was needing.

So I moved the main bearing one screw hole closer to the motor and re-drilled the other two holes.
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The support bearing on the other end also had it's holes re-drilled, but found that I was about an 3/32" - 1/8" too high on my initial setup, which. I could tell I had some binding and thought it was due to something shifting during my final weld up. I had ground some of the bearing block down thinking it was being pushed up, but turns out it wasn't the case. I've got some shims in it now, but have a new block on order. Luckily they are only about $10. I had lost the c-clip that came with it also, so will have a new one to install with the new block too.
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I spent a few hours tonight cutting all the metal for the raised table. I cut out mounting plates for each rib, for each end of the rib. Those got drilled, then I drilled/tapped for them to mount on the frame.
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The horizontal plate will have the vertical square tubing welded to them on the welding table, then bolted on and I'll weld the horizontal square tubing in place on the machine once squaring/leveling the best I can.

I've also spent the last month or so seeking out a used wood lathe to use as my rotary/4th axis. I've not had luck finding any for a reasonable price and was thinking about using my craftsman wood lathe I have for the cause, but it's almost too tall for the space I have on the cnc. Tonight I came across some mini wood lathe head stocks and tail stocks on ebay, which are about an 8" swing. I'm not going to be spinning anything fast enough to shake them off the table, so decided to go with them. I'll swap out the v-belt pulley for a timing belt pulley.
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I've ordered a cheap 6" x 1-8 threaded independent 4 jaw chuck from grizzly to use on the head stock.

I'll wait for them to arrive before deciding how to mount them. but I've got an idea to keep the both the head stock and tail stock movable and expandable. Such as that I could "tile" work by extending out either to shift a longer work piece to work on it in sections. Also thinking about a receiver hitch type of mount to be able to move and elevate the whole thing up/down or remove all together.
 
I spent the morning welding up the frames for the raised table. I got them ground down, painted, and installed.
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I had some 3/4" tongue and groove plywood on hand, so used it for a temporary spoil board.
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I'll hopefully fire it up tomorrow to do some test runs. I had some wire and plugs delivered today to connect the touch plate.
 
Here's a little better pic of the raised table.
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I'm thinking about using my old dust shoe for the interim, until I can figure out how I want to attach a floating one to the stationary portion of the z axis. Though I think in theory, I'd probably use both at some point depending on the design being cut. I was using some weaver scope mount strips for it, which allowed for vertical adjustment and easy removal for bit changes. I'll at least use it for figuring out a new design if I don't end up attaching this one.
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The old one didn't have as long as brush as I recall it needing, but do have some longer brushes to work with, so may experiment with that.
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Oh, and I'm thinking she needs a name. Got a couple of ideas, but anyone have any suggestions? :)
 
Might not seem that exciting from the video here, but totally excited about getting the auto zero working. It took a bit of debugging and trying different resistors for the circuit, but finally figured out that there was a debounce option in the smoothstepper plugin settings for mach3 to get rid of some false positives due to EMI from the spindle.

For hold down support I was originally thinking I'd rout some t-slots in mdf. I may still, but my initial plan is to drill about 256 holes in the bottom layer of my spoil board and install that many threaded inserts.

I'll then 256 smaller holes in the upper layer for through holes for hold downs to screw into those inserts. They will be 3" on center apart over the entire spoil board. Brent suggested the idea to use nylon bolts where needed to prevent damage to bits where needed..

I've installed the old dust boot for now to have some dust collection available before starting to route out the threaded insert holes..
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Lastly, I've upgraded to vCarve Pro, mostly to get past the 24" x 24" limitations of vCarve Desktop, but there are some Gadget plugins that look to be pretty handy. I was debating about going to Aspire, but with F360 being free for my level of work, I just didn't see the benefit. However, it is only the difference in price between them if I decide to go that route. :dunno: I'm still evaluating that. I figure for what I currently have planned for the cnc, it should pay for the upgrade and the cost of the build, the $1300 difference may be absorbed somewhere if I do go that route.
 
Nice! What's your first project going to be?

9$ a hundred? Bet you get pretty tired of installing threaded inserts, lol.
 
Aspire is nice to have BUT --- again I say BUT

The only REAL difference is in the modeling. If you do not create or edit ARTISTIC BAS relief models then V-Carve Pro is as high up the ladder you should go. Aside from the BAS relief modeling there are a couple of much smaller differences but those are not show stoppers. F360 can do some artistic stuff but it is not as good as Aspire AT THAT stuff. F360 is FAR more capable than Aspire at arcitectural, mechanical and FULL 3D than Aspire. F360 can model assemblies, Aspire cannot. F360 is parametric, which is a learning curve in itself and in my estimation invaluable. Aspire will never be parametric.

So, V-Carve Pro is in itself an extremely powerful software package.

Aspire is also very powerful. I use Aspire on the Wolf Box, Whales, Signs - but I use a LOT of the 3D models and I edit and create 3D models.

I see lots of people on the Vectric forum with Aspire but they don't use any more than V-Carve Desktop. What a waste of money.

For me, I would like Rhino plus Rhino CAM -- BUT -- that is thousands more than I can afford - at this time.
 
The EMI is mildly concerning, I'd be worried about it causing some issues long term. Might be worth trying to hunt down a little more? Cross check all the shield connections, isolate grounds paths back to the common ground, add more grounding, maybe add a common-mode choke if all that fails? Slap a few ferrite rings in the obvious places?
 
Nice! What's your first project going to be?

9$ a hundred? Bet you get pretty tired of installing threaded inserts, lol.
Ha, well the spoil board probably. Actually been looking at things to make for a Mothers day gift. Probably a sign for my parents to hang up a their place in AZ.

Oh, and bought the hex driver tool for my impact to install the inserts. Still a lot to do, but will make it easier.
The EMI is mildly concerning, I'd be worried about it causing some issues long term. Might be worth trying to hunt down a little more? Cross check all the shield connections, isolate grounds paths back to the common ground, add more grounding, maybe add a common-mode choke if all that fails? Slap a few ferrite rings in the obvious places?
Well, The current touch plate is just connected with some normal wire, no shielding and was hanging across the spindle. I'll update it to some shielded wire when it comes in, just ran out. I probably should add a couple of choke rings between the end of the spindles cable and the VFD where they are exposed.

Leo, Thanks for the info and feedback on Aspire. It's not off the plate and may still buy it, just need to see what type of projects I might use it for.

I was doing a barley twist tutorial this morning and was amazed at how many of the tools I hadn't used yet or things I didn't know I could do with vCarve in itself.
 
Well, The current touch plate is just connected with some normal wire, no shielding and was hanging across the spindle. I'll update it to some shielded wire when it comes in, just ran out. I probably should add a couple of choke rings between the end of the spindles cable and the VFD where they are exposed.

Ah, yep that would do it. Should be an easy fix.

That barley twist is just cheating, way to easy ;)
 
Waiting on parts and threaded inserts.

I had the thought the other night that my raised table is allowing for an opportunity to add some storage to the table for bits and tools, so drew this up last night.
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I'm thinking 4 smaller drawers for bits/tools. The larger one may just be a single drawer for extra components and such.
 
Well, the threaded inserts came today, so spent this evening running programs to create the recesses and holes. Had 3 files to run, about an hour each. All went well until the last one.

I didn't get the bit extended far enough and the collet was rubbing on the wood. So stopped that job and unfortunately wasn't paying attention and didn't have the bit up high enough before hitting return to zero. :doh: I got a new bit inserted, zero'd, and was off to the races....so I thought. It didn't start the cut at the previous hole, but was making a new one. :doh:
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Thinking I had knocked it out of zero, I re-zeroed at the corner of the work and started again. Towards the end of the job I noticed that some of the holes were oblong. Turns out I didn't knock it out of zero, just knocked the work out of position. The space here should have been tight to the leg of the table.
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Looks like I'll probably cut a new piece of plywood and re-do that part of the job. I may just enlarge the holes in the mdf with a drill bit to make it work.
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From a distance it looks good, but will not work with the inserts I have.
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So long story short. The machine did great, just user error. :rolleyes:

Dust collection wasn't what I had hoped, so will work on a new boot design and probably consider getting another HF DC sooner, rather than later.
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Oh, but the lathe head and tail stocks that got off ebay did show up today, and the 6" chuck from Grizzly yesterday.
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Now that I have them, I can finalize the design for the rotary bed.
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I got the pulley/belt removed from the head stock. Unfortunately it's a 20mm bore and I have a 14mm bored pulley. I'll put the new mini lathe to work as its got just enough meat to make it 20mm.
 
Picked up a new sheet of plywood and some new spiral bits. All went as planned and got holes cut out and inserts installed, all 256. Also added some holes for mounting the plywood to the frame.
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I also got the new flow indicators from China. They pretty much got destroyed in shipping. One indicator was smashed, one of the temperature screens was smashed, the other has the probe disconnected from it's wires. I may be able to make one work out out of the two, but put in a request for replacements from the vendor.
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