Open Builds OX CNC - The Big Green OX IS BACK!

brent, i had a bit of a squeak problem with the z axis as well. the day after my brother heard the squeak, he gave me a can of the stuff in the pic. it is a dry lube that they use at work. the carrier dries in seconds, and the dry lube does not attract dust and such. gave the threaded rod a spray, and worked the z axis up and down a few times, and voila! no more squeaks! almost forgot, make sure you have something under the threaded rod to catch any drips until it evaporates.
 

Attachments

  • wd-40-specialist-10-oz-dirt-dust-resistant-dry-lube-ptfe-spray.jpg
    wd-40-specialist-10-oz-dirt-dust-resistant-dry-lube-ptfe-spray.jpg
    35.1 KB · Views: 18
There is a learning curve with the software and these machines, but I think I'm starting to get it.

After a bundle of prototypes made out of MDF, 1 failed version from HDPE, I finally got a decent spindle bracket/dc collector bracket rigged up.

Now all I need to do is make up a compatible dust boot to mount to the vac tube, and I will be in business.

I've already discovered that there is a lot of dust made with these things and it will be very nice to get that under control and to stop chasing the bit with a vacuum tube.

I think I'm at the point that I'm going to start posting these things as separate projects. On to the Dust Boot!

spindle bracket.jpg
 
Last edited:
It's a pretty small hose actually and supports itself up above everything with plenty of movement for now. I'm giving some thought as to how to make sure it's as free moving as possible.
 
Very nicely done! I had planned to add a "moving" dust shoe eventually but the stationary one I put on is working so well as long as i work through the workholding well enough to clear it.

Yours looks pretty skookum, tho! Nice job!
 
Got the dust boot put together. Had planned on bending the brush to fit in the slot I routed in the bottom, but I just couldn't get that to work, so ended up hammering it around the outside of the bottom plate and using a bunch of hot glue to put it into place.

The plate uses magnets to hold them together, and the top plate is held to the tube by a friction fit. The tube can slide up and down in the bracket to position it, but I think It should work fine as is.

20151027_215907.jpg20151027_215924.jpg
 
I like to TT his OX more and more.

Brent any chance u can spare a moment to elaborate on the software learning curve/ funnies you wrestled with. For an aging brain its one of my concerns that deters me getting in water.


Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Time for some upgrades

Well, for the last year or so the ox has sat neglected. I wasn't super happy with the wiring and I wanted to beef up the z axis a little bit with and 8 wheel versus 6 wheel mechanism.

I've also learned a lot since I got it from my other machines so figured it's just time to redo it.

Goals for this rebuild are:

1) Junk the torsion box I used as a base for it.
2) Mount it on my router table cabinet
3) Beef up the Z Axis
4) Clean up the wiring
5) Get some better cable management working
6) Get the endstops working
7) Upgrade from the 400watt spindle to an 800 watt water cooled spindle
8) Add my diode laser to it just for kicks
9) Optional - Swap out controller

That's about it for now. Going to try and use the tinyg, but that may end up getting upgraded as well.

In this picture, I've removed the wiring, and torsion box and mounted on my router table cabinet. I've made it so I can take it off relatively easily if I need to use the router table. I may explore turning the extension wing on my table saw into a router table as well.

I've also replaced the front plate on the z axis so it now has 8 wheels. I'm getting a lot less flex than I used to with the arrangement. Part of it may be the new hardware, part of it may be my learning how to adjust things better.

ox upgrades 01.jpg
 
Last edited:
A few progress pictures.


I mounted a cable chain along the back of the machine to handle the power. I'm moving the controller to the gantry to reduce the length and number of wires that need to be run. I've seen a lot of the machines where people do this and it seems to make sense. I will make a better mount for the controller, once I decide if I'm going to keep the tiny g or not. With this configuration all I need to do is to run the 24v power, whatever power wires the spindle will need and some tubes for the coolant. Not sure if this cable chain (15x20) will be big enough for that. If not, I'll print up a new one. I also added a piece of aluminum angle in order to catch the chain.
ox upgrades 02.jpg

Here's the tiny g mounted on the back of the gantry. Not super happy with the mount, but I'm not sure I'm going to keep this controller. If I do, I'll print it so it stays up a little higher and is fully covered to protect from dust. I have a 120mm case fan behind it to blow air on the heat sinks. This controller actually has the stepper drivers as part of board, as opposed to the replaceable pololu style drivers.
ox upgrades 03.jpg

A view of the cable chain for the y axis
ox upgrades 04.jpg

A close up of the locking jst connectors I'm using. I'm actually getting pretty good at crimping the little metal bits on the ends of the wires. Also, I printed up a custom end for the cable chain that I'll bolt to the bracket.
ox upgrades 05.jpg

A picture of my repurposed router table. Have the power cord for the cnc running through the back and plugged into the outlet connected to the paddle switch. That way I'll have an emergency off that will shut everything down if something goes awry.
ox upgrades 06.jpg
 
Well last night was a bust. Got the motor wiring hooked up to the tiny g board. Was able to get a few commands to run through coolterm to move motors and such, but couldn't get other software to recognize the board. Figured maybe it was just too old of a version of grbl, so tried to update the firmware on the board. Used the official firmware updater and it died on the verify. Great. So they said the lockbits on the board were not set right, so I loaded up atmel studio and the avrsp mkii programm and reset them. Still no luck and now the board is dead. Probably could fix it somehow but honestly I had these kind of problems with it before and I had problems with it getting the endstops to work. Both of those seemed like fairly common issues. Solvable, but I'm just not in the mood to deal with it. Add to that that the board only supports 4 motors and I'm thinking I might like a rotary axis someday.

So I'm going to punt on it and I ordered a Cohesion 3d Remix board. It runs smoothie ware and grbl firmware, gives me more options, so I'm going to go that direction for now. In the meantime, my spindle is scheduled to get here today so I can keep working on wiring, plumbing, and cable management. I even have a little arduino grbl board I might hook up in the meantime to just play around with things.
 
Awww Yeah.

New spindle showed up. This thing is seriously overkill for my use, but why not.

800watt water cooled. I'm working through how to connect it all up and I think I have most of it figured out, so that's good.

It does weigh more than I thought, good thing I beefed up the z axis with more wheels.

800wattspindle2.jpg

800wattspindle.jpg
 
Last edited:
Can you ever have too much spindle! That thing looks like a beast, and the new control board offers a lot of flexibility. You're gonnna have a great machine.:thumb::thumb:
 
Really looking forward to getting it working. Got a few more parts on order I need to wait for, but i'll at least get all of this put together and ready for when the control board gets here.

It's about 30 ounces heavier than the Dewalt 611 Everyone uses, but a bit narrower so I should be able to tuck it in close to the z to reduce the moment arm.

I've got other parts on order, but I should be able to get it mostly put together this weekend and ready and waiting for the C3d controller card next week some time, hopefully.
 
Last edited:
While I'm waiting for the new control board to show up, I've designed and printed a mount for the spindle.

Printed in transparent green PETG, and with a spot to mount my jtech laser, and to hold a tube for dust collection.

65mm Spindle mount.jpg
 
Top