My CNC Build - Update

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
My CNC kits were originally scheduled for delivery today, but I got notice first thing Monday that they would be delivered a day ahead. UPS came with my shipment last night at 8:10. All I did last night was open the boxes to check for damages and there were none.

CNC_Bld_0000.jpg CNC_Bld_0001.jpg


Part of my build is to construct a new bench (shelf) area on which to put my machine as I complete different phases of it. Here's the beginning of it as well as a SketchUp of the whole thing.

CNC_aBench1.jpg CNC_Bench.jpg


I spent all morning today doing an inventory of all the parts. There are plenty of parts! Lots of parts!!! Parts is parts!!!!!!!!!!

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After lunch, I reviewed some of the instructions to determine where to begin. All of the instructional material is online. I looked at the Inventables site as well as the Shapeoko site and Wiki references to get a feel for the processes. I finally started down the list of instructions at Shapeoko.

The first steps I did was to assemble the v-wheels and idler wheels, pressing two bearings and a spacer into each. When that was done, I mated them to the motor mounts. One issue I ran into was the NEMA 23 motor case was hitting the nuts on the bolts holding the idler wheels to the mount. An email to Sam at Inventables clarified the process - a modification to the instructions on their site that shows spacers to set the motor back a bit.

CNC_Bld_0003.jpg


I guess I have to be satisfied with my progress today, since I had no idea what I might get accomplished to start with!!!!!
 
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Me, too, Jay.

FWIW, I found access to all four sides of my machine years ago was necessary. But then my ShopBot had a 4'x8' workng table, so lots of floor space. Hope your location will work for you.
 
Bill, I'm going to have to call them in the morning. Check on mounting the 23 to the carriage plate. I'll let you know what I find out.

The Shapeoko instructions don't seem to cover certain options, probably because a user can go many directions with the equipment. I emailed Inventables about the 23 mounting yesterday. Here's the response:

"The 23 motors will require the use of spacers to clear the makerslide. You can see the instructions and pictures here:
http://blog.inventables.com/2014/04/upgrading-your-shapeoko-2-with-nema-23.html "

I touched on this at the end of my original post above and attached a photo.
 
hi bill! i dropped that line here while i was at work. finished the basic assembly of the gantry, and found the bump in the road. then i went ahead to see what i could do with the available materials, and the funny thing is, is that is what they show in the blog post, except for the washers which i didn't include. now i just need to add the washers.
 
This morning, I continued with the motor mount carriages, getting the remainder of the hardware and the motors mounted. Even after going through the process I linked to a couple of posts up the page, I found there was still a small clearance issue between the makerslide and the carriage because of the NEMA 23 motor mount process. With the motor mounting hardware at the bottom of the holes, the plate still needs to come up another 1/8" or so. The solution I worked out is simple enough and is shown in the photo below. On the left is a stock makerslide with the "V" for the wheels going all the way to the end. I used my bandsaw to cut about 1/4" into the "V", as shown on the right, to clear the motor mounting nut and washer.

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Here are the Y-axis motor carriage assemblies with all the hardware in place.

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Below is the X and Z axis assembly, which is one area of mis-communication from Inventables. Before I placed my order for the NEMA 23 Full package, I spoke with one of their people to be sure of what I needed. Although he helped in a couple of areas, one point was not made clear, which is that the only Z-axis motor mount assembly they have available is for a NEMA 17 motor. A NEMA 17 motor is on its way to me now, thanks to a good friend!

CNC_Bld_0005.jpg


Although I didn't get a photo yet, I cut down the makerslide I'll use for the gantry (Y/Z axis) assembly. I wanted to increase my X-axis capability beyond the stock 12", so I got the 1000mm upgrade kit. I cut two pieces of the 1000mm makerslide to 660mm (26"). The other components will make the overall width of my assembly just under 33" and give me an X-axis cut of not less than 18". I'm still debating whether to go with my plan to cut down the Y-axis makerslide from 1800mm to about 1500mm to reduce the overall size.

I'll finish my day in the shop by starting to connect some of the electrical/electronic components. From the left are the Arduino Uno, a gShield board, 24V PS, 48V PS, spindle speed control and a master power off switch.

CNC_Bld_0007.jpg


I'm not sure what tomorrow morning will bring shop-wise. It was cold (by our standards) this morning - 30°F. Tomorrow is forecast to be near record lows of around 24°F. I know, I know - wimps, aren't we? I'm sure those temperatures sound mighty toasty to many of you!!!

:)
 
Me, too, Jay.

FWIW, I found access to all four sides of my machine years ago was necessary. But then my ShopBot had a 4'x8' workng table, so lots of floor space. Hope your location will work for you.


Now Carol has said it SHOPBOT that's the magic word that gets my attention for CNC machines. Thats what i would like . What was it like having one Carol ? How long ago did you have one ?

To me its go big or go home, I think i should have been born in the Lone Star state. :rofl: Isn't everything bigger down there?

Will be following along Bill to see what you make with this machine. Price point to get ones feet wet is certainly a huge benefit.
 
... To me its go big or go home, I think i should have been born in the Lone Star state. :rofl: Isn't everything bigger down there?

Will be following along Bill to see what you make with this machine. Price point to get ones feet wet is certainly a huge benefit.

I was born in the great country of Texas and still try to live right by my heritage! :thumb:

When one has really deep pockets like some folks, they're welcome to go for it. I'm making my machine bigger than I think I'll ever use, but time will tell. And, it's affordable for us regular folks. :)
 
I'm making my machine bigger than I think I'll ever use, but time will tell.


I have seen some AMAZING stuff made on a small Rockler machine. One example was a huge fully contoured 3D plaque about 6 feet in Diameter. This thing was detailed, huge, beautiful ---- truly amazing.

There are techniques to use small machines to do big things.

My machine is 24x24 - but I made a commercial sign 48" diameter and that sign is hanging on a business in a New Bedford, Ma.

One thing I will say - you will be limited, "only", by your imagination.

And NO - you do NOT need to spend huge money on software. One of the prominent sign makers and models on the web is a master at finding software and techniques to to design and modeling for really short money. Again, some amazing stuff and on a shoestring. He is a professional, and sells signs, not a hobbyist, but he loves what he does.

I watch Melissa at Nice Carvings (world renown sign maker, artist), and the work she does is truly inspiring. BTW - she just bought a Chinese machine to replace her ShopBot, Alpha. She said the cuts from the Chinese are far superior - smoother. Just sayin!

Sooo - that's just to say - whatever you want to do - there IS possibility.
 
... And NO - you do NOT need to spend huge money on software. ...

So far, I've been working with a software path that costs nothing, so the price is right for now.

Your other points about using repetitive components to build up a larger item is something I've already considered. My main consideration for the size of unit I'm building is floor space. If I decide to enlarge it, the materials are easy to get and I can go bigger with little issue.
 
The first effort today was deciding whether to get out the door or not! The temperature got down to 26°F this morning and it only got to 40°F this afternoon. I know a lot of you would like it if that's what you had, but it's plumb frigid for us folks down here!

This morning, I wanted to establish communication with the Arduino Uno and gShield cards. The control software application I'm using is Universal G-code Sender. The only issue I had was the application runs under Java and my computers needed the latest update. Although Win7 recognized the Arduino card when I plugged it in, I had to download a new driver from the Arduino website to bring it to life. I had played around with InkScape to create some graphics a few days ago and saved them as SVG files. The SVG file gets imported into MakerCAM to manipulate it and create the grbl code. The photo below shows the UGS software sending the file to the Arduino card along with a visualization of the image it's working.

CNC_Bld_0008.jpg


This afternoon, I completed most of the X/Z gantry system. Aside from all the bolts, washers and nuts, the most tedious job is tapping the ends of the makerslide for the mounting screws!

CNC_Bld_0009.jpg


There's a lot of wiring to do to complete the gantry and I'm still looking at options. On suggested mounting option for the Arduino assembly is to mount it on the right Y-axis motor carriage but I don't think I like that approach. Most likely, I'll build a box to hold both power supplies, the Arduino, the spindle speed control, connectors and main power switch. That should make a neater installation.

Comments and suggestions are welcomed!
 
How is the wiring handled? I always was challenged with the wiring moving the Z axis along the gantry and the gantry up an down the table without the wiring hanging up on something. And then when I wanted to add a dust shoe and the attendant hose, things got real interesting. I always wanted to make wire chains to handle the wiring, but never got around to it. There are plans out on the interwebs to make the links as one of your first projects and I thought that was cool, but time demands at the time killed that idea. Maybe next time!

I did hang the vacuum hose from the ceiling above the machine but didn't have enough collection power to be real effective. Finally I just chased the cutter head with a dust wand and that was that. There is only so much time in a day!
 
How is the wiring handled? ...

I did hang the vacuum hose from the ceiling above the machine ...

From what I've seen of documented systems, wiring solutions are as widespread as one can imagine. I'm looking at handling my wiring much as you tried with your vacuum hose. I'm kinda thinking that I can drop the cabling from the ceiling to the center point of the CNC travel in both X and Y axes, leave a droop to accommodate the amount of travel plus a little slack. I also thought of putting a swing arm off the wall, but that could put a little stress on the gantry.

As to dust collection, I have a duct running a couple of inches to the right of the CNC bench that I installed when I built my DC system. To have a hose attached to the gantry would be great, but it would have to be a lightweight, very flexible material. Another factor with dust control is the amount of cooling air the spindle generates. I'll have to see how much the dust gets blown around, although a spindle skirt would help corral it, I suppose.
 
Daily Update

It was darn cold out this morning - got to 22°F but warmed up into the 50s this afternoon. Went into town this morning to check for connectors and cable at Radio Shack; our store is pretty small and they had nothing I was seeking. So, back home and ordered what I needed from Amazon plus a couple of items from Inventables. I'm pulling together what I'll need to install the power supplies and electronics in a box.

This afternoon, I received the NEMA 17 motor I needed for the Z-axis drive and installed it. I did temporary wiring to all four motors so I could run a test using software control. The X-axis motor and both Y-axis motors worked as designed, but I'm having an issue with the Z-axis. The Z-axis motor runs but something is causing the whole drive train to stop and start vibrating. I'll shoot a note to Inventables describing the issue and see what they say about it.


To keep the photo police from harassing me, here's a photo of my test setup. From the left are the Arduino/gShield assembly, power supply, and gantry system. The wiring is a little wild, but it's only temporary to check the operation of the motors, controller and software.

CNC_Bld_0010.jpg

OK, enough of this for now. It's happy hour! :thumb:
 
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