Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby Liberty4Ever » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:40 am

So far, my config is the default 3 axis stepper config. I haven't even modified it to calibrate the steps per inch yet.

I used a 5i25/7i77 on the much bigger version of gantry router I was doing for a friend. Long story short, I was doing the CNC upgrade and not charging any for the labor trying to help save her company, and I put a LOT of labor into it. It had a ton of I/O. I pretty much got it wired and had just starting moving the servos when she had to sell her company and the new owners are scrapping the giant gantry router. But I did a lot of work configuring the MESA hardware. I have a 5i25 and 7i76 for my servo driven lathe conversion. It uses Gecko servo drives and I'm going to try to use them in STEP & DIR mode.

After all of the complexity of the giant industrial gantry router, I'm looking forward to the simplicity of a stepper motor system driven (via a breakout board) directly from the parallel port. I don't think I'll have any latency problems. I may not be able to watch YouTube video and do 3D CAD while milling, though. :)
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby StigOE » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:36 pm

I don't know if you know this or not, but with the steppers you're using and a 36V PSU, you're restricting your top speed quite a lot. With steppers, current = torque and voltage = top speed. Max voltage for a stepper motor is generally 32x inductance, so for your motor's max voltage is ~200V. It would have been better to use a 48V PSU and KL23H2100-50-4B. That's what I will be using when I CNC my BF25 mill. Just increasing your voltage would help with the top speed, though.
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby Liberty4Ever » Fri Jan 11, 2013 4:36 pm

StigOE wrote:It would have been better to use a 48V PSU

I made a mistake when I made my 9JAN13 post. I just corrected that post. The three power supplies I'm using are 60V at 350W each. I'm using the power supplies and stepper motor drivers that came with the NEMA 34 kit that I bought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140894283015

The power supplies are a bit of overkill for the NEMA 23 motors, but if I build it and i get the urge for MORE POWER, I can simply build the NEMA 34 motor mount adapters and swap motors, so I have an easy upgrade path.

Sorry for the misinformation, and thank you for taking the time to post the useful info.
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby Liberty4Ever » Wed Jan 16, 2013 10:49 am

Even More D525MW Intel Motherboard Stuff

I had noticed that booting with a network connection was problematic. Most times, it'd hang. It was trying to boot from the network. There's a BIOS setting for that, too, under the BOOT menu. I disabled booting from the network, and it's been booting reliably ever since.

I still need to tell Ubuntu not to engage the screen saver and not to lock the desktop when it hasn't been used for awhile. That's very easy to do.

This is a dedicated machine controller application, similar to a kiosk computer. It's more of an appliance. I don't want any screen savers or going to sleep. I want it running LinuxCNC, all the time. I don't want any reminders that it's a PC in there. For bonus points, I might even replace the Ubuntu screen in the boot loader with either a black screen, or something that looks more like a fancy shop tool. I already have it configured so it automatically boots with no waiting around for a password. The purplish Ubuntu boot screen doesn't really bother me and those folks are deserving of recognition, but it might be fun to keep folks guessing what's going on in there. It's not much of a mystery. There's plenty of Linuxy goodness on the desktop and it's obvious in the panel (toolbar) at the top of the screen.

I wish it was easier to get LinuxCNC to run full screen when it runs. It always starts in a small window. You'd think it'd run the same size it was the last time it was closed, or there would be a Run Full Size check box in the properties menu for the executable file. Nope. There's an application that must be installed and configured to start programs full size. It just seems more trouble than it's worth. It's not that difficult to click the maximize button. It'll probably bug me, and I'll probably do the work to run LinuxCNC full size. Then I'll probably update to LinuxCNC 2.6 in a few months for some killer new feature, and I'll need to do it all over again. :roll:
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby Liberty4Ever » Wed Jan 16, 2013 11:11 am

FREE NEMA 23 To NEMA 34 Mounting Drill Guides

I was planning to upgrade the stepper motors from NEMA 23 to NEMA 34, but when I got the parts for the CNC router table, it just looked like too much trouble for now. The Z axis motor would need a custom adapter plate and the X and Y motors might barely fit, but probably not. I opted to buy some NEMA 23 motors with twice as must holding torque as those originally specified, which seemed a bit anemic to me. Now, I can just bolt them in place.

I made some NEMA 23 to NEMA 34 motor mounting drill guides, and once I had them designed, it was easy to make three extra as BuildLog.net giveaways, so I did. They're laser cut from .250" black acrylic, and they're free to the first three people to post I'LL TAKE THEM in this thread and send me a private message with their shipping address.

Image

These can work for mounting on one set of holes and marking (or drilling) the four holes for the other motor size. That was my application. They can also be used to mount to a set of motor mounting holes and then mark or drill a centered pilot hole for the motor shaft. Or, they could be mounted to a 1/4" starter hole where the motor shaft will go and used to mark or drill the four motor holes for either motor size or both.

I "designed" them a minute at a time, while cutting other parts on the laser, late at night, without enough sleep. As a result, there are two instead of one. I made one with the NEMA 34 holes aligned with the NEMA 23 holes, but I also wanted to be able to rotate the NEMA 34 by 45 degrees relative to the NEMA 23. If I rotated the NEMA 34 hole pattern, it was outside the outer perimeter, so I made a second one with the NEMA 23 pattern rotated 45 degrees. I'm not sure what circuitous and tortured mental path led to this solution with two drill guides, when I could have simply had one drill guide, with the NEMA 34 mounting holes in the corners, and two sets of NEMA 23 drill holes 45 degrees from each other on the interior. Duh. There's probably some unforeseen advantage to having two separate drill guides. Whatever it is, that's why my sleeping subconscious did it that way.
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby Dirty Engineer » Mon Mar 04, 2013 4:28 pm

Updates? Interested in seeing pictures of this router setup.
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby Liberty4Ever » Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:36 pm

Well, my brother's garage is now wired and ready to go. We installed the radiant heat panels in the ceiling (a great way to heat a workshop) and three of the eight foot fluorescent lights so there's good lighting for my old eyes. There's a 220V outlet for the CNC router, as required by the VFD for the 3 HP spindle. The CNC router kit is still in the box. I've been super busy with work lately, as well as the spurious events in life that always intervene, but I'm chomping at the bit to get back to the CNC router project. I did make time to go to my brother's house for pizza and TV zombies last night, and we walked out into the garage shop to amp up the motivation.

My brother plans on doing a lot of woodworking, and he found a place about an hour away with good kiln dried native hardwood at a very good price, so we're planning a trip with my pickup truck.

I'll put a drop cloth on my brother's big table saw and build the router there, because it's very flat, and it's a convenient height so I won't need to crawl around on the floor. I plan to build the CNC router, get it running, and then design and build the integrated support stand and dust collection enclosure.

I'll make videos showing the progress and potential pitfalls, and post them in this build log.

I expect to be jumping back on this project in a big way in about a week. Stay tuned!
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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Posts: 274
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Location: Lexington KY

Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby James628 » Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:30 am

Liberty4Ever wrote:Even More D525MW Intel Motherboard Stuff


I wish it was easier to get LinuxCNC to run full screen when it runs. It always starts in a small window. You'd think it'd run the same size it was the last time it was closed, or there would be a Run Full Size check box in the properties menu for the executable file. Nope. There's an application that must be installed and configured to start programs full size. It just seems more trouble than it's worth. It's not that difficult to click the maximize button. It'll probably bug me, and I'll probably do the work to run LinuxCNC full size. Then I'll probably update to LinuxCNC 2.6 in a few months for some killer new feature, and I'll need to do it all over again. :roll:


Hi,

You don't need to install and configure devilspie in order to get full screen Axis window at start.
Just add few lines to your ".axisrc" file in your home dir:

Code: Select all
~$ gedit .axisrc


paste this into the file:

Code: Select all
maxgeo=root_window.tk.call("wm","maxsize",".")
fullsize=maxgeo.split(' ')[0] + 'x' + maxgeo.split(' ')[1]
root_window.tk.call("wm","geometry",".",fullsize)


In seconds you have it done.

Regards:
James628
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby yasam2002 » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:04 am

This is just great,
Do you have a pricelist for the components of this beautifull cnc machine ?
Thank you for sharing .

Yassine Morocco.
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Re: Liberty4Ever's 2X4 CNC Router Build Log

Postby Liberty4Ever » Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:20 pm

James628 wrote:You don't need to install and configure devilspie in order to get full screen Axis window at start.
Just add few lines to your ".axisrc" file in your home dir:


Thank you for that! I copied the info and was going to try it on my (as yet unfinished, like all of my CNC projects) lathe PC, but when I booted it up yesterday, LinuxCNC already runs full screen on startup. I'm pretty sure I didn't install any special software to get it to do that, and probably just did some config trick like the one you provided. With all of these simultaneous projects stretched over a long period of time, my old brain can't keep them straight.

I upgraded the lathe PC's LinuxCNC from 2.51x to 2.52x, and the full screen bootup persisted.

I'll definitely save your tip and will use it on the CNC Router when I build it, in a week or two. At least, I hope it'll be a week or two. My life has a way of spontaneously generating more for me to do than there are hours in a year.

Thanks again for the tip!
Apparently, I didn't build that! :-)
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