Building a CNC in Las Colinas » Carriages

First (good) Sawdust

wjconrad — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:25:53 +0000

Today we got the T-track hold down system and our spoilboard setup. Now we actually have some good looking pictures to share. What you’re seeing the “RLD” part of HELLO WORLD, since we accidentally ran into the 500 line limit of the demo Mach3 and couldn’t finish it. We should have a more complete version later this week, and hopefully some video of cutting.

Yep, we're running

wjconrad — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:28:45 +0000

Last night we saw our first sawdust. There’s still a lot of tweaking and some additional work, but we managed to cut the letter “D” into a board of MDF and freehand a quick “Hi” into a piece of 2×4 we had around.
Pics:

X-Axis runs too!

wjconrad — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:39:13 +0000

Our X-axis is now running, and we’ve tuned it up a little bit for faster speeds. I think a working Z-axis is very plausible this weekend at the rate we’ve been working.

Moving Pictures

wjconrad — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:07:09 +0000

Alright I know we’ve been sort of slacking on posting our progress updates here, and I apologize. We’ve been so busy actually making progress we just haven’t had the time to sit around and write about it.

For instance, we’ve got two Youtube videos you should probably watch. Watch the videos, then click “More” and I’ll discuss them.

Alright how amazing is it that our Y axis is actually moving? We’ve also fully attached the X-Axis and we’re going to wire it up tonight. We could have two fully working axes by tomorrow.

I don’t know if we’re being overconfident, but we just ordered the Hitachi router needed to get us fully operational, and we had it overnight shipped so we will have it by tomorrow. Could we see sawdust by the end of this weekend? I don’t know yet but I am going to do my best to make it happen.

Post About Actual Progress

briandm81 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:40:05 +0000

I think we are finally done posting catch-up information. We actually made real progress on the mill this evening. We attached the angle-iron to the 80/20 for the X-Axis, drilled and tapped the HDPE for the Z-Axis, attached the angle-iron to the HDPE for the Z-Axis, attached the motor/flange mounts on the slave side of the Y-Axis, and managed to thread the carbon steel rod through the slave side of the Y-Axis as well.

The Long Weekend is Over

briandm81 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:08:48 +0000

I know that we mentioned in our last post a long list of things we hoped to accomplish the next day. The next day came and went, as did the weekend, and we are still where we left off in our last post. I hope that everyone had a great Independence Day, all of us surely did.

This is the first of a few posts that will happen over the next few minutes and hours as we play a little holiday catch-up. For starters, we have a few “improved” photos of the mill that I took with a loaner flash. I will most likely have to buy one now that I see what a difference it can make. These are still not “Justin” quality, but they are far better than what was previously posted.

It moves!

briandm81 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:23:36 +0000

Today, I started work earlier and accomplished many tasks (Wayne was mysteriously absent for the first 3 hours). The Y-Axis carriages are officially complete . . . and they MOVE (by hand). The carriages freely roll up and down the angle-iron slides. In addition, we test mounted the Y-axis motor mount, flange mount, and one carbon steel threaded rod. The test showed that the carriage will move on the Y-axis by spinning the rod.

Tomorrow, we will do the following:

Cut the aluminum plates for the Z-Axis carriage;
Attach the bearings to the X-Axis and Z-Axis carriages;
Drill and tap the remaining pieces of HDPE;
Attach the angle iron to the X-Axis and Z-Axis slides; and
Begin work on the controller.

Here are my ever-so-wonderful pictures. I have decided that I need to improve on my photography. First, I need a new camera flash because the built-in flash makes it two feet before disappearing. Second, I suck at photography! Let’s face it, compared to the Justin’s photos, my pictures look like a seven-year old with a disposable camera. Third, Justin needs to come by and take some real pictures, and I mean soon (I hope you are reading this!).

And one last announcement, we hope our good friend Jeron will start producing high definition YouTube video of our CNC construction process. That’s right, not only will we annoy everyone with still shots, but you will get to listen and see us in . . . HIGH DEFINITION!

Carriages And Motor Mounts

briandm81 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:29:49 +0000

Tonight we mounted the seven flange bearings and also attached the motor/flange mount to the Z-Axis carriage. In addition, we installed the 80/20 supports to the Y-Axis carriage. Tomorrow, we will continue work on the Y-Axis carriages which includes:

V-Bearing pressure plates
All-Thread supports
V-Bearings
Anti-backlash housings

Finally, an update!

briandm81 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:03:23 +0000

This has been a really unproductive week from a mill perspective. I do have some pictures of the painted carriages however. Outside of that, no physical work has been done on the mill this week. We spent a lot of time doing a bit more planning and research on the controller side of things. We have ordered the following this week:

High speed lead screws (we previously ordered and received the regular lead screws)
Anti-Backlash kit from DumpsterCNC
Gecko 203v’s
HobbyCNC 425oz stepper motors

And now….the pictures:

Assembled and Primed

briandm81 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:24:33 +0000

In between various tasks related to the bathroom cabinetry at my parents I was able to get some more mill work done today. The Z-Axis carriage has been assembled as well as the X-Axis (is this a carriage? not really…). While I was priming the cabinet doors and drawer fronts for my aforementioned parents bathroom cabinetry I went ahead and took the opportunity to prime the carriages. I used Zinsser Cover-Stain which is an oil-based primer-sealer (http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=12) This was applied using a HVLP paint gun setup (if you click on the previous link you will also notice that they make a aerosol can version). While the spray cans are nice for small jobs, I had 7 doors, 5 drawers, and the carriages to prime! Now on to the pictures:

The Z-Axis assembly turned into clamp art:

A shot of all of the assembled carriages:

The X-Axis (which is also very artistic in my opinion):

Now for another shot with all 3 axis:

And then they were primed:

And again (this comment was left in just for the purpose of annoying Wayne):

Just to show how painful and meticulous the sanding process is, the pile of sand paper used to prepare for painting (Norton 3x 220 Grit):