The Dremel

Some time has passed since last blog update, so what's happened? Well, I have replaced the original low quality spindle, with a Dremel. Which of course required some new mounting parts.

I cut them out of a piece of particle board and mounted in the same holes as the original pieces. And what an improvement that was, all vibrations just disappeared.

The mounted Dremel.

But then I discovered that the spindle moved a little bit in the Y-direction, when the Z-motor changed direction and pulled the spindle upwards. After some mail correspondence with tech.support, we concluded that it was caused by a small play between the plastic bearings and the Z-axis bearing support frames. So they sent me some Loctite 480. Which I applied between the bearings and the frame. Without disassemble anything (as instructed), and that did solve the problem.

The first test run

I finally got a parallel cable. Well, actually I couldn't wait any longer for the delivery, so I made my own cable, since I found two spare connectors and a piece of ribbon cable in a drawer :-).

When connecting the cable and configuring EMC2 (from http://www.linuxcnc.org/) I found an other error in the documentation. It stated the wrong (50) steps per revolution on the motors, and after emailing tech.support, I got it verified. The correct value should be 200 steps per revolution. That explains why I only got a quarter scale of everything. They will put out an errata, informing everybody about the error.

Here is a time-lapse video of my first test run with the machine:

Day #6 - Assembled

The gantry support is now squared and fasten, all limit switches are mounted and connected. All cables are placed in cable channels under the baseframe and on the backside of the gantry support, and all external cables are in neat bundles.

It look really good, if I may say so myself. I do hope that I will receive the parallel cable tomorrow so that I can test if everything works as it should.

Ready for first test run.

Day #5 - Y/Z Carriage

The Y/Z carriage and all motors and drivetrains are now mounted. Left to do is squaring the whole thing and add the final screws to fasten the gantry support. After that it should be ready to try out.

Unfortunately, I am still waiting on delivery of the parallel cable. Hopefully will I get it on Monday.

Y/Z Carriage

Day #4 - Almost done

There aren't that many pieces left, almost ready for the first test run.

There was however some screws missing from the kit so I will go to the hardware store tomorrow.

Almost assembled

Day #3 - Continuing with the assembly

I am now done with the X-table and started with the Y-carriage and the Spindle mount. I did, however, some minor drilling faults. But they where all fixable.

The CNC machine so far.

Day #2 - Motors ready for testing

Today I finalized the electronic part (except the limit switches) so the motors are now ready to be connected to the computer for the first test drive.
Unfortunately I just noticed that I don't have any parallel cable at home, so I'm unable to test them now.

Day #1 - Unpacking and start assembling

The base frame has been assembled:

The base frame

...and the power supply has been modified and connected to the drivers.

The power supply

It's here!!!!

The package has finally arrived, and again I feel just like Calvin (see link).
It's time to start assemble it.

It's on the way...

I just got informed that my package has left the building, and is now in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service. So lets see how long time it will take from USA to Sweden.

The wait

The waiting is like when Calvin was waiting for his propeller beanie (see link).

The order

The order has been placed, and the waiting process has started...