Today, Brittany, Gail and I, took the bird out for a little spin. At first the transmission was a little sluggish but when it warmed up it was better. The engine seemed to run really well and sounds awesome! Did a little sanding and primering on the roof today to try to keep it from rusting. It’s funny how quick it started to get surface rust in areas that didn’t have any rust at all while it was in the mountains.
I also bought a few tools that I will be needing. A mig welder, soda blaster, sander, cut-off wheel, HVLP gun, and last but not least a air driven hydraulic pump. Hmm… wonder what that is for, OK I will tell you. I am going to build a hydraulic lift for the car! More to come on this soon.
Right now I am trying to get the SRT done so I can make room in the garage.
I finally got the spindle mount GCode right and made one of my 4 Spindle mount pieces. Look at the video below.
Here is the finished piece.
HDPE 1/2 of Spindle Mount
Spindle mount test fit, IT FITS!
Here is a video of one of my test patterns using some 1/4″ scrap wood.
I had to make several manual modifications to the gcode to get it right. Not because CAM software did it wrong, I just didn’t have all the settings right when I created the gcode. Also I don’t have any home switches installed yet so all the absolute values are wrong or at least that is what I think you call them. The machine coordinates I know are not right until I get the home switches installed. I am still learning about all of this and I have a long way to go.
I have ordered some upgrades that should make some nice improvements in cutting speed. I have 3 new Acme leadscrews and nuts coming along with some other enhancements, such as bearing blocks and a motor mount for the Z-axis. My tie wraps are working but are a little to gehtto for me:-)
Well, last Sunday was a very frustrating day. I shorted out my controller board frying one of my easysteppers and all of the buffer chips in my breakout board. I was too frustrated to work on the boards for now so I ordered a new controller board on eBay.
It is a very nice package. It is a 3.5 Amp stepper driver with a parallel interface built in. It is a China unit but it seems to work very well. I also ordered a new Stepper motor for my Z axis. Anyway here is a video of the CNC cutting the Roadrunner Gcode in Mach 3, into Styrofoam. Skip to about 2:08 to see a wider view of the system and the touch screen monitor.
I don’t blame you for skipping through it, kind of dry video but I was excited to see it work! The bit I had in the router was too big so some of the lines ran together but all in all it did pretty well.
It’s been a while since my last CNC update because I have been very busy with work, but I have made a lot of progress and a few steps back.
I was able to get all 3 axises put together and aligned pretty well. The only real problem is that my Z axis stepper is not going to have enough torque and it has too much run out in the stepper motor. but for testing it is fine.
First I wanted to explain how I am coupling my motors to the lead screw, AKA all thread
I took a vacuum TEE that I had and cut the barb off of one end.
Amputated Tee
This was too small to just slide onto the shaft of the stepper so I had to press it on using a C-clamp. This makes for a very tight fit. Then I score the barbs parallel to the shaft to give it teeth that can bite into the rubber tubing to keep it from slipping. I then press a short piece of tubing onto the barb and then onto the leadscrew. If needed you can add a tie wrap to secure the tubing even more. Here is a picture of how I pressed it on the stepper.
Pressing on barb
Here is a video of all 3 Axises running at the same time. I am using my arduino to run this test because I fried my buffer chips in by breakout board! That is fine, I will build something better anyway.
Here is a picture of my Z axis flange nut I built. It is hand filed to a press fit so that I can adjust it to align.
Z Axis Flange Nut
I have not put any anti backlash devices on these yet, but I have a design in mind for some.
