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How does that saying go, measure twice cut once? Well I think I should have measured 4 or 5 times. I accidently made the gantry too narrow at the rails. I went ahead and widened the gantry since it would be easier to do than modifying the bed. Everything worked out ok and now the gantry is more rigid than ever. here are some pictures.





I still have to make a base for my machine and finish painting it.

I'll try to send a link to a video I made of the gantry moving back and for the on the rails.

Here is a link to 2 videos I made. Let me know what you think so far.

CNC Movies

I for one can't wait to see that puppy in action! So how long until you are able to cut something?

Don Williams38675.7963773148

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Right now I'm waiting for my Acme screw, they are not due in for another 10 days or so. Today I've been working on the electronic, I put them in an old computer case I had laying around. I'm going to finish up the Z axis (minus the drive screw) tommorrow.

Ed you must stop. STOP NOW. You are giving me the CNC bug and I'm out of space. Any chance you could throw a mattress on one of these and call it a day bed? Then I could take over the den as well. Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Don, that's kind of my situation right now this machine is in the kitchen awaiting a location in the garage. I'm going to have to move alot of stuff around to make all my tools fit.

Mach Support
Good information here on Mach CNC software.
Nelson

Ed I know this has been asked before...

Where did you get the plans for that one??

I should be putting my shop back together at the end of December and this is one of the items I want to get started on for the new shop...

Thanks

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Paul,

I just spent a lot of time on the www.cnczone.com forum and took ideas from everyone else's machines. Most of my ideas come from a nice guy & moderator on the cnc forum who goes buy the ID GER21 look up his posts and you'll get great ideas.

Looking Good Ed!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Great news guys! My electronics are done and I didn't blow up the machine!

All my motors are jogging, I finished the Y-Axis and moving on to the Z-Axis. I still need to do some fine tuning to the motors. I'll upload pictures in a couple of days.

My machine is up and running! here are some pictures:


another,





Still needs some paint.

My wife is really glad it's finally out of the kitchen.

More pictures:





Here's a link to my machine movies;
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/mrconductor@sbcglobal.net

I'm still working on the finish details such as motor tuning, axis tuning and dust collection. I'll post pictures of the electronics in a day or two.

Well the final cost for me was about $1385.00 with the Mach3 control software (it's fantastic!), the electronics were the most expensive items.
3-640oz steppers & 3-gecko 202 drivers $700 (I could have used 260oz motor with controllers for $350 from xylotex)
1 Bob Campbell Designs combo board $250 (a simple opto isolator board costs only $25)
Home built powersupply $100
Mach3 controller Software $150 (free alternitive is Turbcnc)
I'm currently using free cad software from Alibre express.
Case free.
Wire & Misc. connectors $60
Lumber, Bearings,and rail $125

Bottom line $1385.00 (not real cheap but less than $5K-$15K!)
If I used the alternate motor and drivers along with a simple opto isolator board I would of save a considerable amount of money, it would of cost only $810.00 but I wanted to be ready to expand down the line. After I get proficient with this machine and software I'll design a better machine and cnc it out of aluminum and use the same electronics.

Now I just have to learn how to use it. I've started to design parts already but it is a bit difficult. I need to get some more g-code samples to try out on my machine I haven't had too much luck locating anything on the net. I also need to buy some small endmills to use on the machine. I'll continue to keep you all updated on my progress.

Congratulations, Ed. Well done! What's your top speed so far?

I can help with the sample g-code. I have hundreds of Mach2 programs. Just email me with the types of routines you want to run and I'll send you some.

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

Congratulations Ed! An inspiration to all of interested in this.
What's the noise level of this thing?

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

All right Ed I sure hope that you will consider documenting your build and the design in the "Jigs" section here on the OLF.    

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Jim, the machine is pretty loud while going. The noise comes mostly from the router and vacuum. I am able to get the machine going in the garage and go inside where there is little to no noise. I have some color surveilliance cameras so I'm going to mount one to the machine and then run the machine from the room next door, my clean room then I won't have to worry about dust getting into my laptop and I won't lose my hearing

Don, I will document my machine as soon as I learn cad a little better that way I'll be able to draw up plans and post them to the site. If anyone would like to build one they can just P.M. me and I'll supply them with info and detailed close-ups of the important details. I'm going to eventually rebuild the gantry with better sides. At this tiome there is nothing wrong with the sides it has but rebuilding them will make the gantry lighter without sacrificing rigidity.

How do you like my new sardine can vacuum port?



Here are some pictures of the heart of the system:





Here is a glamour shot, although it's not as sexy as John and Nelsons machines, I still like the way it came out.



It looks like I'm going to have to straighten out the drive switch

Well Ed, she's a thing a' beauty! I am up to my neck in alligators right now but I have the bug! You have a PM.

Thanks for your great work and inspiration!

Shane

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Canada