Jeff's Build

[jeffd]

I did end up trying the older drivers without success on the netbook, but on an old Dell desktop I had in "cold storage" I got it up and running. After working out a couple kinks with homing switch wiring (user error) and having plugged the X-Axis motor connector in upside down on the driver board.... well.... see picture. Maybe I'll feel confident enough to mount my router later. 

Jeff

[kevin]

It looks like you are getting close. Do you have any first projects in mind?

[jeffd]

Ok, so I got a little bold today. My first cuts were using the manual controls on a different piece of scrap, just to get a vision for how it works. Then I took video of my first 'job':

youtu.be/8lGp-g5Tr3o


It's the Mill Right project, of course. I had a bit of X axis drift on this cut. I believe I had the belt a bit too loose and have since snugged it up a couple notches. And the scrap I was using wasn't terribly cooperative on the "clean cut" front, but all in all I'm happy with this very early result. 

I do still go to work on the software side of things a bit before I'm comfortable doing my own thing. My first project is really crazy simple (I think) I need to cut and then inset some circles with a higher degree precision than I could accomplish with my own jigs and power tools. If they "work" for my project, then I'll need them to be reproducible. I spent too much time/money trying to make better band saw jigs and then router jigs that I got tired of it. I convinced myself this is a enough cool thing even if it doesn't do exactly what I want... I can use it for other things.

A couple more photos too -- the finished project after a bit of sandpaper, my temporary setup until my "CNC Table" is done, and a modification I had to make to the cooling fan. It had a tendency to walk across my counter top, so I strapped it to a small board. Also, you'll see that I attached the heat sinks as well. Heat kills electronics, and anything I could do to pull heat away from those things is a good thing.

Judged a great BBQ competition yesterday and got this thing working today. A very successful, awesome weekend if you ask me! 

Jeff

[kevin]

Congratulations on completing your build. It looks like it turned out great, and a great video too.

Any weekend where you get to eat free BBQ and make sawdust with your newly constructed machine is certainly a successful weekend.

[Derek the Admin]

Great work Jeff! Thanks for sharing your build and first cut.

I second the belt tension assessment. I have a thread about some extra tensioning tips in the forum. Check it out.

How big was that cutting tool? That looks like at least a 3/8" if I am looking at it right. That's a big tool! I'd personally stay 1/4 and smaller.

[kb9jlo]

Jeff, awesome job. Looks great. And to see that first cut is awesome isn't it?

[jeffd]

Thanks ya'll!

And you nailed it [again]! I did have my 3/8" bit loaded. I bought 3 bits at the same time, two for the CNC (1/4" w/ 2 upcut flute and 1/8" ball end cup cut w/ 2 flutes) and then another for my 'regular' router (3/8" 2 flute) to use on a completely different project. Of course I grabbed the wrong one. Geesch. I went back and snugged up that X axis belt. I also went and removed the electrical tape and zip ties I was using to control the wiring. Instead I ran it through some of the corrugated plastic wire tubing. I like the look better and it looks like it will keep the wires out of the way more reliably. This made a ton of difference!

So... I had to do that logo job again. This time I used a small piece of birch ply. It came out so much cleaner. Worthy of a place on the wall (after a little bit of finishing).

I was also messing with some of the DXF Design files from the Resources page, but getting mixed results. They all seem rather basic designs, but scaling seems off. Converting to g-code and sending the files also seems hit and miss. There's likely some relatively simple concept I'm missing or maybe it's just crummy software, but as a newbie to CNC I don't yet know what I don't know. Hopefully this coming weekend I'll have the time to dig in and watch some videos or something to better understand what I'm doing... or maybe describe what I'm jacking up to see if ya'll have some suggestions.

Jeff

[Derek the Admin]

That looks great Jeff. The right work piece has a lot to do with results.

The scaling of DXF files on the resources files should be taken care of on your end in your software of choice, such as Fusion 360. Try that check out our tutorial. You can scale DXF files in that software. Definitely let us know what we can do to help out. Everyone on this forum is here to learn... even me!