CNC x2 Mill

[Foozer]

The end product is as I always tell the Bride - Is how I planned it to be . . .

She just pats my head and says 'Thats a Good Boy'

 

[Foozer]

What I thought was a limit switch glitch - Wasn't - Can adjust the switch positions for X travel, hit the switch and reverse direction or set them as actual stop switches and just X travel defined distance [e.g. cutting a slot]

You know that Dir pin on the controller? Boy does the motor like to speak should that wire become loose - This way, That way, No way - - -

Itty Bitty screws and my fat mud hands don't go along so well - thing one never whats to feel is "Hey it's getting easier to turn" So just closed my eyes, bit my tongue, gave all the screws a good twist.

Now to spin my wheels some more and see what I can to stop the pin float should a screw come loose in the future - -

 

[Blogwitch]

Foozer,

I have only just got everything together for my mill conversion, and because there are so many screwed wire joints I have invested (very cheap) in some square shaped variable size crimping pliers and the correct sized ferrules for each wire diameter. This will make sure that no wire strands are weakened or cut and so causing the joints to fail, unless of course you are using single strand wire.
Over the years when I have been using screw terminals with electrical or electronic parts, invariably, some of the strands get sheared off as the screw is tightened and can cause all sorts of problems, mainly because there are not enough good strands left to carry the required amperage. When you are searching for faults, such breakages don't show up on a continuity test as it is passing electricity, but not enough to keep things stable.
I also have a tiny solder pot (again very cheap) where the ends of the wire are first dipped into fluid flux and then into the pot, this again helps prevent the broken wire syndrome.

Hope this helps

John

 

[Rndmann9]

Got side tracked by three different things this week - first was to do some freelance drafting for a company that makes fume hoods. Got that done in 13 hours unexpected but welcome 1500 bucks. second I found some nice heavy duty limit switches so I delayed mounting my other ones in a perminant way. Now I need to figure out where and how to mount these. I like them because they are adjustable.

 

[Rndmann9]

Then I did some gray matter crunching and figured out a way to control my g shield with a usb game controller. Used auto hot key to remap and control many of the functions with it. Still working on it some. It's done but now I am "improving" my program. Direction pad controls x and y trigger left is z down trigger right is z up. "back" unlocks it after alarm or start up. " Start " homes it. "X" resets motor controller "y and b "adjust the jog distance up or down. Left upper trigger holds. Right upper trigger resumes. Clicking right joy stick goes to g28. Clicking right joy stick zeros xyz of active wcs. I'm thinking of making the left joy stick control my mouse and haven't decided on right. Maybe rapid transit. Enough distractions for one week. I have to get those switches mounted even though the hot glued ones work fine for now. I'm using a g shield so I'm not sure how it sends direction to the motor. I'll have to dig into the code. Also got it all mounted a little neater in a semi perm housing.

 

[Rndmann9]

Controller mounting.

 

[Rndmann9]

And one last upside down pic just because

 

[Rndmann9]

This mounts on the arduino. And uses grbl to control motors. Plus side is its almost plug and play. Down side is your only able to drive about 2A per motor. I had to improvise for a pendant ^ it's not really designed to have one. Game controller mimics a mouse click at specific coordinates of the gui for most of the controls.

 

[Blogwitch]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New....1.JL4xJA&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_8,search

 

[Foozer]

Kid gave me one of those controllers - Way to many buttons for me this day, I'd want to use them all and would get lost in the process.

2 Amp ? flipped the switches on the driver down to 2A - motor - A 425 inoz nema 23 was not happy. It wants 4 amp and that's what I'm giving it - powered by a 48v supply. As Bogs was saying, current matters . . .

Buttons . . . Winters coming - A what the heck project - SNES controller, some keypads - easy enough to tie the keypad to the controller innards- Rather than use 8 or 9 arduino pins, knocks it down to 3, data, clock and latch.

...

Limit Switch - Little one, big one, big one takes up some real estate, tho its robustness probably makes up for it . . . I just haven't figured out a place to mount them yet . . .

 

[RonGinger]

I also have a tiny solder pot (again very cheap) where the ends of the wire are first dipped into fluid flux and then into the pot, this again helps prevent the broken wire syndrome.

Hope this helps

John

In some places this is not considered good practice. The solder can 'cold flow' under the screw and become loose, or intermittent. I marine practice this is considered bad because the wire will develop a hard spot at the end of the solder and strands will break there because of vibration.

I often do it myself because I think the control of loose wires strands is worth it. Another of those trade-offs we must deal with.

 

[Rndmann9]

All of my motors are rated under two amps to keep my controller happy and from overheating - Driving more than 2A would probably let out the magic smoke. I may go to a different driver in the future but this one seems to be working fine for now. The X and Y probably could stand to be a little larger but they seem to move the table without any problems especially since I converted the Y acme screw to a ball screw. The power supply I have supplies 24V up to 15A of power and the motors are being driven with 24V - Steppers tend to be less efficient if you drive them with 12V. The new limit switches I have are from TemCo. Much more heavy duty than the little lever limits I am currently using. Much Bigger too so I need to figure out how I want to mount them. I might mount them internally so they are out of sight at least for the Y axis. I like how I can adjust the arm length and the direction it "points". Thinking about your loose wire situation- Wonder if you could run it through a transistor so that if it comes loose it sends the signal to ground instead of making your motors dance. More of a passive switch. I used spade connectors with Heat shrink to insulate on the connections that I wanted to be able to pull apart (Limit Switches). Only thing I have soldered was where I made a splice in the wires and then used really thin heat shrink over those to make neat. I also soldered the low pass filters that I made for the limit switches- I made an arduino shield for those so its sandwiched between the Arduino and the G-shield. The screw down lugs on the motor driver so far have not given me any problems. The USB controller (Pendant),I like- I got all the essential buttons programmed which allows me to not fumble with the touchpad on my laptop. Now I can keep my head over the mill instead of my laptop. I just have to remember the buttons since I just finished it yesterday I dont have them completely memorized yet. I did program them in a somewhat natural order so they are where you would think they should be on the controller. Shouldnt take long to be second nature. Have you looked into using a shift register to cut down on your pin usage? Most of them you can use to send info either in Parallel or Serial- Not sure how you have yours programmed. Amazon has been a huge source of alot of my material- Im sure this project has really boosted someones amazon stock portfolio. I also pinged the Inventor HSM Engineers yesterday- Thats what I am using to create my G-Code- Same program I used for the parts pictured early in this thread. I can kick G-Code straight out of it which is nice. I just have to figure out how to use it right. Sometimes when It should zig it zags so I need to figure out where I went wrong. Im pretty sure I stumped him with my questions. I also asked him how I could automatically compensate for any backlash on direction changes in the code - I could alway modify part of the code for this but there should be a way to do it automatically like Mach3 does.

 

[Foozer]

Years ago, fudge decades ago - - -

When bored, put popcorn into the waveguide - - -

Shift register - Yup - that's the thing in the SNES controller. Read the outputs from the button presses and use those to run the functions.
e.g.
// Free Run Table
#define btn_Up 4079// Button Up
#define btn_Down 4063// Button Down
#define btn_Right 3967// Button Right
#define btn_Left 4031// Button Left
//
// Set X distance
#define btn_stepPlus1 4071// Start + Up
#define btn_stepMinus1 4055// Start + Down
#define btn_stepMinus10 3959// Start + Right
#define btn_stepPlus10 4023// Start + Left

Me and component level creation never got along so well, If I can hack an existing thing [black box] to do a thing, works for me. The innards of the controller have large copper button pads suitable for attaching wires to, Wires to a keypad and Poof - Keypad control.
But muscle memory is already setting in using the SNES controller, this button does that, that button does this, those two together do another . . .

That one loose wire was a hoot and holler show. Component box is mounted to the wall, Press is tied to the wall - There were dancing in harmony - Dir signal bouncing, step not knowing what to do motor just buzzed. Though I blew a controller out at first - Advantage to making everything compartmental is simple swapping of motor leads showed the control was fine [last good] Gave the box a good whack, things went back to normal [first bad] so loose wire became the thing to look for.

If Dir flips from High to Low, motor is just going to go the other way, just the way it is.

Now to drag myself to the car - No spark - MSD ignition worked fine before I got the bright idea of Fixing It . .

 

[Rndmann9]

Ha, I have always said if you can't "fix it" with a hammer it isn't worth fixing. Lol.

 

[Rndmann9]

Vietnam huh. Little before my time. Ended 5 years before I was born. Lol I'm a young whipper snapper with an old soul.

 

[Rndmann9]

I lied. One more distraction. Fought and so far have lost against my gas trimmer today. Will only run on full choke. So either a jets clogged or air leak right? Nope. Tore down cleaned and reassembled carb. Replaced plug. Fresh gas fresh oil mix. Inspected gas lines. Made sure fuel cap vent wasn't clogged, Cleaned spark arrester ...no dice. Only thing I have not done is replace fuel lines out right. Guess that's on the agenda tomorrow. Stupid things haven't ran right since California's epa hippies ruined everything with their enviro laws. Lol. On the same subject I bought a new gas can. The ones with the green valve mandated by epa to limit fuel spills. So effective that gas will only come out from around the cap nothing from the spout.... It would leak less if I shot holes in it. I had to break the mechanism just to make it work. I think this new environmentally safe model has leaked more fuel in the short time I have had it than all the other ones I have owned combined. No vents so if the sun warms it look out cause it's going to spray everywhere not to mention how it belches fuel in spurts which is very effective at filling a small tank and dousing everything around it. Lol. amazing how the gov can ruin something as simple as a gas can. speaking of vents. I feel better already. Hahaha

 

[rodw]

I lied. One more distraction. Fought and so far have lost against my gas trimmer today. Will only run on full choke.

Check that a welsch plug has not come adrift in the carby. They don't punch them in, just use glue. I took my son in laws not running whipper snipper home because it would not run and that was the problem. They say to use nail polish but I had none so made do with some locktite retaining compound and a gentle tap with a punch to seat the plug. I was amazed at my trouble shooting skills on that one.

 

[Rndmann9]

I completely took the carb apart and cleaned it. Everything on it was as it should be. i think I have a pin hole in a fuel line or something. Only thing left that could starve it of fuel. They started putting ethanol in gas here in the states - even though I by ethanol free for my mowers I wouldn't be surprised if it was there. It distroy so gas lines in short order. I got compression, it's getting air, it's getting fire so fuel is the issue. Or lack of it. Most trimmers don't even have carb adjustment screws anymore or the have some strange tamper resistant screws whee they were preset by epa mandates. Mine has no adjustments other than the throttle.

 

[Foozer]

Remove gas cap from trimmer
Replace trimmer
Reinstall gas cap

 

[Rndmann9]

Hahaha. That might be my back up plan. My luck the cap wouldn't fit. I have three one is electric. Might have to get it out of retirement. One is just the engine since I usually can fix them. This one is just testing me that's all.