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HiCON Motion Controller / HiCON Integra 7766 Install in Quad-Z Axis Router Table
« on: September 03, 2013, 02:10:30 AM »
Hello,
I am putting up this post to pass along what I learned while setting up the motion control system on our router table. There are a lot of posts about four axis systems, but not much about 6 axis router tables I could find and even less about the HiCON Integra. Hopefully this post will make things a lot easier on the next person to do what we just finished.
Background
We wanted the functionality of a router table with an ATC, simplicity, learning, and the ability to cut ¾ MDF at about 1000 inches a minute for a product manufacturing application. We also have a severely non-existent budget, not much experience, and Cadillac tastes. As they say you can have things correct, you can have things quickly, and you can have things cheaply. Pick any 2 of the 3… We chose correct and cheap.
Our total budget for the table was a bit under 15,000. This number included Software (Aspire, Mach3), the table, services to make the parts, and all supporting systems (dust collection, water cooling). We made a deliberate choice to build the table in house and farm out as little of the work as possible to maximize the learning. (Oh my did we under estimate what we were about to learn…)
From the Mechmate table design we took the idea of grinding our own v-groove rails using angle iron and a skate-mounted grinder to save about $2600. We also studied the Mechmate forums extensively for best practices. We liked Mechmate’s use of steel wheels on steel rails. It was very durable and is self-cleaning to boot. Making the v groove rails, about 90 feet of them, at home proved to be a very cheap and easy 1 day project. Building the skate and learning how to use it was about 3 additional hours. (Did I mention our shop is a 2 car garage built around a 1964 Delta Unisaw with an Incra Positioner? –Yep… we are a home based cabinet making shop. There is no Bridgeport mill here…)
For the table design we recruited an engineer who modeled and built the table in Solidworks. We treated the table and gantry as a cross-dowel based cabinet building activity. The 72 x 147 inch table is a torsion box on
a box leg base. The gantry is a second torsion box system based on 2 stacked torsion boxes. There are 5 Z-Axis. We mounted three 2.2kw water-cooled spindles and two 7.5kw water-cooled spindles from Sam at Motech (we can’t say enough good things about Sam, his spindles, the price, or his tech support –what a great experience!) The entire table system rides on a 900lb steel base we fabricated from 2 x 3 x 3/6 steel square tube on 8 removable steel castors with leveling rods.
I am putting up this post to pass along what I learned while setting up the motion control system on our router table. There are a lot of posts about four axis systems, but not much about 6 axis router tables I could find and even less about the HiCON Integra. Hopefully this post will make things a lot easier on the next person to do what we just finished.
Background
We wanted the functionality of a router table with an ATC, simplicity, learning, and the ability to cut ¾ MDF at about 1000 inches a minute for a product manufacturing application. We also have a severely non-existent budget, not much experience, and Cadillac tastes. As they say you can have things correct, you can have things quickly, and you can have things cheaply. Pick any 2 of the 3… We chose correct and cheap.
Our total budget for the table was a bit under 15,000. This number included Software (Aspire, Mach3), the table, services to make the parts, and all supporting systems (dust collection, water cooling). We made a deliberate choice to build the table in house and farm out as little of the work as possible to maximize the learning. (Oh my did we under estimate what we were about to learn…)
From the Mechmate table design we took the idea of grinding our own v-groove rails using angle iron and a skate-mounted grinder to save about $2600. We also studied the Mechmate forums extensively for best practices. We liked Mechmate’s use of steel wheels on steel rails. It was very durable and is self-cleaning to boot. Making the v groove rails, about 90 feet of them, at home proved to be a very cheap and easy 1 day project. Building the skate and learning how to use it was about 3 additional hours. (Did I mention our shop is a 2 car garage built around a 1964 Delta Unisaw with an Incra Positioner? –Yep… we are a home based cabinet making shop. There is no Bridgeport mill here…)
For the table design we recruited an engineer who modeled and built the table in Solidworks. We treated the table and gantry as a cross-dowel based cabinet building activity. The 72 x 147 inch table is a torsion box on
a box leg base. The gantry is a second torsion box system based on 2 stacked torsion boxes. There are 5 Z-Axis. We mounted three 2.2kw water-cooled spindles and two 7.5kw water-cooled spindles from Sam at Motech (we can’t say enough good things about Sam, his spindles, the price, or his tech support –what a great experience!) The entire table system rides on a 900lb steel base we fabricated from 2 x 3 x 3/6 steel square tube on 8 removable steel castors with leveling rods.