Messages

1

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My CNC Build by Dave N Mark :)

« on: February 02, 2016, 01:21:00 AM »

First thing to be done is to make a machine to make the machine During the week I used an old B&D 7 1/2" circular saw and a scrap piece of Melamine Board and cut a slot with my router, wide enough for the safety guard to operate. Provided it with a new fine toothed Makita Blade, calibrated and did tests to align the saw both vertically and longitudinal

I had some old aluminium spars from a wrecked Garden Umbrella which were the exact length, which I clamped to the board as timber guides.  Measuring the desired width turned out to be the exact measurement required, plus 1mm, whilst running the blade teeth cut slightly over 2mm

Photos below show the end panels and the gantry side panels and a couple of pieces of scrap to make the alignment jig for drilling the holes for the umpteen "cross dowel" nuts and bolts.

Next Step: Chamfer the base board & fit end plates & guide rails
I have had that set square over 50 years! Made in England.

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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / My CNC Build by Dave N Mark :)

« on: January 25, 2016, 10:49:23 PM »

This topic will be now used to keep you informed of how the build of our CNC from the book "Build Your Own CNC" is progressing.  we would like to thank everyone who gave us suggestions etc about software and programming and Mark, my son is evaluation all the avenues, which will give us the best solution for what we want to do. He has plans to cut out control panels for Sega Arcade Console, which if bought or have made commercially can be very expensive. These consoles are very big and have a 24" VGA CRT screen, the one Mark picked up also has a touch screen overlay.

My projects as mentioned elsewhere, are cutting parts for scratch building scale model ships.  Most of my ship models are over 1.5m in length and fully radio controlled and built to exacting specifications. Previously they have all been labouriously cut out using  electric and hand fret saws and sanding machines to finalise the shapes, especially the hull lines.

Stage One:  Yesterday we obtained a sheet of 8'X4'X3/4" MDF, a clean undamaged sheet with the supplier accurately cutting it into four 4'x2' as the original sheets were 8X4 fine. we did lose 3mm cutting waste.  This is of no consequence, but will be configured into amended measurements when building the gantry.

Watch this space for updates and appropriate photos.

Cheers Dave & Mark.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Working with MDF Safety

« on: January 23, 2016, 04:50:15 AM »

Not sure about the Medite, have not come across it.

 The formers remain inside the hull, the only ones exposed are in the open part of the hull where the electronics are, these are cut back to give maximum space inside.  The hull skin is on 0.7mm 3ply! very thin.  I actually  "plated" the hull of my HMS Loch Killisport to create the original "look" instead of using a full length sheet and "wrapping" it around the formers  as in my HMS Manchester. (That's why it took a year working on it every day!)

However before the the decking is added the entire hull inside is given a fibreglass resin wash which not only seals the MDF &  ply/joints inside but makes it entirely waterproof.  The outer hull is them primed, undercoated and finished in a matt standard Admiralty Atlantic grey.  I have found acrylic paint applied with an airbrush gives a nice finish.  The only time water may get inside is when it rains, but then its very minimal.

Dave

Excuse my typo on the spelling of formaldehyde!

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Working with MDF Safety

« on: January 23, 2016, 03:45:06 AM »

Good information Dave - thanks for drawing out attention to matters of safety.

Tweakie.

Technically, most countries use Urea/Formalhyde, which are carcinogenic.  The same warning goes for plywood and chipboard.
Australia has introduced low level toxin resins.  However officially there are very strict rules about the sale/use/display of these products, but I have yet to see them practiced at any of the the timber/hardware outlets.
However the Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union  have a set of rules which must be obeyed by its members.  So I guess in the actual industry those guidelines are followed.

5

General Mach Discussion / Working with MDF Safety

« on: January 22, 2016, 04:41:47 PM »

Along with myself, there are quite a few members joining who are new to CNC Milling and Turning and because of its overall strength and cheapness, MDF (Medium Density Fibre) Is a popular choice of material for building low end CNC Machines.   Myself I have used it exclusively for making hull formers for the scale model ships I build and one of the reasons I am building a CNC is tocut out these formers more accurately and easier with CNC mill.

Unfortunately you will never find warnings in timber stores about the hazards of MDF, contained in the toxic material used to bond the fibres into those innocent looking sheets.

Cutting and Sanding MDF in and by any form is extremely hazardous whether by hand or machine and at all times a quality facial mask with a replaceable filter should always be used.  In fact when ever cutting or machining any kind of material that raises fine dust should also be treated with precaution.

Similarly, you should always wear full wrap around glasses, do not rely on your prescription glasses, often today's fashions do not offer 100% protection.

I have deliberately avoided going into the chemical analysis of the compounds used as they vary from country to country - check on-line!

Have a great and safe day.
Cheers Dave.

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Creating G-Code

« on: January 19, 2016, 08:37:53 PM »

Just a bit of an update on our progress. We have tried a number of the suggestions given and the old Dell 780 is performing quite well, I even picked up a somewhat improved video card with DVI/HDMI output that leaves the onboard VGA graphics walking backwards.  Not exactly a gaming card but well supported by AMD and works well.
Mark feels that running "LinuxCNC" would probable be better, as said he is the computer whiz and knows linux pretty well.  Discovered that there are 2 embedded versions of LinuxCNC.

1. Ubuntu, which appears to be an old cutdown version 10.  (Current is V15) It will not run as V10 is out of date and cannot find links for updating etc inside the app.

2. Debian, [which "Lubuntu is based on] this is an excellent version.  Easy to get and create an ISO and burn to disk.  The app runs well in both the "Live" and the "Install" options.  So have set up 780 with Debian.  ( I recall using Deb many years ago, not easy back then, mainly text based)

After installation the install updated to the latest add-ons etc. and auto checks each time its booted up.  Navigation is extremely smooth and all one has to do is use the Right button on the desktop to drop down a search panel.  Whilst the desktop has various icons to look for things the R-Click is much faster and cleaner.
Had no problems accessing my network, which includes a server and huge backup file system plus 4TB of data storage in a NASbox 340 (old)

Next week the build will begin, with a trip to my favorite store for an 8X4 sheet of MDF.  They have a large vertical and horizontal sheet cutting facility so the sheet can be cut to 4 pieces of 4'X2' as recommended in the book.  I am modifying an old "Work Mate" allowing a old GME circular saw to be fitted with adjustable guides to cut out accurately the many parts needed.  
This followed by the purchase of aluminum angle for the runners and the construction of the base board and gantry.  I have a supply of quality roller bearings and we have a local store "Searle Fasteners" who can supply just about every nut, bolt, or threaded device that was ever made - If they have not got it they can get it or it doesn't exist
<1 small step>

Cheers Dave & Mark.

Posted from the 780/Linux

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Running Mach3 in Windows 10 (Registered)

« on: January 12, 2016, 08:41:05 AM »

I have ended up with 2 feeds running on this.  Not used to Forums:)  But as I mention on my other post.  I have found this forum to be the best I have visited, even stunned the Moderator by giving the forum 5 Stars    No seriously.  I have received great support and information so far and I am somewhat overwhelmed trying out the various suggestions.

Its going to take few days to evaluate all the suggestions.  So far I am strongly leaning towards 2DCut.  My son Mark will be coming up to town on Thursday and I will unleash the plephora of software on him and see what he likes.  (He's the software man.  As I have said I am the nuts and bolts department

Cheers  Dave & Mark

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Creating G-Code

« on: January 12, 2016, 07:20:13 AM »

Thanks Guys.  This is really great.  This is a great forum    5stars 
Dave

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Creating G-Code

« on: January 12, 2016, 06:56:44 AM »

Thanks for quick responses, both replies.  I have downloaded the "2DCut" program and quite impressed. As it certainly simplifies the creation of the commands that the CNC can respond to.  I would say that the $200 cost will be a good investment for our needs.

We have only a requirement for 2D milling.  A. to cut out panels for a Vintage Sega Arcade console & B. to accurately cut hull formers and decking for large scale model ships up to 2m LOA,  which is my main hobby ATM  The formers are cut from 3mm MDF and the decking from modelling ply, but as skills improve more intricate parts will be attempted.

Most of the plans I use are either bought or downloaded and then scaled up to full size on the computer and then printed out in a poster program.  The Hull lines are usually drawn on plans in a single graphic.  one half showing all the lines from the bow to midships the other half from the stern to midships, on average up to 20 - 25 formers which gives the hull its distinctive shape. These are then traced onto individual full width drawings.  They can be then scanned and converted to appropriate formats.

Doing this is a very laborious task resulting in a model taking up to a year to complete doing everything manually with a fret saw and a lot of elbow grease. My HMS Manchester took almost three years to complete and videos and photos of the model were use by a German dive team when the dived on the original wreck of Libya in the Med.

Thanks Dave n Mark.

Check my website in my profile.

10

General Mach Discussion / Creating G-Code

« on: January 12, 2016, 04:53:14 AM »

ATM we are at ground Zero as we start building our machine.  In the meantime we want to get the basics of writing up G-Code.  We have a "cheat sheet" of the basic commands and understand the elements of how the code works.   We have looked at a couple of compilers, but they do not seem to work in W10 64Bit.   ReplicatorG and that apparently requires Python Interpreter.  downloaded it and installed, but all we are getting are error messages and RG keeps asking for Python Interpreter and cannot find it, It also changed the shortcut to Python to ReplicatorG shortcut (2)

No doubt a lot of finger trouble here and getting onto the first rung is a bit trying.  Whether this is because these programs at 32bit and Win10 gets its sox into a twist with anything that is  older than 6 months ago....

Anyone point us to some programs that do work in W10.   Otherwise we may dump using W10 and go for a linux OS or go back and instal a 32bit Win7 on out Dell 780 FFS
The example  files we have appear to run smoothly in Mach3   But before we buy an adapter to eliminate the parallel port issues in W8/10 I feel we need to resolve the software issues first before we invest in $200 adapter.

Cheers Dave & Mark