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Messages - Turd Fergeson

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Craig, I agree.

I would like to discuss more once I get my feet wet. I figured out how to add the auto-zero script and run it in mach. It works well. I have the feeling there is a ton more I need to learn about before I can start cutting copper. Like always, I need to find the time. Thanks for the awesome tips and conversation. Hope to talk again soon.

Bill

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Cool. I didn't even consider acrylic. I wondered about tool life and FR4. Fiberglass is more abrasive than copper. A machinist at work makes work related (metal core) LED PCB's for me. He uses double sided tape too. He's never really mentioned any problems with it but that doesn't mean there aren't any. I notice he has trouble lifting the boards off sometimes when they are done and has to bend them some. We came up with the idea of putting acetone around the board first and letting it sit a minute to soften the adhesive, it just doesn't seep in far so it takes time (lift, soak). I wouldn't think their would be much lateral load on the pcb at all. a sharp bit and the right tool speeds so your not scraping copper off and an accurately cut pocket might be good enough with a vacuum system. If you could mill another larger pocket on the bottom of the acrylic with a bunch of small holes into the upper pocket, and mill a pocket for an o-ring around the edge of the bottom pocket and mount that to a thin aluminum plate that fastens to the table, you might have an easily created vac system. I would think a takeoff from your shop-vac might do it and suck up some dust in the process. Don't know what kind of pressure would be needed but it might be worth a try.      

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Autoleveller, that's niiiiiiiiice! So it probes the blank PCB in "Z" and records the offsets at "X" and "Y" locations on the part. Then, when you have your machine code ready, you run it through autoleveller and it add's in the offsets for the workpiece so it can reference the cuts to the profile of the board. Hmmm, that's smart! I would of course, still try to get the part as level as possible. Right now, I'm trying to figure out what I can use for a waste board under the PCB. I have a 0.500" piece of delrin in mind. If I clamp the delrin sheet down and face it with an end-mill, it should be true to the "Z" axis I think. It might be difficult to face the delrin cleanly though, it's like teflon n will melt if the tool speeds aren't just right. I'm hesitant about using aluminum as the bit will need to go through the PCB at times or very nearly and I don't want to damage tooling unnecessarily. MDF or even HDF seems a logical choice I guess, it's reasonably cheap and hard. Thoughts?

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Hi Craig!

Thank you. I have been using Eagle for years but have always made boards with photolith and etchant, as I'm sure you know, a messy process and not very ecologically sound. I just found out about PCB G-Code a short while ago and was ecstatic about the idea of milling my own boards at home! It started a shi*storm of research and development that I am really enjoying. The more I learn about CNC milling machines, the more possibilities I see.

I am grateful for the reply and for the advice.

Best Regards,
Bill   

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Thank you Chad for the warm welcome! Hi everyone, I'm Bill. I am new to the forum. I am thankful for forum's like this. It is awesome to see so many people that are like minded and enjoying what they are doing. I got bit by the CNC bug fairly recently. My hobby has been electronics since about age 10. I was the kid who hung around the local radio shack and tv repair shop. I would drag home every radio and tv I could carry off of the curb on collection night, to find out how it worked. I learned a lot of things the hard way but sometimes that's just what it takes. (It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll!) I eventually realized I could get paid to do what I love and began work for a tv repair shop in 92. It was the best decision of my life! I've been in the industry since and am fortunate to be able to say, I don't mind my job. I am currently an electronics engineering technician working for an LED lighting company. I am also attending university for my EE degree. I build LED lighting prototype light fixtures and the associated electronics that power them. I get to build test fixtures to take measurements for new designs. I often get to design parts in Solidworks which is quite interesting in itself. Cad is not hard to learn and is awesome! It is fun to see your ideas quickly turn into parts for your designs! I'll admit that doing what I enjoy for a living has, at times, taken some of the fun out of it. When you have to do it, it isn't exactly the same. So you look for projects that fuel your interest... things you enjoy doing. I often work closely with the good people in the machine shop at work. Machinist's work has always been interesting to me and CNC puts a lot of that into a language I can understand. I have done some metal work in the past but nothing CNC. My electronics background helps a lot with understanding CNC and makes it all the more interesting to me. I need to make my own PCB's and some small metal and plastic parts for my latest electronics project. I am building a time-lapse camera (raspberry pi) that transfers photos via Wi-Fi to my home computer network. It is night-vision capable and is solar powered so, no wires at all! I plan to use it in my garden and take time-lapse photographs of another hobby of mine, HOT peppers! I need a lot of custom parts made and I hate to ask the guys in the CNC shop for too many favors doing "government work". So I recently bought a chinese 3040 machine. Now I have another hobby to make my other hobbies more fun! (does anyone else have this same problem?) I was planning upgrades and mod's before the machine even arrived. After "monkeying" around with it for a couple of days I have everything working but I haven't actually milled anything yet. I think I am far enough along to start making some test cut's soon but I already see a ton of reading I would like to do here on the forum as I go along. I am having a blast learning about industrial machinery and CNC machining. I ran across this site in all my searches and am happy I did. I was considering GRBL for a while until I checked out Mach 3, awesome! Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for all of the great information here, it is very much appreciated. It is my sincere hope that everyone here is enjoying what they are doing as much as I am!

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Right settings form CNC3040??
« on: August 26, 2017, 12:31:26 PM »
Hello Jokernippe,
I am new to the forum and to CNC in general. I just got a chinese 3040 machine and had the same issue. Not sure if you have it hashed out yet but maybe this will help. In Mach 3, go to the "config" tab and "ports and pins". Select "motor outputs" tab and enable (green check mark) your X, Y and Z Axis. Under "step pin" enter X=2, Y=4 and Z=6. For "Dir Pin" X=3, Y=5 and Z=7. Green check mark the "Dir LowActi..." and "Step Low A..." for all 3 axis also. "Step Port" and "Dir Port" should all be 1. At the bottom, enable the spindle (again, green check mark) and for "Step Pin" = 17 and "Dir Pin" = 1. You also have to enable the "E-Stop" (green check) under the "Input Signals" tab. Estop Port # = 1 and Pin number = 13. If you want to enable your Z axis probe, (green check it) and Port = 1 and Pin number = 15 (enable active low green check mark).
This was the setup for my machine. It took some "monkeying" around with and a lot of google searches but, if you are like me, you didn't read the instruction sheet that came with your machine (if you got one). All this info is there. I spend hours goofing around and searching the net and there it all was, right in front of me the whole time. Oh well, good learning experience i guess. Post back and let us know what happens.

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