Got the panel finished, bench-tested, all passed 100%

Got the pendant rough-wired so i could bench-test the panel, seems functional.

All axes homed and jogged perfectly, no surprises, e-stop system seems to work ok.

Managed to lug the panel into the cabinet, nearly ruptured myself but it's in now and bolted down.

Tomorrow will be final wiring on the switches and limits etc, plus re-rigging the pendant for the next power-up test. Then I'll probably strip the pendant and send it out for powder-coating, or just spray it if impatience takes over

Looks very nice Dave.
What is the aux spindle for?

Looks very nice Dave.
What is the aux spindle for?

Its a 24k rpm water-cooled spindle, great for aluminium and engraving etc, bridgeport only goes to 3000rpm.

Ahh.  Makes perfect since.

Have you done much engraving.  I would love to make my own face plates using anodize aluminum.  I currently purchase them.  They are all custom and I spend probably 10k a year on them.  Love the work they do but hate the lead time.  Always wondered how to in-fill the engraving.  Have you done this?

no, not that much really.

Full story is that i built a mini-mill for cutting aluminium parts and to learn CNC, plus the fun of the build Then realised that it took up a lot of workshop real-estate so decided to convert the Bridgeport mill as it was under-used, the idea being that the one machine could do both jobs - heavy stuff plus small light stuff. If that succeeded I would then sell the mini-mill to recover some cash.

Thats the theory anyway

I get that.  Kinda how I got started and probably thought the same thing.  Years later, a big shop and always looking for a deal on another machine tool.

Looking good Dave and glad it is all working as intended
Still not my choice of control panel layout but I will say it does look better now it is populated and will look even better once painted/coated

Hood

Thanks Hood, the good thing with the control panel is that I have plenty of spare cable-cores going back to the main cabinet and also its the easiest part to strip, rebuild or replace later on when i start to realise what is missing or in the wrong place

Got the panel wired back up, all tested ok

Got a few bits to sort out, need a longer cable for the canbus to the MPG module, tidy up the cables once i figure out how it all goes in use, fit the chip guards to the drive belts and z axis, strip and finish the control panel.

Nearly there but moved on a lot in a few days

Changed Mach down to V0.062 tonight, supposed to be best version, also got the Haimer 3d-taster zeroed, had to mark the spindle and mount as there is runout otherwise - this will need a bit of investigation, might be a burr in the R8 socket, might just be a poor 12mm Weldon mount that I have the Haimer mounted into.

Still testing the tool-length offset but it seems stable now I have sussed out how to do it;)