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  1. Quote Originally Posted by pcstru View Post
    Davem - The machine is reasonably close to plug and play, unlike my first machine which was a pile of bits! My biggest worry is the two motors on the X axis losing step and the gantry alignment going. My plan then is to just wind it against the stops but if it happens (when) I'll take advice from the supplier first. So far though, there is no sign of any step loss.
    I am building a router on a very similar design (though somewhat beefed, up due to my distinct tendency towards overengineering) and I would be interested in your findings on this. What I would worry about is it not starting in the right place even if no steps were lost...
    The Tslot pieces can be attached to the bottom of the machine for deeper pieces, or for even deeper pieces left off altogether and the machine raised up (and presumably then solidly attached to ... well, something solid. I've a large slice from a chestnut tree which I plan to work. It should fit under the machine with the plates off and then I'll clamp the machine onto the 'table'.
    I have a cunning plan involving a table with a removable central section for dealing with large objects...

  2. Quote Originally Posted by daveshorts View Post
    I am building a router on a very similar design (though somewhat beefed, up due to my distinct tendency towards overengineering) and I would be interested in your findings on this. What I would worry about is it not starting in the right place even if no steps were lost...
    I guess you mean if it's not set up properly making the gantry slightly off 90 deg to the table?

  3. Either that or if one side is pushed while the machine is off

  4. If one side is out of alignment then the machine is going to cut parallelograms rather than squares. So my cunning plan is to cut a square, put in on a good surface and try and measure if it's out and if so by how much. I'll need to scale that up to the length of the axis which should then tell me how much the axis is out. Then I'll need to drive one of the steppers an appropriate number of steps to cure it. Well ... that's my theory! Any comments?

  5. I guess it depends on how repeatable the error is, and whether there is any spring in the structure. I think that if you are unlucky every time you turn off the steppers you will lose your correction, and it is not obvious to me that applying the same correction next time will be right.

  6. #16
    Pcstru, a couple of weeks ago, you asked about 'decent' timber suppliers. One recommended company is :

    DW Mouldings
    56-58 Sunderland Road
    Sandy
    Beds
    SG19 1QY www.dwmouldings.co.uk

    They do selected hardwoods rather than marine ply - worth ringing their Production Manager - Brian Dawes to see what they have in stock.

    My other neighbour (who does wood turning) gets his blanks from :

    Bedford Saw and Tool Co
    Ampthill Road
    Bedford MK42 Tel: 01234 217417

    They obviously do square and hex blanks for turning in plain and figured woods but might do other sizes too. Could be worth asking.

    Be good to hear how you are getting on.

    Davem

  7. @DaveM - Thanks for coming back with some suppliers - I'll check them out. As it happens though, SWMBO just bought me 10cu ft of rough planked seasoned oak - which should keep me going for some time. I've also found a few suppliers of Marine ply on the net - seems quite expensive but could be worth it for clock gears. My current supply is 'laser' ply from murt.co.uk - cheap as chips but not really suitable for anything but prototypes.

    I've done quite a bit of work with the machine but all in wood - no metals yet. Did a house sign for a friend which turned out well. I never know what to charge for these things so said he might like to get me a nice bottle of malt, which he did. I put the vinyl cutter on the machine and tried cutting some vinyl signage. That's a bit fiddly to get just the right pressure but once you get the mark, it seems to work well. Mounting them after cutting is the hard part. Other than that, I've mostly been redesigning and cutting bits of SWMBO's anniversary clock - changing the foliet from a suspended magnetic bearing to a ... well, a kind of pin in a cup thingymabob. Definate improvement in reliability but the asthetic needs some improvement.

    The machine itself is standing up to my abuse. Doesn't seem to be 100% (more like 98%) running from my Lenovo laptop but it let's me know before cutting (rather than half way through a job) - and a quick reboot and all seems fine. I think that is some kind of USB issue. Every so often it just gets it's knickers in a twist and I get "realtime module blocked". Sometimes that is my fault for starting up with the HW master switch off. Other times ... I don't know - I'll try swapping in 'real' PC at some point and see how that goes. Will do a more in depth followup in a few weeks - hopefully after I get some metal in there.

  8. #18
    hi pcstru looks like a good machine, looking at buying a similar machine to that, wondering what type of accuracy is this machine capable of?

    also wondering about its cutting capacity, will it cut 6mm wide 0.5mm deep in alumimium, 6mm wide 0.1mm deep in steel?

  9. Hi Aidank. Accuracy - I've not made any measurements yet so can't say with any authority. The Heiz site has specs which quote a repeatability of 0.01mm and resolution of 0.00187 and the manual qualifies that for a temp between 20-25deg C.

    I've not tried any metals yet but cutting capacity and accuracy in metals will probably be as much down to the spindle as the machine. The Kress 1050 is OK but as an all in one motor and spindle it's always a compromise. If you mostly need to cut metals to 0.01mm accuracy, then unless you need to machine pieces as large as 1000mm by 580mm, I'd probably look at a CNC milling machine rather than a router. If you do need to do pieces as large as that on a T1000 then you will need to deal with the compromises - stiffen it up and cut at speeds way below the 6000mm/m spec of the machine. You might as well save a bit and get the S1000 (lower speeds won't be an issue) but even then, if metals are your main target and you don't need the large cutting area - you should probably look elsewhere.

  10. #20
    scjb's Avatar
    Location unknown. Last Activity: 23-12-2012 Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 10.
    Hi pcstru. Very interesting thread. Thanks for your observations. It's been a few weeks now and I was wondering how you were getting on?

    As an aside, I work with USB peripherals in live entertainment. One annoying thing that laptops tend to do is power down the USB ports as part of the power saving scheme. The first thing we do with show-critical systems is turn off that feature in the Device Manager. I wonder if that could be part of your USB issues?

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