Scrappy - 1200 x 600 Rotozip

[Swarfing]

Hi all i have moved so far down the line with my first machine i thought i had better start putting pen to paper before its finished. i probably would have a story with a start and a finish and no middle otherwise. The aim was a machine with at least a 1200 x 600 bed and to utilise my rotozip. I thought i knew exactly why i wanted to build this at the start but the more you read and the more you find out it suddenly becomes an obsession (why?????).Most of the gear i have purchased from Ebay and local trade dealers and what i have so far is:

Controller - 5 axis all in one from china, 2amp per motor (£51)
Steppers - Astrosyn 23 nema single stack at 1.4 amp wired bi polar (4 for £50 ish)
Power supply - 3 x 24v 4.2 amp switch mode to be wired in parallel (£7.99 each)
Linear slides - Gear for all axis bought as job lot from china (£78)
Flange bearings - 2 screw (£18)
Lead - 12 x 3 trapazoidial 2 x 1m lengths(£15) - 1 more to get
20mm and 16mm round bar - local (£20)
Aluminium - Metal salvager (£15) - more about this to come
Cable track - 3 x 36" x 2" (£25)
EMC2 - (Free:dance:)
I meant to do a plan for this thing but after reading over and over again decided to just get on with it. i went to a salvager to see if i could pick up some ali sheet and came away with everything. The base was built with what i believe to be a an old frame from a machine of some sort. It is acentially a window frame blank and was close to my size i wanted. i had some 'T' slot from him as well.

this weekend so far i built up the X and started the Y. I hope to get some pics up soon.

Thanks to everybody that has contributed here as it has been an insperation to me. Keep up the good work.

Paul

[Conan257]

Give us plenty of details as I'm struggling to decide on my controller and psu selection. Looks like you've planned a cheap setup that is similar to how I'm hoping to set my machine up!

[Swarfing]

hi Conan

If i could give you some advice at the start it will be hang on to your money until the last possible moment. I messed around with so many ideas and jumped the gun by buying acme screw rod here and grabbing bits of metal there, I could have paid for upgraded motors and higher ampage drivers to take them with money i wasted. Once this one is finished i will be building a bigger unit and the kit i have for this one will go onto a smaller machine with better quality components. What i paid for three power supplies could have paid for decent high ampage single unit (i was planning to use free motors on a smaller unit and one would have been enough).

You must be honest with yourself about what you will use it for - cheap is not always a saving

[Smiler]

hi Conan

If i could give you some advice at the start it will be hang on to your money until the last possible moment. I messed around with so many ideas and jumped the gun by buying acme screw rod here and grabbing bits of metal there, I could have paid for upgraded motors and higher ampage drivers to take them with money i wasted. Once this one is finished i will be building a bigger unit and the kit i have for this one will go onto a smaller machine with better quality components. What i paid for three power supplies could have paid for decent high ampage single unit (i was planning to use free motors on a smaller unit and one would have been enough).

You must be honest with yourself about what you will use it for - cheap is not always a saving

I think we've all been down this road at some point. I must have blown £200 plus on stuf I never used/ was wrong etc. The big problem is we start out with a plan for what we want to make, mine was plugs for a submarine hull, easy peasy for an MDF machine but then as I started gathering the bits, The "but then I could also mill the watertight chamber plugs too from resin" ideas kicked in and then I got asked if it could cut a sign and before I knoew it, it was steel and ballscrews here we come :heehee:

Latest on the agenda is to build a 6m polyethelene RIB like this and me cut the parts on my router, good job I ditched the MDF idea

You need a design goal and to stick to it (like Kip's build) but then that also removes 90% of the fun and exploration for me.

Jeff

[HankMcSpank]

Hey ho to the waste & bad purchases.... I've made a good few mistakes & then there's the couple of quid here, a couple of quid there screws & bolts you need along the way - it all adds up. (I must have spent the guts of 30 quid on threaded rod alone!)

I've just bought some Astrosyn Nem23 steppers myself (Astrosyn don't list the ones I bought on Ebay - these ones have the most torque of all their NEMA23s)...cost me £69 for four (one will be used for my next pickup winder project). These will replace some woefully underpowered NEMA23 steppers taken from some old printers ....good riddance (though I'm miffed that these ones have 8mm shafts vs the 6.35mm shaft of my old ones ...poor planning on my part & now need to worry about boring out the holes on my couplers - yet again!)

But yeah...to anyone starting out on this journey....before buying wait, mull it over & then wait a bit longer - you'll save heaps!

[Swarfing]

Here here to all the wows, onwards and upwards or is downwards???? depending on how much you have wasted i suppose.....Will drag it out of the garage for the first pics tonight if it does not rain.

[Smiler]

I'm having way too much fun :D

That RIB looks nice :drool:

They use them at the fishfarm here, incredibly fast and unsinkable. They put 5tonne fuel bowsers on them to take out to the feeding station and the damn things hardly notice it. One has an 80hp Honda outboard and the other 2X60's, muchos marraccas!!!!

Anyway, they also use the PE pipe to suck the fish out of the nets come harvest or they did anyway but now ahuge farm ship comes in and sucks them up itself. So, all this PE pipe, perfect for a RIB hull was going spare and my boss being impressed with these boats has decided to build a couple, a big one for him and his family and a smaller "works" boat for the boys to play with .

Jeff. (sorry for hijacking the thread)

[Swarfing]

As promised - some pics of it so far and some of my favorite toys. The gantry sides for Y i cut again after doing some measuring (this helps). The best toy in the shop is the metal chop saw, it has one huge motor for a nice slow torquey cut. By the way they say never work with kids and animals.

[Swarfing]

that was in the plan until i fitted what i had then decided against it. It is a lot sturdier than it looks. i might beef up the gantry sides with an mdf skeleton doubler?

Didn't you know speeding is allowed in Swindon now so no signs to be had:heehee:

[Lee Roberts]

Looking good so far Paul !

Our girls look as tho they would have much fun together:

Hanna decided she would join me in the shop tonight, the next thing i know shes climing onto the bench next to me with a hand full of TBR16 units.

"What you doing with them hanna ? "

"i'm building a tower daddy "

"ok, well dont brake them :exclaim: "

An invoice later and i'v got 1mm ball bearings rawing across the bench at me :exclaim: :heehee:

What could i say i let her play with them right ? :nope: it was a written warning for Hanna May (her first), "misappropriation of company stock". She then made a complaint with the personal manager (Mum).

Looks like i'v now got a meeting to goto !