New build with recycled parts on a ridiculous budget 120cm*60cm work area

[Davek0974]

Is it a twin-head or a duplicator ?

One is hard, other is easy ;)

[Desertboy]

Is it a twin-head or a duplicator ?

One is hard, other is easy ;)

I have a few ideas how to implement it, what switches I need god knows lol. I would like multiple modes.

1. Clone 2 identical machines ran from a linuxcnc controller, 8 AM882's.
2. Individual 2 sepearate machines how I would run it mostly, eyeing up the ddscv controller for this mode, 1 for my 2nd machine and linuxcnc can run the first machine.
3. If possible 1 linuxcnc controller utilising all 8 axis for a shared area this I see as maybe not possible with my level of skill and cam solutions.

How I switch all this I don't know but it can't be that hard.

I'm sure an inductive sensor can be used on one the gantres as an emergency stop so they don't crash into each other if the programming is haywire.

[Desertboy]

Had a quote back for 2020 ballscrew, 2m long with fittings 3 of them just under £500 delivered to UK, (Will be £100-£150 in import tax on top). I should probably just build a new router square with 1.8m*1.8m (Going to need a strong gantry) with steppers for my 2nd router I can get some Nema 34's for £5 each off a mate who has a dolab full of them lol for Y and drop a 4nm nema 23 from cnc4you for the X. This is a lot more doable in the short term than dual gantry with servos all round lol. It's Chinese New year so I can't order for a month, well I can but nothing will be posted for a month. So have a month to think about thing before rushing in lol. 1.8m travel is what I'm after having it on both axis would be truly amazing. I've been doing a lot of test cutting now on my machine for the things I want to build and I know I need at least 10m/min cutting speed to stand a chance of making money on it. What I want to build uses 2 types of wood and I actually couldn't fit it on a 1.8m*1.8m bed to cut it in 1 but if I keep the original machine as well then I could run them side by side and make the item in 1 run giving me a fighting chance lol.

I would love to build a dual gantry machine but having spoken to some people on the linuxcnc forums it seems the software just isn't there to take real advantage of it. So in the end I'd be building essentially 2 cnc machines in one frame I could get it to clone easy enough (Parallel port switch) but even that would have dubios advantages as you loose homing on 1 of the machines. After all if I have 2 controllers it's not hard to run the same code on both and then have homing and forget the cloning. I can still see an advantage to have a dual gantry with a shared area if 1 is R&P powered and the other ballscrew and you only work 1 gantry at a time. Would be easy to use a limit switch so if the gantry not in use is not parked then power to the other gantry is off. 1 gantry for speed and 1 for aluminium. They could then share electronics at least if I can find the right switches after all I only need to switch 4 wires for each stepper which would be 2 sets for this setup (X&Z). It very easy in linuxcnc to have multiple profiles for the machine so wouldn't be hard to configure. This way sharing the rail, frame, electronics & controller you're saving a lot of money and floor space to get essentially 2 machines.

Maybe build No. 3 will be dual gantry ;)

[Snapper]

Attachment 23617

Jumper setting for my AM882's they're all set the same, I hope they're set to autotune SW4 off/on/off twice in 1 second and 8 microsteps, not sure why I'm out dimensionally.

Attachment 23618
Also thinking about clamping

Thinking about cam, although I can CAM simple piecs of fusion most of what I designed to make is in 50+ pieces so looking for something to ease placement of the 50 pieces on a work piece, 2 sided machining and simplifiy the whole process.

I think it's a shoot out between Vcarve pro and Meshcam, leaning towards Meshcam at moment as it's $250

Have you looked through the add ons available for fusion? There is one to do precisely that. Select the bodies/components you want and the work area and it arranges them all nicely. There is some quite cool DLC stuff for fusion.

[Desertboy]

Have you looked through the add ons available for fusion? There is one to do precisely that. Select the bodies/components you want and the work area and it arranges them all nicely. There is some quite cool DLC stuff for fusion.

No I hadn't but I am now ;)

[Desertboy]

http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/30/eu...ebar_expansion

Did a lot more test cutting I'm happy the dimensions are all correct but have managed to destroy a 6mm 2 flute end mill drilling through hardened steel not surprised the steel killed 4 cobalt bits in a drill press lol the end mill actually made it through at 24000rpm with a lot of pecking. It longer longer flattents it grooves lol.

Got myself some microswitches from China crazy cheap going to test the repeatability vs the original omron's that these are a clone of.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5X-Micro-...72.m2749.l2649

Came in less than 7 days

[Desertboy]

Another step closer

How low should I set the dust shoe?

[JAZZCNC]

Did a lot more test cutting I'm happy the dimensions are all correct but have managed to destroy a 6mm 2 flute end mill drilling through hardened steel not surprised the steel killed 4 cobalt bits in a drill press lol the end mill actually made it through at 24000rpm with a lot of pecking.

Why would you even attempt to do that unless you just like killing endmills and wasting money.?. . . Dumber than Dumb to me

[Desertboy]

Why would you even attempt to do that unless you just like killing endmills and wasting money.?. . . Dumber than Dumb to me

Too true lol but I didn't mine testing it to destruction I bought 10 of them from Banggood for £3 each, I also bought load of other size carbide 2 flute end mills, ball mills for now to play with. I got myself a couple of trend 2 flute cutters as well and some v groove bits.

Pretty unsure what I want for woodworking but figured one day I'll probably want to make my own aluminium plates so get some 2 flutes end mills for now, I picked myself up a compression bit which is not ever going to cut anything but ply.

Eventually I want to be cutting Oak, Walnut, Mahogany, Beech and whatever else I can get my hands on that's not pine and not reprocessed wood. I think I'll invest in some proper cutters first lol.

I also want to cut polycarbonate.

[JAZZCNC]

Got myself some microswitches from China crazy cheap going to test the repeatability vs the original omron's that these are a clone of.

Came in less than 7 days

Why bother.? About much use chocolate fireguard as home switches and that's the only reason to test repeatability. Wouldn't even trust them to turn light on in my fridge let alone limit switches. . . Junk = Hair pulling.!!