Comments sought on new build: A CNC Router for RC Gliders and Planes

The time for fannying around has passed now....Z axis energy chain on the front plate, tie wrapped (temporary) to the back...

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Y axis energy chain bracket mounted...

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Think I'm going to go with 2 small chains, one for power and one for signals and water...have them going down different sides...

It's like Christmas today, a few bits came, most importantly the cable tray for the energy chain to go on. I know I could use brackets but I will need cable tray for CNCING the mill later...

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4" rotary table, 3" 3 jaw chuck, tailstock, small milling cutters, ER20 collet set...

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Some engraving cutters...

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And some EN8 steel bar in sizes from 10mm up to 65mm for stock (sure I can think of some good uses for some of this!!)

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Edit: just been up b&q and got 20m of 5mm tube for the water cooled Spindle. ..just need a tank/bucket and small pump.

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Was looking round the yard at work for some Ali and steel so I can make brackets for the machine and found this lot in a pile of plastic....mostly 50 series Ali with some ms and 304 ss thin sheet.

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There's a few chunks of some sort of fibre glass impregnated plastic I've got my eye on for the sacrificial bed....

Made a plate for the bandsaw so I can cut out the brackets from the sheet Ali and steel I've found...

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Ok, a bit more done this afternoon in between phone calls etc.

Made a new limit switch bracket/energy chain mount and mounted the cable tray one side....now to do some more brackets and the other side...

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Neil Looking good don't forget to put the rest of the bolts in the bearing mountings:joker:

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Originally Posted by Clive S

Neil Looking good don't forget to put the rest of the bolts in the bearing mountings:joker:

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Cheers Clive. Yeah I know, I was adjusting them the other day and not got round to doing it....

Hi Neil,

I found that the little bits and pieces take almost as long as the basic moving frame work! Keep plugging away and you will get there . . .

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Originally Posted by routercnc

Hi Neil,

I found that the little bits and pieces take almost as long as the basic moving frame work! Keep plugging away and you will get there . . .

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Tell me about it Barry, too much fannying around doing the small things. The other trouble is that it's now holiday season and for the next 6 weeks there's one of us (only 3 in the office) out so I'm guessing all work will stop again on it as I'll be busy doing the day to day stuff and 3D drawing for quotes etc, hope not as it's getting nearer to the day that it makes the first chips!

Its looking great. One thing is there are atleast 4 rc modelers on here that I've seen now (including myself).

Im going to work on getting the fult signal from the hunyang vfd linked up but ive not seen anyone on here do this from my searches.

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Originally Posted by Gotty101

Its looking great. One thing is there are atleast 4 rc modelers on here that I've seen now (including myself).

Im going to work on getting the fult signal from the hunyang vfd linked up but ive not seen anyone on here do this from my searches.

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Cheers! I've not looked at the VFD integration yet...that'll be the last thing I do I think.

First thing I cut will be a set of wing ribs!!!

Just one thing done in lunch today, the second cable tray/bracket/energy chain on the X axis...

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Ok so managed a bit more this afternoon....cut the Y axis back plate, only 2 M6 bolts in at the moment...don't worry Clive ill be putting lots more in soon!!!

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Put one bit of energy chain on the Z axis to get the cable tray bracket mounting height....

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Slowly slowly catchy monkey....[emoji3]

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don't worry Clive ill be putting lots more in soon!!!

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Just wondering why you need two X chains!!:wink:

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Originally Posted by Clive S

Just wondering why you need two X chains!!:wink:

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One for power and one for signals and water of course....[emoji6]

Looking good Neil. I also went for 2 chains with power down one side and signals down the other. Even with this setup I had a few false e-stops but I'm pretty sure it was because of the long limit switch cables to the Z axis straight into the breakout board. Hopefully with my new 24V limits through the relay it should sort that one -when I get round to wiring them up!

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Originally Posted by njhussey

One for power and one for signals and water of course....[emoji6]

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This is the way I have done it because I wanted the chain out of the way. All of the signals and motor power, water etc run through it without any problems. Although I am thinking of removing the water tube and fitting a small rad. with a fan on it on to the Z axis.
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Dean has done this and it works very well ( Just a small sealed system about 1 pint of water).
http://www.mycncuk.com/attachment.ph...id=15711&stc=1

Clive, my router is going vertical so that's not really an option for me, looks a great solution though! I'm going to build a frame/enclosure to put it in which will eventually be fully enclosed with interlocked doors (safety because it's at work) which will also stop the chips from being flung all around the shop floor!

Attachment 15712

I like the idea of keeping the water cooling on the Z axis, might look at small PC radiators and fans....

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I like the idea of keeping the water cooling on the Z axis, might look at small PC radiators and fans....

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Something like this

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SP-12...043171101.html

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Originally Posted by Clive S

Something like this

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SP-12...043171101.html

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That's the badger Clive!!....

I'm torn between mounting it on the Z axis or on the enclosure frame. I'm sure that the small volume will be OK but I'm erring on the side of caution and thinking of mounting it on the frame, that way there is a bit more water in the system. I've got a 240V small 200 l/hr pond pump, but it's a submersible one so I might just go with that in a bucket with a lid for the time being and then adapt the water circuit later....decisions decisions!

Hi Neil,

Good progress recently....

If you want to go down the PC rad and pump route let me know, as I may have a spare 120mm rad (possibly 2), fans and possibly a pump/res unit I can let you have, as I've recently upgraded to 240/280/360/420mm in most of my watercooled PCs.

Chris

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Originally Posted by Washout

Hi Neil,

Good progress recently....

If you want to go down the PC rad and pump route let me know, as I may have a spare 120mm rad (possibly 2), fans and possibly a pump/res unit I can let you have, as I've recently upgraded to 240/280/360/420mm in most of my watercooled PCs.

Chris

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Cheers Chris, that will be great...pm sent!

Did a little bit this afternoon...

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Cables still need tidying on the end plates and something put there to stop and chafing....

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Stocked up on WD40 ready for cutting Ali.....

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Unfortunately not had a chance to do any more on the machine as real work has got in the way. Still I ordered the steel for the frame (re-designed it to a basic frame that I can then box in if required) which came today.

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Frame re-design....hopefully I can keep the number of re-draws to below 6 this time. router is held to the frame with 4 off M12 bolts :wink:

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The frame is going to be mounted to the wall and floor rigidly and adjustably so it can be mounted level and slightly off the wall to get access to the botls holding the router to the frame (I can see a re-design on its way already...) :hopelessness:

Not much getting done this week on the build.....

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lazing by the pool with a few beers seems a better thing to be doing!!!

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Ok so 20 mins on it tonight and ive drilled the holes to mount the 20mm thick Ali base. Just got to notch the front corners and file where the frame welds will be and then the headache of putting the base on, drilling and tapping the mounting holes and then bolting the base on. It's blinking heavy without the base on, still what's another 50kg eh.....

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Up ended the router, b*@@#r me it's quite heavy!

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Notched the corners of the 20mm plate and chamfered where the weld beads are. Put the plate on the base and used an 8.5mm transfer punch to mark the bolt holes.

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Drilled and hand tapped the plate...

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Put it on the frame and tightened the bolts up...

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And then put foot pads on and put it down on the floor for the time being....

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Good to see some more progress on the machine. It looks like its getting close to cutting testing?

BTW - what is the cutting area - it looks smaller in the latest pics but I estimate 500x1500-ish mm?

Chris

It's 1000 x 500 although I'm not sure I'll quite get 1000....we'll see.

Yes good to make more progress, spending more time on it tomorrow so hoping to get some movement again tomorrow!

Ok so I didn't connect up the control panel and play with a small surfacing program.....honest!!! [emoji6]

https://youtu.be/SS2O6dHBvqU

Congratulations, looking really good.

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Originally Posted by Wobblycogs

Congratulations, looking really good.

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Cheers Graham!

Well done Neil, it's looking brilliant from down here!

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Originally Posted by njhussey

Up ended the router, b*@@#r me it's quite heavy!

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...52f28cfe35.jpg

Notched the corners of the 20mm plate and chamfered where the weld beads are. Put the plate on the base and used an 8.5mm transfer punch to mark the bolt holes.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...29951f4592.jpg

Drilled and hand tapped the plate...

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Put it on the frame and tightened the bolts up...

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And then put foot pads on and put it down on the floor for the time being....

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looks awesome, mind pointing me to where you got those leveling pads? thanks!

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Originally Posted by Noplace

looks awesome, mind pointing me to where you got those leveling pads? thanks!

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I got them from RDG Tools http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/1...dia-14743.html when I got a load of other bits (8" Vertex indexing head etc...) I'm sure they're not the cheapest by far but I was ordering loads of other goodies.....:whistle:

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Originally Posted by AndyGuid

Well done Neil, it's looking brilliant from down here!

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Cheers Andy, looks OK from here although I've a list of things I'd do differently next time as I've a few niggles and annoyances. Once I've got this finished and running to my satisfaction I'll put a list of things I'd do differently in a post.

Ok so been playing with Cambam and doing various test cuts in a scrap piece of MDF playing with Step overs, feeds and speeds etc. Even did some peck drilling in preparation for drilling the base plate to bolt down a spoil board (MDF to start before a Tuffnol one I've got) so spoil board looks rather used...

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My work area is 970mm x 495mm so not quite as large as I'd hoped...but more than enough for what I want at the moment.

BUGGER!!!!!!!!

Spot the snapped tap in the bed...

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Close up....

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Which makes the sacrificial bed look like this...

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Closer...what's missing from this one???!!!!!

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Any suggestions for getting the tap out in situ guys??????[emoji35]

Damn, always happens just when you don't need it. I've seen broken taps removed using a small punch or point and hammer to carefully unscrew them. Whether it will work depends how well the thread is cut I'd guess. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Wobblycogs

Damn, always happens just when you don't need it. I've seen broken taps removed using a small punch or point and hammer to carefully unscrew them. Whether it will work depends how well the thread is cut I'd guess. Good luck.

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I've some bits to cut tomorrow that don't require absolute precision so ill surface the bed and then think about it.

There was a thread where someone used Alum to dissolve the tap...trouble is I'd need a big pan to simmer the bed in!!!

Ultimately it won't matter as I'll be doing the T slotted base thingy...but it's still annoying!