Giant 20' x 3' x 2' router build

I'm looking for some advise on we're to put all the electrics. My work space is generally quite dusty so I obviously need to protect against that. I also have the issue that all the cables will be fairly long by the time they make it any where. It's aprox 5meters from the centre of the machine and start of cable Chain to the spindle or about 8 if you take the cables to one end of the table. I have a metal cupboard I have been wondering about utilising to house some of the stuff to protect from dust but just not to sure how far I need to go with it, do I need a clean air source from out side? I was thinking of having the actual computer in a separate room to avoid dust but not sure if this would be practical? If any one can give any suggestions that would be great as I'm sure there is more to it than first meets the eye and as it's my first machine I'm not sure how closely things need to be together. Many thanks

You prob want a cabinet similersomething like this.

http://www.rittal.com/uk-en/product/...ductID=PRO0023

Most proffesional cnc machines will have a fan to cool with a filter to stop the majourity of crap getting inside. I guess you might have some long running times so you might want to add some sort of fan on your stepper drivers or at least bolt them to a heatsink or something. If you really want to push the boat out you could bolt them to a hunk of aluminium and water cool the block. My thermwood machine has a airconditioning unit attached to cool the insides of the cabinet.

any suggestions to what sort of filters to use, i guess it will need to be fairly large to prevent the chances of it geting blocked up to quickly? how about the vfd? originally i had it mounted to the gantry but then realised it was probably better some were else. Is it something i need access to the hole time so needs to be some were accessible and if so then how would i protect that from dust all so? put it in a separate box?

cheers

Big Steel box with 2 fans pulling air in thru good paper filters and one pulling it out. Filters like this. http://www.apc.com/products/family/?id=414

Car air filters also make good filters but you'll need to make an housing similair to whats in the picture. Which is easy made from thin ali sheet if you have a working machine and a good little test.

cheers thanks i will see what i can find at a local car spares shop, should i put the vfd in with it all or separate do you think?

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Originally Posted by charlieuk

cheers thanks i will see what i can find at a local car spares shop, should i put the vfd in with it all or separate do you think?

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Put it inside with it. If you need or want to see the display then depending on VFD make you can often remove the front display and put externally.

If your controling thru software then you don't really need access but it's nice to be able to see the display and have it set for Amps. This will give an indication to cutter wear and spindle load. (thou don't think your foam will challenge the spindle any.!!)

cool many thanks will work on that principle.

like this;
http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/6565-...6651#post56651

make sure the fans blow into the panel (via the filter), not suck out of it, this is to keep the air pressure inside the panel higher than outside.

Box purchased and went super size just incase I needed more room.

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Originally Posted by charlieuk

Box purchased and went super size just incase I needed more room.

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Can you not vent it from the outside with say 4" soil pipe. ..Clive

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Originally Posted by Clive S

Can you not vent it from the outside with say 4" soil pipe. ..Clive

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I can do but would prefur not I would be a little conserned about moisture ect. I have got a car air filter that I will try and sort something for and the box has plenty of free air so I'm hoping it will stay fairly cool anyway. I guess adding a secondary thermometer would be a good idea.

we tock a big leap forward today, we had the first signs of movement from all the axis!

just click the link


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...=2&theater

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Originally Posted by charlieuk

we tock a big leap forward today, we had the first signs of movement from all the axis!

just click the link


https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...=2&theater

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The first move is always the best, well done its getting there. ..Clive

Excellent Charlie, Pleased could help and Nice to finally see it come alive, It's great feeling isn't it. .:applouse:

Regards the Noisey stepper then if it's one that's connected to the EM806 drives then chances are you just need to tweak the tuning in software. Could just be slightly off and now they are on the machine the resonance is different so auto config set the PID tuning to match being off the machine so re-tune thru the software and it will be fine i'm sure. . . . .. (Anyone wondering what I'm on about I'm replying here to an email Charlie sent me.!)

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Excellent Charlie, Pleased could help and Nice to finally see it come alive, It's great feeling isn't it. .:applouse:

Regards the Noisey stepper then if it's one that's connected to the EM806 drives then chances are you just need to tweak the tuning in software. Could just be slightly off and now they are on the machine the resonance is different so auto config set the PID tuning to match being off the machine so re-tune thru the software and it will be fine i'm sure. . . . .. (Anyone wondering what I'm on about I'm replying here to an email Charlie sent me.!)

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yes im over the moon its turned from a pile of expensive bits into almost a working machine!

yes it is one of the ones on the 806 drivers. we did swap the cables over between the two 806's and the buzz swapped motors as well. i have the lead now so we will try will take a look at retuning tomorrow.

Many thanks again for all your help.

Charlie

I want to extend my vfd screen to the front of the box but need a ribbon cable with fc-10p connector I just wondered if anyone had any spare as it seams I can only order a min of 10 male and female each so quite a lot for when I only need the one of each many thanks

Is this the one http://www.amazon.co.uk/30cm-FC-10P-.../dp/B00GLQV5DS or http://www.rapidonline.com/cables-co...m-pitch-521064 ..Clive

Think that's the one many thanks for that! i don't think I had quite the right wording in my searches , I have order some so will soon see many thanks

I have watched as many tutorials on Mach 3 as I can and I think I understand the basics now so have started to try and learn how to set things up however I have a few questions.

the first is what is the best way to change the direction of a stepper ie my x axis goes positive to the left and I want it to go to the right and the same for my y

the second question is with limit over rides . At the moment with that the override limit box clicks but the box doesn't go green , the auto limit override box clicks and goes green but does not seam to have any effect and I can't get it off the switch to re set without doing it manually.

Third is is that I have had a go at calibrating the x axis which is running the 1-4 gear box and the steps per calibrated at 16.2 which from what I gathered is very low so just questioning that?

Best regards charlie

Charlie ring me later tonight and I will help sort this. Some of the reason why you can't get any joy is that the Motion controller plugin takes the functions away from Mach so changing settings on the screen as no affect.

cheers thanks dean will do.

Can any one recommend a water pump to use for my 2.2kw spindle that's sensibly priced. At present I have the coolant pipes going all the way to the control area so quite long but hoping this will help cooling.

Many thanks

I use a cheap caravan water pump picked up off eBay for about 12 quid. It says it shouldn't be used for more than 15-20mins continuously, but I've wired mine to run off a switch giving either 5V or 12V; I use 12V to start for purging any air bubbles, and then switch to 5V for continuous running. It's done quite a few 6-7hour runs with no problem. The pump is in a bucket of water that I change from time to time. I know other people have much more elaborate solutions but simple works for me! No need for fans, radiators, etc, although that might depend on just how hard you are running the spindle.

The spindle will be rarely doing any real hard work mainly cutting polystyrene it would be nice not to have to do anything to it though. Many thanks

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Originally Posted by charlieuk

. . . it would be nice not to have to do anything to it though. Many thanks

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I don't have a water cooled spindle but if I did this is something I would try.

Cold water header tank fed from mains water via ball cock, feeding small central heating pump (you can regulate the flow on these), return back to header tank.
Also an electric cutoff valve could be included, operated from the cnc control panel.
If the temperature got high I would include in the circuit a small central heating radiator, handy in winter.

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Originally Posted by EddyCurrent

I don't have a water cooled spindle but if I did this is something I would try.

Cold water header tank fed from mains water via ball cock, feeding small central heating pump (you can regulate the flow on these), return back to header tank.
Also an electric cutoff valve could be included, operated from the cnc control panel.
If the temperature got high I would include in the circuit a small central heating radiator, handy in winter.

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Eddy, i,m sure you could make that a bit more complicated if you really tried!!! G.

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Originally Posted by GEOFFREY

Eddy, i,m sure you could make that a bit more complicated if you really tried!!! G.

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Haha very good !, the thing is I had all those parts lying surplus (i.e. free) before Mrs. decided garage needed clearing out.

Yea I'm know expert but I think that may be a bit over the top. The amount of surface area that 15m of tube has for the small amount of water inside and the temperatures we get over here and the load it will be under I don't think I will be fine just need to find a suitable pump that can run for a good few hours. I have been given a 240v pump that's destined for corrosive materials but can't help thinking its ott and going to be a waste of power?

Charlie I've recently experimented with a 120mm PC radiator and fan with small PC pump with reservoir and it worked a treat thou I didn't cut with it for long and but did leave running at full speed for 6 hours and it hardly got warm.
I'm going to fit to my own machine and do some real world testing cutting aluminium when I get chance but don't hold your breath waiting.
If you want to try it then I'm 99% confident you won't have any troubles for what your doing and it will be very neat and travel with the spindle.

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Originally Posted by charlieuk

Yea I'm know expert but I think that may be a bit over the top.

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No way, those were just my first thoughts :hysterical:
If you get the extremes sorted out, the answer lies somewhere between.

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Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

Charlie I've recently experimented with a 120mm PC radiator and fan with small PC pump with reservoir and it worked a treat thou I didn't cut with it for long and but did leave running at full speed for 6 hours and it hardly got warm.
I'm going to fit to my own machine and do some real world testing cutting aluminium when I get chance but don't hold your breath waiting.
If you want to try it then I'm 99% confident you won't have any troubles for what your doing and it will be very neat and travel with the spindle.

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i have never heard of a pc water pump so put it in good old ebay and got this,thinking about it once the water is moving gravity will help it keep flowing especially if its a closed loop of water or with a small reservoir

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SC-300T-DC...item3f3c57e7e4

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Originally Posted by charlieuk

i have never heard of a pc water pump so put it in good old ebay and got this,thinking about it once the water is moving gravity will help it keep flowing especially if its a closed loop of water or with a small reservoir

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SC-300T-DC...item3f3c57e7e4

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That's the sort of pump I used with less than a gallon tank with no problems but on your machine it might be better to have the pump etc on the z axis to get rid of the long hoses. You can buy a radiator for about £12 from China http://www.aliexpress.com/item/CPU-w...975245718.html Remember winter is coming so antifreeze is a must. ..Clive

Cheers thanks I will get one and see how it performs the silicone tube I have seams to get realy cool to the touch when it's full so try it and stick a thermometer in there. I will put a small amount of anti freeze in but it's in a well insulated room with that doesn't ever get down that low so no real worries of freezing many thanks

To be honest I reckon if you use one of the wide Rads with twin 120mm fans then you'd get away with it no problems. Only reason I'm trying single 120mm Rad with fan is so can incorporate into Z axis cover and keep it all together but light at same time. Test's so far seem to show it will work and wit wide Rad so twice the cooling then I'm 99.9% sure it will work.

Edit: I even tried it with convection using no pump and while it worked felt it just not quite good enough.!

Been playing about with a few bits like mounting the screen to the wall , putting the vfd screen on the out side of the box and also found a good use for round rail supports to make nice solid simple mounts for the proximity switches over my slightly crude aloy boxes.

I'm having a few problems with my home and limit switches, I had a similar problem the last week but managed to sort it by adjusting it through the input signal filters in the csmio plug in however now I can't find the happy medium I found last time the video should explain the rest.

Charlie are you using shielded wire for the cable back to control box and is the sheild earthed just one end inside the control box.?
Also is the machine frame earthed to same earth point.?

You have long wire runs so they will act like antenna picking up any noise so you'll need to Eliminate this really before you'll get any joy.
I would also try a differant switch you maybe have poor switch with slow components giving slow reaction times.?

What do you have debounce set to in Mach3 General Config ?

Yes it's all shielded at one end the Ali frame is directly bolted to the floor the moving part of the gantry though may not have any sort of ground unless it can travel through the Hiwincarriages. The problem seams to effect all switches. I was wondering about replacing a switch but wire it straight to the csmio ? Would it be best to disconnect the rest of them if I did that?

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Originally Posted by EddyCurrent

What do you have debounce set to in Mach3 General Config ?

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Zero would this be the same as the filter in the csmio plug in or have the same effect ?