Scrappy - 1200 x 600 Rotozip

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

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!

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:thumbdown:

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Originally Posted by 2e0poz

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:thumbdown:

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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 :eek:

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

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!

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.

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Originally Posted by Kip

I'm having way too much fun :D

That RIB looks nice :drool:

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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 :yahoo:.

Jeff. (sorry for hijacking the thread)

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.

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:

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 ? :eek: "

"i'm building a tower daddy :biggrin:"

"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 ! :joker:

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Originally Posted by Lee Roberts

She then made a complaint with the personal manager (Mum).

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

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Oh that brings back memories... kids with paint brushes... she's cute, fortunately my lot are all grown up now (but they still get into scrapes)...

Well she is 1 of 4 and i keep being told that i am good at making things; kids included so it seems. 10 minutes after taking the photos it rained and has not stopped, so no more work on the project till the weekend now :cry:
Still trying to work out the specifics for attaching the nuts to the zoidial whilst incorporating backlash dampening. The idea i have at the moment is to use the old faithful chopping board melted into a mold around the screw but attached to the nut.

Tip here - cut it up into chips, use a metal mold and heat that with a paint stripping gun and not the plastic, it melts wonderfully

She cant do anything wrong in my Eye's, tonight she pulled up a chair next to me and watched me Nipping a flat on a ballnut with a bench grinder:

http://www.mycncuk.com/images/dump/Image1.jpg

http://www.mycncuk.com/images/dump/Image2.jpg

http://www.mycncuk.com/images/dump/Image3.jpg

"Look daddy, fire!"

"Yes baby, now put these glass's on so you dont hurt your eyes." i cant wait to what she starts designing/making.

Careful what you show them. My eldest when she was 3 thought that putting a screwdriver into a socket was helping me fix the blown bulb. She went and got the screwdriver on her own, god knows where from??????? all i can say thank heavens for insulated drivers

Well i made back out into the garage this weekend and was very please with the work. Got some paint on, x axis done, y axis done and i started the z.:yahoo:. Will probably do some more during the week.

I nearly painted it British racing green only because i has some paint in the garage but decided to splash out. Shame its all scratched to buggery already.

Right i am really hacked off...:evil: only had a bit of time today to get on with build. The Z axis is causing me the most grief. Tried a couple of different things this week with the plan on completing it today. All i have done is gone back to square 1. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! does everybody get to this point in the same mood???? I suppose this is what happens when you don't do it from a plan:nope:

I'm sure we have at some point, if you would like to elaborate some more im sure we can help :)

Hi Lee.....Not so much as a problem just lack of material and not to mention this would be an ideal time to have another cnc machine to cut you parts if you know what i mean

oo late for some pics tonight.....I was aiming for the slide to be no wider than 110mm, i have 16mm rail on the same type bearings i used for the rest. the main problem is using 4mm ali sheet (bad idea). These imported bearings are spot on except the mounting holes. I was also trying to use the same type of rail supports i used for the Y. im thinking now finish it of in MDF and make the parts afterwards when i can get me hands on some more material. Does that sound more sensible???

Tempting......Just wish Leeds was a bit closer:cry:

Hi Guys

Sorry its been so long with an update but things have all gone manic at work taking over my life. But in the mean time i have come on leaps and bounds. i got to a point where so much frustration set in to get completed i bought myself mill to complete some of the jobs (a Bridgeport). I have learned a lot on my journey so far to the point where last night i was cutting some lovely thin air at last. I will post some pics of the machine in motion shortly.

Nice to see so many others are doing well too:toot:

do you have a link for your linear bearing supplier. i am in the process of trying to get some ideas together but the cost of bearings is ridiculous.
propper lead screws are quite expensive too. where did you get yours?
btw, your build looks good. only hope mine looks that good when im done!

Hi Wires

i ordered my bearings from China on fleabay and as the lead screws i used TR12x3 from a local supplier who had old stock. As a choice again i would have gone for proper bearing lead screw but as you probably have seen its expensive which is why i went for the ACME stuff. pay attention to bearing supports in your build if you go for this stuff as it is really needed. Dont go for the big end bearings that used either, simple skate bearings and the rod turned down to suite is much better and cheaper. hope this helps:whistling:

it seems to me that linear stuff and lead screws are almost the first thing you need to decide on, which usually means you see what you can get and then design a machine to suit. i will have a look around a see whats available in my budget.
thanks for the info.

Wires why don't you start a build log starting with what your intension's are and whatyou need to achieve and i am sure people will give their input. There is a lot of very helpful people on here and i am sure you will achieve what you need to do. Check out IGUS at their slides, well worth a punt?

Ok thought i better get back to this log by closing it..Its not that i have given but seen the light. I did do a video of the last one cutting on her in doors camera. Was not until i tried to upload it and realised it was 176mb!.

Now the good news

I will be starting a new log of mark III - yes i built another desktop version in between. This new one will be bigger and better and now armed with much learning under my belt i feel this one will be much improved and a lot more use.

Thanks too all that have helped me on my journey.