Help please. Dip switches and mach 3 settings

[dazp1976]

Hi. Happy new year! I know it's february, but after holidays and furniture orders, I just managed to get back to the cnc project last week. Hope you are all well.

So I took the whole thing apart, removed the wooden frame it had underneath, bought some steel tubing and made a new support for the cnc.

I managed to get the rails coplanar, with the two strings method, and a cheap usb microscope.
I have used a straigh edge to do one rail on each axis, then by moving the gantry, got paralel the second. It took a while but it worked.
Today I got the y and x square with the 4 holes method. All methods, mentioned in this thread, so thank you everyone.
I only have left the ballscrews allignement.

Reassembling the cnc, I noticed there were some screws loose. It might be that I did not tighten them in the first place, or they came loose while the cnc functioned. Anyway, I used only bolts and plain washers, and it might be not good enough, so I intend to upgrade this with something else, before I get the cnc working again.

Doing a bit of reasearch, I found a few option, the best one being crazy expensive. Some nord lock washers. But still there are a few which might work. Tab washers, safety wire, and locktite (I do not like this idea, as I am not sure if I can unscrew the thing). It might not be a must to upgrade all the bolts, but some for sure, like the ballnut bracket ones.

What do you use in order to prevent screws from coming loose due to vibration? And is it a must to use any special type of bolts, or the cheap silver one will do?

I use tensile bolts with either spring or serrated washers. Where I need nut & bolt I use nyloc nuts.
No bolts have came loose.
Examples:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SHAKEPROO...qgg:rk:10:pf:0
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M2-M2-5-M...OicKyTw5sf01Co
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M4-M5-M6-...ID805KSc9mzpls
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A4-STAINL...nSZw:rk:3:pf:1

[Radu_Andrei]

Hi dazp1976. Thanks for the reply. In the end I did use plain and spring washers, as they were easily available. Not the cheap silver springs, as they go flat. I used tensible bolts for bearing cases and nut cases, but not for rails, as they are quite expensive. Will upgrade in the future if necessary. So problem solved for now. The cnc is working fine and did quite a few medium sized carving with it.

I ran the machine 5 hours straight at most until now, but there is a job that is on my mind, a 4x2.5 feet carving, which will be a table top with some glass over it. Anyway, the job will take apx 11 hours to carve, and
I have no clue for how long can this cnc machines function without a break. For a 5 hour cut, the x motor which does most of the work, gets quite hot, like you can hold your hand on it for 5 seconds max, but I did read in some previous posts that it is quite normal. It is nema 34 1200 oz.

What do you think? Should I break the job in two parts or do it in one go? Did anyone used the cnc for such a time or longer?

[Radu_Andrei]

Hi.
In march I finally managed to get the thing going, and was super exited and did quite a few jobs with it, then for the last month and a half, I was stuck with some other things and did not touch the cnc, and last week had in mind to get back to it, only to notice that the pc (gigabyte ga-8vm800pmd-775-rh, ddr2, 533mhz) which worked perfect for some time, including 10 hour straight in some cases, now turns off without notice. I did not change anything to it.
The workshop is a bit dusty, but its enclosure is mostly sealed,and the little dust that gets in through the fan holes, I blow it away with the air compressor (from a distance and gently) every week.

I did not manage to install the windows on an ssd for this pc, so I just cloned the one it had (win xp, sp2? - very old, does not receive an antivirus) on its hdd, and changed the ram memory, and it worked fine. Until now. It just turns off, randomly. No error apears, nothing, sometimes a few times a days, or a few time per hour. Any ideas what could be?

[Neale]

I had the same problem..I found that it was because the CPU heatsink was full of dust. It was difficult to see, and I had to take off the CPU fan to clear it (wooden stick and vacuum cleaner).but that fixed the problem for me. Can't guarantee that this is your problem, but at least it is a fairly easy thing to check and the fix does not cost a lot!

[cropwell]

My thought is that it is thermal shutdown of the CPU. If it isn't dust in the CPU cooler, check that the fan and heatsink are properly attached, I have known certain designs of heatsink mount to fatigue and break with time.

Cheers,

Rob-T

[Radu_Andrei]

Ok. Thank you.

[dazp1976]

Strange that. Hope you get it sorted.
I have issues with CMOS on startup with mine if I switch the power off completely at the plug.
Mines down to the BIOS battery I reckon. Those watch style batteries they use don't fair well in the winter when in the garage. Go totally flat.
Same goes with some of my measuring stuff, I now keep those boxed in the house.

[magicniner]

The way to clean a dusty PC is with the cover off using a vacuum and paintbrush, not with an airline.