Was about to get a toy- then I did some research...

[NeoMorph]

Jazz, I wasn’t saying about the disability as a poor me... I was explaining it as a a barrier to me building heavier machines AND retaining info due to the meds. I have to have a carrier bag full of meds every month and that’s why I had to give up working... hence lack of cash. Hell, I once dislocated my thumb playing COD4. 😂

For example you once put that £45 wasn’t much for a stepper motor driver. Multiply by 3 and then add in the new steppers. Then there is the psu. All this costs.

But unless I can build the mechanicals strong enough handle the extra whoomph then it’s wasted money. Why buy a rally car just to go to the shops. Still doesn’t stop me WANTING that rally car though.

Regarding mood of my previous post... I was trying to calm it down from your bitchy posts when I reread that you think Shapeoko and Ox machines are “shite”... and it just triggered me... sorry. Winter sucks for me tbh. Being stuck in bed does that.

So Jazz, sorry for my side of things. If you actually read back through this thread I was 100% agreeing with you before you went off at me. I’d rather be friendly than combative. Doesn’t mean I won’t bite back if you malign what I say though. 😉

Peace?

[JAZZCNC]

Hi,

Just to hopefully clear the air and clear any misunderstandings.

Jazz is 100% right that a good design with a heavier gauge setup is great and all but getting one is going to cost a lot more money. But calling the smaller machines shite and then praising the tiny eBay machines is bonkers.

The point of being £350 is better than £1500 for learning on. Great to test the waters and then pass on when ready for a better, bigger machine.

If you can afford it, get a heavier gauge gantry with linear bearings and digital drives like Jazz says. Then a water cooled spindle is a no brainier. But that means a more expensive control setup. It means purchasing Mach 3 or 4. More money. Paying to have custom plates made. Yup, more money. It can get expensive fast.

It doesn't need to get expensive, doesn't need Mach3 either plenty of free controllers, Linux CNC, for instance, is as good if not better and free.
Yes for someone who's disabled I understand it's more difficult but it's still do-able.
The profile is more than good enough for a great machine, it's what you hang off it that matters. This is where the Workbee etc fails badly. Linear rails and ballscrews are not that expensive from China, neither are the electronics when you shop around. It's just about doable with £1500 easier with £2k, I've helped several people who have limited means or ability's for whatever reasons build great machines under £2k.

What many here missed was that your original post said you want your machine to work with wood. Someone disparaged a belt driven design and Jazz actually shot them down saying don’t knock it until you try it and then yesterday he said my machine is crap because it’s driven by elastic bands lol.

That reference was to the size of the belt not the fact it's belt-driven. Not all belts are suitable.!

Every design has pros and cons. I would love a good quality built machine but you have to be precise in building it or it ends up outputting inaccurate parts. The stiffer the build, the more accurate it will be... but the more dense it is, the heavier it is and you get sagging. Not a lot but engineers fret about parts of a millimetre.

So that’s where the aluminum extrusion system came in. Lighter beams, using a router instead of a dedicated spindle, lighter general stepper motors, grbl instead of mach3... yet still the machine can cut wood projects fine. I’ve been cutting 18mm thick plywood quite nicely on my “shite” machine.

This my point, it doesn't need to be massively built to cut good parts that are accurate. It just needs to be built with better design and components that don't limit or cripple performance. Just because something cuts a material doesn't mean it's good at it. A properly built machine will cut it faster and more accurately with a better finish quality and that doesn't need to cost the earth to do that.

Just remember when your getting advice from the supplier or manufacturer you are often getting a biased opinion which is nearly always given with there own interests or protection in mind.!

Again my comments were not an attack on you personally and if you took them that way then I'm very sorry, it wasn't my intent.

Dean.

[NeoMorph]

Jazz... Dean, I’m John btw... crisis over. Please ignore if I rant middle of the night (meds... literally can’t help it)

Okay I have to say I’m intrigued now. I wonder how much it would cost to change a belt driven Ox to a machine that could run on linear rails.

My gantry used to be 750mm of 2x 8020. I bolted them together to make it stiffer. The two frame rails that the gantry runs on is a single 1m 8020 each side with more 8020’s at either end. The two gantry plates are taller than normal Ox plates and are made of steel.

What do you think it would take to switch to linear rails with ballscrews, including plates cut to mount the ballscrews and gantry carriage plates (I’m guessing those would need replacing).

Add in digital drivers and replacement steppers and psu. My current steppers are Motech MT-2303hs280aw 175oz 2.8a ones. THEN add in the spindle and VFD. I looked up and found my CNC xPro controller can handle external controllers so I can get away with using that.

[NeoMorph]

This is my deformed Ox btw. Strange coincidence is that I only just found out that I was born in the year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar... and I ended up buying an Ox CNC machine. Go figure.

[JAZZCNC]

Jazz... Dean, I’m John btw... crisis over. Please ignore if I rant middle of the night (meds... literally can’t help it)

Okay I have to say I’m intrigued now. I wonder how much it would cost to change a belt driven Ox to a machine that could run on linear rails.

My gantry used to be 750mm of 2x 8020. I bolted them together to make it stiffer. The two frame rails that the gantry runs on is a single 1m 8020 each side with more 8020’s at either end. The two gantry plates are taller than normal Ox plates and are made of steel.

What do you think it would take to switch to linear rails with ballscrews, including plates cut to mount the ballscrews and gantry carriage plates (I’m guessing those would need replacing).

Add in digital drivers and replacement steppers and psu. My current steppers are Motech MT-2303hs280aw 175oz 2.8a ones. THEN add in the spindle and VFD. I looked up and found my CNC xPro controller can handle external controllers so I can get away with using that.

Not fair to the OP to continue this here so start a thread if you want to persue this more and I'll comment on it.

[NeoMorph]

Hmmm okay. I did think it would assist in design theory for a new machine that improves on a a base “hobby” CNC build which is why I put it here.

[NeoMorph]

I’ve started up a new thread at http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/13355...erious-Machine

My apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread. I should know better being an ex admin. ��

Here is one really good idea that has saved me a lot of time. Get a small A5 hardback notebook and any ideas, changes, wiring diagrams and the like so you have a physical record of what you’ve done to your machine. It’s surprising how convoluted the wiring can get as there is the mains to psu... psu to the controller board... controller to three steppers... controller to SIX limit switches... controller to VFD... controller to coolant (or in my case vacuum... controller to hardware buttons including such as emergency stop, start program, pause and more if you do choose... and finally mains to VFD and vacuum (or water pump if you use cooling.

Yup... it all adds up. So if you log and label all the wiring it is easy to track down faults That may occur and an A5 sized notebook makes it easy to hold in one hand while tracking problems and tracing wires. It it also convenient to store with your machine without getting in the way.

Here is something funny. I was just checking the forum notifications when I saw one from 2017... this shows how much a noob I am at CNC stuff... I didn’t have a clue back then, let alone a machine at that point.

http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/11063...-A-Start-Point

[Kitwn]

I out curiosity, in which regard do you see it to be a no-brainer? Have you been pleased with it?

My past reading about which spindle to choose suggested that Huan Yang was a well used and reliable manufacturer of the most popular 2.2KW water-cooled design but that there were plenty of less reliable copies available from other suppliers, especially with regard to the VFD. This is why I decided that buying a combined set of spindle and matching VFD direct from that manufacturer's own shop was the obvious choice.
I have been very pleased with the spindle and VFD so far, it has worked perfectly and the majority of the VFD settings were factory set to the recommended values I found on this forum.

[NeoMorph]

My past reading about which spindle to choose suggested that Huan Yang was a well used and reliable manufacturer of the most popular 2.2KW water-cooled design but that there were plenty of less reliable copies available from other suppliers, especially with regard to the VFD. This is why I decided that buying a combined set of spindle and matching VFD direct from that manufacturer's own shop was the obvious choice.
I have been very pleased with the spindle and VFD so far, it has worked perfectly and the majority of the VFD settings were factory set to the recommended values I found on this forum.

Hmmm, I’ve taken a leap of faith and ordered a set for myself. Recently got a surprise rebate from my energy company (their automated system had increased my monthly payments and had built up a big surplus) so I think I’ll start getting parts for my second machine (that’s if I can update my first one). Will be interesting to try out.

[Kitwn]

Hmmm, I’ve taken a leap of faith and ordered a set for myself. Recently got a surprise rebate from my energy company (their automated system had increased my monthly payments and had built up a big surplus) so I think I’ll start getting parts for my second machine (that’s if I can update my first one). Will be interesting to try out.

I hope you are not disappointed!
One thing to be very careful of is the quality of your soldering inside the 4 pin plug to the spindle. If soldering is not one of your strong points, practice until it is

The power transistors in VFDs and stepper drivers are not very tolerant of sudden disconnections or short circuits to earth and many of the sob-stories you read about VFDs that failed early may be due to poor installation rather than a bad product.

Good soldering depends on cleanliness, a one molecule thick layer of grease from your fingers is enough to make the difference. Flux is also important. If the solder is forming blobs rather than flowing freely over the wires and pins then you have a problem. The old saying 'The bigger the blob, the better the job' is NOT good advice. Sleeving on each pin inside the plug is also a good idea and, as others have mentioned recently, a cable clamp on the Z axis assembly to stop the cable moving as it enters the plug is essential. I assume YouTube has a choice of videos on how to solder.

Sorry if I'm preaching to the converted and your soldering is exemplary, but I'm sure we have plenty of readers who buy their first soldering iron specifically to install a spindle and an expensive VFD is not the best device to learn on.