Time for mk2 upgrade!

[routercnc]

Been away for a while, but here are some updates.

1. Water cooling system
Installed and working well. I went with a 12cm radiator, cooling fan, 12v pump, 3/8" hose and coolant used on PC CPU cooling systems. I bored out the small barbs on the spindle to help with flow, but having run the system for some time now it probably isn't required. Cutting wood barely raises the temperature (on the outer case anyway) and it is only very slightly warm to the touch after prolonged operation. In fact I recently ran it for 10 minutes cutting and forgot to start the pump. It was still barely warm to the touch.

2. 1.5kW water cooled spindle
This was a great upgrade from the router. Much, much quieter - you can easily hold a conversation next to the machine with an air cut. There is some noise from the cutter when actually cutting, but overall a great improvement and very smooth.
The other advantage is the lack of air blowing down over the work piece and throwing dust everywhere.

3. Power supply
Last year I had problems with glitching stepper motors. I had a 30-36v variable power supply turned down to 30v (switched mode), and found that replacing this with a 24v DC supply cured it. But this was not a long term solution so I bought another power supply, but this time 24v-30v. I tried various voltages and did not have a single glitch with it. Maybe the other supply was faulty. Anyway, sorted that one out.

4. X axis bearing arrangement
The X axis bearings run along the top, bottom and sides (for pre-loading) of the main aluminium sections. After maybe 10 hours of cutting there is a slight witness mark appearing on the profile where the bearings run. This was expected but the long axis is the most expensive to add linear rails to. I'm considering either adding a wear strip to the top surface, or adding supported rails.

5. Control panel
Made a new control panel with more inputs (option for touch probe etc), see photo.

6. Dust extractor
After several aborted ideas, I'm making a floating dust extractor foot. More photos when complete.

Overall I've cut out a number of items and been very pleased with the results. The machine is a massive improvement over mk1, which is progress.