Strike CNC (My first CNC router)

[Shinobiwan]

I'm in business and know fully how difficult times are out there so I take no pleasure in seeing or reporting things like this.!
When I first saw this machine I can honestly say it turned my stomach having to tell a nice guy like Ant all the issue's I was seeing.! To be honest I only went to help tune the motors etc but came away feeling like the grim reaper.

Don't forget the bit about me loosing over 3 stone since I bought this, oh and I should have been getting married next month but that's off now lol.

You think I'm joking. I'm not!

Meh it'll be a funny story to tell the grand kids one day.

[JAZZCNC]

Don't forget the bit about me loosing over 3 stone since I bought this, oh and I should have been getting married next month but that's off now lol.

You think I'm joking. I'm not!

Meh it'll be a funny story to tell the grand kids one day.

Oh ye and Ant was a Fat bastard like me but now he's Sleek mean shagging machine who'll realise one day just what a lucky escape he had from the ball & chain.!! . . . He's still Ugly thou. .

[Shinobiwan]

Well the good thing is I don't have to hide the receipts down the back of the sofa anymore. In fact the only real down side is all the wear and tear on my joints - I'm gonna need a wrist replacement by the time I'm 50! lol

I was going to throw an insult back at you for the ugly joke but I just realised I still need some parts/help so I'll wait till afterwards

[jonbabbz]

So sorry to hear of your cnc troubles. I too had a few teething problems with a machine bought from a so called reputable company(no names) a while ago, after all the mods I did to it and basically rebuilding it from scratch, I figured I could do a much better build myself! Maybe you would have been better off having a go at one yourself? As the old saying goes, if you want something doing right......it will definitely work out well with Jazz at the helm now though :)

[Shinobiwan]

A quick question.

What microstepping should I be using on each axis (default is 8 which I assume is 1/8th) and also the steps per setting within mach.

Ballscrews are X = RM2005, Y = RM1610 and Z = RM1205

[m_c]

Common microstepping practice is 8.

Steps per unit, you need to calculate using whatever units you're using (normally MM or Inch), pitch of ballscrew, number of steps per motor revolution, and drive ratio between screw and motor.

For 5mm screw, using MM, a standard 200 step stepper motor, and direct drive, to move 1mm, you need to rotate the motor 1/5th of turn to move 1mm.
So 1/5th of 200 is 40 motor steps.
Now to move 40 motor steps using 8 microstepping, is 40x8=320 steps per unit.
For 10mm pitch screw, you can simply half the above to give 160 steps per unit.

[Robin Hewitt]

For 10mm pitch screw, you can simply half the above to give 160 steps per unit.

Or, switch that axis to 16 microsteps and have 'em all the same.

[John S]

Every time you increase microsteps you loose torque.
There is no advantage in going above 8 and you only have to do the setup once.

[Shinobiwan]

Cheers for that.

I seem to be at a brick wall with the parallel port and motor speeds. The port will handle upto 35Khz, anymore and the PC starts to play up. This limits me to rapids of about 6m/min with 8x microstepping on the 5mm pitch screws. Its not really a big deal as the machine wouldn't handle cutting at those speeds anyway. Might have to consider a smoothstepper or perhaps lower the microstepping to 4x on the drivers. Is that's a good move or should I just be happy with what I've got?

[Shinobiwan]

Another quick question.

I bought one of these for the spindle http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3000-LITRE...ht_2067wt_1064

Now the only problem is finding adaptors to allowing fitting 4mm ID tubing the Chinese spindles use. I know your probably going to say google is your friend but I've been 'looking' for awhile now and still no luck.