3 Axis CNC router

[Nickhofen]

Welcome back,stay safe!

[JAZZCNC]

Yo Joe nice to have you back..

[mekanik]

Nice to have you back Joe, stay safe M8

[JoeHarris]

Hello! Nice to see so many of you are still on here! Hope you’re all alright.

[JAZZCNC]

Hello! Nice to see so many of you are still on here! Hope you’re all alright.

I'm ready to explode with frustration trying to deal with banks and I would like to strap them one by one to the bed of the 10x 5 router I'm building and peck drill tiny holes into there heads so they can feel how my head does and while at it just to make me feel better give them a good stretching...Lol . . . . But other than that I'm surviving Joe, hope you and yours are ok.

Hope that routers not gone rusty in the corner and you've been using it.?

[JoeHarris]

Sounds like your having frustrating time Dean! So my first voyage back into the world of CNC in probably 12 months has ended in frustration too. When I left this project every axis moved, but it had become became apparent that the ballscrew bearings needed shimming on x and z to stop them binding. Pretty annoying to have to start taking things apart... But I stripped them down, made some shims on the lathe and that is how it was left for ages. I guess I just ran out of enthusiasm.

Now, with a bit of time to look at it again and some projects I want to do with the machine I’m keen to get it to work finally... so...

I have now finished the job of putting everything back together. Switched her on and tried to zero the machine. Nothing moved. But on MACH the z was showing as moving!? as if it were moving towards the prox switch to zero out. So I put a screwdriver by the prox switch and immediately the y and x start to move and zero themselves. Tried jogging and y and x move fine, but z only moves on MACH not in reality!? What’s all that about!?

I think the reason I got fed up last time, is because - I really enjoyed all the practical stuff, the welding, the milling, the monotonous drilling and tapping, the wiring up of the control box - but once it came to the computer stuff, I was stumped. CAD I’m fine with, CAM was a bit of a struggle (I think Fusion 360 was maybe a bad place to start) and setting up Mach just baffled me. I struggled to get the machine set up right and struggled to get any code to run. I also never figured out how to get the spindle to be controlled by MACH.

Right now it feels like I have a couple of thousand pounds and couple of thousand hours worth of white elephant sitting in the garage. Argh!

[AndyUK]

Hi Joe - don't lose faith, you're so close.

The axis can appear to move on the computer but not in reality because it's not a closed loop - the commands are sent from Mach, but it just has to trust that they happened. The problem will be somewhre from the CS Labs controller down to the motor (narrowed down real far, eh?) I'd swap over some components between axis to see what works and what doesn't - e.g. connect Z motor to Y drive.

Regards software - I consider myself quite savvvy. I've programmed my own basic version of Mach3 in the past, I write code on a daily basis, and have a job which is technology based. But to hell if I can work Fusion 360. I'm a solidworks guy, and that makes sense, but fusion is just another way of thinking.

My advice, from someone who has just got their machine (which is mostly based on yours) working is forget fusion for now. Try something simpler and more user friendly like Aspire - it's a lot more intuitive. Less capable, sure, but plenty enough to start with. Baby steps. One day I'll tackle fusion again....

Oh.. and that machine you've built? It's bloody fantastic if my carbon copy is anything to go by.

[JAZZCNC]

Joe, it's probably the Z-axis drive that's not switched on, does it light up.? If not check the fuses if you have them. If the machines not been stored in damp conditions then I can't imagine the drives gone faulty.

Like Andy says don't let it get you down and if you still have my number give me a ring, I'll help you get Mach3 setup if it's still giving you headache. If not then drop me a PM and I'll send it.

You have built a cracking little machine with all the correct gear and it just needs the odd tweak which is quite normal. When it's fettled and you have nailed the cam side down a little better it will put BIG smiles on your face..! . . . . Like Andy says dump fusion 360 if it's giving you grief, I use SW and I'm a bit of whiz with it but fusion even gives me brain ache at times so it's not surprising folks struggle.

However, I must clarify and be fair to fusion 360 and say my son who as virtually zero experience with CAD or CAM managed to use it and generate code for a fairly complex part with adaptive paths and multiple tools without too much trouble. (Thou I didn't let him loose on my machine until I'd checked it... Lol) So I suppose it can't be that hard but we all learn technology differently and he's young at 24 so maybe picks this shit up quicker than us old farts...Lol

Anyway, get in touch and I'll soon have slinging chips.