It's begun....

[JAZZCNC]

I was initially looking at MIG, as it seemed the easiest to pick up and from a few tutorials I have seen looks to be a matter of timing and motions to get a penetrating and consistent weld, but like decent soldering (or any other skill for that matter) will be a matter of practise, practise and more practise I expect.

Yes pretty much correct but with MIG's the kit and Esp the Gas make a massive difference to how easy.? A cheap low power MIG with wrong Gas is no fun believe me.!

[D.C.]

In that case have a good read of this site, (Especially the safety page!) get hold of a few pieces of scrap that is the same thickness that you will be using and start practising.

Arc Welding Tutorial

If you are welding anything that needs precision placement you will need to clamp it in position and put a few tack welds on or the welding will pull the work pieces totally out of alignment. It is also worth buying a pair of overalls to wear when welding so that you don't set fire to yourself.

Clean up your work space so there are no bits of saw dust or plastic bags etc lying around on you will burn the house down, make sure you are well ventilated and make sure the kids aren't around staring at you while you weld, the light can cause permenant blindness and even if you only suffer temporary blindness it is extremely painful and means a trip to A&E. This is also a very good reason not to start your weld off and then drop your mask, if you can't start the weld without binding the stick either practice more or stop being a tight arse and buy a reactive mask. :)

Also be careful after you have finished the weld don't lift your mask and stare at it, the slag that forms on top of the weld can suddenly explode off the weld ( I've had a 1cm long bit of very hot slag burn itself into my neck from doing this)

[end safety lecture]

[Wobblycogs]

I've just been looking into welding so that I could weld up my frame and heartily recommend the site DC pointed you towards. The guys on the forums over there are friendly and knowledgeable.

I reckoned that it would probably cost around £500 to get a MIG welder and all the other kit needed to allow me to weld up my frame which is mostly 4mm box section. You'll need (at least): welder, apron, gloves, mask, wire, gas and g-clamps. When it comes to PPE I tend to go with something quality so that cost includes a half way decent auto-darkening mask and the welder is new rather than an e-bay special. I had a look around on e-bay, if you want a dinky little 90amp job then e-bay is the place to go but you'll be wanting more like a 125 to 150amps. I'm sure they turn up and a bargain can be had if you are willing to wait long enough though.

The real sticking point for me was gas, I found a local supplier that was cheap enough but I didn't really want to be signing up for a contractor and storing gas bottles in the house. I'd also need to find somewhere to store about 50kg of welding machine which would be problem for me at the moment.

[wilfy]

any vids of your machine cutting?? it looks awesome

[Washout]

Thanks for all the welding advice chaps, that should give me enough to go on.

@Wilfy - no video yet, as I'm going through the usual pain of 11th hour moving hurdles at the moment, so the gantry is off the machine and ready to shift to its new home. Of course I will need to get new home up and running once I land there (I have a task list that is several pages long, but luckily the CNC machine is quite high up, as it needs to be cutting MDF for a custom desk for my office along with other stuff (Sketchup pic attached).

I will get some video of it though once I have the second ballscrew on.

Later


Chris

[wilfy]

i know the moving pain too well.. last house we were in was our longest stay since we've been together an that was 3 years, we lived in 3 houses previously and just moved again 6 months ago.

oh and forgive me for being stupid or blind.. or both.. but what is the cutting area?

[Washout]

Cutting area is currently ~770x280x110mm, so quite small compared to many machines, although once in the new workshop I'll be making a few changes to increase the area if needed:

1. I am going to make the side support extrusions removable so if I need larger pieces I can index them and cut in sections (for wood/MDF though) just need to think about how to mount them without the need to remove the x-axis rails each time I want to switch function....

2. If I bolt the machine to the steel framed workbench and its rigid enough I should be able to "drop" the bed down to increase my Z axis (a 4th axis may require this dependant on the diameter of work piece and size of 4th axis I need or get).

[Colin Barron]

A while ago i was looking at mig welders and gas. BOC were doing a deal through the gas supplies head office (0161)930 6822. I think it was half size argon at a decent price and the deal was called "volkszone" years rent £35 plus fill up £25. Worth a ring?

[Washout]

Hi All,

Seems like years since I last posted (it has almost been ;) ).

Thought I'd give an update on progress, as I've finally managed to get near to the CNC machine on a long dependency chain not least of which meant rendering the workshop and infiltrating the entire property with structured cabling and updating the entire electrical layout in both the main house and my barn (some may recall a house move in January).

The machine is now assembled to where it was when I moved and in its new home and I am about to retrofit the second ballscrew on the X Axis (I've had the parts for over 6 months....or at least most of them as I find I need a bore reducer for one of the pulleys to fit it to the back of the stepper motor (8mm to 6.35mm). Also need to drill out and thread some grub/set screw holes to the pulleys, which I'm a little nervous about as they'll be 4.2mm through a fair chunk of steel.

Sharper eyes may notice the new gantry mounts are fitted and also I have Oldham couplers all round in place of the spiral cut ali versions the ballscrews came with and to help with that here are two photos of one half of the workshop and the machine itself. Now I'm getting on top of the property, rather than vice versa, I should have more updates and also a vid or two when things are moving again.

Oh and I've already got plans to build a second machine, which I hoping to build a kitchen with, as I've decided I'm very fed up buying stuff designed to a price rather than a spec ;)

Later


Chris

[jcb121]

i have a question about your gantry, your Y axis rail are quite far apart but the X axis bearing blocks look quite close together.

does the height of your gantry make a negative effect on your machine? i'm thinking the tallness would make it like a big leaver?