MDF and alu sandwich router

[Tom]

Lots of Poles, stunningly good looking women, and factories in Poland. Sadly I was involved exclusively with the latter...:nope:

Didn't know Poland was famous for chucks either - let me know some manufacturers and I'll do some research (it seems I may have wasted 12kg of my 20kg baggage allowance :naughty:).

Kip cheers for the power supply link. Even including postage that'd come in at the same price as the toroidal transformer alone! (nevermind the cap(s), rectifier, and faff) Cheers!

My finger is hovering over the buy it now button, but I'm a little worried about the voltage. My drivers have an absolute max of 50V, so I was going to play it safe with 45V or so. Those power supplies are trimmable from 50.5V to 56.5V according to the datasheet.

What's the best way to drop 5V or so at 10A? Shall I order something like a 50W power resistor?
http://docs-europe.electrocomponents...6b8003123a.pdf

[Tom]

What drivers do you have?

I bought the "standard" 18-50V, 4.2A max drivers that everyone seems to be selling (black cases, green terminal blocks). Got mine from Arc Euro Trade at a very fair price with free shipping. I recon they compare OK with geckos.

if no good I'll buy em off you :D

Cheers for the offer, but you should buy your own! I'm confident they'll be good!
Seriously though, have you got your 'lectrics sorted yet, or is that the next step?

I'm going to order one of those power supplies and a resistor... Cheers again for the link....

[irving2008]

Nice powersupplies and i've ordered two (can never have too many supplies hanging around!)

Note though you may need to use a reverse energy dump circuit with this supply as it has an over-volts latch off function if the output voltage exceeds 60v. With a large stepper under load the reverse EMF could cause the over-volt trip to shut the supply down (sort of like a self-inflicted e-stop)

It shouldnt be hard to tweak it to go below 50v. When I get it I'll have a look, also will advise on best way to replace the output connector with something more cost effective as the DIN41612H connectors are £10+ each without the shells. The connector on the supply is a male, so it may be possible to use female push-fit spade connectors directly on the terminal pins.

[Tom]

Happy New Year!

I've spent part of this holiday getting my router into better condition. I'm surprised at how much time it takes to go from a machine that moves, to one you can walk away from during a job. I still have to pounce on the E-stop too often!

There are some photos of the latest changes.
Major one is that the new gantry is now fitted. This is now 18mm MDF (was 12mm), and it has bracing round the corners which improves the rigidity massively! It's fixed problems 1 to 3 in my earlier post. I think the aluminium skins are still worth adding, but that will be in a few more months when it's earned some money!

A smaller change is that i've added flexi conduit to control the cables. This has tidied it up immensely, and is a major step towards the day when I can sit in another room with a cuppa while the machine's running! lol Unfortunately it's two steps forwards, one step back - it doesn't bl***y work any more because of electrical noise issues which keep tripping the limit inputs during a run.

I shouldn't be surprised - the motor and signal cables are both unscreened, and they're now running in the same conduit in some places. There's some lovely screened motor cable on it's way to me now. For the screened signal cable I'm going to butcher a network cable, which is an idea I've pinched from Robin's Mill Build Log

Lesson learned - make it bombproof from day one!

[Tom]

Mainly for my benefit - a few EMC2 file backups (v2.3.4).
If they're not useful to you they will be to me if my PC every fries itself!!! (Thanks for the diskspace Lee! )
If anyone uses these just be careful - I'm learning so there could be some mistakes in here I haven't found yet...

Change summary:
Custom HAL File - startup of classicladder for touchprobe. Startup of chargepump.
Custom PostGUI HAL File - connects AXIS PyVCP buttons (jog, touchprobe, and various easy homing and co-ord change buttons)
Main HAL File - not sure if there any changes here - maybe the charge pump one.
Custompanel.xml - pyVCP button layout (as PostGUI HAL file)
Classicladder File - sorts out the logic and debouncing of the touchprobe (allows single button touchoff)
Main INI File - Base & Servo periods, scales for axes (X needs tweaking), homing, limits. MDI commands for touchoff and other PyVCP buttons.