How long will it take to build the space ship? -- Max Dillon Charleston SC '95 E300, '87 300TD, '73 Balboa 20
Rich Thomas <richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> wrote: >I tried to send pics but they got hung up in the Listmom's approval >list. I'll try later to attach them or something. > > Here is screen grab of the vid I made the other day that shows the > machine, mostly, and you can see the old laptop to the right that > drives the controller (which is under that switch box). The whole > thing is sorta bodged but it works pretty well. I keep saying I am > going to get it cleaned up and organized but.... > > The bottom pic shows a bevel bit engraving text outlines -- you can > do inside the lines (pocketing), on the lines, or outside the lines, > whatever you want. > > I use a free program called Cambam to do designs, then create gcode > from the designs (gcode are the commands that tell the machine where > to go in 2.5D), then that gets loaded into a program called Mach3 > that actually sends the gcode commands out the parallel port to the > stepper motor controller and drives them to turn the lead screws > which moves the router around. > > On the pic you can see the screws and slides for the Y and Z axes, > the whole gantry slides on 1/2" rods that are under the table. You > can see one stepper in the back that drives the Y axis. I scavenged > those out of old Laserjet III printers, they are quite strong and > have 1.8deg per step, so 200 steps per rev, and the lead screws are > 10 pitch, so that gets me down to 0.0005in resolution which is > pretty good, though there is more slop in the system than that, but > not really noticeable. > > Note that if you wanted to build one of these on the cheap, you can > use some common materials and driver boards and software, and a > Dremel -- you could probably get one going for about $100, maybe > less if you worked at it. I probably have about $500 in this one, > the precision slides, lead screws, and bearings and nuts were kinda > pricey but give it some good performance. The driver board was a > $100 kit. I have a power supply I got from a surplus shop, it came > out of an old film developer and is pretty cool. You can build one > for not much too using common components. > > I have a single axis driver I built with an Arduino, I think it will > do 2 axes, and I could drive 2 boards with the Arduino, so that is > pretty cheap stuff. I built a test rig from some threaded rod and > nuts and some wood scrap, driving it with an old stepper motor from > a printer or scanner or something, and a power supply from an old > Laserjet. Even with the random bits I had laying around, the thing > has pretty good repeatable accuracy. > > I think a linux program has been ported to a Raspberry Pi, a $30 > computer, so that eliminates the need for a laptop or desktop > machine, just hook that to your stepper drivers and you are off and > running. The laptop I am using was my daughter's old HS machine, it > died a year ago so I found one on eBay for $29 just like it, popped > the HD in and up and running again. Any old desktop would do too, > long as it has a parallel port for Mach3. > > I could probably build the frame out of metal extrusions but not > sure what it would do for me at this point for things I use it for. > I have actually done some really nice things with it, a very cool > adjunct to classical woodworking. > > If anyone is interested I could give you a straightforward tutorial > on how to get up and going -- there are lots of kits and plans out > there for machines, from really cheap to really nice, I sorta just > made one similar to a kit a friend bought, did not take long once I > got the parts together. > > >--R >_______________________________________ >http://www.okiebenz.com >For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > >To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
