ruffrecords
Well-known member
dirtyhanfri said:
I don't remember you mentioning it but I know from having panels engraved that 0.4mm works best. 30 degree bits is new info. Thanks.
Cheers
Ian
3020T- DJ CNC Users thread
- Thread starter ruffrecords
- Start date
Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:
I don't remember you mentioning it but I know from having panels engraved that 0.4mm works best. 30 degree bits is new info. Thanks.
Cheers
Ian
For anodized, I run a 30degrees 0.3mm at 30KRpM, feedrate 240mm/min, digging 0.05-0.1mm into surface.
Powdercoated is much more forgiving regarding depth setting
Jakob E.
Powdercoated is much more forgiving regarding depth setting
Jakob E.
ruffrecords
Well-known member
30Krpm is very fast. i don't think my little 200W spindle motor cn do much more than half that.
Cheers
Ian
Cheers
Ian
ruffrecords
Well-known member
Last night I succesfully made some holes in an aluminium front panel. Doesn't sound terribly exciting but it does involve some big steps forward for me. First I found a really good gcode sender application UGS (Universal Gcode Sender); It is java so it runs an on any platform. I tried several others but I like this one best becuase it has a straightforward set of controls for jogging and zeroing axes. That was an important aspect for me because I am using an existing blank panel and making extra holes in it which means I have set the 0,0,0 datum to one corner of the blank panel. I jog the mill up to each edge in turn with a sheet of paper in the way. WHen the paper is just gripped I know the mill is 0.1mm away from the face because that is the thickness of the paper. This allows me to zero the X and Y axes. I then have to move them by the mill radius to get the controlled point right at the 0,0 point of the blank. I ampleased to say the holes came out in the right places and the right diameters.
I used meths as a coolant. For others in the UK using meths I discovered that the blue dye in it stains glossed woodwork! I have now ordereed some Supercut II foam coolant from Farnell:
http://uk.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=15001&langId=44&urlRequestType=Base&partNumber=1864923&storeId=10151
Cheers
Ian
I used meths as a coolant. For others in the UK using meths I discovered that the blue dye in it stains glossed woodwork! I have now ordereed some Supercut II foam coolant from Farnell:
http://uk.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=15001&langId=44&urlRequestType=Base&partNumber=1864923&storeId=10151
Cheers
Ian
Gene Pink
Well-known member
Perhaps you guys can make use of one of these:ruffrecords said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0od-cp_9dg
I have not used that newfangled LED one, but the mechanical edge finder was a staple in any machine shop I have ever worked in, to set X-Y origins. And they are cheap enough.
Gene
Yup, edge finder is a nice tool, but unfortunately it requires a collet handling 10 or even 15mm diameter tooling. I haven't found one yet that goes into a 6mm collet (which is the largest I have on my motor).
For front plates, I have threads in machine bed allowing me to fasten the material in a repeatable position (using mounting holes already in the front plates), and then I have a machine null point from which I know the xyz offset to the material-nullpoint.
Jakob E.
For front plates, I have threads in machine bed allowing me to fasten the material in a repeatable position (using mounting holes already in the front plates), and then I have a machine null point from which I know the xyz offset to the material-nullpoint.
Jakob E.
Gene Pink
Well-known member
You are right, they don't seem to make tiny ones. Smallest I found on-line was 1/4" (6.35mm) shank. I would have thought that with all these new mini-mills out there, someone would make a suitable one. An untapped market?gyraf said:
Gene
buildafriend
Well-known member
I'm interested in maybe buying a 3040.. If I can get one working for under a grand.
Any advice on which model and peripherals to go with? How much might one expect to spend on a setup?
This one looks decent.. not sure if it's all I would need though.. obviously I would need bits too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/500W-Three-axis-CNC-3040Z-DQ-Router-Engraving-Milling-Drilling-Cutting-Machine-/201564280835?hash=item2eee2ad803:g
20AAOSwqbZXFN5h
Any advice on which model and peripherals to go with? How much might one expect to spend on a setup?
This one looks decent.. not sure if it's all I would need though.. obviously I would need bits too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/500W-Three-axis-CNC-3040Z-DQ-Router-Engraving-Milling-Drilling-Cutting-Machine-/201564280835?hash=item2eee2ad803:g
20AAOSwqbZXFN5h
ruffrecords
Well-known member
buildafriend said:
I think if I was to buy one now I would probably go for that model. I do not really need the extra span over the 3020 I have but the the more powerful spindle motor and the ball screws would be a useful improvement. You usually get one drill bit with it but you will need others. They are not expensive. I have also purchase an extra collet that will take 6mm shank diameter drills.
For driving it, you can go the classic route of buying an old PC with a parallel port running Mach3 and dedicating it to this task. I have only a small workshop so I did not want to go this route. Instead I use and Arduino board running grbl https://github.com/grbl/grbl/wiki. This means I can connect to an existing computer using a regular USB port. At the moment this is a laptop that also runs REW and Lindos for audio testing. You need to put the Arduino in a box and connect a db25 cable to it but that is no problem for us DIYers.
Cheers
Ian
Hi Ian!
After a few weeks with your cnc machine are you able to cut and or engrave panels for the eztube mixer? Any toughs you'd like to share? I've been on the fence many times myself about getting one....
Cheers!
Pierre
After a few weeks with your cnc machine are you able to cut and or engrave panels for the eztube mixer? Any toughs you'd like to share? I've been on the fence many times myself about getting one....
Cheers!
Pierre
ruffrecords
Well-known member
HI Pierre,
I have been doing other stuff in the last couple of weeks but I am close to being able to make front panels. The main things I have learned are:
1. I should have got the 3040 model. The 3020 model I have is big enough for the pieces I want to make but there is not much room to get the parts clamped and unclamped - it is a bit of a squeeze.
2. Don't use too large a drill and do use plenty of lubricant. A larger drill requires a slower feed speed and in most cases is not necessary. I now use a 0.8mm drill rather than a 3mm one I used at first. Lubricant is important for removing swarf to make a clean cut as well as cooling the drill
3. Working out the correct g-codes to cut the exact shape takes a lot of work. You have to allow for the radius of the drill. So to make a 10mm hole you have to make a 0.8mm drill span a 9.6mm circle. The position of the drill for cutting left and right sides of a panel are different[ on the left you have to subtract the drill diameter and on the right you have to add it. The same applies at the top and bottom. . This means it is easy to kae mistakes which is why I use plastic for testing before cutting metal.
4. The total investment depends on several factors. Most machines are designed yo be driven from an ancient parallel port and they recommend you buy a PC for just this purpose. They are not terribly expensive but they use obsolete hard ware so if it breaks you need to replace it. I opted to go the GRBL route. This a program that fits into an Arduino. It allows you to send g-codes via USB from any computer. It translates them into stepper motor moves and drives the CNC parallel port input directly. This means you can use any PC with a USB port. I have a workshop laptop that I use for this; another of its UAB ports powers my Scarlett 2i2 which I use with REW for audio measurements and its serial port controls my Lindos test set
Cheers
Ian
I have been doing other stuff in the last couple of weeks but I am close to being able to make front panels. The main things I have learned are:
1. I should have got the 3040 model. The 3020 model I have is big enough for the pieces I want to make but there is not much room to get the parts clamped and unclamped - it is a bit of a squeeze.
2. Don't use too large a drill and do use plenty of lubricant. A larger drill requires a slower feed speed and in most cases is not necessary. I now use a 0.8mm drill rather than a 3mm one I used at first. Lubricant is important for removing swarf to make a clean cut as well as cooling the drill
3. Working out the correct g-codes to cut the exact shape takes a lot of work. You have to allow for the radius of the drill. So to make a 10mm hole you have to make a 0.8mm drill span a 9.6mm circle. The position of the drill for cutting left and right sides of a panel are different[ on the left you have to subtract the drill diameter and on the right you have to add it. The same applies at the top and bottom. . This means it is easy to kae mistakes which is why I use plastic for testing before cutting metal.
4. The total investment depends on several factors. Most machines are designed yo be driven from an ancient parallel port and they recommend you buy a PC for just this purpose. They are not terribly expensive but they use obsolete hard ware so if it breaks you need to replace it. I opted to go the GRBL route. This a program that fits into an Arduino. It allows you to send g-codes via USB from any computer. It translates them into stepper motor moves and drives the CNC parallel port input directly. This means you can use any PC with a USB port. I have a workshop laptop that I use for this; another of its UAB ports powers my Scarlett 2i2 which I use with REW for audio measurements and its serial port controls my Lindos test set
Cheers
Ian
ruffrecords
Well-known member
I broke my first drill last night. I have heard many times of people breaking drills or warning you would need plenty of drills because you would certainly break some but so far I guess I had been lucky. I had used a 0,8mm drill to make a couple of M2.5 hols in a piece of 3mm thick plastic and then cut out a 7HP panel around them. I did a few dry runs with not drill to get the bugs out of my hand written g-code. I then cut the plastic and is basically worked OK except on the last y-axis run of the cut out it lost steps so the final x-cut was out. This meant the last x-cut was to the full 3mm depth in one cut rather than the increment from 2.5mm to 3mm I had intended. However this did not break the drill but perhaps it weakened it. I then decided to try aluminium. While manually operating the y-axis to move the head to clamp the material, the y-axis stopped working altogether. This turned out to be the coupling from the motor to the screw had come loose so I tightened it and all seemed OK again. The first run failed because the piece was not clamped properly and came loose! Clamping is definitely an art. The second run started very well. I used plenty of lubricant and the two holes were drilled fine. Then the cut out started. The first y cut was fine but half way along the first x cut the drill just snapped off leaving the end embedded in the aluminium. I don'y know if this was because the drill was already weakened or the feed rate was too fast. I will try again with another drill at half the feed rate.
Cheers
Ian
Cheers
Ian
I would be somewhat reluctant to buy from a guy who writes: "Sometimes this machine will losing step. If you meet this problem. Please do not worry...We can resend the driver board to you with free. " and "don't open a case on ebay...if you do, sorry, I will add you in my block list and not deal with you anymore."buildafriend said:This one looks decent.. not sure if it's all I would need though.. obviously I would need bits too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/500W-Three-axis-CNC-3040Z-DQ-Router-Engraving-Milling-Drilling-Cutting-Machine-/201564280835?hash=item2eee2ad803:g
ruffrecords
Well-known member
Last night I successfully made my first front panel. Same panel as in previous post, just halved the feed rate and used plenty of lubricant. I am a happy bunny.
Cheers
Ian
Cheers
Ian
pictures or it never happened.
ruffrecords
Well-known member
Andy Peters
Well-known member
abbey road d enfer said:I would be somewhat reluctant to buy from a guy who writes: "Sometimes this machine will losing step. If you meet this problem. Please do not worry...We can resend the driver board to you with free. " and "don't open a case on ebay...if you do, sorry, I will add you in my block list and not deal with you anymore."buildafriend said:This one looks decent.. not sure if it's all I would need though.. obviously I would need bits too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/500W-Three-axis-CNC-3040Z-DQ-Router-Engraving-Milling-Drilling-Cutting-Machine-/201564280835?hash=item2eee2ad803:g
What an asshole.
ruffrecords
Well-known member
Yes.anjing said:
Correct
About 10 minutes.
Cheers
Ian
dirtyhanfri
Well-known member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v1x5QlZe-k
Sorry for the low quality video.
Yesterday I took a bit of time to put together my CNC pendant.
It's based on a cheap USB gamepad. The joystick and buttons are from evilbay, just look for Arcade buttons, plenty of options available.
Just solder some wires from the microswitches in the buttons to the gamepad pcb.
The buttons are for Zeroing each axis, except the green one, which is "Cycle Start" and the missing one, which will be "Go To Zero", the toggle switch controls Feedrate (not my first intention)
I did the enclosure with 5mm plywood (I used http://www.makercase.com/ for the initial plans, at least saved me the hustle of doing all that fingers for the joints).
The biggest trouble was to make it run in Mach3, I used Joypad plugin 2.0 for the buttons (It includes a more-or-less-friendly software for mapping the buttons to a limited set of controls) and a included in Mach3 plugin for the joystick (the name was something like Joystick controller, sorry I can't remember right now, and I'm not in the shop to take a look).
I'm thinking in a deeper configuration for the buttons, that little toggle switch was planned to jog Z axis, but the plugin don't allow me to configure it that way, at least I can use it for control Feedrate. Anyway, I think I'll keep a long time with it this way, I've been looking at the Mach3 documentation and it looks like I would need some time to read and digest it.
Before closing it I'll ad some weight to the base of the enclosure, it feels so light.
Despite it's cool factor (at least for me, arcades were part of my childhood) it's quite useful for me, I don't have a monitor, keyboard and mouse for the CNC computer, I control it via Remote desktop in the iPad, this way I need much less computer interaction, just load the code and few more things...
If anyone is interested in how I did it I would be glad to explain it , but there's no rocket science behind this
Sorry for the low quality video.
Yesterday I took a bit of time to put together my CNC pendant.
It's based on a cheap USB gamepad. The joystick and buttons are from evilbay, just look for Arcade buttons, plenty of options available.
Just solder some wires from the microswitches in the buttons to the gamepad pcb.
The buttons are for Zeroing each axis, except the green one, which is "Cycle Start" and the missing one, which will be "Go To Zero", the toggle switch controls Feedrate (not my first intention)
I did the enclosure with 5mm plywood (I used http://www.makercase.com/ for the initial plans, at least saved me the hustle of doing all that fingers for the joints).
The biggest trouble was to make it run in Mach3, I used Joypad plugin 2.0 for the buttons (It includes a more-or-less-friendly software for mapping the buttons to a limited set of controls) and a included in Mach3 plugin for the joystick (the name was something like Joystick controller, sorry I can't remember right now, and I'm not in the shop to take a look).
I'm thinking in a deeper configuration for the buttons, that little toggle switch was planned to jog Z axis, but the plugin don't allow me to configure it that way, at least I can use it for control Feedrate. Anyway, I think I'll keep a long time with it this way, I've been looking at the Mach3 documentation and it looks like I would need some time to read and digest it.
Before closing it I'll ad some weight to the base of the enclosure, it feels so light.
Despite it's cool factor (at least for me, arcades were part of my childhood) it's quite useful for me, I don't have a monitor, keyboard and mouse for the CNC computer, I control it via Remote desktop in the iPad, this way I need much less computer interaction, just load the code and few more things...
If anyone is interested in how I did it I would be glad to explain it , but there's no rocket science behind this
