CNC Machine progress

I've been working on my CNC, and documenting it primarily on CNCzone as I can find a lot of useful responses from experts. You can find my thread at:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/cnc_wood_router_project_log/125139-nickswimsfasts_cnc_build_log.html

For project ideas, I'm looking at the following sites:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9452

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9233

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9082

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8928

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8787

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8756

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8446

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8157

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6912 <=== violin

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:211

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:20 <== chess

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:358

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:981 <== cable carrier

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1393

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1521

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1616

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3812

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3621

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4965

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5449

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5568

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5727

And for more check out http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cnc_router_table_machines/5276-dinosaur_skeleton_other_models_dxf-108.html or

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/misc.php?do=showattachments&t=5276

I will not be making regular posts concerning my CNC machine on here anymore, since it has moved to the CNCzone forums.

Wood CNC Frame

I finished my first milling project on the TAIG mill, really simple modification of an airsoft scope i had laying around. I bought some fiber optic cable online, opened the ACOG scope with Torx T10. I then milled out a through hole on the LED fixture internally, I also put a hole in the top of the ACOG to run the fiber optic cable through. Threading the fiber optic cable through resulted in this dot. It is still fully adjustable via thumb screws. This scope now works in nearly all conditions, with exception to nighttime. It does work at dusk. I'd argue it works better than an LED during a bright day.

On a second note, I decided to machine the wood frame I had planned on cnczone. This wood frame consists of only 2x4's. A very cost efficient design. HEAVY though, and lots of wood. Since it doesn't cost very much, and I want to get a move on, i'm making it with the intent to upgrade the machine with a fully design 8020 aluminum extrusion frame later. So I bought a hitachi miter saw, and went to work on about 9 pieces of 2x4's 8' long. 45 minutes later I had all the pieces cut. WOW this was so much faster than the circular saw i was using before.

Graduation and more!

I've graduated (once) with a degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in math. Woooo! I don't feel done, because I have 4 more classes to go, and I get my 2nd degree in manufacturing. I'll be doing that after my next internship with MECOP.

I bought a TAIG mill from nick carter. Great fellow, helped me through some questions, and complications i encountered. I discovered how uneducated I am about ER16 collets. The hole in the collet is suppposed to be drilled offcenter to allow the collet to "snap" into place.

I didn't have a machinist square so I used my largest parallel to roughly square up the headstock. I hope to do a proper job when i get more equipment.

CNC documentation

I will stop, or slow down my documentation of the machine on this blog. I am now using cnczone to post all my progress on the personal CNC machine. You can find it here:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/cnc_wood_router_project_log/125139-nickswimsfasts_cnc_build_log.html

I also stumbled into this VB script/mod that someone via cnczone. Worth a look, I'll probably return to look at it when I have the machine completed.

http://ninoransenberg.com/2011/04/11/backlash-probe-for-mach-3-2/

Internet finds!

While I was browsing a thread on CNCZone I stumbled on this wonderful website. It has some articles from some old popular science articles concerning metal forming, welding, machining, etc..

http://www.knucklebusterinc.com/features/category/how-to/page/2/

After browsing i came to some conclusions about my CNC router build. From looking at http://www.probotix.com/power_supplies, i decided that I need to utilize XLR connectors such as the ones from this website. They have 8 ports, so now I just need to source some shielded 4 pair wire to solder it too. I also need to ensure the gage is rated for the current. They only sold 22 gage wire there, while it was shielded, I want to be able to carry a higher load without concerns.

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Also found this AMAZING video, showing how with a simple mechanical advantage and some properly formed metal, you can make a suit that amplifies your movement. Iron man watch out! I'm excited because this is definitely one of the projects i want to do when i have free time. (If ever lol.) Studying for my two degrees, and moving onto my second internship is keeping me away from finishing the cnc!

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdPpWy_O09k

King Crab Walker Robot

For one of my classes I was given a toy robot to model and simulate. I took some time lapse video and made this compilation of it’s creation. Enjoy!

It moves!

Motor Mount Shims

So in order to make motor mount shims (which was required due to motor adapter geometry, and unplanned design) I found a piece of scrap composite board. After an attempt to cut it on the vertical band saw (blade was shot.) I moved to a manual saw blade, then a very helpful fellow who works in this shop pointed out a skillsaw I could use. I clamped it to the table, and made quick work of the board, to make 3 simple blocks to shim the motors with.

The last picture shows how it will shim the motor mount.

With some more milling of the motor mount (which is tedious to remove from the nema23 motor by the way...) Holes were located and drilled through the shim, the motor mount, and the frame. It's obvious to see how i almost had serious clearance issues with these motor mount bolts.

Aside from bending the motor mount by being inattentive, I got it all attached to the ballscrew, and frame. I hooked it up to the computer, and ran some simple tests on mach 3. The same helpful shop fellow recognized that the bolts holding the ballscrew in place were sort of loose (which they are.) The issue is I used some readily available fasteners that don't quite fit right, and can't be completely tightened, so i need to buy some socket head cap screws.

Here is a video of the ballscrew moving via mach 3 commands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xDY0uT7R0E

Motor mounts, and frame progress.

After bringing all the components back to the senior project lab in school, and getting permission from various school officials to work on this project. I laid everything out. I loosely attached all the components to their mounting boards, and semi-permanently drilled drywall screws to attach the mounting boards to the 2x4 frames. This required a great deal of pre-drilling to ensure nothing cracked.

Using scrap 2x4s i machined some blocks to affix the y to the x axis. The

manner in which i assemble everything requires some careful thought. I put this on the back-burner to see if i want to make a solid aluminum plate design instead. You can see how the y axis will rest on the x when complete

These are some motors mounts i machined out of some scrap steel. One side is not flat, so it could be an alignment issue in the future, but it was a good exercise none-the-less.

Learning Fanuc Robots

Last term I spent some time taking MFG 453 Automation and Robotics, I learned a great deal in that class as well as how to operate, and program fanuc robots. I'm not going to go into the details but here are two project videos I did with my group. Along with various pictures:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfUooDao10 (Final project - HD available)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkJC5Yk7Tk0 (First project)

Cool Stuff!

Nerf Gun

I'm not a crazy fan of nerf, but it was fun while i was a kid. In any event my college wing has gone nuts about it. So I figured I'd join in the fun - but in my own special way ;D

I started by working on the firing mechanism, and propulsion system. As I knew that would make or break the final part. I decided to a complete backyard engineering design due to limited time (and I was confident I could do it.) I bought a package of nerf rounds for under 10$, and 30$ worth of PVC (I have a lot left over now.) I als

o bought a nice sized 7$ spring from Diamond hardware store, and a few random other fastener pieces etc. Probably spent a total of 8 hours making this thing. Used a Dremel, power drill, pipe cutter, superglue, and some time to come out with this:

Performance:

Muzzle Velocity : (Unknown)

Effective range: 0-130 feet

Max Range: 150-200 feet

These are merely approximations, but it easily has 3 times the range of a traditional nerf gun. I believe if I took the time to tweak it some more, and make custom rounds it would increase performance further.