I have been lurking for awhile read then read some more I finally settled on the zeus kit. http://www.spark-concepts.com/zeus-cnc-router-kit/ $1,035.85 to my door only have to buy spoiler board and a bit to be up and running. I have emailed the owner, looks like mid November as a ship date. Will take photo's and do some youtube video's when it arrives. just reminds of the saying "let the settlers take the arrows" hope all goes well. I will report on the good the bad and the ugly. Bob
Looks like a good choice Bob I hope you are pleased with it and I look forward to your report on it's performance. Tweakie.
Bob, did you get the kit? I'm on the fence whether to get this as a starting point and then modify it as my expectations grow.
Yes i got most of the kit. I was sicker than crap last week. I'm happy with my purchase. They did some nice things with the plates the extra support for the x axis is a good idea. Three support beams for the bed is nice also. Waiting on the z axis nut and driver board. Told me it will ship in the next week. Before i bought this i tried to order from the openbuilds store for a couple of weeks but something was always out of stock so i figured this way 1 order and that was it. I have a 3d printer that i ordered from different places and i still dont have it together because stuff just doesnt fit. Once this is running i can make the last piece i need to finish it. Bob
Nice kit. X axis plates are a good idea. Removes the problem of cantilever torsion on the plates and wheel screws and turns it into more of a distributed load. I'll definitely add this upgrade to the list.
That looks like something that I am interested in. Is there anything that you would upgrade to right away if you were going to do it again? I plan on cutting much the same thing as you have described acrylic and different types of wood. How difficult was the build to complete?
There are a few things I will upgrade right away. It didn't ship with a drag chain but so far I don't think it needs one. They have moved where the control board mounts so the only thing you need it for is the z axis and the router cord. power supply it shipped with a 12v power supply, I have already ordered a 24v supply. The router is a harbor freight router, I'm going to buy a better one as soon as I get it running. I guess I might give the harbor freight one a chance for a little bit. I ordered a e-stop switch, not sure which way I'm going to wire it yet cut power to everything or like a limit switch. Putting it together was easy but you need to watch both Mark's video's and the ones from spark-concepts. I built it in 2 nights about 4 or 5 hours in total. A couple of things weren't in either video but were easy to figure out. The control board mount uses m5x8mm bolts just a FYI.... Ok would I do it again....... I don't think so. The main reason I bought this was the parts store was always out of stock of something when I tried to order everything to build an ox. But spark-concepts is just getting started and I think they are swamped I ordered this in mid October and got it mid November. I could of placed a couple of orders from the parts store and got it in about the same time I think.... I have had some people tell me it's overpriced but I really don't think it is. I don't have a chop saw at home I have one up at my cottage but it's 3 hours away, so I would of had to purchase a chop saw for home to cut the rails, that alone would of made buying the parts more than the kit... Bob
I like the inside braces on the Y axis, should really stiffen it up. I will be adding that feature but a little different in order to block the chips and dust missed by vac. Going to use red cast acrylic, I just hope it works out the way I'm hoping it does lol
Thanks for the input. I was thinking about having to upgrade some parts once I outgrew the basic Zeus kit. But it seems like it needs to be upgraded right away. 12v supply?, meh. I guess I can start ordering bits and pieces to build one from scratch. The thought of placing one order was very attractive though. Maybe I can hold off until plates are available in the OB store.
Yes "pmany", Mark is introducing them to try to maintain, and guarantee, an up-to-date plate all the time. Sort of OB Standard. Gray
I find it so odd that everyone around here refers to the longest axis as Y. Must be a router thing. :/
Joe. It does have a History. However, it does not refer to length of axis. It seems to be: Forwards and Backwards, irrespective of distance, is "Y Axis". Side to side, or a cross (X), again irrespective of distance, "X Axis". Up and Down, "Z Axis". I'm sure someone has explained the reasoning before, I think it was Tweakie. Gray
It's more about what one considers the front of their router. In General and for most cases, a mills X axis is longer than it's Y. Feels right to me to view the router the same. I was just saying that sometimes it gets confusing when reading some posts because it is not always clear what they're referencing.
Been that way on every machine I've programmed. Also, when the first rotary axis is applied it is usually A about X. Except once I used a horizontal with a tombstone and that was programmed about axis B. So this is why I get confused when some folks call their traditional X axis Y and visa versa.
Yeah, must be a router thing. I'll end up using a Y gantry. Easier for me looking at the machine from the side while sign making.
I have it all together!!!! success, well kind of.... I must of used the bolts for the router clamp or the ones you are supposed to use are too short, took a plate out and shimmed the router with a couple of bolts, not pretty but it will work till my order for new bolts comes in. Next I go to home depot and have them cut my spoiler board 19 1/4 x 29 1/4 great out the door for 11.00 cool till I get home and the darn thing isn't square, I should of just cut it myself, I did the best I could and got it square but now it's a little short. Got it all wired the only thing left in that department is the e-stop still not sure what I want to do with that yet. I just got up from my shop after messing with the gbrl settings for the last hour, I just can't seem to get the thing to sound smooth. With the default settings for the cncpro board it would move too far but sounded smooth. Once I set the travel to 26.67 and 200 it's noisey I have played with all the settings nothing seems to help.... here's what I have for settings in the videos. any Idea's? thanks Bob
Change your homing and seek settings a little higher and see if it smooths out. The slow movement in causing the sound IMO $24 = 2000 $25 = 2000
ok that didn't work and I turn off homing. but I turned up rates and accelerations to very high numbers 60,000 and 80 got it moving faster, but still making noise..... I just remembered I had the 12v supply on when I first got it together and it was quite but the steps per mm were very high, if I remember right it was 200. Then I switched to the 24v supply and changed the steps per mm to 26.667, I wonder if I have to adjust the current? the steppers are room temp after running gcode for about 15 minutes. Does that sound right? Do I need more current?
I've heard that sound before. I think it's a low power thing. Ask Serge. He's been there, before you. Gray
Do you remember Robert, there was a video, about 6 months ago, and the motors were making a hell of a row. I can picture the video, but can't quite remember the owner. Was it Serge? I wish we had some system of finding these things!! Gray
Drive 4 motors with DRV8825 Stepper Drivers - 2.5A (peak) with 1.75A (RMS) with up to 1/32 microstepping motors DC 2.8 A/Phase I do remember the video, I will be looking up serge's posts and see if I can find it... Well I ran some code thru it, a 3" x 4" box with a 2" circle in the middle, what I got was a 2.875 x 4 box with a oblong circle. my grbl settings are the same for both the x and y axis, easy enough to change but I don't understand why they are different.... In sketchucam I set it for .752 thick and it cut I would guess 1/4" into my spoiler board...
Your motors should be able to handle the max your drivers can provide. I would heat sink your drivers and get a small fan blowing to keep things cool
