Good morning everyone, A little of my background, I've worked in wood, projects, furniture and so forth for 30 years (not professionally just as a hobbyist ) and used to work on CNC's (million dollar machines) 20 years ago. I have been wanting to get into some projects where CNC would be very helpful. such as leveling large surfaces and others. I recently purchased a Hardware bundle from Amazon that included OLD controllers (USBCNC Mk1) that only works on Win7 and I'm not going backwards. the KIT came with (4) Nema 23 high torque steppers and a decent power supply, so im keeping those and #$%T canning the rest of the hardware. After I bought the hardware kit, I ran across your website and company, I have ordered a 1000mm C-Beam Xlarge Linear actuator from you that should be here in a couple of days. i also have a 300mm X- axis C-Beam actuator. so my questions are these I want to use the Black Box Controller with My NEMA 23 steppers and use the power supply that I have to power the rest. The power supply is rated at 400W 36V 11Amp DC. If I am seeing this right the Black Box has integrated Drivers and limit switch, light controls (through relays of course) and Spindle motor ON/off controls. 1.) what does the power supply provide power to ? is it to the black box only or are there separate power input for the integrated drivers? 2. will the Black Box allow me to address the machine directly with my Win10 and Vcarve Pro through USB? I am building this unit with some flexibility in mind. I want to be able to change out the router (dewalt 611) and put in a laser for engraving or a plasma cutter (way future). I was wondering about using the Porter Cable 3 1/4HP router (so i can swing a 1/2" flattening bit) to do some flattening of some live edge walnut. Thank You everyone in advance for your advice and help. Tim H
the working area will be approx 30" X 42", I just read over the documentation for the black box and I'm excited, it did answer some questions and now need to buy an IOT Switch. Haha I should quit reading.
BlackBox is 24v. Please do not connect the 36v PSU it will cause damage See start [OpenBuilds Documentation] > Software section
yep, I got that when i read the documents right after I posted it, so IOT and PS from you guys, gotta quit reading and asking Thanks Tim H
I just purchased the blackbox and by mistake hooked it up to a 36V power supply instead of a 24V. My fan did not turn on and don’t know if the blackbox was damaged. Could you give me some insight as what may valve happened to the Blackbox? I checked and the fuse did not blow so with my experience I think the Blackbox should be ok, thanks in advance for any help.
You'd have to do a step by step check on all peripherals. Fan would likely be toast. Best to follow all documentation on docs.openbuilds.com/blackbox very closely to avoid damage.
Tim, Keep in mind that the C beam machines (and other hobby class machines) typically use 1-hp range routers or spindles. The extra weight of the big router is going to mean more deflection, more mass to accelerate, higher feed rates to keep a 1/2" bit happy, and resulting higher loads on the steppers. I'm not saying it can't be done, but you will probably discover that limits of the CNC machine will not allow you to take advantage of all that extra router power. Also lots of off-the-shelf parts/designs for the compact routers so you can get to making sawdust rather than custom designing stuff. Good luck!
Thanks Peter, I followed the setup and got everything running but have a couple of questions. When I do a continuous jog the machine stops after about 100mm and then I have to press the jog again and it moves another 100mm and stops. Is there a place to correct this? It also happens when I “Home All”. I have to press the “Home All” 3 or 4 times to get it to permanent home. I don’t know why the x y and z numbers don’t change when I jog. Thanks for any insight into helping me out.
