Thank you Prauk! Much appreciated !!

Gerald

 

Thank you !! Sorry about the stock plates, you shouldn't have any trouble selling them though.

I will finish the BOM today, I had a good start on it yesterday then some business came up. I'll post a copy here for you as well..

Gerald

 

Thank you very much Tweakie !!

 

Just posted the BOM under the files tab... If anyone happens to find a possible error please let me know so I can look into it and update it if necessary.

Gerald

 

Thank you Mark we really appreciate it !!

Gerald

 

Thanks JustinTime, great suggestion....

Gerald

 

We have setup our international shipping, so yes we ship to Canada, Europe, Iceland, Australia, and many more !!

Thanks !!

Gerald

 

UPDATE 2/26/2015

After speaking with a few experts about using stepper motors in direct drive situations we have concluded in this application the motors for the Y axis need to be 425 oz Nema 23's or better and the X needs a 57o oz Nema 23 motor, the Z can use a 385 oz Nema 23.

I have updated the BOM to REV3 and included links where to find these motors. The 570 motors require 5A drivers so if your following this build please allow for this when choosing drivers and a power supply.

I recommend Automation Technology, great selection of motors and drivers plus affordable pricing. DO NOT buy the low inductance 320 oz motor from CNCRouterparts. After speaking with Ahren the low inductance motor is designed to have a flatter torque curve at higher RPM's, it will not work properly in a low RPM direct drive situation. High inductance motors have higher torque at low RPMs. I am working on a belt reduction drive for the F-117 but it will be awhile before I can complete a prototype and test it.

Some of the parts on the BOM refer to Area51cncparts.com as a supplier, I will be adding those parts to stock as they arrive. The bad weather in the northern part of the US is slowing progress on adding inventory. Thank you for your patience !!

Also I am testing a different gear rack on the Y axis to make installation easier, the only difference between the old rack and new will be in order to use the proper spur gear you will have to use a Nema 23 with a 3/8 shaft. In the mean time the machine can still be built with the 14.5 degree pressure 24 pitch rack using the Nema 23 1/4 shaft motors and work just fine. I won't be cutting rack clamps due to the long length of time required to cut them, so if you go this route please line up a welder to TIG weld the rack to a 1/8 x 3/4 x ? long steel backer and drill out holes for mounting to the extrusion. If the 20 degree pressure 20 pitch racks work out well I will stock them in the store.

 

No they will not... Sorry..

Gerald

 

I'll update that in the BOM to be a bit clearer...

Thanks !

 

UPDATE 3/08/2015

Well we've installed and tested the X with the new 570oz motor, even though our electronics can only push 4.2 amps max, it works great. Extremely quiet and smooth with the 20 pitch 20 pressure 1/2 x 3/4 rack. The Dewalt DWP611 on the other hand is turning out to be a piece of junk. Replaced a badly worn lower bearing a couple days ago. When we first bought our 3 1/4 hp Porter Cable we learned after the lower bearing went south after a month of use, Dewalt purchased PC and the quality seemed to go by the wayside since then. We replaced the bearing with a good NSK bearing and get 4-6 months sometimes more out of it between bearing changes.

Update on Area 51 CNC Parts
​

We are currently way behind schedule on the web store and plate production, due to demands from our sign shop and the fact we are moving into a larger location coupled with the time required to cut aluminum, we will not be cutting plates from 6061 aluminum at this time. We will be offering 3/8 plates in XX phenolic for the original Ox and the F-117. We will also be cutting plates from G10 for the F-117. We are looking to purchase a dedicated CNC mill in the near future to be able to cut these 6061 plates efficiently.

We currently have a set of Stock Ox plates available cut from 3/8" XX Black phenolic at the link below.

http://area51cncparts.com/shop/stock-ox-upgraded-375-garolite-xx-plate-set/

Thank you for your patience !!

 

That's a great question. The answer is yes it can, but not quite as fast or with heavy DOC's. If you look closely at the video I posted of it cutting 6061 you'll notice it still had phenolic plates. The only really difference i've found so far since I installed all 6061 is any chatter that was there when cutting deep fast passes in wood were reduced if not eliminated, but also I upgraded the X beam from a 4080 to a 5010 beam at the same time so i'm sure that played a part too.

For everyone who purchases a set of phenolic plates I will also include the DXF files, a break down on the toolpaths required, and my metal supplier if you would like to cut your own plates from 6061 once up and running. Thanks !!

 

I use Vectric Aspire, great program just expensive. But for what your asking, CUT3D would work just as well..

 

Not quite following. I think phenolic plates are an affordable alternative to 6061 for non commercial hobby cnc's and they would be good enough to be able to cut some replacements out of 6061 if someone so desired, I just can cut them myself right now. I tried my hand at milling a few sets out of 6061 with my current machine, takes almost 8 hours of cut time to mill a single set. I asked around and got quotes from 400-600 per set to have them either milled or waterjetted. If someone knows of a lasercutting company who offers great rates I might farm them out to them to cut, but for the time being I can't tie up one machine that long. I'm looking into buying a used vertical mill something like a TorMach PCNC1100, but that will have to wait until I move my shop and have some more space.

On the spindles, I talked with a few people on Joe's CNC forum and it really seemed hit or miss with the chinese stuff, some people swear up and down use so and so and you'll get a great deal, then others complain about so and so... I decided to wait it out and see if I could find a GMT spindle like what UGRA sells new or used, I just picked up a supposedly new never used .8kW air cooled GMT spindle with a VFD, Chris Laidlaw mount, collets, and a control box for a great price. Hopefully it's all its cracked up to be.. I'll post some photos when it arrives.

With that being said, once I have it installed and tested i'll be selling my DeWalt 611 with precision collets & extra parts, a Chris Laidlaw mount, and possibly the dust shoe setup if I can't make it work with the spindle for a very reasonable price.

 

UPDATE 3/14/2015

So we've been using the machine hard for about a week now with the new motor on the X installed and it works perfectly. I would like to change out the racks on the Y rails to 20 pressure 20 pitch but I would have to disassemble the entire machine to add them. There isn't enough clearance between the Y axis plate and the extrusion to squeeze the 1/2 think rack in there, I would have to add a 1/8 spacer to all the wheels on the Y plates and either replace the gantry beam with one 1/4" longer or redo the base to squeeze the Y rails in .25 ". So i'm going to wait a bit, the 14.5 pressure 24 pitch rack is doing a fine job anyways plus we are in the process of adding belt reduction drives so both the Y plates and the X drive plate will be redesigned if folks wish to go this route.

Also IMService CNC stopped selling their Z slides on Ebay, my front gantry plate was pre drilled to accept their slide. The are quite a few others on there that have decent looking Z slides for a reasonable price. So if anyone purchases a plate kit from me, I would advise to figure out your Z slide first and send me something with the mounting hole locations and i'll custom cut that front plate for you. Otherwise if you would just like a blank plate with no mounting holes and drill them yourself that's ok too, just let me know either way when ordering.

I believe the next project i'm putting in the works is a CNC Plasma cutter, easy to build and I would be able to cut up to 1/2" Aluminum with it or make machine plates out of mild steel.

Also scored a very nice .8kW GMT air cooled spindle with a Laidlaw mount and Lenze SMVector VFD wired up in a nice Nema enclosure.



Sweet !! Now to see if I am able to wire this into my existing Plug and Play electronics is the question.... I would really like to be able to control the RPMs from Mach3 but might only be capable of turning it off and on without upgrading the BOB... None the less, love it and will be installing and testing it tomorrow.

Here's a video of our latest product, nice 3D hat rack... We cut the 3D at full depth running 140ipm with a 1/8 tapered ball nose bit....