Thanks Mark! One concern i have is regarding the belts for the gantry slipping under the weight since it will be mounted vertically rather than flat in a traditional CNC environment. One thing that helps is we have no physical contact between the gantry and the media being sprayed, so there's no additional resistance. I am using a large belt, and upgrading it to an everman style belt. Hopefully that will be enough, else i'll upgrade to a metal rack. Rob
The new video is great! I really like the idea of the counter weights looking forward to seeing how you set them up to ride the bottom of the rail? Nice job on this build @robbell Keep up the good work Mark
Thanks @Mark Carew I'm happy with how it's progressing. Obviously with the need to get "through" my OX, my cross-bracing turned into additional Y-axis bracing, which came in handle for the counterweight sliders. I'm just using V-groove wheels for the pulleys - more than capable of taking that weight. The biggest issue i've had so far has been battling with Mach3 and my controller (dodgy soldering from the manufacturer / no 64-bit support / crappy LPT cables with shorted pins)... but definitely getting there. Though I'm not sure what you're referring to regarding "rid the bottom rail"? Thanks, Rob
I see it now, looking closer at the video. You have the weights mounted to a couple of the gantry carts.
Hi Mark, Yes sorry the video quality is not great. Will do a much better one once there's more progress. I used two little gantry carts and wheels. It seemed the simplest way to resolve the issue, and gave me a platform to bolt the weights to (thought they're just cable-tied, as i'm going to use different weights). Thanks, Rob
Mach3 is 32bit software and won't work reliable on 64bit systems. If you get it running on 64bit, you can wait for disaster to happen at some point, sooner or later.
Thanks @Prauk - yes i installed a 32-bit version of Windows after i discovered that, but i still had problems with my slave axis, but narrowed the issue to the controller itself (ie - didn't matter what inputs it received, some axis' simply didn't respond). I resoldered any points that looked suspect and finally got it working. I then had an issue with a shorted pin on one axis making it move only in one direction (after much debugging, first thinking it was a software issue). Rob
Hello Rob, Can you post the drawing or take a photo how the two V-Slots are put against each other to get the 8 feet / 2440mm? That would be great! Thank you! -Ronald
Darn Chinese! Well, I can't go that way as I sopport OpenBuilds 101% . Thank you any way, I'll keep an eye on your project for sure, keep up the great work and thank you! -Ronald
Oh really? I didn't realise they weren't genuine OpenBuilds rails... i just got them from http://www.makerstore.com.au/ Here in Australia things are hard enough to get, so i don't usually pay too much attention. Rob
Don't know, but at the OpenBuilds stores you only get up to 1500mm. Might have been a special order, I can't tell. I know the struggle to get the nice stuff, same here in Mexico and that's why I opened a store here with the same prices as in the USA (plus import cost, can't do much about that). I saw that Australia is in the same market sector as Latin America; they make stuff only to be sold in Australia and Latin America, like motor bikes and some electronics (Tv´s, amps) and it's not even coming close in quality than the stuff for the "1st world" like Europe and the USA. -Ronald
Hey Rob. I see you're using the dual meshing belt. How do you like this? I bought new belts and pulleys last year for that very thing but never took the time to switch over.