Very interesting...
Thanks for pointing out that thread. I think what they put on their website is quite deceptive. It gives the impression they are affiliated with Openbuilds.
So you're probably right, they would just source all their parts from China. I suppose a benefit of buying from them (instead of direct from china) is you would be protected by Australian consumer Law, and hopefully they would filter out the bent rods etc.

I'm not sure why you keep mentioning price as if they are dirt cheap. Makerstore's prices are pretty close to Openbuilds, which is another reason I believed they were affiliated.

It's just a shame that we (Australia) have no option but to buy clones, either direct from china or through makerstore.

Thanks for helping me understand the situation.

 

I am sure that this is covered somewhere but.. I have limited space and would want to make a 1010 LEAD in to a 1075. How hard is this to do and how can it be done?

 

I have the same problem (space). I just received my Black Friday WorkBee 1010 and would like to turn it into a 1075 or 1000mm x 750mm. I assume it's just cutting some rails to 750mm, a lead screw and removing some links from the drag chain.

 

I think a 1075 size (3:4 ratio) would be a popular offering because it would fit on a common workbench, table or desk.

 

Thanks Rick. What would be the cutting size for a 1075 and which axis is best to shorten?
Ray

 

I'd second this recommendation. I bought my steppers elsewhere, and they were just fine, but the colors of the wires did not match up and it took some understanding to get it right. Not complex, just different, and if you're not super handy with such things you could stumble. Multiply that many times over if you piece together the whole machine to save some money. Regarding the comments on customer service, my good experience with customer service at Openbuilds started before I bought my machine. I was scared about buying the wrong thing and spending $2000 on it, but they called me and answered my questions. Helped greatly.

 

Does the lead CNC have any issues with the y motors getting out of sync when they are disabled (eg. someone accidentally rotates one of the motors somehow). My current CNC uses dual endstops on the y axis to make sure things are always square when homing. How does the LEAD CNC handle this? I was thinking of just forgoing endstops entirely and putting some hard stops on the y axis, then do the following to home:

- Jog up close to the hard stops
- Disable the motors
- Manually rotate the screw until both sides are up against the stops
- Re-enable the motors.

Is this entirely overkill/unnecessary?

 

So why do you still have the limit switch? Is that just for safety?

 

How do you use the 1-2-3 blocks to square things? That sounds interesting

 

Hi,

I just started assembling my Lead CNC (from Europe, bought from ratrig.com) and I have a problem getting my z-axis to sit firmly.
Both eccentric spacers are already adjusted as close as possible, but the part where the router mounts still wobbles by ~1mm.

I already ordered new (and additional) wheel assemblies, until those arrive, is there anything I can do to make it fit better?

 

Two things (unless I get distracted by something shiny, in which case it may be anywhere from one to six things):

First, I'm noticing that the chips from cutting aluminum like collecting in the upper slots on my X (and, to a lesser degree, Y) axes, and over time it tends to chew up the V-wheels. I notice the slot covers barely/almost fit underneath (sliding the covers underneath is a snug fit, but the wheels will roll over them easily enough) and was thinking they might make it easier to clean the slots. Any chance someone has already tried this and can save me the trouble of discovering for myself why it's a terrible idea?

And second (also relating to slot covers, oddly enough) is just a quick nitpick note on the LEAD parts list...

Towards the bottom it lists (as lists are wont to do):

Code:

1  Flexible Corrugated Tubing 1' (Black)     https://openbuildspartstore.com/flexible-corrugated-tubing/     SKU 2675-By-The-Foot
5  Flexible Tubing Clamp                     https://openbuildspartstore.com/flexible-tubing-clamps/         SKU 2685
1  Flexible Corrugated Tubing - 28"          https://openbuildspartstore.com/slot-cover-panel-holder/        SKU 2675-By-the-Foot

...and that second "corrugated tubing" points to the page for the slot covers, not tubing.

I don't know whether it's the URL or the description that's wrong , but one way or another I figure it's bound to confused someone someday.


-Bats
(...bound to confuse somebats sometoday?)

 

For the owners, do your spindle mount is steady and solid? I will try to make a video, but I have few loose arround the X axis (if i put some pressure on the front of the spindle mount), seems to come from the flexibility of the CBeam which seems quiet odd according to the shape. Otherwise this issue I have no loose at all or backlash, this machine seems pretty great!

 

Lead1010 with High-Z Mod. Just finished adding a 100V VFD and 1.5 kw spindle. Openbuilds control is almost working. I can turn on the spindle using M3 SXXXX, Turning off the spindle using M5 the spindle slows down to 6000 RPM but does not stop (I can go through my PD settings and figure that out). I also rewired all connections (motors, limit switches, LED) using shielded cables. My real problem is with figuring out where I screwed up. I can manually trigger all limit switches no problem. I can move the gantry in the right direction on all axis' using the motion control arrows. All of my limits on the left side where I would set X0 Y0 Z0 show as being disabled. I must be missing something in the grbl settings.

 

Is that one of the big 80mm spindles? If so, I'd love to hear more about how it works out, and if you run into any trouble with the weight. My Lead's only built half-width right now, but I've been itching to expand it to full-size + High-Z - I'm just curious about what to expect with this ten ton pound* chunk of metal swinging around at the top of that flagpole.

Unfortunately I'm not going to be much help with the config, though - I've never worked with grbl or OB Control and still haven't even gotten around to wiring my VFD to the PC - but I had the same thought on the speed issue - both of my VFDs (a cute little Leeson Speedmaster on my South Bend, and a big noisy Chinese clunker on the CNC spindle) had a vast array of internal options to tweak, and at least half of them didn't seem to do quite what it sounded like they were supposed to. I built my machine a year ago (minus many months of downtime in the middle) and still don't have the spindle acceleration working the way I want it to.


-Bats
*ok, so I have no idea whether it's 10lbs. it could just as easily be 10kg. the only scale I had handy just said "I don't care about the units, it's too many!"

 

It's only a 65mm spindle. I have two mounting brackets for it. If I can get it to work I'll let you know how well it does. I've been working on the upgrade since November and am finally trying to finish up. It's a chinese VFD and spindle Huanyang VFD.

 

Ahh...ok. I was thinking the 120V 1.5kw spindles were all big honkin' 80mm beasts like mine, but maybe that was just for the ER16 versions (if you say you got ER16 in that size too, I'm going to cry).

You'll probably have an easier time with the mounting the smaller spindle, too. I made a 2-piece bracket from milled aluminum & hose clamps that's working out really nicely (I think there are pics posted here somewhere), but I had a hell of a time getting it squared. Now that I look at it, it probably won't play nice with a stock High-Z, either.

Sounds like the same VFD, then - or at least clones of each other. About the same timing, too - I got mine the previous Nov/Dec, built the kit in about 48hrs, and then it took me until at least Jan/Feb before it was properly wired, spindled, and ready for cutting (not that the current wiring in any way resembles "proper"). Once its running, it's a nice little machine... at least when I'm not killing PCs, burning up drivers, or battling strange, intermittent stalls.

-Bats
(typos courtesy of Samsung handwriting recognition, dumb comments courtesy of Bats)

 

I hear you. Between work/family obligations I've hardly had any time to work on it. I did get the 6000 RPM issue resolved. PD011 was set to 100 eaning the minimum speed was set to 6000 RPM. Setting it back to 0 fixed that part.

 

Woohoo! My guess wasn't entirely off-base!

-Bats
(too bad it wasn't the important answer - hopefully one of our more grbly locals can be more help with that)

 

Sounds like hard limits are turned on, but homing is turned off? You should have both $21=1 and $22=1.

 

Thanks Rob. I'll give it a look.

 

All settings look correct. $21 and $22 were =1. I just enabled soft limits as well.

[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $0=10 ;Step pulse time, microseconds
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $1=255 ;Step idle delay, milliseconds
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $2=0 ;Step pulse invert, mask
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $3=3 ;Step direction invert, mask
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $4=1 ;Invert step enable pin, boolean
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $5=0 ;Invert limit pins, boolean
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $6=0 ;Invert probe pin, boolean
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $10=1 ;Status report options, mask
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $11=0.020 ;Junction deviation, millimeters
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $12=0.002 ;Arc tolerance, millimeters
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $13=0 ;Report in inches, boolean
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $20=1 ;Soft limits enable, boolean
[13:14:24] [ $$ ] $21=1 ;Hard limits enable, boolean
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $22=1 ;Homing cycle enable, boolean
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $23=3 ;Homing direction invert, mask
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $24=100.000 ;Homing locate feed rate, mm/min
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $25=1000.000 ;Homing search seek rate, mm/min
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $26=250 ;Homing switch debounce delay, milliseconds
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $27=5.000 ;Homing switch pull-off distance, millimeters
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $30=24000 ;Maximum spindle speed, RPM
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $31=0 ;Minimum spindle speed, RPM
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $32=0 ;Laser-mode enable, boolean
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $100=199.100 ;X-axis steps per millimeter
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $101=199.100 ;Y-axis steps per millimeter
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $102=199.100 ;Z-axis steps per millimeter
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $110=2500.000 ;X-axis maximum rate, mm/min
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $111=2500.000 ;Y-axis maximum rate, mm/min
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $112=2500.000 ;Z-axis maximum rate, mm/min
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $120=150.000 ;X-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $121=150.000 ;Y-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $122=150.000 ;Z-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $130=810.000 ;X-axis maximum travel, millimeters
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $131=730.000 ;Y-axis maximum travel, millimeters
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] $132=90.000 ;Z-axis maximum travel, millimeters
[13:14:25] [ $$ ] ok
[13:14:25] [ $I ] [VER:1.1g.20181112:LEADMACHINE1010]
[13:14:25] [ $I ] [OPT:V,15,128]
[13:14:25] [ $I ] ok

Here is what I am seeing in both mm and inch mode:

 

For a start, iirc grbl 1.1g was a weird transitional version sent out to vendors but never officially released, I'd update to 1.1h since that's over a year out of date and CONTROL allows you to pretty easily upgrade, there's no reason not to (but save your $$ settings!).

Other than that, it all looks good. Does CONTROL not allow you to press those setzero buttons when they say disabled? I don't really understand how work coordinates can even be "disabled" considering grbl starts up in G54 mode. It has and is reporting work coordinates, CONTROL just isn't showing you them. But maybe CONTROL wants you to home first before it'll start talking about work coordinates?

All I can suggest right now, since I'm by no means a CONTROL expert (never used it, sure does look pretty though) is to press that "setzero XYZ" button and see what happens. bCNC shows me both machine and work coordinates at all times, so not being able to see anything is freaking me out.