Need to Google 'SuperPid' - no idea what that is - spindle I presume?

 

Ah, PID controller for the spindle. I see - yep that does seem like a good idea.

 

So far I am loving the C-beam machine. It's a handy little guy. I've learned so much so far about how to mill parts. It's a great first machine.
My first real cut was on the actual spoil board. I bought some toilet flange bolts and ended up milling a t slot for my tooling table. One thing I couldn't figure out was how to hold things down. I tried clamps and they just get in the way. So I designed this.

I haven't actually put it to use yet but I think it'll work pretty good. I do however, have to cut the flange bolt smaller. I believe it's 2 1/4" tall. If I cut a quarter of an inch off, the Y Beam should clear all my hold down bolts. Hoping it works, if not, it was a great first project regardless and I learned a lot.

 

I have found this product which I might try, called slatwall in the uk, its used for shop displays.

Anyone used it already?

 

How about a couple of pictures?


This does not give any more clearance to the waste board right now, but will when the gantry legs are changed for taller pieces.

 

Looks good. Only thing you will want to do is make sure your bolts are lower than you bits rapid travel heights. Otherwise you may crash your z, spindle or bit.

 

How about a cad file that allows us to cut that out of a single piece of aluminum? :}

 

I finally got some time to work on my C-Beam, or rather the controller for it. This is my take on wiring up three controllers and a tinyg and keeping everything a neat as possible. Thinking of maybe putting sides on the Chinese controller side and covering them then putting a muffin fan in place to keep them cool. I am running the largest nema23's I could find if the controllers get warm that would fix that.

Tinyg Side by apburner posted Jan 30, 2016 at 12:29 AM

Stepper Driver Side by apburner posted Jan 30, 2016 at 12:29 AM

 

I think Sears sells that stuff here in the states

 

I have the Dewalt 611 router. When I start cutting in to aluminum using the lowest rpm of 16,000, what is the best kind of end mill to use? 1 flute? 2 flute? 4 flute? I really would like to buy the super-pid, but I can't afford it right now. Any suggestions on end mills would be greatly appreciated. I'm definitely going to cut real slow and shallow depth cuts. Thanks

 

@Justin Christensen what about that speed controller?
Router Speed Control

 

Single flute at those RPM and would ideally be 1/8" bit to keep your s
speeds and feeds inline.

 

My router varies from 16,000 to 32,000. With this device slow it down below 16,000?

 

Not something you really want to use. Will just cause you headaches and possible damage to your Router.

 

That's what I thought. Thank you. I'll just have to cut at 16,000 rpm for now. Shouldn't be a problem

 

You can cut with 16k check out the feed and speed calc in the resources on the open build site. 1/8" single flute has very manageable cutting speeds at 16k. It's all relative to all the variables.

 

Received my kit from Ryan at Ooznest a couple of weeks ago and just started assembly this last couple of days.

Big thumbs-up for the way the kit is all labelled and packed up - really really good. Very happy so far! Great, quick responses via email from Ryan as well. Highly recommended if you're in the UK.

 

You can file them down with a file, it doesn't take too much time, but you'll have to replace the 10mm screws with 8mm

 

Quick (possibly dumb!) question - the stepper motor flexi-couplings have two sets of screws, two larger ones which appear to do the main job of clamping up the coupling to the screw thread and motor shaft and then another two smaller grub screws which I presume just act as a secondary fixing. Is it generally best to clamp up the larger screws first and then tweak up the grub screws as well? Are the grubs screws actually needed here?

 

I just wondered if the Y-Axis the correct length?

it wouldn't take long to swap over the x carriage.

Michael

 

Completed my C-Beam today and did a few test cuts!!!

Which leads to a question about feed rates. What is a good feed rate for a colt router, 1/8 bit, cutting 1/2 MDF?

 

Also finished my build this weekend although I've no router yet so am just getting my head round the software side of things and playing with pen plotting.

Incidentally, I've found that those interlocking foam playroom mats make a great bed for pen plotting with a byro and also for holding the pen firm in the router mount.

The build went great - thanks again Mark for your excellent build video and for developing SketchUCam which seems amazingly easy to use.

As others have already mentioned, the only negative point I have is related to those little tabs on the cast corner pieces. Personally I would have preferred to receive 8mm screws so that I could have just filed those down so they seat better. Will be doing that next once I've got some delivered.

Obligatory first moves video clip here (not very interesting I'm afraid):-



Really going to have to try and work out ways of reducing the noise levels though!

 

Having a minor issue with my build. The Z axis seems to drop a mm or two on occasion. V carving (that works the axis up and down a bit) seems to induce it but I've noticed it do it on a standard plunge drop once (with a z axis raise before it). It seems more likely (to me) that it's losing the mm on a raise rather than a drop. I've reduced the z axis acceleration (to 30 from 100) and the max z speed to 500 which appeared to fix it but now it's back. Previously built a standard v wheels carriage to eliminate the c beam mini wheel carriage as the cause. Anything else I should check bar the electrics - I'll swap out the power supply and the motor driver next. Forgive me if I've overlooked this documented elsewhere.