Beautiful results @Kyo

 

Ill give 20 ipm to see if i get better results! Never thought of using climb milling for the finishing pass

 

Hi - I just finished my build and its working sort of good. As you can see from the picture the Hello World is small, backwards and squished together. I'm guessing the problem is the way I set up the Arduino CNC Shield. My first guess is that I need to reverse the stepper motor wires, and adjust the microstepping jumpers. I have them all connected. Could you point me in the correct direction?

 

Have a look in the CBeam Machine Control Software zip (in the files and drawings at the top of the thread if you don't have it). Somewhat counter-intuitively in the Misc folder of that zip is an "Axis reference picture".
Using your jogging function of your control software you need to get your machine moving the same as that reference picture, swapping the stepper coils over if it's going in the wrong direction.

 

I just finished checking it and things move as they should

 

I lied My Y axis was messed up. What is causing the smaller than expected size and compressed spacing? Thanks for getting me half way there!

 

Steps per mm are prob wrong should be 200

 

Next you're on to microstepping and mm per step. I don't know the shield you have, but you'll want to set your microstepping at 8 (however that's accomplished ).
The grbl settings you need are in the same zip file under the control software folder. It's another image.

The Hello World example is in mm, so you'll want to make sure your grbl is set to mm to run it. ($13=0)

 

Jimmybuckets - Checked and all are correct. By the way I like the shim you designed. Works really well.
Teflon - I have protoneers shield. Is the microstepping controlled by the jumpers on the shield?

 

It just occurred to me that 8 is probably the same things as 8th step on the shield

 

Hmm, the board layout on their web site suggests you set the stepping using the jumpers underneath each driver board; marked M0 to M2

 

Thanks to both of your help things are working really well. Now I can really start to learn!

 

Got my issue figured out. Turns out the y axis backlash nut needed to be re tensioned. Getting great results now! Getting a tiny bit of chatter on the chamfer pass. Going to try a 1/4inch chamfer mill instead of a 1/8 and see if it goes away.

 

It was done with 2 bits. Main cuts were done with a 3/32 HSS end mill at 20ipm .01" no finishing pass. The chamfer was done with a 1/8 chamfer/engraving end mill at 15ipm. Lots of WD 40 was used as lubricant. Tools are from a local shop called Deboer Tools. I will be ordering some Viper Stealth coated end mills soon to try. They are designed for dry milling and have seen people using them in other groups with great results.

Here are some pics of the chamfer mills

 

Have everything together and moving. I haven't seen it anywhere...should the drive screws and linear "rails" be lubricated in any way? I was thinking of using some lithium grease but not sure how it would react with the plastic drive nuts and wheels.

 

I would leave them dry. Especially if your lead screws are exposed like the stock build. Will attract a lot of chips instead of them just falling off.

 

Long time lurker, but I just ordered my C-Beam Machine kit. Can't wait until it's back in stock.

Currently, I'm planning on extending the x-axis risers to 300mm to give a little more working room without compromising rigidity too much, but mechanically everything else will be stock for the time being (although I do like the flipped y-axis and support rails idea). Control will be handled by a Protoneer CNC shield and DRV8825 drivers (heavily heatsinked and actively cooled), running GRBL and most likely Chillipeppr as a front end. Spindle will be a Chinese 800w water cooled unit (mounted in the stock mount with a 3D printed shim for the time being, but I think I will upgrade to a Blue Ox mount soon after) with a Teco L510-101-H1-N VFD (110v in, 220v out) running the show.

Anyone use the Teco L510 series VFDs? I'd go with the Chinese 1.5kW VFD just for ease of use, but I really don't want to have to wire in a new 220v outlet in the garage, and I certainly don't want to resort to using a router just for the noise factor. I know the Teco doesn't have a pwm input for speed control, but I can fix that easy enough to a 0-10v control. I haven't ordered the VFD yet, so if anyone has any concerns or suggestions for what to use in it's place (I'd really like to keep this to 110v input), I'd appreciate it.

As far as end mills go, I'm not sure what to pick up (I know it's been mentioned before in this thread, but searching through 33 pages is a little cumbersome). I know at first while I'm learning the machine I'll probably start cutting MDF, but my primary reason for this machine is for aluminum (I know it has limitations, but so does my budget). I want to pick up a few V-bits for 3D carving the MDF and maybe some hardwoods. any suggestions on which ones to get? What about for aluminum work? The 800W spindle has an ER11 collet, so obviously I have to work within those dimensions.

Anyway, a lot of rambling, but I'm excited to get started.

 

Sounds like you have it pretty well thought out. I decided to go with a Dewalt DWP611 controlled via Super-PID instead of the spindle and vfd route. You want to make sure the bits you use aren't costing you more than they save. Quality bits are mandatory and are safer. Cheap bits that dull easy will cause fires and/or launch themselves across the room when they snap off. There are some affordable solutions out there. Sounds like a nice well planned out rig.

 

I certainly wasn't looking to cheap out. Just like anything else, you get what you pay for. For the end mills for aluminum, I was looking at some of the options from Lakeshore Carbide, but just having a hard time figuring out what to get. Maybe I'll drop them a line and see what they recommend.

 

I have built the C-Machine for an off-label purpose. It's more of a x-y pen plotter. It's assembled and operational, but I would like to turn up the speed. How can I figure out what the maximum speed is while using the stock NEMA 23 motors? The stock settings have it at 2000 mm/min, and I would like to know how high this number goes.
-thanks

 

Had a lot of openbuilds parts left over so decided to put them to good use and build C-Beam. Ordered what was missing and now waiting begins

But Im having real hard time deciding between Kress 1050 and 1.5kW China air cooled spindle with VFD
Price is pretty much the same after tax and shipping costs to Norway - and I have seen good results from both - but just cant make up my mind. Please help! Thanks

PS: Mounting is not a problem as both versions comes with mounts I can adapt.

 

I have a Kress 1050, I love the spindle, it is very capable and if you search my posts I have commented on the Kress and its mounting already, but I found it mounts too high and does not have enough tool length(depends on the end mill) below the bottom of the Z-Axis. I also posted a video I found of just how capable the Kress is, I just don't know how to link to the posts easily...

Regards