Have not done much work on this lately, it was a busy summer. With snow on the ground here in Manitoba today, I started work back on the Sphinx. Cut the 20x60 bottom rails today and assembled them. I was not sure how to cut them, but after research on the internet, I cut them with my mitre saw. There was an old carbide tipped blade on the saw, so I decided to use that. Well, the rails cut like butter on the mitre saw. Just make sure you use eye and ear protection, lots of hot shavings flying around. Hope to get more work done soon.
A little more work done on the Sphinx. My hacksaw cut plates seem to be working, keeping my fingers crossed.
The stepper motors and drivers showed up yesterday. Ordered the DQ542MA drivers, but they were out of stock and they substituted them with DQ545MA, hope that works out fine. As you can see I have to cut the lead screw for the X axis, how much of the lead screw should I leave past the plate, 1/4" ?
If your running the lead screws in compression, they can be cut flush. If in Tension you need enough to secure the lock collar a 1/2" should be fine. If you want the option to run either way leave a 1/2" extra so you have the extra length / option down the road.
I was thinking I should order some drag cable chain. I am using 18/4 awg wire. What size cable chain should I use?
I have finished the cnc frame, it has been interesting so far. It has taken awhile to build because most of my parts I order from Ebay or Aliexpress, except for the aluminium. Now I will start on the control box and wiring.
I have seen some people use a computer case for their control box and I have decided to do the same. I gutted an old compute case I had and used plexiglass to seal up the case and mounted a piece of plexi on the back to mount my stepper drivers to. This is what I have done so far.
What thickness plates did you end up using for these? Also the ones with the bearing cutouts what thickness were these?
Did I see you use some 10m thick plates on your build, or was that the Salmon upgrade? How deep did you mill the pockets for the bearings?
The 10mm thick plates were not me. I used a straight router bit to mill the pockets, make a jig out of MDF for that. The pockets were just deep enough to set the bearings in. The flange stayed out of the pocket.
Ahh another genius idea... so you used a standard router bit with bearing guide on it to mill the alloy plate to shape? If so, well done. So the bearings don't have to sit flush to the sides of the plate?
That is correct, I only used the router bit with bearing guide to do the bearing pocket. I cut the plate to shape with a hacksaw. If guess I could of used a bearing without the flange. But I had the flange bearings already, so that is what used.
I got side tracked this winter, so I did not have to much time to work on the cnc. Still progressing slowly. Finished the control panel box. Getting closer to testing.
Finally I have it all together. I have gotten the stepper motors to move, but unsure of what the $ settings in grbl should be. Can anyone help me out?, What simple code should I use to try it out?
Another question. On my DQ545MA with a nema 23 stepper motor what should my microstep dip switch settings be, 8?