Nice end caps! Nice and sexy LOL joking. Ironique how I got this CNC to help me cut the plates I need for my 3D printer. Ugh...trying to get it done after months of storing....

 

You can also try Estlcam, which has a controller built in. It works well. I have used it and it programs your Arduino for you...it says it is also fully compatible with CNC xPro v3. Its free, but I paid for the "pro" version, because it is great software for the money ($50). It is a normal windows program so installing and updating are easy. Setting it up is easy too. There is a little bit of a learning curve...but for an all in one solution its could make life easy for someone that just wants to get cutting and not learn a bunch about software and programming. Estlcam.de 2D / 3D CAM Software und CNC Steuerung...

 

Was finally able to get my double wide plate installed on my z axis, and noticed that the action on the z was a little rough when moving the plate back and forth. I reused some of the mini wheels, but started thinking if anyone has noticed the wheels on the machines getting "flat spots" on them from sitting in one position for too long. I haven't been able to use my machine in a few months. Is this anything to be concerned about?

 

Question: I saw a post that says the correct steps per mm for 1/8 micro stepping should be 199.1. I am using Estlcam. In the set up screen it uses steps per rotation. Which should be 1600 with 1/8 micro stepping. It didn't make sense to me to change the steps per rotations since it should be 1600 no matter what. So I wanted to change distance traveled per rotation. I took 1600/199.1 which gives me 8.03612xxx. I assume this will give me the right distance per mm now?

 

Do you also notice they come back into round after a bit of run in? Or once the damage is done it's too late?

 

Thanks sir

 

Not sure if it is correct or not but my calculations come up with...and this assumes the screws are needing 199.1 steps per mm with 1/8 micro stepping...your cuts would be off by 0.0137" roughly. This is a little less than 1/64th of an inch per inch. Again...not sure how correct this is...Im no math wizard. Just as an FYI.

 

Got my CBeam kit about a week before the 4th and, due to the intrusion of family and other commitments, wasn't about to get started on the build until a few days ago. It went surprisingly well by following the video. Great job of putting the kit together by the store folks.

Got my DW611 router yesterday and printed up the shim the Jimmybuckets posted but ran into an issue.Thanks for that Jimmy. Actually 2 issues. Jimmy, your printer must be incredibly clean and precise. The walls of my first shim measure 1mm but was too big to fit - I think it's because of some small variation in how the plastic is laid down by my extruder. Even your second version with 69.25 mm inner diameter was too big. Anyway, I made a new shim design with .75mm walls (69.5mm inner diam) and the DW611 fits fine. Second issue was the rim runs into the angle corner connectors that hold the router bracket to the plate. Thus, the rim doesn't sit flat on the mount so I cut a bit off the rim and now everything fits just fine. Posted the design on thingaverse.

 

Looks great. I have been meaning to update it a bit. Mine is a tight fit and the corner issue was brought up by Kyo. Mine worked good enough and I never got back around to it. Thanks for doing the dirty work!

 

Ok got a newbie question... i finished my c-beam build and it works just fine! However i'm wondering if i can increase my milling surface a bit by elevating my spoiler-board so it comes a couple of mm's over my Y axis motor? Cause now you fixate your spoiler-board to the plate and your constrained because you can only move up till your spoiler-board hits the motor but if i elevate it just so that it's to the max of my plate traveling the full motion the axis allows it to go? Then basically i can go to 400mm plus correct? It's all i need atm cause i'm going to build a larger CNC based on the Ox somewhere in the future but for now this little tweak could get me going.

 

The issue with the Y axis is the plate is pretty big. So you could add more spacers to rise it up from the wheels but it may cause you some issues. You could mill down the end plates to clear the Y plate. Or what I am doing is making a 1/2" thick version of the open builds extra large gantry plate then bolting a 12"x 12"x 1/4" aluminum directly to that. Then spoil board on top of that. Pretty cheap and effective way of making the axis have more movement and hopefully a little bit more stiffness out at the edges.

 

Yeah that's what i figured. The range of motion is bigger then the most spoilerboards i see people fixating. i just need to get to about 400mm so dont think it will be a problem.

 

Could just order 1000mm cbeam and a new lead screws also that would give you plenty.

 

I did this on my C-Beam, you can see some pictures on my build thread: RSW's C-Beam Build
I raised the Spoiler with a piece on .250 aluminum and also added additional wheels on the outside of the Y C-beam. This added a lot of stiffness to the spoiler. I also had to route a pocket at the rear of the spoiler to further clear the motor.
I also made the spoiler board 14 x 14 inches

 

yeah true but then my c-beam is fixed to the 1000mm size while if i just elevate the spoilerboard, i can keep it to the size it has now. just keeping the space in mind. If i then want to cut larger items i can move my c-beam to my dinnertable haha. Kinda building a new workplace behind my house but it's in it's raw concrete fase atm :.(

 

Here is a few more photos of what I did

The 1/4 inch plate


The build plate now just clears the end cap, but the spoiler still hits the motor

So I routed a pocket in the spoiler to clear the motor. It works great and I have a true 12 x 12 cut area.

 

That's nice! Well i just kinda went with making a plate to put on my current plate and so i elevated it enough. I then fixated magnets in the 4 corners of my elevated plate and i fixated flat metal squares on my spoiler board so i can take it of easily without the need of unscrewing etc. The magnets are just about strong enough to keep my board and to not have any interference with anything. Did a test run and had no issues so far. Maybe if i go for a bigger run it might though, will have to wait and see

 

Ok so this weekend i tested my c-beam a bit... my elevated plate to clear room for the motor will give me a larger spoiler board (atm, but i'm gonna build a bigger c-beam kinda cnc in the future)
worked just fine! But then i went and did an over hasted run... i wanted to test something with a new bit and i just loaded a file that was downloaded with the universal gcode sender. The file in question = arc_rword_test.gcode

Now i zero'd my c-beam and i pressed run (woohoo!!!) watching it go like a little kid drooling for some ice cream (crap i crave ice cream now) It ran really beautiful but then after the 3rd pas or something i realized that my c-beam was pushing my collet into the wood which made the whole thing cringe and make nasty noise. Ergo my depth was to deep according to my bit? So as i'm a total noob when it comes to cnc stuf (i'm more of a sculptor, 3d printer and t shirt designer kinda guy) i'm totally not sure what to do.

I have 2 questions:
1. Do you guys when using existing files, check and change the depth to cut in anyway or do you just use a really long drilbit?
2. I guess that putting an end-stop would make sure to avoid stuff like this? Or am i totally wrong? And anyone have some pictures to show me where you put the end-stops?

Ps Is there anyone that can point me in the direction for a good website in Europe that sells collets and stuff for my DeWalt 611? I live in Belgium and i can find some but always the same crap :*(

 

Precision solid Carbide Tools for CNC Woodworking and Metal Forming
This is a great site for higher quality collets. Not sure if they ship to Europe. If you are used to 3d printing this is similar. You would find a model or drawing you want to cut then instead of using a slicer like you would for 3d printing you would use a CAM software to creat your own file. Your machine language is called gcode. I have never run someone else's gcode because there are too many unknowns. You are better off creating your own. I use a software call Estlcam to create my gcode.

 

Yeah going to start making my own gcode from now on! Thanks for the website for the collets and stuff . I see that the only international distributor that's in Europe is in Poland. Bummer as i was hoping to find someone in Belgium to evade import duties and shipment times.

Thanks for the hint about the NC corrector! will check that out. I changed my mil bit yesterday with a longer flute (have only 2 bits atm :*( ) and it worked without any problems. Guess i made a noob mistake by wanting to see something mil asap and not waiting to check if my bit was appropriate for the job. But! It's alive ALIVE!

 

Got another question! So i was looking into those flutes but there are so many and so many different ones... i have atm 2 where one is with a small pointy top for small engraving and the other is a longer flute but the top is more flat. What is the best flute for wood engraving/milling? Or i mean the "better" type? there are so many really... also they speak of depth setting rings? But what's the use of that unless not for cnc use?

I found these 2 different ones with a company in Belgium

HBM HSS Spiebaanfrezen
HBM HSS Spiebaanfrezen Lang
sry in Dutch. It says that this type "spiebaanfrees or translation in english wedge bit?" has pointyish head so it is better suited to cut with it's head?

And then i found this one
https://www.hbm-machines.com/produc...ezensets/frezen/hbm-hss-8-cobalt-vingerfrezen
"vingerfrees or translation in english finger bit?" which has a more flat head.

Ooh ooh have another question! (i know i'm sorry) i've seen youtube vids where people use a Z touch plate to home the Z? But why use that when you can do it with the software manually and then zero it? Or am i asking stupid things?

 

Z touch plate is nice but like you said you can do it yourself for now. With the DeWalt router the lowest speed is still somewhat high for 1/4" bits to get proper cutting speeds and feeds. I have had good luck with 1/8" single flute bits. Ideally keep bit stick out as short as possible to keep the bit from flexing or breaking. I would only use carbide or better for bits. hss tends to dull too quickly and can cause too much burning or potentially fire. If you are doing soft material the feeds and speeds are not as critical but when doing things like aluminum they need to be a little more zeroed in correctly.

 

ok thanks! And what about hss bits but with a "tin" coating? i will be doing mostly wood. Also are is better, regular switches or those optic ones? both of them act as home and limit switch?
It's to bad they dont show that info on c-beam build vids. it would be cool though! unless they did and i totally didn't see it which makes me look like a dumbo (crap need to check the vids to be sure)

Is there a page on the forum about the c-beam as in a how to for the switches?

 

I am not using limit switches. But the mechanical should be fine. Hook up is pretty easy and you should be able to find plenty of info on the limit switches. If you search info on GRBL that will haelp you as well. That is the firmware that is most likely running your machine. I don't like using hss for anything. Maybe when you just want to play around and you know you are going to break bits...but for regular cutting carbide will be safer.

 

Apparently my cbeam needs to be calibrated in sketchucam and bCNC. Can anyone help me out? whats the values for all these fields? I know my work area and bit diameter. With the current values, my cuts are not 1:1. 300mm of travel on the c-beam is not 300mm of travel as set on the sketchucam or bCNC. Am I missing something?