New Build in Manassas, VA

ChefSpanky · January 9, 2021, 2:39pm

I have been lurking for about a month, reading as much of the forums as possible, making notes of the many of the do’s and don’ts, deciding on how big of a machine I want to build.

I started my life as an auto mechanic, was an electrician in the Navy and got my computer science degree on active duty - this project uses all of those skills! BTW, please consider me a resource for computer and IT related questions, happy to contribute (I run both Windows and Ubuntu Linux at home) - I am a coder by profession and founded and sold a startup back during the dotcom boom - so if a solution is needed, I am happy to contribute. Unfortunately, I have risen to my level of incompetence and don’t get my hands in the works these days, so this is truly fun for me. From the looks of it, you have an awesome community here and I am happy to join and contribute.

I am starting my table today! All of my parts are printed (please don’t laugh at the colors, we had a filament shortage and I learned how to successfully to a filament swap mid print! ). I have all of my supplies in hand.

I have spent the last few weeks prepping my garage ( I had to do some serious purging and re-arranging).
I have a new idea for a drop table starting with AllTed’s parametric table, Dui’s peg system and Ryan’s hand crank idea. I will be sharing my progress (good or bad).

So here’s to starting the new adventure!

jeffeb3 · January 9, 2021, 3:17pm

Welcome to the crew.

There are a few software projects here that could always use more eyes and fingers. Here are some (in no particular order):

Marlin Builder

The current location for firmware configurations.

Docs

The documentation.

v1pi

A script build pi image useful for our little machines.

TFT screen

Our (heavily edited) fork of the tft software.

Sandify

Website to create patterns for sand tables like the zenxy.

If you (or anyone else) wants to contribute to these projects, we there is always room. These all seem to work well enough, so we need to add features in a way that doesn’t add a ton of maintenance. They all have issue trackers (but they sometimes represent things we won’t do more than stuff we need to do).

Tokoloshe · January 9, 2021, 3:56pm

Welcome to the party. I think we had an orange/blue Primo before, but not in a single part.

turbinbjorn · January 9, 2021, 9:09pm

Welcome! One friendly advice to a kind newcomer: Just be careful around the guys who sacrifices goats!

Tokoloshe · January 9, 2021, 11:12pm

Says the Viking.

ChefSpanky · January 10, 2021, 2:15am

Thanks everyone! I feel welcome! i will definitely see where I can contribute as I get up and running. Made some progress today, with a a few build challenges. Had to refit the roller feet. Things are coming together. More tomorrow!

timonjkl · January 10, 2021, 4:41am

Wow love it can’t wait to see it covered in dust or old g###

jeffeb3 · January 10, 2021, 4:43pm

Looks like a smart design. Like a big easy chair for your CNC.

ChefSpanky · January 11, 2021, 2:26am

Day 2 is in the books! Got the shelves in stalled and used that exercise to square it up a bit. Spent most of the day prototyping my drop system. I have been burning a lot of brain cells on how this can work. Once it started coming together, the realities of precision, especially over long vertical runs is critical. Clearancing my threaded rods 1/32 at a time until they were functional. The center “guides” are schedule 40 1/2" PVC tubes - they go through 7/8" holes. There is just enough clearance to allow movement but each side can actually be lifted by 1 threaded rod - just enough support to prevent racking and binding. I had some bearings left over from a filament spool project so I put them at the bottom. The goal is to put hand cranks on the tops of the rods (after I get my 2 layers of MDF - the top layer being spoil board).

Next up I will frame out the “build area bed” to rest on the lifting boards. My wife was quick to point out that it might take two people to raise and lower it without a mechanism to move them all together. I will save that for v 2.0. I reasoned that while it will be nice to have a drop table, the likelihood that I would be going up and down multiple times a day just doesn’t seem realistic - yet. So when the need arises to drop the center, it will be part of the job setup.

I have an idea for anchoring the front (instead of pegs) to incrementally position the front cross 4X4 (think 1/4" increments) and then can use the threaded rods to always adjust it to be level - in theory.

Much of this is all test fit. I will start attaching everything once I get the drop bed framed out and we can evaluate the attachment strategy.

Feedback welcome! much of my design is based upon other’s that have been shared and me watching a butt load of videos …

Tokoloshe · January 11, 2021, 4:08pm

This is genius and I hate you for not having the same idea before building my table.

ChefSpanky · January 13, 2021, 2:38am

Slow progress. I finally got the lifting mechanism attached to the table. I framed out the drop table piece. I successfully can travel the drop bed up and down. It takes forever and is a real pain - but. it. works. . Upside is there is fine enough adjustment to tweak it. All of this for a 24 X 24 work area… I need to attach the front 4X4 to the bed and I have an alignment strategy for it as well. Should be starting machine assembly by the weekend!

This picture is with the bed dropped about 6"

Alignment is a real pain - definitely will be documenting some lessons learned from this. I need something on the end of the rods to center in the bearings but the turning motion is pretty sweet. A cordless drill makes quick work of moving the rods, although they have to be walked up.

ChefSpanky · January 25, 2021, 3:25pm

It’s been a while since I posted - I am still working towards my goal! As many have noted, sometimes you have to take a step back and do a bit of “re-organizing” before you can continue. My garage was a disaster and I needed to take a breath and get it cleaned up. I had purchased some Gladiator cabinets about 10 years ago and they still had not been put up. When I had to find a place for a 42" x 42" table, it became abundantly clear, I needed to get my act together. After multiple trips to the dump and some serious workbench surgery, I am happy to report, my workshop is ready! And, as for my sub-$500.00 CNC? hahahahahahaha… The track saw I bought to cut my MDF was $480.00 (and it is SO COOL). I shudder to think of all of the money I have spent (but it has been a blast!). I am happy to report we are not being financially distressed by this project.

As for the lifting bed design, I am sharing what I did in the hope that it may inspire (or deter) others - and share my thought process on why I chose the path I did. The more I noodled on the whole threaded rod approach to bed lifting, two things became apparently clear - it will be a monster to try and level, and I needed more support. I had seen the other drop bed (“made in china”) and he used pegs for his levels. I chose something a bit more structural.

Understanding that with 4" of planned Z axis, I dont need an infinite adjustment on my bed height. Believe me, scissor lift (old car jacks) came to mind, but the threaded rods serve the purpose. The bearings and acorn nuts make the interface functional.
As for the angle iron on the front - a new issue emerged. If I am going to use these hook type shelve braces as my supports - and with the bed at the top and anchored solid, there would be no way to reposition them, since they need to be lifted to unhook - So I routered out a relief area and then use the angle iron to create the resting surface. To lower the bed, undo the wing nuts, pull out the angle iron, lift and reposition the shelf brackets, re-install the angle bracket, lower and level.

Regardless of if my drop be works or not, I want to make sure it IS level and solid at the top - so that factors into every decision. Do not sacrifice normal for adjustability. And It doesn’t have to be fast - bed repositioning is part of setup and it will take as long as it takes.

I will be adding a second layer of 3/4" mdf that will have the work area cutout of 24 x 24. I might actually get to building the actual machine this weekend! Inventory this week! I was able to do a really nice cut on the bed with the aforementioned track saw… impossible (with my woodworking skills) otherwise.

As for my rainbow parts? I was so new to 3d printing I didn’t understand the whole “infill” thing, so my first prints were 25% - which I fixed to be 45% and then found out that the core needed to be 70%! so some had to be done twice… Live and learn!

CABix · January 25, 2021, 3:55pm

I love the idea! I have to admit it looks like a CNC Jail!

Nice…

ChefSpanky · February 3, 2021, 12:39am

I am still here! making steady progress. I screwed up my belt order and had to wait until yesterday for my extra meter… I have my lifting system “finished” with cranks, spacers, bearings. Had to break out the welder to tack the nuts to the top of the rods; double nutting it wasn’t reliable.

Got my trucks all assembled yesterday and did a bit of advance work on the core while waiting on my belt

Today I cut out my spoiler board area (as suggested, after everything was mounted and squared.

I also got the tops on the corners and squared up the trucks.

Already have my cases printed and electronics mounted.

ChefSpanky · February 7, 2021, 2:52am

Today was supposed to be the day - I spent a couple of hours every day this week squaring up the trucks, installing the belts and prepping the wiring.

My reading up in the forums definitely informed me of the gotchas… but I am here to report, I FOUND A NEW ONE! (well, 2 actually)…

Since I had a metric meltdown and ordered insufficient belt, I had to wait on a belt order from V1. I had found a printable case for the TFT. While I was waiting for the belt, I got all of my electronics prepped. Bent the sensor pin, pulled the jumpers on the SKR board, downloaded the firmware, and installed the TFT in its case (<- this is noteworthy.)

I put the serial wiring on first (even though my ultimate goal was dual end stop), hooked up the SKR Board and the TFT. I suffered through the “Printer not found” error for hours… I noticed forum comments about baud rate, but all I saw was the home screen offering me Marlin or Big Tree… pushing down on the knob briefly flashed a screen with menu options, but they would not stay. I found the config.ini file and found the baud rate setting in there, modified it and tried again. No luck.

Noting that some had gotten bad boards (or damaged them during setup/config), I was beginning to think I had a bad board. I removed it from the case, and gave it a close inspection. Nothing stood out… So I went back through the entire firmware process on both boards.

I have a repurposed Dell laptop with Ubuntu linux and downloaded Repetier Host. So I spent most of the better part of 3 hours trying to get something to work - no printer found, no menu to reset baud rate and zero connectivity with the laptop. Very frustrating.

more googling, more forum research, looking for anything to break the log jam…

I decided to try out my windows laptop with Repetier Host and it worked the first time! (note to self, apparently linux and DELL have issues with serial ports). I went to manual and tried out each of my axis - Y motors were opposite and Z was backwards. Got it all straightened out and proved that it would move! (YAY). I do have video evidence.

I decided to power the board and TFT while NOT in the case… I GOT MENU! I found the configuration setting for baud rate and got it connected. The printed case was slightly smaller than the screen and compressing the touch screen! Grrrrrrrr…

With everything now working, I switched over to Dual End Stop wiring. I got everything all hooked up, soldered the switches, put on the dupont plugs to go with the V1 wiring and did my continuity checks, reflashed the firmware and felt like the day was going to end on a high note.

NOT.

Because of the way I have my table oriented (to have it level) while building it, I somehow have the Y trucks on backwards. When I was playing with the end stop switches I noticed they were opposite of the origin (min 0,0). I mostly work on it from the left side instead of front and aligned them to that.

Back at it tomorrow, where I have to tear part of it down and switch things around.

We are close!

kvcummins · February 7, 2021, 3:52am

Sorry, been distracted lately… You rang? :pentacle: :baphomet: Dang, Ryan hasn’t updated the emojis…

jeffeb3 · February 7, 2021, 5:58am

A heroic effort. You’ve snagged most of the issues. You know your way around it now!

That screen shots up when you hold down the knob. So a case could definitely be doing that. I think that is also the case when the gray cables are flipped.

My bold guess is a permissions issue. I add my user to dialout group to fix serial port permissions in linux. I use serial ports sometimes at work. Otherwise, I don’t know how anyone would know that. If you like linux, you might try pronsole or cncjs. RH has worked fine for me in the past, but installing it in linux feels wrong.

I might suggest you try to come back to the endstops. You can use your dual wiring and use the machine for weeks without messing with endstops. Maybe then you can find some other excuse to take it apart and flip it then. In CNC, the zero is based on the location of the workpiece, not the machine, so endstops matter a lot less than you’d think.

ChefSpanky · February 7, 2021, 4:36pm

Thanks for the feedback, Jeff. These kinds of challenges make it fun. Having built and run my own software company from scratch has given me the perspective to just methodically figure things out. (more important when you may crash a million dollar satellite into the earth due to a software bug! Oh the stories I could tell - haha). I only share on the hopes that someone may see my experiences and not “step in it too”… As I have read on the forums here, sharing when things go wrong is much more valuable then when they go right. I switched everything around this morning (it wasnt that bad), retested my x/y direction and grabbed the test file for a print.

Success. No onto completing dual endstops, wiring dress up and headless V1pi, spindle wiring, dust collection and enclosure. Quite a ways to go but loving every minute of it! Thanks to everyone for your support and assistance.

ChefSpanky · February 16, 2021, 1:14am

We are still plodding along! Wire management and component mounting was next on the list as well as figuring out how to wire up the 55mm Daedelus spindle. I ran extra wiring for the laser so we are ready there. V1Pi is setup and working on the network! Been studying Estlcam, reading up on gcode and preparing to surface my spoil board and prepare for hold downs. Still looking for an example file to drill the hold down and recess the t-nuts, if anyone has something I can use as an example. Enclosure is next along with dust collection and then we can start cutting.

!

jeffeb3 · February 16, 2021, 2:09am

FWIW, I just use screws and they work pretty darn well. I sometimes make a separate gcode file to touch the bit 2mm down where I want the screws and follow up with the drill and some woodscrews (for complicated shapes). It is hard to beat. The spoil board is meant to be replaced, after all.

I also understand the appeal of hold down clamps. But I would not let that stop you from making some chips.