Adding fun to the metalshop with fundraising

Hey guys,

There’s been some interest in upgrading two of the machines in the metalshop. So we’re looking at doing some fund raising since this goes above and beyond just having the equipment operational.

Since nothing is committed yet, I’m trying out some pledge forms to help organize the chaos before we pull the trigger on these projects. You can either drop a message here saying you would like to pledge $x amount for a certain project, or you can write down the amount you want to pledge on the printed forms by the equipment.

**First fundraiser: ENCO Digital Readout (DRO) Conversion - need about $350 to make happen.

Basically, we’re in a digital age that has too much going on to handle the mental gymnastics of remembering how many times we turned the file. So the DRO display keeps track of that for us, and also removes the issue of the back lash in the handles, making it possible to produce more precise parts.

**Second fundraiser: CNC Plasma improvements - need about $800 to make happen

So… The plasma cutter works… But it is not the most reliable machine at the moment. So the plan is to replace a lot of the connections and electronics and place them in a sealed box to help them last longer and less suspectable to running backwards…

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First Rustin thank you for all your time you are putting in , and I see you are first on the list to donate.

I am a bit unclear as to what the plan is, and I would like to know some details before I donate $$. I can try to guess from some of it from the list?

I would think that swapping the two parallel ports cables and break out boards would be an improvement. for the mesa card is an improvement with the better integration of the THC. I also think replacing the multiple stepper drivers out could help because they seemed like a likely source of the noise in the system when we looked at it before.

Why do you think the upgrade from 24-36v (can’t quite remember) to 48v will be a massive improvement? In motor performance? Is because the g540 can drive 50v so why not?

The rest assume the two steppers are to swap the clear path servos.

I would think that boosting the voltage would only help if you were trying to drive the system harder and have better response time. From my memory there were stiffness issues with the gantry arms that would be amplified by trying to move it faster.

Assumption, It looks like the G251X is the single axis equivalent to the G540.

Why would the 800 full gutting and swapping the servos be better than $400 (mesa cards, 2 G251x and keeping servos)

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Talk to Jimmy. He can get into the details of this stuff and is leading up the re-work on the plasma cutter.

He’s running a similar setup on his personal machine that seems to be holding up pretty well.

Parts are starting to show up and we’re starting to make progress on the upgrades.

Jimmy has started on putting together the new electronics and I’ve been working on some of the new structure.

We still have a ways to go, but if you would like to help out, feel free to join us on the next Thursday CNC night.

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That sure is a nice plasma shelf. :sunglasses:

It sure is Jeremiah …

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I don’t see a “Thursday CNC Night” in the calendar. I only see a “Thursday Night CAD”. Since the two groups seem so closely related, might we consider doing them at times that don’t overlap?

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So, you’re saying I was right in stating:

I TOTALLY didn’t grok that that meeting was the path to Tormach and Plasma authorization from the description.

Made some progress on the ENCO tonight.

The readout is mounted and everything seems to be working. I have a plan for mounting the scales to the X axis and Z axis, but I am open to suggestions on how to mount the scale for the y-axis.

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Are coolants or oils used on this machine? My first DRO was ruined by cutting oils on my mill…. I have plenty of materials that could be used to make covers and if you would like me to take some photos of mine for you to show how I protected my new DRO… I made my covers out of stainless steel, bent into a U shape with the U upside down and then mounted the scales/sensors under the cover…. I have the same scales/sensors with my DRO….

Cutting oils are occasionally used, but there isn’t a flood coolant system in the works yet. The read out did come with a rubber cover… I may slip that on the display the next time I am up there.

X and Z are setup on the enco.

I still need to attach Y, but I think I have a plan for that which shouldn’t take much cursing or ibuprofen…

I’m excited with how it’s turned out so far!

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Drop upgrade is complete!

There’s still a little bit of verification I’d like to get done to see if the DRO is really holding a 5um tolerance, but it should be good for milling less precision critical projects.

Those that have taken the milling class in the past are welcome to sit in on the next class as a refresher, but priority will be given to those that made donations to the project (if they don’t want a one on one session)

Up next: Digging into upgrading the CNC plasma cutter!

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Seeing the pics of it, can I suggest we move the display higher so that it’s a little less likely to get bombarded by chips?

I don’t know man, that 2x4 is a pretty complex piece … Maybe if we made something out of 7075-o and heat treated it. Lol…

Yeah, we can put a longer 2x4 there. I just grabbed something from under the shop it to get that display mounted, but I wouldn’t be opposed to something a few inches taller, or vertically adjustable to help vertically challenged/enabled individuals.

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… adjustable 2x4?

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