Let’s go, Amazon! How are you slower than my 3D Printer?! I blame Christmas.
Also… I have a new idea since I’m getting annoyed at repeatedly screwing or bard nailing things into my spoilboard and having to deal with the after-effects…
I went with a piece of plywood for now for my spoilboard, but I’m thinking about moving to CNC-cut 2x2 foot replaceable squares with threaded inserts in the table between permanent T-Track segments, something like this:
While I love the capacity to cut full 4x8 sheets, I noticed that after I build the LR3, I don’t actually use that full capacity that much yet, so I’ve noticed that I cut into the spoil board at the head of the table far more than at the foot. So with the 2x2 spoilboard segments, I can just replace the pieces I need. Here’s a closer look at the idea.
With my table build, it makes the job a little more complicated as the 6x10 table splits into three 6’ x 40" sections for storage so my car can live in the garage. So 4 of the 2x2 squares will end up being split into basically 24x20" and 24x4" pieces.
I also noticed that with the LR3 positioned on the table, the spoil board height added to the work piece height left very little vertical capacity left to get my hands underneath to change bits and whatnot. I believe the Z-axis for the default LR3 build only has about 80mm of vertical movement, so the spoil board takes up roughly 25% of that already, then add the work piece and my bit is stuck and I can’t get it out if I do a programmed tool change. So I’m thinking about adding 6" runners down the entire length of the table to lift the LR3 hardware mounts to the same height as the spoil board to give me that space back.
Please someone poke some holes in my idea before I go buy a bunch of T-Track and MDF…
I also built my table so I could replace portions of the spoil board. The main concern I’ve had with that design is that I surface my spoil board to ensure it is flat. If I switch one tile, I end up having to surface the whole spoilboard again, or I end up with a slightly uneven surface. My machine is smaller, but I have 3 tiles, and ultimately, they’re all pretty much the same thickness, Not sure it’s going to save me on spoilboard material as much as I had hoped. FWIW.
I built my table so that the wheels are level with the intended spoilboard. That gives me the most accommodation for material. Also note, the lower ths machine is, the more stable. So the closer it can be to the bottom, the better.
All that said, I also have 50mm of extra Z on my LR3.
I’ve had some parallel thoughts - although I’ve just divided the table into three parts. You might be interested in my “hold down” thoughts - to enable you to flip the boards over as well.
another development on the same line - you can make custom hold down parts just in one or two sections if you wish, so that you can make your tee tracks on your machine to suit rather than using the commercial ones.
I should note that at the moment, while I’m doing other things - the boards are in three sections but no fancy hold downs yet!
Well this rewiring and re-boxing of the SKR Pro turned into an entire $!#%-show… all I wanted was more room to install the correct type of wiring (JST-XH) connectors so the slide top on the old case would stop pulling my connections when I went to close the case… I figured this other case style would also allow me to more easily pull the controller off the gantry if I needed to work on it…
my crimping skills apparently need a lot of work
the quality of wiring I purchased is just crap, the DuPont housings just disintegrate at the slightest bit of pressure.
Amazon sent me the wrong crimp package so I can’t redo the DuPont connections.
the current wires apparently pulled out one of the pins on the gender changer on the side panel, which is terrifying, but probably means the quality of that part is crap too…
I should have cut the mounts for the new box before I pulled the controller out of the old box.
The correct (hopefully) JST-XH/Dupont crimp kit should be here Wednesday, at which point we will begin anew, probably with brand new wires and connectors cut to exact lengths for the stepper and end stop connections and not have wires flailing everywhere.
In the meantime, I’ll probably cut the box mount on my little bitty CNC.
One question, my X-stepper wire connection has what appears to be a slightly melted housing on the 1 wire. Should I be concerned? Is this a common occurrence?
On the other hand… everything looks like it fits perfectly. I need to work on the hose connection and the 2-1/2 hose looks to be pushing too much so I may have to shorten it. However, with my controller tragedy, can’t test it yet.
Okay, the new DuPont/JST-XH kit got here and it’s all re-crimped and re-wired up. These new connectors are WAY better than the prior kit and the original DuPont shells. My giant man hands and those little bitty JST female connectors are SO much fun together…
I’ll see if I can hook it up for testing once the mounts finish printing. I decided to go with the 3D printer instead so I don’t have to paint. It’ll be done tomorrow afternoon sometime.
I just got these btw, absolute game changer for crimping these connectors. Never again will I use a ratcheting style crimper. Little late for you, but maybe in the future!
Got my case supports finished and mounted and the lid locked down. It’s going to sit on the rear rail of the LR3 like the original controller case and sit parallel to the table surface, but this one will face the outside so I can easily read and work with it from the side instead of the table head.
Still need to mount it and test all the connections this weekend and we’ll see if I need to redo any of the wiring.
I see a lot of M119, M106/M107, G38.2 and directed movement commands in my immediate future…
I also made a few z-axis supports to keep my gantry from bottoming out whenever I turn the machine off for storage. I’m starting with a 65mm height and we’ll see how that works. I guess I could have walked out to the garage and busted out the calipers, but I was feeling lazy…
End-stops, check!
M106/M107 IoT relay control, check!
TFT connection, check!
Stepper control, FAIL.
I’ve got zero movement on any axis, checked all my new cables for the steppers and end-stops and the connections are good.
I checked the motor power crossover and it looks good. I checked the voltage across the three fuses and got nothing on any of them. My 3.3, 5 and 12V lights are all on…
From what I gather, a reversed stepper connection should still power up and move, just in the wrong direction, so I don’t think that’s an issue I can test yet…
