So, this afternoon the pipes I ordered for my rails arrived. I previously built the base table out of scrap wood, though I’ve ordered a slab of MDF to go on top for a very flat work-surface.
And once I used my callipers to confirm the pipe O/D was exactly 30mm - I have now kicked off the printing phase. I’m printing the tool-holder (Makita) and brushes first, these being all the bits that AREN’T in PLA (I’m doing the tool holder in PETG for more heat resistance). Then I’ll start the other parts, meanwhile my hardware kit is shipping from China. Hopefully I can finish the prints before it arrives.
I did order a new garolite build-plate for my A1 as well which I would much prefer to do the main parts on but I’m not sure when that will arrive so I may only have it available half-way through, but I’ll use the smooth plate for everything else (except this current print where I’m using the textured plate because PETG can be hard to remove from the smooth plate).
I’ll post updates and photos as it comes together. This is targeting a 900x500 cutting area, based on the largest table I could fit in my little Dutch garden-shed workshop without using up too much of the main woodworking space.
PS. Thank you to the Dutch LR builder (I can’t find the post anymore) who shared metaalstore.nl - I ordered my pipes from there. Quick delivery, reasonably prices and pre-cut to exactly the lengths the calculator gave.
So first update - the tool holder and dust shoe prints are completed. I also received the MDF boards I ordered, And I requested the offcuts be included.
As I said before, one slab of 18mm MDF forms a second table top, this one cut exactly to the measurements from the calculator.
I also ordered 6mm MDF to cut strut plates, and the offcuts from that I attached below the leg stabilisers to make a handy storage shelf for all the CnC accessories.
Ultimately I intend to fill that entirely with gridfinity baseplates to organise all the CnC small parts, but also all the other sundry small parts from the workshop that don’t fit well on a wall or rack. One thing small Dutch houses have taught me is to use space efficiently so recovering the space under the CNC for storage is very useful.
Ide-3D said my new printbed will ship today, its coming from Germany so hopefully will get here by Monday. I’ll start printing the other printed parts then. No update on when the hardware will arrive yet.
Right - latest update: I’m busy printing all the printed parts. I’ve finished the three large ones (core, yz-min and yz-max) and am currently printing the brace_30_max. I expect to finish prints in the next day or two.
UPS has informed me that my hardware kit is out for delivery so should arrive here in the next few hours.
Unfortunately it seems my jackpot board will take longer, and probably not get here this week. Regardless this weekend I’ll be doing assembly - if the board is here I’ll try complete it, otherwise I’ll do everything short of plugging it in, and complete the rest when it arrives (particularly cutting and replacing the strut plates).
Okay, today was the big build. Thanks to my friend Mark for his help…
Overall it went fairly well although I occasionally had to backtrack after realising I had misunderstood something and dismantle enough to redo it.
That said, I think have assembled and tested everything that can be assembled and tested without a control board. I received notice mine is in the Netherlands at customs, so hopefully it will arrive soon.
Spent some time this morning on a few small tasks before the board gets here.
Fitted the router and dust collection. Routed all the cables, added a drag chain for the power cables and strapped a plank to the temp struts to temporarily attach the jackpot box too (until I have permanent struts).
It all moves smoothly, reaches every extreme of travel without any tangling and I think will work well.
Okay, so what’s happened since ? Well I did a task I hate, and crimped Du-Pont connectors, despite buying the official kit I needed to crimp two - firstly the one from the X-endstop on the core which, (it being the first wire I ever ran in this assembly) I couldn’t figure out how to run with the plug still connected.
The other was for the Z-Probe, since I’m making my own, I only ran wires for it before.
I hate DuPont crimping (can you tell) but I bit my teeth and finished it. Then I stuck a 90 degree angle bracket on one end of the Z-Probe wire and attached a magnet to the other end. Finally some tests with my multimeter confirmed that when the magnets touch the bracket - there is a completed circuit, thus this should make a suitable Z-Probe. My end-goal is to make a corner-probe out of aluminum using this very CNC but a basic Z-Probe is still very useful until I’m at the point where I can try cut aluminum.
I also did a multimeter test on the X-stop which surprised me with it’s behavior - as it registered no circuit when the switch was triggered but DID register a circuit when it was open. So it seems to be a default-on switch ?
No matter - I’m sure that the fluidNC configuration allows for either trigger on circuit- complete or trigger on circuit broken switches, it was just a surprise.
Either way, there is now absolutely nothing more I can think of that I can do on this CNC until the board arrives, and no further updates on when that may be. I’m hoping for some time time this week. So in the meantime I’m printing gridfinity bins for various sundries to organize the shelf underneath the CnC - I did do a test 6mm shaft CNC bit holder in PLA but I found it too stiff, I always prefer to print bit-holders in TPU so I’ll do that for these as well, but I also printed a special bin for all four my Makita collets (1/8", 1/4", 6mm and 8mm) one for small woodscrews and I’m printing another for big woodscrews (deeper bin-set with some wider bins for the very long ones. I am also working on putting up an open-grid wall behind the CNC and that will be filled with things that are better stored vertically but too small to benefit from French cleats (like the router spanners).
Either way, my next update will only be when the board arrives, I’ll just keep 3D printing better workshop organization until then
Yes, it’s a “normally closed” (NC) switch unlike the “normally open” (NO) you may be used to - this way if something comes disconnected or the wire breaks this will read as a trigger and stop the machine.
I have a mix of NC and NO (don’t ask) on my machine, and if I remember correctly FluidNC happily handled that without intervention from me (whereas Marlin I had to poke at)
We strongly prefer NC switches for the reason you mention, though not every configuration will halt the machine if a switch goes open. It will at least always throw errors when homing.
FluidNC is very flexible, just needing to edit the config.yaml to flip things.
