CNC Victory

[ClydeCrashKop]

This is kind of a victory for me so I thought I would share it with you.
This milling machine is running a program that I wrote. You can see a short video of making a circuit breaker panel for a boat that I work on here: https://youtu.be/BU4LkY_W_tU
It follows a path on a bitmap picture. The index number of the 256 colors determines how deep to cut.
The 3-D part of the program uses a gray scale bitmap picture for Compucarve routers to carve 3-D objects.
My program is written in C++ and communicates with three stepper motors thru the parallel printer port.

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[JimB]

Looks good.

JimB

 

[jpanhalt]

That is a really nice conversion for that old mill. I like the way you kept the X and Y handles for manual positioning. Why didn't you do that for the spindle?

Are you willing to provide more information about the design, such as which steppers and stepper controllers you used?

John

 

[ClydeCrashKop]

Thank you John.
I was having trouble coming up with a good way to mount the quill feed. Not many flat surfaces to mount the motor. I just made it easily removable but haven't had to. That little motor turns easily by hand when there is no power to it. That little motor is a 24V, 0.18A, 1.8 Deg. NEMA: 23 Step Motor from Marlin P Jones. https://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15837+MS I may put a stronger one there. I am using it as Unipolar with 4 MOSFETs and quadrature signals on data bits 456&7.
The motors on the table are the biggest ones MPJ&A had, 7.8V, 2A, 1.8 Deg. NEMA 34 Step Motor https://www.mpja.com/Stepper-Motor-18deg-NEMA-34-8V/productinfo/17457+MS and they're only $80.00. You know how I feel about the "holding torque" rating. There is no question about these having enough horse power. I am using the Step Motor Driver, 5A Max, Wide Range CW250 https://www.circuitspecialists.com/stepper-motor-controller-cw250.html They are $50.00 each. They get step and direction signals from data bits 0&1, 2&3. I put off spending the money for years. I'm glad I finally did.
Being a boat mechanic and a pack rat, I had the timing belt pulleys in stock from old Par water pumps. I just had to bore them to fit and ordered belts.
While it was engraving I felt like and expectant father in the delivery waiting room.

 

[jpanhalt]

Thanks for the details. I have a Bridgeport clone that is in good shape. I added a DRO >10 years ago and thought that was heaven. Since then, I have been looking at the DIY CNC designs with big dreams. I was interested mostly in your sizing of the table drive motors. I would love to be able to mill on an angle more easily.

John

 

[ClydeCrashKop]

This is gray scale bitmap picture for Compucarve routers to carve 3-D objects.
White is index #255, black is index #0. The lower the index #, the deeper it cuts.
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