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C-Beam™ Machine - Plate Maker

Discussion in 'CNC Mills/Routers' started by Mark Carew, Jul 16, 2015.

  1. Razor_McT

    Razor_McT New
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    Need to Google 'SuperPid' - no idea what that is - spindle I presume?
     
  2. Razor_McT

    Razor_McT New
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    Ah, PID controller for the spindle. I see - yep that does seem like a good idea.
     
  3. Justin Christensen

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    So far I am loving the C-beam machine. It's a handy little guy. I've learned so much so far about how to mill parts. It's a great first machine.
    My first real cut was on the actual spoil board. I bought some toilet flange bolts and ended up milling a t slot for my tooling table. One thing I couldn't figure out was how to hold things down. I tried clamps and they just get in the way. So I designed this.
    image.jpg
    I haven't actually put it to use yet but I think it'll work pretty good. I do however, have to cut the flange bolt smaller. I believe it's 2 1/4" tall. If I cut a quarter of an inch off, the Y Beam should clear all my hold down bolts. Hoping it works, if not, it was a great first project regardless and I learned a lot.
     
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  4. Michael Shore

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    I have found this product which I might try, called slatwall in the uk, its used for shop displays. Image16_4b54c227b9522.jpg

    Anyone used it already?
     
  5. Shadow39

    Shadow39 New
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    How about a couple of pictures?
    IMG_0211.JPG IMG_0212.JPG IMG_0213.JPG IMG_0214.JPG IMG_0214.JPG IMG_0215.JPG IMG_0216.JPG

    This does not give any more clearance to the waste board right now, but will when the gantry legs are changed for taller pieces.
     
  6. Jimmybuckets

    Jimmybuckets Well-Known
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    Looks good. Only thing you will want to do is make sure your bolts are lower than you bits rapid travel heights. Otherwise you may crash your z, spindle or bit.
     
  7. Jimmybuckets

    Jimmybuckets Well-Known
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  8. apburner

    apburner New
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    I finally got some time to work on my C-Beam, or rather the controller for it. This is my take on wiring up three controllers and a tinyg and keeping everything a neat as possible. Thinking of maybe putting sides on the Chinese controller side and covering them then putting a muffin fan in place to keep them cool. I am running the largest nema23's I could find if the controllers get warm that would fix that.
     
    #848 apburner, Jan 30, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2016
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  9. apburner

    apburner New
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    I think Sears sells that stuff here in the states
     
  10. Justin Christensen

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    I have the Dewalt 611 router. When I start cutting in to aluminum using the lowest rpm of 16,000, what is the best kind of end mill to use? 1 flute? 2 flute? 4 flute? I really would like to buy the super-pid, but I can't afford it right now. Any suggestions on end mills would be greatly appreciated. I'm definitely going to cut real slow and shallow depth cuts. Thanks
     
  11. dddman

    dddman Journeyman
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  12. Jimmybuckets

    Jimmybuckets Well-Known
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    Single flute at those RPM and would ideally be 1/8" bit to keep your s
    speeds and feeds inline.
     
  13. Justin Christensen

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  14. Jimmybuckets

    Jimmybuckets Well-Known
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    Not something you really want to use. Will just cause you headaches and possible damage to your Router.
     
  15. Rick 2.0

    Rick 2.0 OpenBuilds Team
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    Justin, those are only for single speed motors which have no internal electronics like soft start circuitry and built in circuit based speed control (the Dewalt 611 has both of these).
     
  16. Justin Christensen

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    That's what I thought. Thank you. I'll just have to cut at 16,000 rpm for now. Shouldn't be a problem
     
  17. Jimmybuckets

    Jimmybuckets Well-Known
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    You can cut with 16k check out the feed and speed calc in the resources on the open build site. 1/8" single flute has very manageable cutting speeds at 16k. It's all relative to all the variables.
     
  18. Kyo

    Kyo Veteran
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    Finally getting around to building my C-beam machine bundle I picked up a little while back.. So far everything seems to be going together smooth. I got the Z-axis done before dinner today.

    Having everything bagged and labeled by each axis really helps in getting what you need for the next step.

    Getting ready for assembly.
    [​IMG]

    This is how far I was able to get today. I know not much, I plan to do some more on the X-axis after dinner. The Y-axis will need to wait in tell I can get to HD to grab the mdf sheets.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I had no problem with the lead screw to bearing fitment. I did not even need to sand down the screw!

    The Z- axis gantry plate seemed to move up and down a little rough when moved by hand during the preloading wheels stage. Otherwise everything seems smooth when turning by the leadscrew. ( hoping I did not get to much preloading, I tried to match the Vid. )
     
    #858 Kyo, Feb 7, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2016
  19. Kyo

    Kyo Veteran
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    It is going together really well! I changed a few things today. Mainly I lowered the X-axis gantry plate to be level with the Z-axis cbeam plate vs level with the cbeam itself. This should net me a 1/2" more clearance.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I also had to rethink how to install the router mount. Pulling it down while tightening the bolts did not keep it very square for me. What I ended up doing was using a spare piece of V-slot and the Z-axis as a vise and soft jaw to keep the router mount in line and square to the z-axis. Here is a little video explaining what I mean.

     
    GrayUK likes this.
  20. Kyo

    Kyo Veteran
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    Finally Taking shape!! :) No more putting it off I need to make a run to town and grab the mdf sheets so I can build and install the y-axis..
    [​IMG]

    Sadly I do have a few complaints. Those cast corners and their nubs. :banghead: If i had a disc sander I would have removed them but I don't.. Honestly I would be okay if the bundle was a little more up front but came with the machined black 90 corner connectors all around.. 2nd is minor my x-axis was a few mm short ( around 4-5 or so) so when flush to one side you could not align / install the top plate and t-nuts on the other side. I centered the x-axis so the black end plates are overlapping the towers towards the center a couple mm each side. This allowed me to "just" squeeze in the t-nuts under the plate when installed, with the top plates resting a bit on the black end plates of the x-axis..

    [​IMG]

    On to printing the 611 spacer then getting it all mounted up. :thumbsup:
     
  21. Razor_McT

    Razor_McT New
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    Received my kit from Ryan at Ooznest a couple of weeks ago and just started assembly this last couple of days.

    Big thumbs-up for the way the kit is all labelled and packed up - really really good. Very happy so far! Great, quick responses via email from Ryan as well. Highly recommended if you're in the UK.
     
  22. dddman

    dddman Journeyman
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    You can file them down with a file, it doesn't take too much time, but you'll have to replace the 10mm screws with 8mm
     
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  23. Razor_McT

    Razor_McT New
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    Quick (possibly dumb!) question - the stepper motor flexi-couplings have two sets of screws, two larger ones which appear to do the main job of clamping up the coupling to the screw thread and motor shaft and then another two smaller grub screws which I presume just act as a secondary fixing. Is it generally best to clamp up the larger screws first and then tweak up the grub screws as well? Are the grubs screws actually needed here?
     
  24. Michael Shore

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    I just wondered if the Y-Axis the correct length?

    it wouldn't take long to swap over the x carriage.

    Michael
     
  25. Kyo

    Kyo Veteran
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    They were both a little shy, I chose the longer of the two for the x-axis. I am still able to install the top plates and gain access to the t-nuts so it should not pose a problem..

    Thanks for the tip, I don't know why I didn't think of that. I will pick one up today when I ship of my old PS / pick up the mdf. I have plenty of 8mm ob bolts from other projects I can use.
     
  26. Gilbert Mackall

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    Completed my C-Beam today and did a few test cuts!!!

    Which leads to a question about feed rates. What is a good feed rate for a colt router, 1/8 bit, cutting 1/2 MDF?
     
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  27. Razor_McT

    Razor_McT New
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    Also finished my build this weekend although I've no router yet so am just getting my head round the software side of things and playing with pen plotting.

    Incidentally, I've found that those interlocking foam playroom mats make a great bed for pen plotting with a byro and also for holding the pen firm in the router mount.

    The build went great - thanks again Mark for your excellent build video and for developing SketchUCam which seems amazingly easy to use.

    As others have already mentioned, the only negative point I have is related to those little tabs on the cast corner pieces. Personally I would have preferred to receive 8mm screws so that I could have just filed those down so they seat better. Will be doing that next once I've got some delivered.

    Obligatory first moves video clip here (not very interesting I'm afraid):-



    Really going to have to try and work out ways of reducing the noise levels though!
     
  28. carver

    carver New
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    Having a minor issue with my build. The Z axis seems to drop a mm or two on occasion. V carving (that works the axis up and down a bit) seems to induce it but I've noticed it do it on a standard plunge drop once (with a z axis raise before it). It seems more likely (to me) that it's losing the mm on a raise rather than a drop. I've reduced the z axis acceleration (to 30 from 100) and the max z speed to 500 which appeared to fix it but now it's back. Previously built a standard v wheels carriage to eliminate the c beam mini wheel carriage as the cause. Anything else I should check bar the electrics - I'll swap out the power supply and the motor driver next. Forgive me if I've overlooked this documented elsewhere.
     
  29. Kyo

    Kyo Veteran
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    Printed the required shim in order to mount my Dewalt 611. Thanks to JimmyBuckets..
    Assembly is complete! This has been a really easy fun build between Marks videos and how well the store crew packages and labels everything. Everything has gone very smooth.. :thumbsup:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Note: The shim will sit flush on the mount. It seems the 90 brackets interfere with the shim top ring just enough on my print to prevent this. Does not seems to bother anything..

    [​IMG]

     
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  30. GrayUK

    GrayUK Openbuilds Team Elder
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    Razor. May be just vibration, but that sounds like under powered steppers there. :rolleyes:
    I like the use of the foam mat on the bed. Good idea. :thumbsup:
    Gray
     

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