I'm starting my first own build cnc machine which is inspired by routy and the ox.
Were my goal was not to use the ox plates but use the standard plates available in the parts store for the design.
At this point my only experience with mechanics is a solidwork course!

My goals:

• Build my own CNC machine, learn a lot!
• Let it mill various types of materials (Woods - Metal) with the ultimate goal PCB's.
• Not to use OX plates initially (print them afterwards probably)
• Use nema23 (The more power the better!)

Read more about this build...

 

Any suggestions or opinions? I like to hear them!

 

After sorting all my parts and starting assembly i quickly discovered i had some missing parts (screws... i hope the local shop got low profile screws...) and other design issues which I did not see during the ordering and designing..

• Nema23 plates do not fit the 20-80 gantry plates on the small side.
• Using three wheels on the 20-80 gantry plates on the small side makes mounting a 20-40 beam more difficult

 

Hmm thanks for pointing that out, are the DRV8825 stepsticks sufficient ?

 

I have almost fully assembled my machine and are looking into calibrating and tuning the grbl settings (going to update the build page soon!).
The power supply is still being shipped over so i use another 24v power supply i had around but this one cant supply the current needed.

At the moment I have a hard time calibrating all the grbl 0.9j settings.. due to the fact I still do not fully understand how to find all the values for each setting.
I have the following settings:
$0=10 (step pulse, usec)
$1=25 (step idle delay, msec)
$2=0 (step port invert mask:00000000)
$3=2 (dir port invert mask:00000010)
$4=0 (step enable invert, bool)
$5=0 (limit pins invert, bool)
$6=0 (probe pin invert, bool)
$10=3 (status report mask:00000011)
$11=0.020 (junction deviation, mm)
$12=0.002 (arc tolerance, mm)
$13=0 (report inches, bool)
$20=0 (soft limits, bool)
$21=0 (hard limits, bool)
$22=0 (homing cycle, bool)
$23=0 (homing dir invert mask:00000000)
$24=25.000 (homing feed, mm/min)
$25=500.000 (homing seek, mm/min)
$26=250 (homing debounce, msec)
$27=1.000 (homing pull-off, mm)
$100=26.670 (x, step/mm)
$101=26.670 (y, step/mm)
$102=100.000 (z, step/mm) Currently i didnt had anymore jumpers so the Z axis spindle is at full step settings and not 1/8th like the other axis.
$110=1500.000 (x max rate, mm/min)
$111=1500.000 (y max rate, mm/min)
$112=500.000 (z max rate, mm/min)
$120=50.000 (x accel, mm/sec^2)
$121=50.000 (y accel, mm/sec^2)
$122=50.000 (z accel, mm/sec^2)
$130=300.000 (x max travel, mm)
$131=400.000 (y max travel, mm)
$132=15.000 (z max travel, mm)

But determining all the settings for homing and the settings for max rate, accel, step pulse and step idle delay i cant figure out yet.
I read homing is an extra feature so I left it to defaults.

For the pololu a4988 stepper driver do I need to calibrate the current? if so I have the steppers already mounted to the so whats the best way to proceed

 

Further I tried above settings with chillipeppr logo test gcode in chillipeppr and gbrl controller but when I run this it's done in like 10 seconds with alot of errors like the following:
error: Invalid gcode ID;33 [for N15 G2 F800.0 x39.0719 Y-3.7614 I-2.0806 J1.2144]

When I run the gcode with UGS it worked fine.. Anyone has a clue?

What gcode senders do you guys use for your machines and which version of grbl?

Btw is it better to open a new topic about these questions?