|
So, I won a raffle. The prize was a SainSmart 3018 *Mach 3*. I'm so used to grbl controls, it took me a while to get it working ok, but it's still got some issues. I'm assuming mostly software related, since it looks like Mach 3 is a big boy style CNC controller, and this is a hobbyist machine. So I did the smart thing and ordered a board to convert it to grbl. The testing I've done so far is positive. Provided I don't try to use the limit switches for homing. If I set just off of the limit-- points and set that to zero, it works ok. Not going to put a ton of effort into it until I get the new board. Not much point in climbing the learning curve for 3 2 days.
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2024 00:51
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 07:36 |
|
|
Some Pinko Commie posted:Mach3 is still hobbyist, it's just a little better than grbl assuming it isn't pirated/whatever and therefore broken. Gotcha. I'm finding the grbl software availability much better. And I'm very used to it. The Mach software itself burns my eyes. I'm planning to use either Candle or CNCjs, depending on which I end up liking better.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2024 01:03
|
|
|
Yeah, I'm not looking for fancy... yet. I lost my garage last spring due to a basement flood, so I wasn't able to build my MPCNC Primo last year. This is going to be a good learning experience for the processes before I finally get to build in the spring with the larger area and higher power spindle.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2024 16:38
|
|
|
Hobby CNC: My budget is around $40k...
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2024 19:40
|
|
|
CarForumPoster posted:cheaper than boats and race cars lol, fair point
|
|
#
¿
Feb 3, 2024 19:44
|
|
|
Lesson #1 for this first weekend with the 3018: Limit switches/end stops are not for homing. All of the controller software (Mach and GRBL) so far reports hitting a limit switch (except for the Z+ switch in Candle for some reason) as an error, not "stop here".
|
|
#
¿
Feb 4, 2024 22:59
|
|
|
Can your board support a second Y stop? I don't know that the magnet thing, while a cool idea, would serve you well unless you had them calibrated just right. Because magnets aren't always going to be the same strength, and pulling off of them, the motors might not be the exact same strength, so the possibility of starting canted is real. Independent position sensing and control of the Y motors would probably be your best option, but that's dependent on your board options, including a second Y stop. Alternatively, making the X carriage more rigidly coupled would help. I'm assuming you're doing the same style as a lot of the gantry lasers with the Y belts fastened at each end. I wonder if an i3 X carriage style, where the belt is looped might give more stability.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2024 14:32
|
|
|
ryanrs posted:I’d worry magnets might attract iron filings. For a carving CNC, yeah. They mentioned it's a laser.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2024 15:15
|
|
|
My gantry laser does that. Drive cogs on both sides with a solid bar between them, single Y motor, though, which works fine at 400mm so far.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2024 20:00
|
|
|
Yeah, I've been feeling around on it. Getting a better idea now that I've got the grbl controller and software that supports it. I'm digging CNCjs the most currently.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 6, 2024 23:48
|
|
|
Well, I've started figuring this thing out. Did a reasonably successful test on some basic wooden coasters I have laying around. 1mm engraving around the lines of an SVG I created for something else. It looks pretty good. I'd show it here, but every time I try to upload, it's throwing an error. I'll try again later.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 8, 2024 22:53
|
|
|
Aha. I was saving it in the wrong format, made it too big. Here we go. Not bad as a first test, I think. Especially for some random soft-wood coasters I had laying around to experiment with. Just a 1mm carve using a 1/8" 15deg bit. I've got one running now that is a (manually changed) roughing pass, plus 2 finishing passes. It's insetting the whole thing with the logo and words sitting out, so it's kind of embossed, but embossed to zero. I'll upload that one when it's finished for loads of critiquing.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2024 00:37
|
|
|
I'll be happy when I find a GCode sender that can actually somewhat accurately predict the time it takes for a full process. Right now, at least with CNCjs, it just does "the last op took X amount of time, and there are Y ops left, so we'll take X and multiply by Y", which gives such a wide range that gets updated all the time, making it really difficult to plan, heh. But, I'm rather impressed with the 3018 with positioning, so far. I let it start the carving pass, and when I saw that it was going to take longer than I had for the evening, I was able to stop it and let everything home back to zero. Started it again this morning, and at least eyeballing it, it's dead on. For what I paid for this machine ($50 to get a GRBL board and $20 for the mdf spoilboard), it's pretty solid. I can definitely see myself outgrowing it quickly, though, especially on speed.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2024 15:27
|
|
|
I didn't check the times in CarveCo, which I'm using for the moment, but CNCjs showed 7h at the beginning of the pass, and went down to 4 after about 25min of carving.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 10, 2024 17:24
|
|
|
I picked up the 20k rpm spindle for the 3018 and I think I got a bad unit. Holy gently caress it's so insanely loud. Like quadruple the volume at the same rpm. I have a replacement on the way, but it's comical how loud this drat thing is. I popped the old one back in and it's comparatively whisper quiet.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 15, 2024 13:31
|
|
|
AlexDeGruven posted:I picked up the 20k rpm spindle for the 3018 and I think I got a bad unit. Holy gently caress it's so insanely loud. Like quadruple the volume at the same rpm. I have a replacement on the way, but it's comical how loud this drat thing is. I popped the old one back in and it's comparatively whisper quiet. Replacement came today and it's... about the same. It could be ever so slight manufacturing differences, or most likely placebo effect, but I feel like the replacement *might* be a tiny bit quieter. But if it is, it's not by much. I'm going to keep it around for when I move this to the garage, though, as the noise won't be as big of a factor. With it in my basement workshop, it's just crazy loud.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 15, 2024 19:51
|
|
|
Rapulum_Dei posted:At the hobby end of things there’s also Estlcam - which is pretty basic but easy to use and cheap. I’ve used it for carving and it came out fine. I would like this a lot because a. I've already paid for LB, and b. one fewer piece of software to run on this lovely little laptop.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 16, 2024 17:53
|
|
|
So, do lasers count for this thread? I don't think they really fit in the 3D printing thread. Something I've been working on for a while. It uses a living-hinge box cut out on the laser, and then sublimation print for the logo. I think it turned out pretty well, and you don't even need to treat the wood, since it's porous enough on its own to take the ink. Now I just need to figure out how to get/keep my 1.6mm plywood flat.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 17, 2024 02:03
|
|
|
I switched up laser beds from the shallow vent to the honeycomb and the smoke staining has been almost eliminated. I like the shallow vent bed, but it doesn't get the smoke out of the way quickly enough for a full cut. Which sucks because it's like 1/8th the thickness of the honeycomb.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 17, 2024 02:23
|
|
|
ZincBoy posted:Yes, still running LinuxCNC. It is not too much harder to add the 4th and 5th axis on the basic 3. The 7i77 Mesa Electronics IO card has 6 analog interfaces, 5 for the axis and one for the spindle. I do need to add another 7i84 IO expander because I am completely out and can't finish setting up the 5th axis brake. I'm hearing you say that home machining is a lot like 3d printing and I get that
|
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2024 13:15
|
|
The funny thing is that everyone asks me what I make with these tools and the answer is always more tools. I built the 5th axis so I could experiment with making rollerdrive style reducers to make a more dedicated 5 axis machine. I still have a way to go until I get to Dan Gelbart's level though.
|
NewFatMike posted:Yeah, I don’t know what most of that is but I’ll watch 20 minutes of drat near anything to satisfy my craving for machining. ABOM79 on YT is crack for me, along with JohnnyQ90.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2024 12:30
|
|
|
Wandering Orange posted:I don't have the attention span for Abom anymore. Eight videos to finish a vise casting is enough edging that even Noga doesn't make a tool for it. I background him unless it's something I'm really interested in, like the old shaper.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2024 18:14
|
|
|
Inkscape is great for free and has features even the paid stuff doesn't. Affinity Designer was on sale for $50 last week so I picked that up to replace my  copy of Illustrator.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2024 18:14
|
|
|
It's SolidWorks Connected. If it was just something super basic, I would have ditched it right away. AFAIK the only big change was pushing the annual over monthly by dropping it way down and pumping the monthly way up.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2024 16:32
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 07:36 |
|
|
EDM is so awesome, but it's WELL beyond the WAF of my household.
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2024 20:20
|
|