I have just purchased a new PC for my desk, My old desk PC will run my cutter and it is OVERKILL... The new P.C. I bought is faster, more ram and supports 2 monitors since I have bideo runnng while I work for noise mostley but I share Vids with my 8 year old son...

That gave me a P.C. for running GMFC Elite and Mach 3.

After a bunc of research I will be using a USB port for running my latest CNC creations.

In the mean time today I put a new TOOL HOLDER on my 8x12 lathe, this make changing a tool fast and easy. It required taking the top(Compund) slide off and mounting it in the MIll while I took the shoulder off the stud that holds the tool holder... The instructions say hack saw, I wanted it done nice.

I saw a laser edge finder for my mill and wanted one, I thought the prices was to stout so I made on with a hunk of scrap aluminium and a couple parts.

After I got the lathe back together I turned out a prototype for a Laser edge finder.

I am using a Crosshair laser and power it off the USB plug from my PC.

This is just the first part, I need to solder it and drill a target piece in the mill to check it... If its ok I will put in an upper and lower set screws to retain the laser in the mount, If not I will open the hole 2mm at a time until I can get it set with 4 upper and 4 lower set screws to use for aiming the laser unit.

This one fits a 3/8 inch collet.

A few more pics showing the CNC coming together and part fitting.

I had a couple parts here made in house in the last picture. It's not all things are assembled for the last time, there is still some measurments and hole drilling and some bolt shortening going on...

Today was fitting and threading day...

I had to make 2 plates for the Y axis carraiges...

The risers are here (The RED parts) they will give this machine the ability to convert from foam cutter to milling machine by removing the 2 Y axis's and replacing them with the Y and Z axis's, swapping 2 cable connectors and placing the bed under the assembly.

Right now I am fitting the parts with the hardware, making sure bolts don't run into each other in the aluminum carriers, all parts fit together and the tracks have ZERO play. I still have to make the parts for between the carriers on the Y axis and have 2 more bearing blocks coming in to stabilize the ACME crews that move the Y Axis's

So mostly its a game of fitting. I do have to drill the ways for the X axis's and cut the ways out for the Y axis's and drill them then the major assembies will be done. (Except for the router/milling arm to be done later.)

My metal order came in, some for the CNC some for kit parts.

So far I have the basics built for the 2 X axis's These are a nice pair of units that can run at 26 inches per second at full speed. I have the 2.5 inch Cold rolled steel for them to ride on, now I need to put together the top and the riser adapter for the Y Axis's. I figure I am 1 to 2 weeks from running this machine. at this point.

I need to get both X axis's fully built for a final measurement of the width, Then I can build the table that they will bolt to(In several locations so I canchange the width between the X axis's My hope is that they will be 6"s or less, this would be optimal, if not I will need to see just how much spacing I will need between the upright supprts that will hold the table top segments. The Y axis's will be a piece of cake to build as will be the mill/router attachment.

At the end of this project I will sell the CD with a parts list and the basic dimensions to recreate this table. SOme parts will have to be made by the builder as not everything can be purchased ready made, I have both a metal lathe and a mill and even at that there are parts that I prefered to buy based on the cost and time of making them here... 1 inch x 3 inch aluminum flat is a special order, I would have to by a 16 foot section. Buy the time I made the carraiges myself and paid for the stock, bearings and hardware I would have spent more money to create them and it would have taken longer. Getting them ready made was a better option. Besides it makes this build easier for anyone else that wishes to build a table like this.

I still need to order 3 ACME screws, 3 rack gears 3 more Nema 23 mountings, 2 more steppers to finish the Mill section and a few feet of 1530s and 3030s from the 8020 garage sale on Ebay.(Along with hardware from 8020 to put it togther.)

The real work will be done when the cutting and welding of the steal boxbeam table that holds it all together starts.

This morning was spent with CEO(Me) and the CFO(My wife) figuring out how to re-enter the market after a 4 year break getting everything in order to do this full time.

Time was spent in a few areas...
* Product line, expansion for the most part. A more diverse selection.
* The addition of a trainer, Something my father said we should have offered from the start.
* FPV ships made as FPV ships.
* Composite parts.
* Offerings for Gas and Electric. I now fly where gas is permitted.
* Scale planes.
* Ducted Fans, well at least one.
* I may be offering a 2 meter glider about mid year next year. I am still playing with the original.
* I have given in, there will be SOME vacu-formed parts, But I will not try to retire on the sale of each one. (A pet peeve of mine from my early days of flying wing kits from another manufacturer.)
* Wings will now come with aluminium motor mounting plates.
* More slope offerings, not just wings.

We are getting this out of the way as the CNC equipment is coming together and I am working out the store scripting.

All of my old/current kits will have some changes to them to reflect the changes in technology that have occurred. Also the 30" Wings will be made thicker in the center to accommodate standard LiPo packs, no more special packs for the Project: X or the Diablo.

I went down to get materials and found that most of what I want needs to be ordered and will take a week to get here, in the mean time I will order other parts that I want from HobbyCNC and the 8020 shop on Ebay and a few tools to aid in the construction from Harbor Freight...

The metal supply did not have the

* .25 x 2.5 inch cold rolled steel.
* A 4 x 8 foot sheet of .125 aluminum.

They did have my 1 x 2 inch aluminum box tubing.

It was raining very heavily so I did not bring in a full sheet of 3/4 inch plywood, that will have to wait for when I go back to pick up the metal order.

Since I needed to buy a full sheet of Aluminium to get the pieces I needed I will be selling a couple of sets of ready made Y axis's to cover the cost. These would only require the carriages and the router Y axis mountings and a few other parts to complete a cutter that could be assembled in one afternoon.

Today I will be making my on-line order of

* 2 Rack gears 4 feet long each.
* 3 - 5 start ACME screws.
* 4 New NEMA 23 steppers. Later on I will need 2 more, I may use my NEMA 34s there.
* 2 Router mountings for my Carriages. (Right and Left.) I will need these even before I make the routers Y axis gust to hold the machines carriages together.
* 2 carpenters squares and some clamps from Harbor Freight.
* 4 Levels from Harbor Freight.

I will need the squares and levels to build the base table, to do that I will have to make a platform to hold the table top frame...Continue Reading

Some of my parts for my new CNC foam cutter/Router came in today...

The X axis carriages, Rack and pinion drive system and a drilling jig to build the track for the carriages.

2 carriages per side. I need to make the parts that go on top to hold the carriages together on the track. The rack and pinion setup was made by the same company.

I have spent 2 weeks of spare time in looking to build a large machine that was accurate and cost effective as well as reliable. While I could have made these parts with my mill by the time I bought the stock, the bearing and the rest of the hardware plus my time it was more cost effective to buy these parts rather than make them.

The rest of the parts I will have to make because they are special to this build. A set of mirrored vertical Y axis's and the Y and Z axis of the router plus all the hardware to put it together lest we not forget the table to hold it all.

My next acquisitions will be some aluminum flat stock, some aluminium 1/4 inch plate 3 ACME screw assemblies, some of the famous aluminium erector set from the 8020 store on ebay and 4 NEMA 23 stepper motors.

Because of the nature of this machine and my own preference it will have 2 programs for cutting. GMFC and MACH3. Mach 3 requires a 32 bit copy of Windows... I will be buying a PC to run it on, most likely a lease return at a good price.

Last night I stayed up late... Star Trek DS9 playing in a small window while I was contemplating the final design of my CNC Foam Cutter...

The end was a much improved version of my last machine, I took it from a hobbyist machine to commercial grade...

I ordered up $520 in parts and none of them were electrical, I figure $200 more on mechanicals.

I have just built a new HobbyCNC pro board for the controller.

I will be buying the steppers from HobbyCNC as well, I have a set of MONSTER E.A.D. NEMA 34 units that I wanted to use because I have them setting here but to lower the cost of the machine and decrease the inertial weights I opted for the smaller and lighter NEMA 23's

I am also considering using a GECKO DRIVE 540 instead of the HobbyCNC proboard and saving the HobbyCNC controller for my 8x12 metal lathe and my Mini Mill(I may sell the one I have and upgrade to the next model.)

I suffered 30 minutes of extreme clarity some time around 3:30 am when I figured how to make it both a foam cutter and a router with a minimal amount of time on the change over.

The other thing is the construction of the framework, The both of the x axis will be movable. I can move them together or spread them apart as the need arises, also this machine will have 24 inches of travel on the Y axis, since all I intended on cutting on my last machine was the bulk foam blocks and wings I only set it up for 8 inches on the Y axis.

I will document this build in my new book, this...Continue Reading

I am shopping for parts from McMaster and SDP...

I am using some NEMA 34 Size motors for both of the X axis...

NEMA 34 and NEMA 23 use different output shafts...

The current ecomony seems to limit parts selection and has raised already stout pricing on gears...

I need to make a 6:1 reduction before the XL belt, I could do that in one step on the old NEMA 23 motors with the .25" output, .375" on the '34's is a different story.

The best single reduction I can get is 3:1 so that means 2 steps to get 6:1... wile the degree of error is very nominal I hate having to do 2 steps to get what I should be able to do in 1.. (3:1 then 2:1) My final drive would be an XL belt with a movement of .995 inches per revolution making just under 2 turns per inch of travel. This sets the machine to run fast with good torque wile using motors I have on hand.

Add to that the price of 4 more gears just on the X's that's about $80.

On the bright side... This is 10 times the machine my first cutter was and will not have the same problems of using modified drawer slides in place of linear bearings and rods.

Of course theis means an updated version of my book is coming out.
I built the last cutter in 2003 and there is a lot of new goodies from companies that did not exist back then and a lot of companies that had links in the last version that are now gone. It was due for a major rework and update just on the technology and the options I did not cover in the first book.

I do violate convention in the designs. The last one had no gantries. I am looking to have the new one double as a router.