I've been reading through this thread, and it's very timely for me because I recently (about a month and a half) built a router for the purpose of making plane parts from foam and plywood. The machine isn't exactly scratchbuilt, since I used a lot of the parts from a CNC grinder I'd built a few years ago for grinding knife blades.

It is rather crude; Thompson linear bearings, aluminum, maple plywood, and I'm using a Dremel tool on it for now. Motors and controls are from a company called Microkinetics. It works remarkably well for such a cheap and dirty effort, but I'd like to improve it; I hope I can learn from you guys.

I have little experience in cutting foam, and speeds, feeds, and tool selection have been a matter of experimentation. Even with a motor speed control on my Dremel "spindle" the speed is a little too much, so I know that it's one of the issues I'll have to address.

Tom

Originally Posted by geostomp

No the SS is a motion controller that takes the information and outputs the timed pulses that run the motors. I bought it from Warp9.com, although currently their site is under maintenance. Basicly its USB out from computer to SS, SS serial out to C-10, C-10 to drivers and then on to motors. So yeah the SS is between the computer and C-10.

A computer with a serial port on an older machine will work with no motion controller but may have limitations. I originally bought the SS because my modern windows 7 computer did not have a serial out and would not recognize the one I installed. The SS gets info via USB and after reading about it I concluded it would solve my problem. Afterr installing the SS, It worked but I wanted a dedicated CNC computer.

So I bought a $60 computer from craigslist and for S and G's I hooked up the serial port only with no SS and it worked but I was limited on table speed. It was slow. So I hooked up the SS to my new old XP computer and it works great and that is what I currently use.

My C-10 is currently running my new 5 amp drivers on 3amp motors so it was a good investment.

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I am planning on use a XP machine that has a parallel port on it for now with just a Dremel so slow speeds should be ok, right?

Alan

Originally Posted by jh2rc97

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I am planning on use a XP machine that has a parallel port on it for now with just a Dremel so slow speeds should be ok, right?

Alan

Yeah for a bluumax you will be good. You really don't need a SS at all. You will be able to push the motors fast enough that they run out of torque and stall. That's when you back off the 60ipm to 30ipm.

My new drives microstep 8 times per step times 200 steps per rev is 1600pulses from the controller per revolution of the lead screw. Set the blumax to half step and you will be good. That will be 400 pulses per rev.

Originally Posted by geostomp

Yeah for a bluumax you will be good. You really don't need a SS at all. You will be able to push the motors fast enough that they run out of torque and stall. That's when you back off the 60ipm to 30ipm.

My new drives microstep 8 times per step times 200 steps per rev is 1600pulses from the controller per revolution of the lead screw. Set the blumax to half step and you will be good. That will be 400 pulses per rev.

Thanks.

I got mine running tonight but I had to use a different computer than planned. The planned computer would freeze when Mach3 was running with the Mach3 parallel port driver. So I am using Cut2D and Mach3 for CAD/CAM and control.

Alan

Nice thread! Just subscribed...

I was willing to get one of these machines to start cutting carbon fiber touring car 1/10 chassis. For this purpose, It won't be necessary large working areas since a chassis has 300x150mm at most. Does anyone know if this Bluumax kit would be able to cut carbon fiber with 3-4mm thick?

Originally Posted by rnelias

Nice thread! Just subscribed...

I was willing to get one of these machines to start cutting carbon fiber touring car 1/10 chassis. For this purpose, It won't be necessary large working areas since a chassis has 300x150mm at most. Does anyone know if this Bluumax kit would be able to cut carbon fiber with 3-4mm thick?

With very shallow depth of cut and many passes you could probably do some cutting. You may end up modifying it extensively depending on the accuracy you need to achieve. Use a very sharp carbide endmill and at 20ipm.

The bluumax is like a fixed pitch helicopter. Great for the first timer and all the fundamentals are there. If you like 3D, get a Trex 450. I hope you can relate and I hope the analogy helps you decide!
George

Originally Posted by geostomp

With very shallow depth of cut and many passes you could probably do some cutting. You may end up modifying it extensively depending on the accuracy you need to achieve. Use a very sharp carbide endmill and at 20ipm.

The bluumax is like a fixed pitch helicopter. Great for the first timer and all the fundamentals are there. If you like 3D, get a Trex 450. I hope you can relate and I hope the analogy helps you decide!
George

Thanks for the feedback George. Your thread really encouraged me to start some projects without breaking my bank. I'm brazilian and, in my country, it's not that easy to find parts to make big changes or build a CNC by myself. It would take several months to collect the parts. But, I can always import, of course, and this kit seems to be pretty accessible for me. I only got a little bit skeptical about those acrylic parts to support the spindle (Dremel or whatever...). Are they rigid enough to make accurate cuts?

Originally Posted by rnelias

Thanks for the feedback George. Your thread really encouraged me to start some projects without breaking my bank. I'm brazilian and, in my country, it's not that easy to find parts to make big changes or build a CNC by myself. It would take several months to collect the parts. But, I can always import, of course, and this kit seems to be pretty accessible for me. I only got a little bit skeptical about those acrylic parts to support the spindle (Dremel or whatever...). Are they rigid enough to make accurate cuts?

The motors will have some backlash and the acrylic parts will give way a bit. I was happy as a clam when I had my Blu" and it led to a better understanding of cnc with some hobby cnc experience to back it up.

The great thing about the Bluumax is it will run any G-code program that even the big 100K machines will run. No the tool changes won't work and the coolant won't run, but the machine will run the same path.

It is not a tank or a race car, but the bluumax is a neat little hobby machine to get a person started in cnc. Best part is you can design your next machine on it and cut it out!!

After cutting a few test pieces I came up with this.

Alan

Originally Posted by jh2rc97

After cutting a few test pieces I came up with this.

Alan

Wow, the ingraving looks very accurate. I see a very small bit there, what size is it? Did you do any mods to your Blu'.

No mods. I am using a .0394" end mill and a 30 degree engraving bit with a .0050" tip. Got these at www.precisebits.com.

Alan

I am learning a lot going through the process of making these. I scaled this down and changed it some for the aileron on the Sprite and the degree markings don't look the best. I think I need to slightly reduce the cutting depth to make them look better. Once I get this figured out the idea is to make these in plexiglass.

Alan

Here is the second one for the ailerons.

Alan

Maybe a different font might work. Hard to tell on my little computer screen, the degree side looks hand drawn. Some CAD software can also change the letter spacing.