Yea that works.
Soldered and done(with that step). Thanks!
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Machine is up and running(dust collection next).
Did end up mounting Dewalt spindle mount upside down. - Great idea for those with the CNC4newbies Z.
Sideboard initial idea was to mount it vertically but nearby, didn’t work out.
Drilled hole into table for wiring to drop down to go to X-Controller which is mounted to piece of plywood attached to table trusses/legs.
Attached X-Carve to table with countersunk screws direct to tabletop(4 of them).
Calibrated steps with this video from Manhattan Wood Project
And Phil’s calculator
X steps ended up being 26.616 and Y steps ended up being 26.646 with the upgraded 269oz motors, 9mm belt/pulleys.
Z steps are fine at 50, calculated results should be 50.063, but measuring after altering to 50.063 ends up being 1/16th off over 5 inches instead of 1/64th off with 50 even. So 50 even it is.
Will be updating to 1800 max z rate and 300 z accel rate sometime later today hopefully.
AHEM…
So…
When I read with the CNC4Newbies Z upgrade more than a few times it’s important to tell the gerbil on the wheel to run slower(or rather 1/4 baby steps) else you’ll plunge the bit too far…I noted that, and noted it again, and remembered I should really do that first thing.
Everything seems good, swapped wires to sort out X/Y being backwards… Move forward, goes forward, move back, goes back, move left, goes left, move right, goes right. Up/up, down/down. YAY, let’s carve something!!!
Ok, initial easel carve…
Had a customer in the office so told my friend sure, good to go, of course I’m sure, remembered everything it’s all good, be back in a sec…
Friend started the carve…and POOF plunged too deep into 3/4"plywood and then wanted to move sideways…
Then I realized I had to remember to do something…something before the first carve…hmmm.
Someone(me) forgot the important step(ha, get it?) of $102=50 with the CNC4Newbies Z.
Goodbye bit. Hello deep hole. Stop button is a neat thing!
What’s left to do?
Cleanup wiring under table now that we know everything seems to work.
Setup soft limits per Phil’s very useful pages.
Figure out dust collection mod to mount that to CNC4Newbies Z slide 6".
Install and configure Triquetra software.
Install V-Carve, halftoner, GRBL, and a few other programs(Pixel CNC demo for sure).
Figure out dust collection/sound proof lid/box (this will lift straight up).
Start working on awesome projects and posting them and asking a bazillion other questions as I do so.
Thanks again to Zach Kaplan(who I am happy to see is active on the forums again) and John Hayes at Inventables. To PhilJohnson for all of his help, answering my many questions and those great belt clips for the 9mm belt ugprade. To everyone else as well in this post who has answered questions, provided suggestions and to those in other posts indirectly where searching the forums resulted in an answer.
Have a neat idea for a group project I will post as soon as my machine is fully operational.
I have to do some prototyping and more thinking before I post that.
Minor update
Dust lid/box is built, need to add the windows, and sound proofing.
Pulley system to be used to lift up the cover/box.
Quick test just knocking on this large drum with cheap harbor freight moving blankets and it makes
a marked difference in sound reduction. Might try that to see what happens, line the inside with 2x $5.99 moving blankets, glue them in with mastic of some sort… maybe buy a third blanket to cover the outside when it’s running too for even more deadening.
If anyone has a better suggestion for reasonable price material that would work I am all ears.
Cheap mattress foam topper considered but the blankets are cheaper and that mattress topper foam isn’t that dense…
Pictures to follow soon.
Looking forward to pics. Surprisingly it’s not nearly as loud as I expected. The only time I’ve experienced it loud enough that I couldn’t have a conversation is when I am using a straight bit or a v bit. Being inside I completely get silencing it as much as you can though lol.
Regarding the loctite, several threads here mention using 242, so that’s what I bought.
The loctite website explains the different versions.
How’s the enclosure coming along?
Enclosure is done, mostly, will post pics of that soon. Without a modified dust shoe for the CNCnewbies Z a bungie-corded shopvac hose on the spindle is…sketchy and doesn’t work so well. Have to resolve that with a modified shoe soon.
In the meantime…
Having issues.
Every time I turn the X-Carve on I have to setup the machine in easel, every time. It seems it does not save the info, and almost every time I have to also unplug and plug it back in for Easel to see the machine as it may give me the controls but it wont respond and it has home or unlock without homing which is useless until I then unplug, then plug back in and do machine setup again.
Also - am I blind? Is there a way to pop up the on screen controls so I can move the spindle whenever I want for bit changes/clamping without having to go to machine setup or start a carve to get to that window?
I’ve tried to do simple things and what it is doing, even though when attempting to carve I am setting workpiece x/y zero, and using the probe, it either wants to plunge and sit and not move anywhere(attempted a v-carve bit), OR it’ll plunge and then drag the bit across my work material to then try to carve. This makes me press that big red button as it’s just not cool.
It read the height of the material with the probe, why is it plunging too deep and dragging across my material?
Any help would be much appreciated as I don’t understand and am rather annoyed at the moment about this.
I suspect it’s because it’s not saving my machine info correctly?
Is it not saving the machine setup probe so it doesn’t actually know where the wasteboard is?
But what I don’t understand is bit is say 1.5" above material, I use the probe, it taps that probe, it still has a reference there, right? So why the urge to dig to china?
Correct me if I am wrong…IF I tell it I have 1.5" material height, and I use the probe, it should read the tip of the bit is here, and with the probe it now knows the height of my material and the distance of Z where the tip of the bit is and the top of my material height is, right?
The project is just text going .10 depth to test.
So why does it decide to plunge and then drag the damn bit across the material before it even gets to the point where it should actually plunge to start the carve?
WHY wont it save the specs on my machine? Do I really have to tell it everytime?
I also have to unplug it, and plug it back in for easel to see it. I’ve tried different USB cables, no change.
10ft cord IIRC.
Windows 10, direct USB into my PC(hubs are the devil).
Worked ok for easel dude and rectangle test in posts up above somewhere.
Make sure that your browser is not clearing the cache when it terminates. I believe that Easel stores some setup information in the cache.
Have you set your touch plate thickness in the “Advanced” option when setting up the probe?
Nothing set to clear in Chrome after closing the program.
So just got back to the office from a call. Fired the X-Carve back up, same darn thing, Easel wont see it.
Unplug cable, plug back in, nope, ok setup machine again, wont see it, unplug, plug back in. NOW it finally sees it, and I can happily go through the setup I’ve done 50 times now.
Is my x-controller sketchy? This doesn’t seem right. Why is it not saving the info?
Why can’t I open a controller window somewhere in Easel to easily…oh I dunno, lift up the Z so I don’t have a bit jammed in the material without having to setup the machine, or start a carve(only two ways I can see to get those controls)?
OK - so I turned off my PC.
Fired that back up, X-Carve is on, walk through the setup again(Chrome) as it’s all gone again.
Probe advanced setting shows correct 0.59 height. Homed again, went through all the setup steps.
Now instead of one of my test text projects it said I was finished setting up my X-Carve and then opens the easel dude first carve file. Fine, let’s do that, basic - AND this test worked a month ago when we set it up.
It plunges, it sits for a few seconds, then it goes across the material plunged gouging the material.
To double check, I fired up Edge(and went through all the steps, again, same thing). Plunges, sits for a few seconds, and VROOOOM across the material leaving a pretty rough path.
It appears I am cursed.
Double checked that the GRBL modifications I made are still set correctly in the machine(to accommodate the Z and configured for the belts etc) those are saved).
Appreciate your help LarryM, but I don’t know what to do now. (drink, heavily?)
Using Edge(otherwise never opened), eliminates a browser issue. Same thing, and it lost it’s darn settings and doesn’t know I’ve already setup the X-Carve, homing switches, 1000mm size, etc.
I’ll try to call Inventables tomorrow, have a few customers coming in the next hour then off to work on other pressing project so no time today.
I don’t use Easel, but I have heard the issues I mentioned will do strange things and no one else mentioned it to you.
Wish I could help, but see if Inventables can get you going.
Thanks for the suggestions, always appreciated!
I have V-carve, haven’t installed it yet. Will find time hopefully this weekend…Guess I should try with that and see what that does too to try and narrow this down.
I changed nothing on my PC in a month other than the forced auto Windows 10 updates, but this issue to me is very unlikely to be caused by a Windows 10 update(but…ya).
Does V-carve have a nice control panel always accessible so I can move the spindle around?
Vcarve doesn’t send code to the Xcarve, it just designs and generates toolpaths. You’ll need a Gcode sender to send the files.
As for your issue, can you post your $$ settings as they are right now? They can be retrieved from machine inspector.
I’d check the baud rate on the port after you connect the controller. Make sure chrome or another program isn’t clearing cookies. Verify your Z steps. Any time I redo machine setup my Z steps change for whatever reason. I’d also check your set screws on your Z collar.
Also, post your $$.(Edit: Justin beat me)
Thanks guys!
See how $102=188.976
It should equal 50
See how $101 and $100 ARE the same thing I posted way up above that I had to modify?
Somehow my $102 has changed. I will change it later, have to run to next project.
Either late tonight or tomorrow I’ll change back to 50 and then it better work correctly.
So - curious, how has it changed my Z but kept the 2 other modifications I made for X and Y?
WTF is going on?
and THANKS for the help, and I am not kidding I checked $102 yesterday and earlier today and it was = 50 as that was my first thought. I’m going to start taking pictures to prove this…
ok
$132=100.000
$131=790.000
$130=790.000
$122=50.000
$121=500.000
$120=500.000
$112=750.000
$111=8000.000
$110=8000.000
$102=188.976
$101=26.646
$100=26.616
$32=0
$31=0
$30=1
$27=1.000
$26=250
$25=750.000
$24=25.000
$23=3
$22=1
$21=0
$20=0
$13=0
$12=0.002
$11=0.020
$10=115
$6=0
$5=0
$4=0
$3=3
$2=0
$1=255
$0=10
$$
ok
$132=100.000
$131=790.000
$130=790.000
$122=50.000
$121=500.000
$120=500.000
$112=750.000
$111=8000.000
$110=8000.000
$102=188.976
$101=26.646
$100=26.616
$32=0
$31=0
$30=1
$27=1.000
$26=250
$25=750.000
$24=25.000
$23=3
$22=1
$21=0
$20=0
$13=0
$12=0.002
$11=0.020
$10=115
$6=0
$5=0
$4=0
$3=3
$2=0
$1=255
$0=10
ok
[OPT:VMP,15,128]
[VER:1.1f.20170417:]
$$
$I
[MSG:’$H’|’$X’ to unlock]
Settings:
$0=10
$1=255
$2=0
$3=3
$4=0
$5=0
$6=0
$10=115
$11=0.020
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=0
$22=1
$23=3
$24=25.000
$25=750.000
$26=250
$27=1.000
$30=1
$31=0
$32=0
$100=26.616
$101=26.646
$102=188.976
$110=8000.000
$111=8000.000
$112=750.000
$120=500.000
$121=500.000
$122=50.000
$130=790.000
$131=790.000
$132=100.000
With your z axis you could definitely change:
$132
$122=(200 is a good amount)
$112=(4000 should be good)
$132 ?
And thanks, ya I recalled I changed $112 up already too.
So the next question is WHY is it not saving? or saving some settings but not others?
Browsers are not set to clear any cache or anything.
Will report back(tomorrow likely) when I change $ back to what they should be, thanks everyone for the help!!!
Your Z steps seem really high, It still travel 1 inch if you say 1 inch?
There could be a program clearing cache on close as well. Check you cookies before and after machine setup, close the browser and reopen and check cookies again. Right click, inspect, go to application and cookies.
$102=50
THAT is what I had it(as stated way up in my post when I mentioned my first mistake of NOT remembering to do that).
That’s likely what is going on here, and the 3 second pause is it still going down and down and then pooooooof over the board.
I’ll modify that and report back, have to run now for the evening.
Thanks again everyone! - any suggestions on why they would change? I’ll have to add check all $ settings BEFORE every project too I guess.
My Z changes every time I do machine setup.