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Cebu

Discussion in 'CNC Mills/Routers' started by John Meikrantz, Apr 3, 2015.

  1. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    John Meikrantz published a new build:

    Read more about this build...
     
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  2. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    Something to mention - for control I am using primarily Chilipeppr. In the enclosure pics, you might notice I mounted a USB connector on the chassis, so I can easily plug in a computer. Right now there is a Raspberry Pi 2 connected. I can run UGCS on that directly, or with Chilipeppr I can control via remote laptop talking to Raspberry Pi. It's a very slick solution, especially with the jog controller.
     
  3. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    The dust shoe, along with the router mount came from Chris Laidlaw. Excellent fit and finish. I found the router opening in the dust shoe was a bit too large, and a lot of debris was escaping. So I designed and 3D printed some press in inserts with various size openings to keep the dust in.

    IMG_3410.jpg
     
  4. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
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    You have so many great ideas incorporated into this build its amazing! Well done @John Meikrantz
    Learning a lot from this build thank you for sharing.
    Mark
     
  5. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    Thanks Mark!

    Big shout out to @Chris Laidlaw , @Serge E. , @asb_79 , and @Michael who all provided parts and knowledge. I learned a lot by following everyone's builds, and contributing my bits of knowledge along the way.

    - John
     
  6. Dale Mahan

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    Are you going to publish files? Please include BOM, source URLs, and actual costs.
     
  7. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    I didn't keep complete track, but mostly stayed true to the output of @Serge E. OxCalculator. I put in the sizes I wanted, and used this output to order from the Openbuilds Parts store. The plates were purchased from @asb_79 , but I don't think he is making them any more. Router mount, dust shoe and z axis motor plates came from @Chris Laidlaw who also makes excellent plates.

    I also started out with NEMA23 on the z axis instead of NEMA17 that was in the original design.

    The xPRO CNC driver was ordered directly from Spark Concepts, since it was out of stock at the Openbuilds store.

    I'll try to cover in future posts some of the minor changes, i.e adding limit switches, and further bracing underneath, and wiring.

    Like I said, it would have been much more complicated without the OxCalculator spreadsheet.

    I'm guessing I have about $1,200 roughly in parts, etc. including the Makita router.

    -- John
     
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  8. Dale Mahan

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    Thank you, John. You've been very helpful, I'll try to follow your lead in making a 4 foot by 2 foot machine.
     
  9. Dale Mahan

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    I tried the OXCalculator but as I tried to put the X axis length into the spreadsheet, it gave me an error message saying the cell was locked. When I tried to unlock, it asked for a password I don't have. I wrote @Serge E. and told him about the problem. Waiting for an answer.
     
  10. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    Hmm, I just tried it, and it worked for me. You only fill in the yellow boxes at the top, and it calculates everything below.
     
  11. Dale Mahan

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    What yellow boxes? My X, Y, and Z boxes are white. Here's a screen shot of the error message.
    OXCalc.png ere's a
     
  12. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    You are on the wrong tab on the spreadsheet! There are two - the BOM tab, and the Stepper + Calculator.

    Look for the other tab on the bottom of the sheet.
     
  13. Dale Mahan

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  14. Serge E.

    Serge E. Journeyman
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    You had me for a spin until I saw your screen capture in the Oxcalculator thread. I might of uploaded the spreadsheet with the Stepper+ tab open by default instead of the OXcalculator tab. I will double check when I get home tonight.
     
  15. Dale Mahan

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    Hi Serge,
    Also notice that the spreadsheet comes up both page off center and without scrollbars. Can you do anything to help that? Remember to save page on center with scrollbars showing. I'm using Excel 2007, but it shouldn't matter. An .XLSX is an .XLSX. Let me know if you replace the download.
     
  16. Serge E.

    Serge E. Journeyman
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    I have to look into that aspect as it was not visible on my machines, maybe something to do with my screen resolution and the way the protection works ? The protection is on mostly to make certain the formulae don't get wacked as they are sensitive to column & row movement and do quite a bit of criss-crossing ...

    Ideally, it's the CAD program which should be generating the BoM based on the design itself. But that would mean the individuals, like myself, would have to draw their OX with all the glorious details needed to generate a useful BoM. :rolleyes: Instead of going web, a possibility is doing somesort of SketchUp plug-in ... which means getting into some fancy Ruby programming :nailbite: ! I'm not there ... yet.
     
  17. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    New update to Cebu - added some Misumi flat extrusions for a table. Forgot I changed the width of the Cebu, so the plates I ordered were a bit narrow o_O

    Ordered 2 x 250x1000mm. Standard 1/4" bolt head fits in the slot, or the Rockler, etc. t-bolts.

    misumi_extrusions.jpg
     
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  18. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    Another update to Cebu. I have never been completely happy with the rigidity of the Z axis on the original Ox design. Even with the "extended" four wheel side supports, there was still too much movement, particularly on plunges. With tweaking and appropriate speeds and feeds, it worked well enough, but I still wanted it to be better!

    So, taking advantage of the Openbuilds Parts Store Black Friday sale, I purchased a C-Beam linear actuator assembly. This weekend I was finally able to retrofit Cebu with the new Z axis and it makes a HUGE difference! I get virtually no flex movement on the Z axis, even when I accidentally jam it straight down into the bed :) The C-Beam is attached directly to the original X plate (mine had existing holes that lined up, so no drilling necessary).

    I was able to attach the router mount I got from @Chris Laidlaw directly to the C-Beam plate (thanks @Chris Laidlaw for sending me a template so I could drill two new holes).

    Thanks also to @Steve hope for inspiration and blazing the trail.

    IMG_3827.JPG IMG_3826.JPG IMG_3825.JPG
     
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  19. Giarc

    Giarc OpenBuilds Team
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    How do you like that Makita router? I am considering that one. I have a few Makita tools and like them and there is a service location close to work, so I am leaning towards it.
     
  20. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    I'm very happy with the Makita. Has nice low RPMs (9,000?) and runs much quieter than the Colt. Smaller (1/8") collets are available from Elaire.
    I'd also highly recommend the router mounts/dust collection from @Chris Laidlaw , who sells on Ebay.
     
  21. Giarc

    Giarc OpenBuilds Team
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    Cool. Thanks for the information. I see they are on Amazon for $99 with $25 off of a $100 Makita purchase. I will grab it and some screw driver bits to get me over the $100 threshold. :)
     
  22. Steve Fox

    Steve Fox Well-Known
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    I bought a C-Beam kit to do the same thing.
    I was planning on mounting it backwards from the way you mounted yours so it works more like the existing design, with the beam moving. Do you see an advantage to doing it this way?
    Only one I see is a fixed place to mount a dust shoe so it doesn't go up and down.
    Looks to me like the usable travel would be limited to the length of the bit and a little of the collet.
    Is that enough? Do you find you need to move the beam if you use a different sized bit?

    Just curious.
     
  23. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    For me, I wanted as much surface attached to the X plate as possible, so there is as little leverage as possible from the Z axis being "pushed" forwards or backwards. There is much less leverage that can be applied to the C-Beam plate from the router mount, and more of that force is then transferred via the X plate to the Y axis carriages. In my Ox design, it really made a large difference in deflections, particularly on plunges.

    I mounted the C-Beam so the bottom is flush with the bottom of the X axis, so I can support maximum workpiece height. The router can travel quite high on the C-Beam, so the tip of the bit can start at the bottom of the C-Beam, and go all the way down to max depth, even with longer bits.

    -- John
     
  24. Steve Fox

    Steve Fox Well-Known
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    I understand what you are saying, but I don't understand how it works.
    Could you take a picture with the bit all the way down and another at maximum height?
    Is it necessary to move the router down when you have a small bit?
    I drill holes quite often with bits that have about 3/4" sticking out of the chuck and drill 3/8" deep.
    Can you get your router down that far?
    It's the minimum height of the bit that I can't get a handle on.

    Not causing trouble, I like the idea and want to give it a try.
    Not only is the fixed dust collection shoe attractive, I could use all the Z-Axis rigidity I can get.
    Do I understand that you did the same thing on your OX with the regular Z-Axis?

    I would just try it, but my OX is in a different state and I won't get back to it for four months.
    I want to make sure I have everything I need to change it.
    I have a standard OX with about 2-1/2" from bed to bottom of the X beam.
     
  25. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    No problem - good questions. My Ox design also has about 2-1/2" from bed to X beam. So the C-Beam is attached to the X plate, with the bottom of the C-Beam at the bottom of the X plate. So with the router fully "down", it can get to the point where the collet can nearly touch the bed. When raised all the way, it can easily have 2" of bit extending from the collet with the tip of the bit at the bottom of the X beam to allow for maximum cut length. Here are some pics that might help explain.

    Max height:
    IMG_3829.JPG
    IMG_3828.JPG
    Max depth.
     
  26. Steve Fox

    Steve Fox Well-Known
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    John,

    I got it now. That looks like it's just what I need. I bought a 250mm C-Beam kit for the OX.
    That should be long enough.

    I've not been able to build a working Dust collection shoe up to this point.
    When the brushes hit the table, it torques the Z-Axis a little, which really screws things up.
    My next move was to angle the brushes out slightly to get rid of the problem, but with this setup, there isn't a problem.
    Without the shoe, I spend more time vacuuming and cleaning than I do cutting.

    I'm in the process of collecting parts to build a rotary OX.
    It has around 6" between the bottom of the X and the bed, with 3" of travel to get to the middle of the rotary axis.
    Hopefully, your idea will work for that, too. I bought a 500mm C-Beam kit for it, but it looks like I need to cut it down.

    Thanks for your help.
     
  27. JimB828

    JimB828 New
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    John, can you describe how you mounted this to the X plate? You said there were holes that lined up, is it just the two center holes, or do you have a non-standard plate? Did you screw directly into the C-beam, or use tee-nuts?
     
  28. John Meikrantz

    John Meikrantz Well-Known
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    The plates I had were provided by @asb_79, and they had several "extra" holes, maybe from an earlier rev of the plate design? The latest plate designs I've seen don't have the "extra" holes. Perhaps @asb_79 can comment...

    -- John
     
  29. asb_79

    asb_79 Well-Known
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    Sorry for the late reply, with regard to the plates I had made, the extra holes in the X-Axis plate were the ones needed if you wanted to use 20x40 extrusion for the z-axis, turns out they are spaced perfectly to mount the 80mm section.

    The later versions of the plate drawings deleted the 20x40 option. I still have the files I used around here somewhere if anyone needs them.

    Cheers
    Anthony
     
  30. Steve Fox

    Steve Fox Well-Known
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    I got my C-Beam mounted and I am really happy with it.
    It is much more rigid than the original Z-axis and is the perfect mount for the dust collector boot.

    There is plenty of room between the bottom of the mount and the bed for anything I plan on doing.
    If you look at the router, you can see there is plenty of room to adjust it up or down for different size bits.

    I don't have very good internet where I am, so I don't get on often, but I'll try to answer any questions.

    Steve Fox 0522161802b.jpg 0522161804.jpg 0522161801b.jpg


    0522161802b.jpg
     

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