Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] A little bit of help; Always works!!!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Stratton" <stratton@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 5:35 PM
Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] A little bit of help; Always works!!!


> > I am still undecided what to do whether to buy a ready made
> >CNC like the Taig milling machine or to retro fit one myself.
> >Personally I would rather build one myself, get a small milling
> >machine and you know do it myself. But I am worried about the
> >electronics of it and the software sides of thing!! How have people
> >done this?? Is there any literature that anyone knows of like a step
> >by step guide to converting a machine?? Any companies that supply
> >the electric gubins??? And the software?? I start getting lost in it
> >all?? Should I just buy on of these small CNC machines??
>
> Anthony, a CNC machine has 3 parts: mechanics, electronics, and
> software. What choices are best for you depend on how comfortable you
> are with each. There are of course complete packages, but I think
> many of them that are in the hobbyist price class may have serious
> compromises in one of the areas, so in the end you'll end up doing
> some system integration to upgrade things.
>
> Mechanics:
>
> First you need to decide what size machine. For just experimenting,
> the sherline and taig size machines are good. People will loudly say
> they make real parts on them, some apparently even in cottage-industry
> production settings, but of course they have to be small parts. If
> you want to make larger parts you may want to look at things like
> the RF45 mill, or possibly the shoptask 3-in-1 (although there are
> some serious compromises in that design.)
>
> Then you need motors and mounting hardware. If you don't have a lot
> of machining experience, or would rather get on to the rest of the
> project, then buying a machine that is available with premade motor
> mounts is a definite win. You can for example get a sherline with the
> motors already on it, or with mounts for standard 23-size steppers.
>
> Electronics:
>
> For simple machines this primarily means stepper drives. You can get
> low-powered drives (2amps/phase) in kit form and assembled at various
> prices. Many on the list use Dan Mauch's (www.seanet.com/~dmauch).
> For larger machines there are things like the gecko drive modules
> (www.geckodrive.com). Of course you have to add a power supply to
> those. If you want to minimize wiring, outfits like Ah-hah (hope I
> spelled that right) have complete enclosed boxes that you connect to
> the computer, wall outlet, and motors.
>
> Software:
>
> Again, it depends on what you are comfortable working with. There are
> solutions for dos, windows, and linux. The windows drivers that work
> well include a custom hardware box and are a little more expensive.
> The linux system called EMC works well, and continues to evolve, but
> really is best for someone who has used linux or unix before.
>
> And of course there are outfits that will happily sell you a machine
> tool, motors, drive electronics, software, and maybe even the pc to
> run it. If the package is within your budget it may be a good way to
> get started. Generally, you can with a little work make most
> components from one source talk to another, so you can eventually
> upgrade the lacking parts of a package.
>
> Chris
>
> --
> Christopher C. Stratton, stratton@...
> Instrument Maker, Horn Player & Engineer
> 22 Adrian Street, Somerville, MA 02143
> http://www.mdc.net/~stratton
> NEW PHONE NUMBER: (617) 628-1062 home, 253-2606 MIT
>
>
>
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