Looking good, nice to see some actual material being removed with it!
What do you think we’ll be able to achieve for this Thursday’s session? Really excited to see it spewing dust all over the hackspace milling objects!
Quick updat, the main Z carriage turned out to be beyond repair, the z axis had a nasty wobble and the bushes used were making it very tight running along the Y axis (Think maybe the carriage made of wood had warped over time). I have therefore been designing a new carriage to 3D print. This includes the use of linear bearings which should make it all run smoothly
The design is almost complete so I should be printing parts soon.
I like this new design. Will you be uploading STL files so we can explore the assembly for ourselves?
What about the frame that holds up the Z carriage and smooth rods, is that still in good shape?
That’s a purdy screenshot. Typical question: what software is that? 
@Jagmills : solidworks.
@Takumo : Yeah, I’ll make an public repo of all the parts I have made for the router at some point.
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Looking good. Can’t wait to see it print carve something pretty. A new HS sign, perhaps!!
I was planning on making one with my eShapeoko this weekend I finally have everything up and running.
If I attend tonight, I will be working on finalising my control panel design. Getting that done will mean the machine is much more usable what with all the buttons mounted to it.
Is this your nuclear launch-code panel you brought in once before?
Yes that’s the one. I’ve had the prototype acrylic top for a long while now, and it’s finally time to upgrade.
There are some delicious-looking examples of milled aluminium with etched labels, filled with paint. I.e:
http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1834
It will be to the effect of that. I will also be designing an Arduino shield (80% done) to handle breaking out the switches and the multitude of blinkenlights I want to add to it
Oh. Those look amazing! I need to work out the file format for this shit
once you’re ready, so I can start sending you work to do
Heh 
The complex part I have found is generating the g-code - there’s a bit of an art. I’m currently using HeeksCNC, and evaluating CamBam. Almost all CAM packages accept SVG (e.g Inkscape) files for 2.5D - which refers to a flat panel with different depths.
For 3D milling, you can import good old STL files. The workflow kind of revolves around draping a surface over the STL.
So basically, I draw a sketch on a scrap of paper, and give it to you?
Awesome!
Youtube video of a quick test of the main body of the new carriage. The 10 hour print was a success!
Time to get printing the other parts for the carriage.
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Awesome stuff. What will be the next part to be replaced with 3D printing?
How about cnc parts to replace parts for the 3d printer !!!
Looking good little brother, is there anything I made that you will keep.
With the mechanics pretty much complete (I need to post a separate update, I have assembled the z axis and it is looking good so far) I have turned my efforts to safety, namely the emergency stop.
No provisions for an emergency stop were made in the original design so I have had to hack the circuit to suit. The aim of the e-stop is to have a big button to press which will kill everything as quick as possible, this is most importantly for the operator’s safety and its more likely use to protect the machine.
If the e-stop was placed on the mains feed the psu would take a while to discharge after pressing the button, so this would not be a suitable solution. It needs to be on the DC side where it feeds into the controller board, another caveat is there needs to be as few a points of failure as possible to help maintain reliability, i.e. not lots of relays etc which could fail rendering the e-stop useless, I plan to therefore place it directly as a switch on the DC feed into the control board.
Another consideration is to stop the spindle too, I plan to achieve this by placing a mains socket for the spindle to plug into on the control case, then have a SSR to control the mains feed to the socket which will be held open by the DC feed for the main control board, so if the stop is pressed the DC will be broken and the SSR will switch off the mains to the spindle. Because the DC feed to the controller is 36v, I will need a step down transformer (I have a small switchmode buck) to create a suitable holding voltage for the SSR. This isn’t ideal, but I believe is the best achievable way with what is already there and will do the job at stopping the spindle quickly.
Below is a rough and ready sketch of my planned circuit, I know it’s not drawn correctly i.e. things like a relay is used to show the SSR, etc, but it gives a good picture of what I plan to achieve.
I have most of the parts needed, just need to gather a few more and start constructing Thursday night.