My machine is a PRT Alpha96 and it seems that I never have the Z axis at
the right height to change the bit when I want to. Well, here is how I
fixed that problem and solved a few others as well.
As you can see from the above picture, I mounted a small lever actuated
micro switch above my Z axis and ran two wires to the Waco connector
located on the Y car. I am able to conveniently get ground and INPUT #1
here since the Z Zero Plate uses that cable.
My solution is quite simple. I command the Z axis to move up until it
touches the micro switch (you can use a proximity switch as well) and
then move back down a predetermined amount. This will place the Z axis
at just the right place so my hands will reach the wing nut holding the
dust foot on as well as making it easy to drop the current cutter and
collet nut. I have added the "raise Z" routine to a lot of my files.
Now rather than worry that the "Safe Z height" setting will clear
everything, I know the tool is as high as it can be.
I think the pictures are all that is needed to show you how I mounted a
switch, and I bet you will come up with a way to mount a switch or
proximitity sensor to your machine. If you implement this modification
to your machine, please post pictures to the ShopBot Forum so others can
see.
Now in trying to keep everything simple, here is how I implemented
the bare bones code I wrote to make all of this work. Remember, what
works for me, might not work for you without tweaking it a bit. Always
know what the code is going to do before you just run it or edit your
files and insert this code into them. Remember, YOU are the one
responsible for the actions of YOUR machine.
Between the rows of asterisks' below is my Custom Cut #5, which places
the spindle where it's comfortable for me to change cutters.
Here's a commented description of the file, line by line, to show you
what each command does
For quite a while
now I have been using the outputs from my PRT Alpha control box
to control equipment in my shop. By equipment, I mean my
cyclone dust collector, vacuum motors etc. I find that by
editing my post processor in PartWorks to automatically add the
proper SO commands to my part files I can make things happen, or make sure I have
not forgotten something quite useful. If you think this might
have an application in your shop, read on.
The outputs right off of
the control board are not able to handle the voltage or current loads of
the equipment I want to switch on and off. This would require me to add
a device to the outputs that can handle the loads. My first thought was
a solid state relay or to cobble together a driver transistor
circuit to in turn activate a relay with the properly rated contacts for
my load needs. While gathering the parts needed and deciding on how I
wanted to build this, I found the ShopBot Relay Board. This relay board
is already built, and is plug and play! After a phone call to ShopBot,
the relay board was in my hand and I began to realize that ShopBot had
put more thought into this Relay Board than I was going to build into
mine. This board will allow you to jumper select what output controls
which relay. This will allow for a very easy to configure system.
Enough excitement, let's get down to business and install the board and
get things connected. First you will slide the Relay Board into the
rear slot that the control board sits into. Then you will install two
screws into holes in the front of the Relay Board. Finally you will
plug into the cable from the Relay Board into the Output switch
connector on the Control Board. That's it, all installed and ready. On
the relay board there is a bank of jumpers next to each relay. These
jumpers select what Output will control what relay. There is also a LED
on the board to show you what relay is active.
Next I decided to wire
up my vacuum motors to the control board. Since I am running four
motors, I wanted to wire up two to one relay and the other two to the
next relay. This way I am keeping the load within tolerance of the
relays contacts. I first jumpered two relays to operate on the same
Output signal from the Control Board. This is done by moving a jumper.
Next I ran my wire and connected it to the very nice screw terminals on
the Relay board. Then after finishing up the rest of the wiring
external to the Control Box, I switched on power and tried it out. With
the ShopBot Control Software running I can now hold the Alt key and push
the 5 key and turn on output 5 and my vacuum motors run. By holding
the Alt key down again and pushing the 5 key I turn off output 5 and my
vacuum motors stop. Next I decided that I should have the ShopBot
control the dust collector as well. After wiring that unit up to
another output, 6 in my case, I verified it worked correctly. Now I
have all of this wired up and working so let's move onto the post
processor editing to make all of this happen automatically when I run a
file.
I remember reading David Buchsbaum's article on editing the post processor some
time ago so I found it and reread it. The article is found in
David's
column, Notes from the Sandbox. Next I opened up the post processor
and took a look around. After seeing how commands are written I
decided to put mine in and see how it worked. Here is what I did
and why:
By adding the below commands, I can turn on my vacuum motors and wait
one second for them to come up to speed:
"SO,5,1"
"PAUSE,1"
Next I want to turn on the dust collector so I added the following:
"SO,6,1"
The next three lines will simulate me pushing a button by closing output
8 for one tenth of a second and opening it:
"SO,8,1"
"PAUSE, .1"
"SO,8,0"
Then by adding the below lines I can turn everything back off when the
file is finished:
"'Turning router OFF"
"SO,1,0"
"SO,6,0"
"SO,5,0"
By using the Relay Board I was able to get all of this done and still
have relays free for some future use. In my setup I also have switches
on the wall to start the dust collector and my vacuum motors without
having the ShopBot do this for me. I hope some of this will inspire you
to learn more about your ShopBot. Use any of this information at your
own risk. It works for me in my shop doing things my way. It may not
be the way you want to do things and this is not the only way to do
this.
In prior articles I wrote about my vacuum
table and how I used the Fein Turbo III vacs to hold my parts. The Feins
are quiet and ready to connect and run right out of the box. ShopBot can
even provide you with them!
For those of you who want to get started using vacuum as a means to hold
work on your machine, and want to either save some cash or build it
yourself, there is another option for you to consider. Surf on over to
http://www.lighthouseenterprises.us and let Ward fix you up with
Imperial vacuum motors and mufflers. You will be looking at the heart of
the vacuum systems, the motor. These are not going to be complete units
ready to plug in, but the parts to assemble a wonderful vacuum source.
You will have to wire up motors, drill holes and build a box. I will be
showing you how I experimented with my motors from Lighthouse
Enterprises. I am not suggesting that you should follow my example. Do
look at the ShopBot Forum and see how others are using the same motors
and just how fancy some have made the enclosures for their systems. The
scope of my project was to get vacuum cheap and quick. I also wanted to
build this vacuum source without using my ShopBot. The reason for this
is simple, if I were just getting started, I would not have a vacuum
source to hold parts down to cut this project in the first place! If
this project sounds like something you want to tackle, then read on.
First I needed to mount the motors to something. I figured that drilling
a hole the same size or larger than the inlet hole would be just fine. I
used All Star spoilboard gasket between my motor and the box, but now
Lighthouse Enterprises supplies a gasket with the motors. Since I didn't
have a drawing of the vacuum motor flange handy, I took some scrap
threaded rod and sharpened one end at the bench grinder. This rod will
now be use as a long center punch. I put a washer and nut on the other
end and positioned them so the rod would be suspended just a tad bit
above the surface I was going to mount the motors on. This way the rod
would hang straight and I could mark where the center of the mounting
holes needed to be. Next I drew a circle around the base of the motors
and found the center of that circle. This would later become the center
of the motors inlet hole. None of the dimensions are critical! Let me
quote Bill Young from his February 2007 article, "Unless you're cutting
out valves for artificial hearts, don't feel like you need micro
precision either." This project is a good example of what he said.
I will be using scraps to make this vacuum source!
I was going to get
fancy and use T-nuts on the inside of the box for the threaded rod to
screw into but decided that was going too far. I grabbed a hole saw that
would cut a hold that I could just get my hand into to put a washer and
nut on the rod inside of the box. I also put a washer and nut on the
outside to lock the threaded rod in and prevent the nut inside from
working lose. A dab of thread lock would be a good idea here as well.
The next steps were very simple, I just built a box. No fancy joinery
but I used plenty of glue and narrow crown staples to assemble the box.
I found another hole-saw that will cut a hole almost the right size for
the flexible vacuum hose I am going to use. A wrap or two of blue
painter's tape on the hose makes the fit real tight. For those who are
still making "heart valves", here are some dimensions of my box. They
are sized like this because that is what I had in the scrap box. 33"
long, 8.5" wide, 7" tall. I used a 4" hole saw to cut the holes for the
motors to mount over. I think smaller holes would be better, but I had a
4" hole saw handy. The hose connection could have also been a PVC pipe
or pipe flange with a short flexible coupling between the box and the
ShopBot. At first I wired up an extension cord with the female end cut
off as my power cord to test the system. Now I am using the ShopBot
relay board to automatically control my vacuum motors and my dust
collection! Next month I'll show you all about that!
Below are some pictures that will show you how I knocked together a
quick, cheap but very effective vacuum source for my ShopBot. I have
been using it for over a month now and am very happy with it.
The long black device pictured is the exhaust muffler that Lighthouse
Enterprises can provide you with. The muffler will eliminate the high
pitch scream from the exhaust port. The motor will still provide you
with audible feedback so you will know if it is turned on or not. If you
experiment with reducing the sound of the motor even more, remember to
keep a good supply of air moving past the motor.
I think the following pictures will be self explanatory. Good luck with
your vacuum source project.
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Easy Signs in Five Steps
-
January 2008
*
Since I am not a good painter, I look at this step of making a sign the
biggest challenge. I have tried rollers, brushes and rags all with mixed
results. I am going to explain this month how I can finish a sign
quickly and get what I and others feel are fantastic results. You may
already be doing something close to this so don't be surprised. Here we
go.....
Step one- Route the sign in solid surface material.
Step two- clean the routed areas and let dry.
Step three- spray the routed areas and sides of lettering with the base
coat
Step four- before the base coat dries, spray the top coat and let the
two mix and mingle while drying.
Step five- After the paint dries sand off the over spray with your random
orbital sander, polish and admire.
Now that you have the 5 easy steps, lets go a little deeper into each of
them.
Step one: Routing the sign. My software of choice is PartWorks (Vectrics
V-Carve PRO). I use a technique to get PartWorks to create two tool
paths automatically. One for large area clears using a larger cutter and
a smaller more detailed tool path with a smaller cutter. By doing this I
reduce the time to cut a sign by much more than half. Here is how I do
that. In the tool database create two “special” tools. I am going to use
a 0.25” end mill and a 0.125” end mill. The trick here is to tell the
software that you are going to V-carve the sign! When I enter the specs
of the 0.25” end mill I select the tool type “engraving”. I tell the
software to use a 0.1 degree angle and the diameter is 0.25 with a flat
diameter of 0.249. Now create a special tool for the 0.125” end mill by
entering values of 0.125 for the diameter, 0.1 for the side angle and
0.124 for the flat diameter. Remember to set your pass depth and the
feed and spindle speeds appropriate to your work. Now all you have to do
is select the vectors of your sign and tell PartWorks to V-carve it by
using a large tool to create the area clear tool path and the smaller
tool for the V-carving. My example assumes you are going to be using a
0.125” and 0.25” cutter. If you are going to use other sizes of cutter
just enter them as engraving tools and adjust your numbers to fit your
cutter.
Step two. I like to wash my solid surface with a mild detergent and lots
of hot water before I paint it. This is to remove any dust that may
still be sticking in the recesses. Make sure to let the sign blank dry
before painting.
Step three and four. I use Rust-Oleum Hammered spray paint for this type
of sign. I spray a heavy base coat of Dark Bronze followed up with
Hammered Copper. You will have to adjust and experiment with how much
copper spray paint you use. Don't try to get even coverage and you will
get better results. I find that after I spray the copper on and it
starts to dry I will give it a little more spraying in places to
brighten up the copper. Not too much now; you are not trying to cover up
the base coat of dark bronze.
Step five. After the thick paint has dried and gotten hard, I will start
sanding the surface of the solid surface sign with 60-grit paper on my
random orbital sander. Then I move up in the grits until I get to 400.
Then I use buffing wheels to bring up the shine on the surface of the
sign. The buffing starts out with one wheel and tripoli as the compound
and then I move to the next wheel and white diamond compound.
There you have it, the five easy steps to making a very expensive sign.
One thing for sure, if you are not making sawdust and spraying paint,
you will not learn. Now go out and give it a try!
How I Zero the Z to the Bed
-
December 2007
I bet you are thinking... Why doesn't
Ed just lay the Z zero plate on the bed before he puts the material to
be cut on it? It's quite simple you know!
When I change cutters in the middle of a job, I want to re-zero to the
bed. I cannot do that with the bed covered with the job. So, here is how
I solved that.
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What you are looking at is a 1.5”
diameter aluminum rod about 9” long. It is mounted to the end of my
table and has a wire connected to the bottom and runs to the input #1 in
the control box.
I copied the ShopBot supplied Z zero file to a Custom Cut file and
changed the variable for the Z zero plate to a fixed number 0.00 since
the top of the rod is the same height as the table of the machine. I
also entered the fixed location of the X and Y that I needed the spindle
to go to in order for it to be centered over the rod. Now all I have to
do is run the Custom Cut file and the machine will move over the rod,
run the Z zero routine and pull up to the safe z height. Nothing could
be easier!
But wait! How do I get the surface of the rod exactly the same as the
top of the table you ask? Well, here is how I took care of that. I
created another Custom Cut file that will call the Custom Cut to zero
the cutter to the aluminum rod. Then it will move away from the rod and
prompt me to push the START button. Then it will surface 0.005” off the
top of the rod. Next it changes the spindle speed by using the neat
utility Ryan Patterson wrote. Be sure to look at the ShopBot Labs page
to find the one for your spindle.
http://www.shopbottools.com/shopbot_labs.htm. Then I surface my table
with the same 0.005” depth as I surfaced the rod. Now both the table and
the rod are at the same height. When I lay 4' X 8” material on my
machine and cover the entire table, I can still zero the Z by using the
“ZZR” (Z Zero Rod). Below are a few more pictures of the rod and how it
is mounted. If you can make use of something like this, please improve
on the idea and let us all know.
It's now time to get back to making those Christmas yard cut outs before
it is too late!
Z you later,
Ed
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My First Camp ShopBot
Since my last article in July I hosted my first Camp ShopBot on
September 8th. I had been to a couple of camps and one Jamboree before
so I had an idea of what to expect, but no idea about all that goes on
behind the scenes. Well, let me say that the folks from ShopBot will
help you every step of the way. Bill Palumbo, Bill Young and Ryan
Patterson showed up the day before and were ready to lend a hand doing
anything that needed to be done. The rest of the ShopBot crew that came
were here early on Saturday and pitched in to help me with any detail
that was not completed. Jay Wyant, another ShopBot owner, spent Friday
and Friday night cooking BBQ and all of the fixings for our lunch on
Saturday. Of course, none of this could have been possible without the
folks who showed up for the day. Some got up and spoke while others took
pictures, video and soaked in all of the ideas and knowledge that flowed
from person to person that day. Thank you all for doing your part in the
camp. There are pictures on the
Camp ShopBot Flickr site. One person who never gets brought into the “lime
light” but who is there every step of the way is my wife, Melissa.
Without her, I would have never been able to get to where I am now.
Ed's Vac Stack
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As you may recall from prior articles, I use two Fein Turbo III vacs for
my vacuum source. The Feins are working well for me with one exception:
After a long run, the plastic canisters will start to soften and
implode. This causes the top to deform, thus causing a vacuum leak
between the motor and the canister. I decided to try out a small wooden
box to replace the orange plastic trouble makers. So here is what I did.
I looked at the bottom of the motor and decided I was not going to suck
water with this vacuum, so I didn't need the plastic cone that captures
the float. The purpose of this float is to stop the vacuum from sucking
liquid into the blower if you overfill the canister while picking up
liquid. Four screws and that part was removed. Next I saw a small foam
filter just below the opening in the blower itself. I pulled the foam
filter out to discover that the plastic holder behind it was melted and
deformed. When it does break, it will be sucked into the blower, and I
don't think that will do it any good. So I removed the foam and the
plastic disk behind it. Note: I am NOT suggesting you remove yours. You
should have some filtration between your vacuum blower and the
spoilboard. In my case the plastic part was deformed and I didn't want
it to break off and the blower ingest it causing more trouble.
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Now that I had the motor ready to mount to something, I built a quick
box out of scrap wood. The ShopBot cut a nice hole in the top for the
Fein motor to just sit on. I did add some gasket material where the edge
of the motor will contact the top of the box. I did not used any
hardware to hold the motor in place as gravity seems to be doing a Fein
(pun intended) job.
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Since I have two Feins, I built two boxes. One larger box would have
worked just fine but I am using scraps and testing the setup. The only
problem I encountered was the need to bend over to turn the unit on and
off. They are sitting on the floor! A quick look around and I solved
that by adding the vertical strips to the side of the bottom box and
putting a cleat where the top box could sit.
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Now I have a smaller footprint, two Fein vacuum sources and an on/off
switch that is located at a good height. Now when I run the Feins for
hours at a time, nothing implodes or leaks.
The next thing I need to add to the Vac Stack is a filter between the
vacuum table and the motors to keep any debris out.
You saw the round parts and jigs I was making in the
last article. All of them were made without the help of a CAD/CAM
package. I only used the keyboard and the ShopBot control
software. I am running 3.5.3 which is the current release as of
today, and I find it quite an improvement over the release that shipped
with my machine more than a year ago. The team at ShopBot have
sure kept the “thinking cap” on. Now let’s get started.
I move the machine to the X and Y location that I want to be the center
of the part.
When I type “CP” into the command box in the ShopBot control software I
will get a Fill-In sheet.
“Diameter” is, of course, the diameter of the cut I wish to make.
The “Xcenter” and “Ycenter” boxes can be left blank and the tool will
use the current position. You could enter values here and the tool
will move to that spot and then cut.
“Outside-inside-true.” I will be using the outside because I am
going to cut an 18.5” circle now.
“Direction” will be left at “default.” I could have selected “CW”
or “CCW” for a climb or conventional direction of cut.
“Begin Angle” I have left blank since I am cutting a circle and don’t
care where it starts cutting from.
“End Angle" will also be left blank. This will cause the machine
to cut a circle.
"Plunge." This command is worth making a note about. This
value tells the tool how much to go down on each pass. Sounds
easy, and it is, until you forget to make this value a negative number
and you watch to tool go up on each pass. It is hard to cut
something if the tool goes farther away from the wood each time.
"Repetitions." How many times do you want the tool to go around?
If I had the Z .25” above the surface of my material I wanted to cut,
had the plunge value set to .25” and I wanted to cut through .5”
material, I would need to go 3 repetitions. The first one would go
to the surface and the second one would go .25” into the material and
the third would be .5” deep. There is another way to do this and,
that command is coming up shortly. It is plunge from 0.
"Proportion X and Proportion Y." I wanted the size to be what I
had entered into the diameter box so I left this at “default.” I
could scale up my circle by entering values here.
"No Pull-Up." This command made me think of my old HP 25
calculator that used RPN. This catches me off guard so I always
read it twice and think about it. The box is asking you if you
want to have the Z pull up after the cut is finished. So, “No
Pull-UP” should be “OFF” if you want it to pull up after the cut.
"Plunge from 0." Here you can instruct the tool to go to the
Z-zero position and then start your cut. In my example, I used the
current Z position of .25” above the material and just made three
passes. I could have set this option to “yes” and have done two
repetitions with a -.25” plunge. My example here will take into
account material that is thicker or thinner than the exact .5” since it
starts .25” above the surface.
"Special: Tabbing, Pocketing, & Spiral Plunge." These are pretty
cool features. I use the pocketing and spiral plunge with bottom ones
the most. When I cut wheels for my toys, I use the spiral plunge
with bottom. This causes the Z to go deeper as the tool moves
around the circle. It does not just plunge and go around. I find
this puts less pushing force on the small parts and makes them easier to
hold down. Spindle owners will love this as they don’t want to
plunge the spindle down hard and deep but rather ramp into the cut.
Now, in my opinion, we get to the most important commands of them all.
But you may say, "there are no more blanks in the fill-in sheet!"
And you would be correct. No I am not crazy, but this did drive me
crazy for a while. Do you recall we never told the tool how fast
to move or what size cutter you placed into the collet? Try
cutting an 18.5” disk and allowing the machine to think it has a .5”
cutter in it, while you actually have a .25” cutter in it. And try
that at 10ips. Look to the right side of the fill-in sheet.
There is a scroll bar. Move it all the way down and you will see a
couple of notes.
"Related Commands." You had better go and look at these related
commands because you will not get what you think you will without doing
so. And remember to do this each time you use this command or any
of the others that are built in. They all get the speed and cutter
information from there. I hope in some future release of the
control software there will be either an indication of the bit and speed
or maybe even a fill-in for the cutter and speed.
So by using the “CP” command to cut circles and pockets and the “CR”
command to cut squares, I was able to make my jigs and fixtures as well
as my parts and never open up Corel X3, Vcarve PRO or PartWizard.
I am not saying you don’t need a CAD/CAM package, because you do for
some jobs. They make life easy. All I am saying is go and
explore the power of the control software you have right in front of
you.
Maybe at some future Jamboree there could be a contest centered around
making something without using any software other than the control
software and its built-in commands. Hmm, I might have to suggest that.
Ed
I have had my PRTalpha96 for a little more than year now and am still
learning how to do things and improving techniques I have been using for
a while now. I would like to share with you how and why I have moved
from a full table, four-zone vacuum system to a pretty simple vacuum
system. As you might recall from one of my earlier articles, I was
cutting full sheets of ply for another shop and had some trouble holding
down some of the bowed pieces. I solved most of that problem by adding a
second Fein Turbo III vacuum to double the volume of air that I could
move, but I still had some sheets that needed screws to keep them from
moving. Also you may recall that I make toys and other small parts. The
full table vacuum system has not worked out perfectly for me with the
very small parts I want to cut. With all of that said, here is how I
have made the next step in my trek down the learning path of hold down:
I removed the plumbing from under my machine’s table, as well as the
sheets of ply bolted to it. This left me with a machine without any bed
at all, just the steel cross members. I laid a sheet of .75” ply on the
machine and positioned it so I could move the tool past it in every
direction. Next it was bolted to the cross member exactly as shown in
the ShopBot assembly manual. After this, I surfaced the table to remove
most of the high spots and spread about a half gallon of Tightbond II
over the surface. I placed another sheet of .75” ply on the glue-covered
surface and installed two screws to keep both sheets registered. Next,
lots of weight was placed on top. The next day after removing the weight
and screws, I surfaced the table to be perfectly flat to the tool. A
couple of coats of sanding sealer were applied and sanded after drying.
Now I have a flat and glass-smooth table 1.5” thick.
In order to connect the
vacuum to my table, I cut a hole through the 1.5” ply table that would
allow the hose from the vacuum to fit tight from the bottom.
To use this type of vacuum
setup I will need to create jigs or fixtures so I can focus the vacuum
to the parts I am trying to hold. Pictured here is an example of a
small Brady Vac plenum created from Trupan. This plenum was created by
using the Brady Vac utility available as a download from the ShopBot
Labs web page.
In addition, I make another
type of fixture to hold parts that are either very small or difficult to
hold with the Brady Vac system. The advantage of this fixture is that
all of the vacuum is directed to my part and I get no leaks around the
edges or cutter kerf.
In the case of cutting many
circles measuring 18.5” in diameter with a 1.35” hole in the center, I
found the Brady Vac system worked very well until I ran across a sheet
of .5” ply that had a very pronounced bow to it.
No matter how I tried, I
could not get the vacuum to hold the part down on the Brady Vac plenum.
With the fixture made to hold only this circle, I was able to hold the
same plywood tight and was able to finish cutting this job.
All of this further proved
that there is no right or wrong way to hold your parts. You will have
to evaluate the types of jobs you run on your machine and decide what
method works best for you. I try real hard to not use any screws in any
of my parts. Others have used screws from day one and find it works
just fine for them. Don’t forget to consider the high-vacuum,
low-volume pump that is used with pods or pucks. Now that I have a
nonporous table that is smooth, I will be able to use double-sided pucks
to hold even smaller parts. My shop sits about 550’ above sea level so
I will get better results in my vacuum system than someone at a much
higher elevation.
Be sure to watch for my next
article as I will show you how I did all of the above cutting without
opening any CAD or drawing software! Everything was done from the
ShopBot control software.
Ed
Last month I said I
was going to experiment more with V-bits and tell you what I have
learned. Well, that project is still in the works and I hope to have
information by next month.
The big excitement in the shop for February was upgrading my Porter
Cable router to a 4HP HSD spindle. My reason for doing this was to lower
the noise level in the shop, improve my cutting speed and increase my
quality of cuts. Well I am happy to report the work to make this change
was quick and painless. There were no unexpected things to fix or
problems to work out. It was quite anti-climatic in fact. When I powered
on the VFD for the first time and brought life into the new spindle,
this grand event was heralded only by a quiet whisper of the cooling fan
perched on top of the spindle. No bangs, whirrs, clunks, thuds or
screams. Just peaceful quiet rotational bliss. I can now hear the song
of the stepper motors as my machine munches its way through the day.
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Router |
Spindle |
As well as installing
the spindle, I also added four V rollers to my Z axis like the PRTalpha
machines have. I thought this was going to be a real problem as the nuts
need to be placed on bolts that are way down in the square tube that
makes up the Z axis. This too turned out to be an easy task, as did
getting all eight rollers to line up.
The VFD that ShopBot packages with the HSD spindles will only display
frequency, not RPM. This is no big deal, and with a second or two in
Excel, I had a nice chart to fix to the front of the VFD. Now I don’t
even have to think twice about the frequency to RPM conversion. The
conversion is easy, just take the displayed frequency and multiply it by
the frequency of the commercial power in your shop. That’s 60 Hz for us
U.S. folks and 50 Hz for some other parts of the world. In other words,
if my VFD displays 150 for the frequency I would multiply that by 60 to
get a spindle RPM of 9000. To find out what frequency to set the VFD to
in order to get 11,000 RPM in my shop, I would take 11,000 and divide it
by 60 and get a frequency of 183.3. My chart makes day to day setups
real easy. If you do not have Excel or would rather not make a
spreadsheet to print out, ShopBot has a nice chart in the back of the
instruction book that you can fill in and put on the VFD. The VFD will
display other parameters as well as frequency, and I find showing the
current that the spindle is drawing is a good rule of thumb to indicate
how dull a bit is getting. If you start a job and notice the current
draw with a new bit and then check later after several sheets, you will
find the current is going up. Unlike my router that would just run
slower with the increase load, the VFD will increase current to keep the
spindle running at your desired RPM.
I also requested 1/8”, 1/4”, 3/8” and 1/2” collets for the spindle as
well as extra collet nuts. It is a snap to change collets in the nut but
I chose to use the extra nuts to house the extra collets so I didn’t
have to keep changing them out. Remember that you have to install or
snap the collet into the nut before installing it in the spindle.
Another trick I picked up from the Jamboree last year is the router bit
shank needs to be flush or stick out a little past the inside end of the
collet. In other words, make sure the surface of the collet that
tightens up to the bit does so the full length. This will keep the
collet from getting deformed and causing your bit to break. Now with
that said, be sure the bit is not sticking through so far that it will
bottom against the recess that the collet goes into. There should always
be room between the end of the router bit and the end of the hole where
the collet goes. I found the wrenches supplied to tighten and loosen the
collet nut to be quite easy to use. It’s a funny looking spanner type of
wrench and I find it much simpler to use than the wrenches for my Porter
Cable 7518 router.
When you upgrade to a spindle, remember to warm it up before use after
it has cooled down. The short time it takes to do this will extend the
life of your spindle bearings.
I hope next time I can report on some software and some v carving.
Ed
Happy New Year!
I hope 2006 was a great year
for you and 2007 will be even better.
The two Fein Turbo III
vacuum system I wrote about in the last article got a good testing the
week before Christmas. The largest job I have run to date was
completed on time and brought forward several inefficiencies in my shop.
In running this job I found that a lot of little things which had not
been a source of irritation in the past became much more pronounced.
I’ll go over them and how I solved - or attempted to solve - them.
First, my shop is too small.
Since I will not be adding to it anytime soon, I have to find another
way to overcome this. I have read posts in the past on various
forums about workflow, the triangle and dedicated machines. How
could I put all of this information to good use in my shop? As you
can see from the pictures below, I moved the ShopBot just a little so
there was no longer a 90 degree angle between my sheet goods storage
rack and the machine.
|
Before |
After |
This helped me in pulling
sheets from storage and loading them on the machine as well as taking
parts off of the Shopbot. This 45-degree shift effectively gave me
three times the floor space at the end of the machine.
Second, it takes too long to
cut a sheet of parts. At first glance this might not seem like a
problem if you are charging by the hour, but you only have so many hours
in a day and deadlines have to be met. This job required me to use
a .25” bit as I didn’t have enough room to nest all of the parts and use
a .375” bit like I wanted to so I felt I needed to slow the feed rate
down. This did not help the fact that I have a deadline to meet.
From past experience, I felt that I didn’t have the quantity of .25”
cutters that I would need for this job, either. Can you feel my
stress building? OK, here is what happened – I happened to find
out about a tool manufacturer just 15 miles from me. I thought
that would solve the lack of cutters I had on hand. One quick call
and I learned that they only had three .25” up spiral cutters on the
shelf. They custom make cutters for shops, so they do not stock
them. I got the three cutters, and when the owner learned I was
still new to CNC he moved into tutor mode. I have to say, he
didn’t tell me anything new from what I have been told at ShopBot, the
Jamboree or any of the Camps. For some reason, I just felt that
slowing down the router and speeding up the ips was not the thing to do.
Do you see where this is going? Lesson learned here is pay
attention to the built-in chip load calculator in your ShopBot software.
It is there for a reason. Use it! I ran the router at 10K
RPM and was cutting at 7 to 9 ips, and the machine, cutter and the wood
loved it. No more 3 ips and 20k for me. The bit did not turn
black, not even brown. I didn’t break a single bit and only used
two, not the 10 I expected to use. Please use the chip load charts
and experiment with feeds and speeds. There are a lot of folks on
the ShopBot Forum with answers as well as the folks at ShopBot.
Ask them where to start if you are having trouble.
Can I get better cut
quality? I am using that .25” up spiral bit I got just down the
road and the bottom side of the Maple Ply is fantastic… the top is
chipping out a little. This is not the quality I want to send out.
As simple as this is to fix, in my state of panic to run the job on
time, I missed something simple. You have to remember, I do not
have any special cutters on hand right now and the job has to be run.
I have up spirals and down spirals as well as straight cutters only and
no time to order more. I emailed Brady Watson and asked for his
advice, smart move on my part here. Brady answered and I could
have smacked myself after reading his response….. use a down spiral to
cut into the material and then an up spiral to finish it. Let me
tell you this, the cut quality on this Maple Ply is better than the
factory edge. Again, listen to folks and experiment. I have
to say that changing the bit for each sheet was not a problem and it
went quickly.
I said that I would share
how I solved or attempted to solve my problems above. So far every
problem was solved. Here is the one I am still working on.
Power or torque. My Porter Cable router 7518 is feeling the
increased cut depth and speeds I am now cutting with. It is
working just fine and I am satisfied with performance. I would
like to not hear it bog down when I start a cut and wait for the
electronic speed control to notice it is turning too slow and speed it
up. The noise from the router running at 10K to 13K is not bad.
Faster than that and it is quite loud. My next option is a
spindle. Maybe I’ll be able to cut even faster with one.
The last bottleneck I
encountered was trying to use the ShopBot control computer to do design
work and run the machine. Doing both is possible, but not at the
same time. Remember, I need to get this job run quickly. I
loaded my software on a second computer and was able to draw a sheet
while one was cutting. Easy to solve, if you have the second
computer handy.
From all of this I have
learned that not experimenting and finding the optimum feed, speed and
cutter for a job before the job is due is not smart. Not having a
selection of bits on hand is not bright either. Running the router
too fast and the ips too slow burns up bits, breaks bits and doesn’t
help anything. Asking the folks at ShopBot or posting a question
on the ShopBot Forum will give you access to the vast experience of the
many users that frequent the board. And best of all, I made the
right choice in buying the machine that I did.
I have been experimenting
with v-carving more than usual so next time I plan to share some of my
blunders -er- learning experiences with you on why a 120-degree bit
might be better than a 90-degree bit in some applications. Maybe
even a comment or two on a spindle vs a router, but don’t hold your
breath on that one just yet.
One of the highlights for me
last year was going to John & Doug Roughton's shop located in Kitty
Hawk, NC for a wonderful Camp. Thank you guys for a wonderful fun
and education-filled weekend. I look forward to this camp next
year!!
Folks, if you have not been
to a ShopBot Camp before, you are missing a big opportunity to learn
from others and see how others are doing their work. There is
always something to be gained from sharing your ideas and methods with
others.
Now go and make big
sheets or boards into smaller ones and gain the experience to cut faster
and better with less stress!
Ed
I cannot believe I missed the entire month of
August! That just goes to show you how busy the ShopBot has been this
past month. Now let's get down to what was going on...
After the last article, I moved from using a high
vacuum low volume pump to a single Fein Turbo III shop vacuum. This
vacuum gave me a lot more cubic feet per minute of air flow but at the
cost of much lower vacuum in inches of mercury. I was trying to spread
this vacuum over the entire 4'x8' bed of my machine to boot. The lure of
holding full sheets of 3/4" plywood was just too much for me to resist.
I had to try it.
 |
 |
My first impressions were good, and the holding
power was much more than I expected. I was cutting cabinet parts for
another shop and the job would stay put till I turned off the vacuum.
After cutting several jobs, I got the job that was going to burst my
bubble, put me back at ground zero and cause everything to stop in the
shop... Or at least I thought it would. I received a load of the most
bowed ply I had ever seen. I had used Zebra Wood in the past, but never
Rainbow Wood! Vacuum would not hold this twisted mess no matter how I
pushed or pulled it. Screws was the only way to tame this beast. My
bleeder board is still new and I didn't have a bunch of holes in it so
driving that first screw was like getting that first scratch on your
first brand new car. After getting the job out of the door and surviving
the screw holes I started to think if only I had a little more CFM, I
might be able to get that ply to suck down........
 |
Next comes the second Fein Turbo III and a
"T" installed in the manifold for both vacuums to connect to. I
like the built-in feature on the Turbo III that will switch the
vacuum on when a power tool that is plugged into it is turned
on. With this feature, I connected the second Turbo III to the
first one so I only had to switch one of them on and off. Works
like a charm. Oh, I forgot to let you know that I tried a Sears
Shopvac with the Turbo III before I bought the second one. In
short, the Fein could produce more vacuum than the Sears so as
hard as the Sears might try, the Fein caused the exhaust port on
the Sears to suck air back into the system. In effect, the Sears
was causing a big leak! |
Now that I have all of this air flow, but no more
vacuum as in inches of mercury I am ready to tackle that next load of
Rainbow Ply. Well to date I have not gotten another sheet bowed like the
others so I cannot comment on just how much better things are now with
two Feins under the table. I can say that my cutting boards do hold a
lot better. I am now laying the blanks directly on the spoilboard and
cutting them right there. I learned the hard way that you must keep the
debris cleaned from under the blanks or it will act just like small ball
bearings and cause the blank to move around under the load of the bit.
 |
 |
After a quick visit to Bill Young's shop and seeing
how he uses Baltic Birch to make a vacuum mask with gasketing, I had to
try this for my setup. Let me tell you this, there has never been a
happier ShopBotter anywhere than after I got my first mask with
gasketing up and running! That is so slick and so easy to make, use and
maintain. You have got to try it if you ever want to hold parts tight
with a little vacuum. So you ask, how did I do this? I took a 49" by 60"
1/4" Baltic Birch panel and laid it on the bleeder board (spoilboard) I
made sure the X and Y zero was exactly matched up with the corner, Lower
Left on my machine. I then turned on the two Feins and that sucked the
1/4" ply down real tight. I then created a part file that would only cut
into my 1/4" ply .0625" exactly where my outside profile cut would be
for all my boards. Next I offset to the inside by .75" and cut the
center out, all the way through. After this, I placed AllStar gasketing
material just inside of the first profile cut but keeping it away from
the center cut out. This way I was creating a vacuum chamber under most
of my cutting board blank. I had a few blanks that were made from White
Oak that had worm holes in them and a knot or two thrown off to the
side. They would not suck down to the table and stay put. There were
just too many air leaks in these blanks. With the vacuum mask and
gasketing, these "dogs" stuck so tight I was able to cut them out at
twice the speed I normally cut my boards and they didn't move. In short,
if you don't like screws you will love 1/4" ply (or other materials) and
gasketing coupled with a good vacuum cleaner for holding parts. I have
never had the pleasure to use a Roots Regen Blower so I don't know how
nice that might be, but for this little shop, two Fein Turbo III's and
some AllStar Gasketing will take me far with holding my parts in place!
 |
One other thing I want to say about my cut
quality is that holding parts tight will make a big difference
in the quality of the cut. The other is changing from a .25" bit
to a .375" bit, WOW what a difference. |
Last article I said I was trying out some new design
software and I might say a thing or two about it this time, so here is a
quick update. I am using
V-Carve PRO ver.
3.1 for my design and toolpathing software. I find nothing better for
me, in this price range for making signs and general parts. You owe it
to yourself to at least look at this software package. I have also been
using Corel X3 for more design work and exporting either an .eps or a .dxf
file and importing that into V-Carve PRO. I already had the Corel
package since that is the standard for laser engraver folks. Just today
I designed a plaque in Corel, exported the vectors, cut the plaques on
the Shopbot and then brought the plaque to the laser for engraving.
Till next month, here's wishing you parts held
tight, sharp tooling and good business.
Ed
First Things First - June 2006
Some time ago I noticed the Shopbot ad in a magazine and thought
that something like that would surely help out in doing the
repetitive cutting of some toy parts. Thinking that CNC was way
beyond my little shop, I turned the page and went on to the next
article. As time marched on, the thought of CNC stayed, it would not
go away. I decided to follow my dream and I have put CNC technology
to work in my shop. I encourage my sons to follow their dreams as my
parents encouraged me to follow mine. Following my dream of putting
CNC technology in my small shop has been fun, exciting and not at as
much of a cost as I initially thought it would be. I now have dreams
of products that I could have not even have dreamed of before.
Although CNC will allow me to cut perfect parts and many of them,
this machine will never be able to create without me nor will be
able to hand assemble, sand or finish. The Toymaker is alive and
well, embracing new technology, knowing his place cannot be replaced
with any machine, but using every machine to reach farther and go
beyond limits of hand tools.
After the process of deciding which CNC machine would fit my shop
demands and budget, Shopbot Tools was the winner. Without going into
“sales pitch mode” let’s just say that the support and the business
structure of Shopbot Tools, Inc. with the quality of the PRTAlpha96
won out.
 |
Now that I had a machine on order, I needed to move my entire shop
around to make room for the table as well as establish a new work
flow in my shop. Little did I know at that time I would continue to
refine the placement and flow in my shop for the next several
months. A big advantage for me is I am full time employed and run
the shop on a part time basis. |
Initial Impressions
In late 2005, I made my pilgrimage to Durham, NC to receive my
reward for waiting the required time between placing the order and
having my new Alpha 96 ready to be transported to its new home. I
left early that morning with my oldest son and arrived about an hour
before I was expected. Based on my prior experiences with other
companies, I expected to be pushed aside and told to come back
later. Much to my surprise, we were welcomed, offered something to
drink and a place to sit while someone checked to see if my
equipment was ready for delivery. I was met again with a friendly
smile and told that the X rails for my stand were being unloaded as
we spoke and it would be a little while longer before my machine was
ready to load. I said I would leave and come back later. I then got
my next surprise, I was asked if either of us had any questions or
if there was anything that could be explained to us while we waited!
Did I die? Had I gone to Heaven? I was just not used to this level
of customer service. In fact, my son and I had downloaded the trial
software and had a bit of time to use the software before driving to
the factory, so we did indeed have a question or two. We were having
trouble creating a toolpath for one of the drawings that we had
created. As it turned out, we had open vectors and just needed to
close them. Tim took his time to explain all of this to my son who
picked up on it quite quickly and then my son and Tim tried to
explain this to me. I guess they both saw the deer in the headlights
look I must have had as they both slowed down real slow so I could
keep up with the explanation. Once I understood what we had done
wrong and made sure we were ready to tackle the next phase of our
CNC adventure, Tim introduced us to our next Shopbot Mentor, Norb.
We walked into the shipping area and took a look into an open wooden
crate that was exactly like what our Alpha was sitting in. Norb
explained how it was packed and what to do to unpack it and how to
go about doing so. I didn’t realize just how important this was
going to be to me just a few hours later. Norb then asked where my
truck was and suggested a way to load the machine. This guy put the
Alpha in my truck with the precision of a surgeon. Then after saying
good-bye to folks and hearing, “if you need any help or have
questions just call or email us”, we were off.
 |
 |
Upon arriving at home to our shop, my son and I knew exactly what to
do in order to get the new Alpha out of the box without any trouble
and started that task right away. We had the Alpha out of the box
and all over the shop floor in no time flat! Then my son had to
leave and go about his own affairs, leaving the old man to deal with
the blue steel and wires without any assistance. After a little
reading from the Shopbot Assembly manual I started bolting the beast
together... Alone. Later that evening a cousin stopped by to see
the new machine. It didn’t take any arm twisting to get him to
stay and help with the assembly. In a short while everything was
bolted together, leveled and squared to precision. |
 |
The next step was
electrical. I decided a good night’s sleep was in order before
starting this step.
With sleep and a new day, the electrical section of the Shopbot
Assembly manual was called upon to guide me through the final phases
of bringing my new CNC machine online for the first time. Soon I was
ready to connect the USB cable to my computer and bring this puppy
to life. Can you remember the first time you drove without someone
next to you? I expect it was quite exciting as you were trying out
your new wings on your own. I also expect it was quite scary as you
had no one to assist if something went wrong. I bet you did fine,
and my first drive around the block with my new CNC tool was also
successful.
Thanks to the great folks at Shopbot, I now have new wings and just
need to exercise them and to become familiar with what all this
machine can do for me. |
Learning the CNC Ropes
With the shop running well and the machine installed and cutting
simple things, I am starting to learn just how much I do and do not
know about CAD/CAM. With the Shopbot Camps around the country, I
thought a trip to Ed Conley’s Camp in Marietta, GA would be a good
place to start, indeed it was. If you have never been to a Shopbot
Camp, you owe it to yourself and your knowledge base to attend the
next one close to you. You will meet folks with much more knowledge
than you as well as folks with your level of expertise, no matter
what it might be. One of the first things you will learn is the
family of Shopbot owners are a very wide and diverse group. Second
they are helpful, going the extra mile to help you in every phase of
getting your ideas to designs, your designs to toolpaths, your
toolpaths to holding your parts and the final finishing of the
created parts.
 |
 |
There is just so much knowledge to tap into.
One thing common among all these levels was the willingness to
share and listen to new ways of doing something as well as the
exchange of ideas and products. Ed Conley fed us well and had a
line-up of presenters that kept my left hand cramped from taking
so many notes on everything that was said. Remember, I am new to
all of this and this was my first Camp! |
I also had the pleasure to meet face to face
and shake the hands with people I only knew as screen names on the Shopbot Forum. It sure has made it nice to be able to put a
personality to the writing of those active on the Forum. Ed Conley’s
Camp was just the first door to open for me in getting my business
off the ground and running.
 |
 |
The next stop for me was the Shopbot Jamboree held once a year in
Durham, NC. Home of Shopbot Tools, Inc. The Jamboree is a larger
Camp and is held at both Shopbot’s shop as well as the Hilton. There
were many sessions on topics related to the business, design and
the mechanics of getting the job processed and out the door.
These sessions were designed to allow the novice user as well as
the old salt to garner information and take it back to their
shops to better the process of making their own items. |
I was able to see folks I met
at the earlier Camp in GA as well as the opportunity of meet folks
that I only knew as names from the Internet. And, of course, I met
many new people I didn’t know before the Jamboree. Another trip,
well worth any Shopbot owner to take.
On my trip back home to Virginia from the Jamboree, I had a few
hours to ride some less often traveled roads in North Carolina and
Virginia. This gave me time to reflect on what I had just
experienced at the Jamboree and make plans as to what I wanted to
try next with my machine. This time, as well as with my first Camp
Shopbot, I went with some expectations of what I might learn, but
came away with much more. With the broader scope of what others are
doing with their machines, again I have to remind myself to focus on
a direction, stop changing my mind as to what I am going to make
with this CNC machine.
What to Do If Your Full Time Job Keeps You from Working in the Shop
Let me say up front that I am not giving advice to you or anyone
here. I am only relaying what works or does not work for me, in my
shop, at this time. All subject to change... And probably will.
With a request for a cutting board from my wife, I decided to make
it on the Shopbot. It would be a good project to get my feet wet in
making something else. I decided to experiment with vacuum hold down
on this job. Not having a fancy Roots blower but having a high
vacuum low volume pump I use for the wood lathe, I decided to try
making a “pod” or “puck” to hold my cutting board. As with most new
processes, I had a couple of false starts, things that didn’t work
and a hold up or two for parts that I wanted to try but didn’t have
on the shelf.
 |
 |
After reading and posting on the Shopbot
Forum, I was off and cutting my first cutting board. I had
settled on making a small vacuum plenum from solid surface
counter top material and using gasket material around it. On
top, I would lay a piece of 1/8” Plexiglas and gasket the top,
drill a hole in the middle and place my wooden blank on top of
the jig. |
 |
After opening the valve to the
vacuum pump the wood on top was held in place nicely and I was able
to make my cut. Now that I have the solid surface material in place,
I can simply change the Plexiglas mask to any shape I want and
instantly I can cut another shape or part using the high vacuum
setup. Over the next few days I cut many cutting boards and, quite
frankly, seemed to have no trouble selling all I make. |
So you ask, what does this cutting board and vacuum pump have to do
with the title “What to Do If Your Full Time Job Keeps You from
Working in the Shop”. For me it was to leave the full time job!
That’s right, leave a nice 40 hour a week inside job that has
benefits, paid vacation and retirement to work in a dusty shop lots
more hours than 40 with no sick days or paid vacation time.
It has been a month now and more business is finding its way to my
door each day. So for me, Shopbot was not the only reason I could
leave the full time job, but it plays a big part in this becoming a
reality. Thanks Shopbot!
Next month I will update you on how things are going in the shop as
well as how my next generation vacuum table is working. I am also
learning new software, so expect a comment or two on it as well.
Be safe in your shop! Ed
