Build Thread Mach3 to Acorn

[Leo Voisine]

Thank you, I believe that is what I was looking for. The macro programming is what I am thinking of. I will play around with that.


Gary - beautiful - I was looking at some 24v air solonoids.

I do have some A/C 110v solonoids but I will add switches to my control panel for my machine for those.

[ShawnM]

I also like to only run 24v through the output relays but I have run 220v AC through them many times when I used to use water cooled spindles and used the output to run the water pump. They operate just fine with AC or DC but what ever you are comfortable with.

[Leo Voisine]

Shawn - I love that.

I am definately going to do that, but I already have some 24v solonoids around somewhere. I just feel more confident with that.

[Leo Voisine]

I have worked in industry as a manufacturing engineer primarily with CNC machines of all sorts for over 40 years. I have loved every minute of it. (I hated every minute of the political side.) I am on my 3-rd hobby cnc router at home and made some decent money with them. I am still fascinated at the ability of cnc and with some artistic talent the possibilities are endless. I have always been impressed in what manufacturers and users have done in industry. I have been to lots of tool and machine shows, machine manufacturers, worked in several impressive manufacturing companies and seen a lot of industriel creativity.

To that end I have always wanted to further explore more possibilities. Sure I want to make stuff - Cool Stuff - but hey what about the machine as well. Dials - Knobs - Switches - Gages. Kinda Steam Punk - somewhat functional - base cnc router well tuned - don't need everything to make sense - but COOL - really cool.

I have done a fair bit of Macro Gcode programming in industry. I programmed a 12 Axis Maier cnc lathe to make a family of parts in a dial indicator (Mahr Federal Procucts) to make over 100 variants of a particular part that go into a drop indicator. I have done several other machines and families of parts as well. I did a twin spindle twin table Onsrud router to probe and locate a fixture offset and reset coords based on some input data.

While I don't run production any longer as I am retired, I do still have the passion.

Soooo - as I ask questions here on this forum, my outlook is towards the coolness of what can be created.

I am getting giddy and excited as I learn more about this American Acorn. The possibilities are incredible.

Dials, Knobs, switches, lights. I call my machine Osprey. I have a full 3D model of an osprey bird that I want to someday make and paint to mount on top of my "Z" zxix. How cool would it be. Make a program with lights, sound, and make the wings move up and down. Hence "some" of my questions about outputs.

I am learning. I am excited. I see the creative possibilities.

I am pretty sure it is Gary that pointed me to Acorn - wow - thank you Gary.

[suntravel]

Right on, your history is similar to mine

Good choice to crap mach and go on with Centroid. Industrial performance on a DIY price tag and highly customizable, depending on your programing skills....

Uwe

[Leo Voisine]

I am sorry, but I am excited. I have been wanting this for many years.

I was just playing around with the macros and with the outputs and a string of LEDs

May seem like a small thing to most of you but it's BIG to me.

I was able to turn on and off the LED strip with M codes M61 and M81
Whoooo Hoooooo

Love it

[ShawnM]

I am sorry, but I am excited. I have been wanting this for many years.

I was just playing around with the macros and with the outputs and a string of LEDs

May seem like a small thing to most of you but it's BIG to me.

I was able to turn on and off the LED strip with M codes M61 and M81
Whoooo Hoooooo

Love it

We've all been there Leo. I remember the feeling when I made my first part. I thought "this cnc is the coolest thing ever".

[suntravel]

I am sorry, but I am excited. I have been wanting this for many years.

I was just playing around with the macros and with the outputs and a string of LEDs

May seem like a small thing to most of you but it's BIG to me.

I was able to turn on and off the LED strip with M codes M61 and M81
Whoooo Hoooooo

Love it

We've all been there Leo. I remember the feeling when I made my first part. I thought "this cnc is the coolest thing ever".

Same here, but even after working with industrial CNC for a long time, the first part from a DIY CNC is something very special.

Uwe

[ShawnM]

I am sorry, but I am excited. I have been wanting this for many years.

I was just playing around with the macros and with the outputs and a string of LEDs

May seem like a small thing to most of you but it's BIG to me.

I was able to turn on and off the LED strip with M codes M61 and M81
Whoooo Hoooooo

Love it

We've all been there Leo. I remember the feeling when I made my first part. I thought "this cnc is the coolest thing ever".

Same here, but even after working with industrial CNC for a long time, the first part from a DIY CNC is something very special.

Uwe

Without a doubt the DIY CNC is special. I started on a small, Chinese router retrofit to Acorn about 6 years ago and loved it. After I cut my first part I wanted to show it to everyone I could and say "I made this in my garage". It's still exciting today.

I'm a die hard Centroid user because of the products and support team and wouldn't consider ANYTHING else, unless there's a controller that doesn't make me press cycle start twice.

[Leo Voisine]

I am currently on my 3-rd home cnc machine. I have several hundreds of things and made a fair amount of money. One sign was 10 feet wide by 8 feet tall with a banner 10 feet wide and 2 feet tall above that. It was double sided. So, my first part will be just another part.

I am excited about the nitty gritty going on inside the cabinet. I have never done that stuff before. I have always kept my grubby fingers out of the electronics. This is cool stuff. I am having fun with it.