Haven’t posted in a while, but do have a few updates. X & Y are all set up and working correctly. This was not quite as simple as it could have been, since my X-axis motor was missing a mounting plate. To remedy, I laser cut a hole template, marked hole centers on a square plate of 6061…
…bored out the center hole for the motor shaft…
…and drilled the rest, tapping where required.
Simple project that turned out fine.
With X & Y now under CNC control, I won’t need to use the laser template method for such things: I can use Intercon.
Of course, Intercon or gcode is much easier if you can set part zero quickly and accurately, so I bought a passive probe—the Hallmark ITTP—sold by Cliff Hallmark, a one-man operation out of New Zealand. This probe’s differentiator is that it is tolerant of unintended impacts — they won’t harm the probe (within reason; ITTP stands for Impact Tolerant Touch Probe). Not cheap, but reviews have been good and I like supporting the little guy, so I pulled the trigger. It arrived to my house in California in just four days.
To keep the probe’s internal electro-conductive gel in place, it is meant to be stored upright. Drilling a hole in a piece of scrap wood would have been the quick and easy option here, but the probe's final resting place next to my mill will land it in the "chip zone", so I wanted a cover in addition to a stand. Here is my solution, aided by a 3D printer and a laser cutter. What the photo doesn't show are the four rare-earth magnets press fit into the bottom of the base to keep it in place as the probe is removed and replaced.
I upgraded my free CNC12 software to Digitizing version to get the complete set of probing cycles. Installed the license, wired the probe to input 7 and common, and was soon probing away! I’ve got no probe detect circuit, so I can’t take advantage of CNC12’s probe protect features, but it’s an impact tolerant probe, so as long as I don’t turn the spindle on, I think I’ll be OK. You might be thinking I can’t use all of the probe routines on a two axis machine. Well, once you get familiar with them, you can manually raise and lower the quill during what should be a Z up/down move. Takes some attention, but it works.
I also ordered a CWP-4 MPG pendant and got that installed and working, too. I didn’t hit the issue others have reported with the MPG not working after unplugging a probe, simply because I keep my probe plugged in. I was a little taken aback thinking my VCP was “broken” with the MPG on, since it seems stuck in Turtle mode, but this was just me not thinking clearly: When the MPG is active, it determines speed, not the VCP, which makes sense, since a change on VCP can’t physically move the switches on the pendant (cnckeith mentions this elsewhere in the forum, too).
Another small change: I wasn’t happy with the plastic housing for the estop and manual/CNC selector, so I transferred the switches to a more rugged and official looking aluminum housing. Probably won’t make any practical difference, but I feel better about mashing the big red button on this set-up over the plastic one.
Still haven’t gotten my VFD under Acorn control, so that’s still on the short list. However, this weekend I spent most of my time wiring up a drive and motor for the Z-axis. Yep, more than three months later, I finally took delivery of an Elrod Machine Z kit (now sold by Servo Products). Apparently they were out of ball screws(?).
Future updates will chronicle Z-axis fun…