Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Took my time doing it but it was well worth it. Works like a brand new machine. I never knew how accurate my shopbot could be. This was so much fun I think I will do my other 'Bot (a Desktop) just for the fun of it.

Nice job Tom... but you know all those ShopBotters want to see it run with those ClearPath servos!!!!

Yep, inquiring eyes want to see!

Well it's going to be a silent movie! The Clearpath servos are spooky quiet compared to what I am used to. I have not had the nerve yet to see just how fast they would run, I have them set up for a max speed of 160 IPM. I cut a piece out of 3/4 plywood yesterday at 10,000 RPM and 130 IPM and it felt like could push to up to 150 IPM without too much problem. What the surprise is here is that the machine is much more accurate than it was before. I have always though that I was getting about what a small machine could produce but that apparently was not true. Habitually I would specify undersized holes and then run a reamer or drill through them to get the proper size. Sure don't need that any more, and guess what - the holes are really round!

Way to go. What a nice conversion. Centroid control is leaps and bounds better than the antiquated control system it replaces on these machines. I sure wouldn't go back to the comm errors, etc, etc...

Since someone asked here is a quick video of the machine in operation

Tom...
To use the forum's YouTube imbed feature you need to paste and select ONLY the filename, then press the YouTube button

Like this: C63XLxzb9RE


Either the video is not there or the link is bad

<<<< km adds...now you can directly past youtube links and they automatically embed! 9-19-19>>

Thanks Gary, I edited the post.

Nice!!! (I haven’t messed with those motors you sent me yet)

On a related note...
I finally got some affirmation on updating my old prt with the acorn setup.
I do ada signs for a couple property management company in town here. In the past, I’ve always had to farm out the Rowmark lettering to a laser cutter because the shopbot just couldn’t cut the 5/8” tall letters cleanly no matter how hard I tried. The curves on the letters, when I did it were always choppy and messy.

This week I got an order for one and when I called my laser guy, he said he was out of town to help his dad with a medical emergency and he’ll be back Friday hopefully.

Well Friday after work I’m leaving town for a week to take the youngest one to Orlando and Wally World...

So I decided to see if my investment in the new acorn based control box was worth it.

I’m very happy to say that after some toolpath tweaking and experimenting I had fantastic results with the lettering.

Tomorrow night I’ll do the lettering and Braille on the actual sign, and get it to them before I leave town. I’ll try to post up some pics, but it might be the weekend before I can find the time.

I’m looking at my gantry and z-axis now to see where I can make improvements. If I get those two items updated, I may just have a go at another control box and get some of those sweet clearpath motors.

Looks great Tom!

I little conservative though, need to crank that thing up a bit! Tool wasn't the sharpest one in the box, so a little singing going on.