Fine Tuning My Solsylva CNC Machine With New Upgrades

Now that the CNC enclosure is completed the task for today was to get my Solsylva CNC machine up and running again.  If you have not been following the blog in some time I will get you caught up now.  While I was in the process of building the enclosure for the CNC machine I was also planning new upgrades to the machine itself.  What I did was to make the machine taller by 3 1/2" to have more travel in the vertical axis.  This would allow for the cutting of thicker pieces.  I also modified how the top guide tubes were mounted to the horizontal 2 x 4's.  

In the original design the tubes were mounted using threaded rod that mounted to the guide tubes and then were slid into holes in the 2 x 4's and each hole then had a recessed pocket at the bottom side.  This made it more than just a little difficult to zero the table out so that you would end up with a flat surface to mill on.  

With my new modifications I kept the idea of the threaded rod for the guide tubes but made them longer.  5 1/2 inches long to be exact. This allowed me to add an additional nut to the under side of the pipe and eliminate the recessed pocket at the bottom of the 2 x 4's.  I then could rotate the second nut under the pipe to raise or lower it to adjust for a zero reading on the cutting table. Once the correct height has been reached I lock it down with a lower nut and lock washer on the bottom of the 2 x 4's.

Using this little gauge I was able to zero out the table top in what ever location that I wanted.  

Normally this gauge would be used on an all steel CNC machine.  But being as mine is mostly wood I added a little jumper wire so the when the cutting bit touched the spring loaded top button it would light up.  From Mach3 CNC software I then told the computer that at this point make the "Z" axis (the vertical axis) be a reading of 0.000.  I then moved the gauge to the next location I wanted to check and compared the difference in the reading from the computer.  With the additional nuts that I had installed it was only a matter of turning the nut clockwise or counter clockwise to raise or lower that portion of the upper tubes. The gantry (which rides on the guide tubes) also raises or lowers. After doing this process in a half dozen places on the table I am happy to say I now have a level table top. Or should I say have the gantry parallel to the table. This is done so that when you cut or engrave a part it will all be cut at the same depth no matter where the bit is cutting. 

These parts are the original leadscrew gantry arms that also needed to be modified for the improvements I made on the CNC machine.

These gantry arms attach to the leadscrews and move the gantry along the "X" axis on the machine when the leadscrews are rotated by the stepper in the rear of the machine.

 I increased the length of these arms by 3/8ths of an inch.  This had to be done because of the additional adjustment nut that I installed under the guide tubes ended up raising the gantry and the original parts no longer would mount to the machine.  Once these  parts were remade to the new size the machine was set up correctly and ready for use once again. 

Now with the computer desk along side it's just a matter of loading up the files of the parts that I want to cut on the CNC machine and make them.  I also did a sound check with the new enclosure.  I put a decibel meter to the machine. The sound level with the doors open and the router running full tilt the meter read 100 decibels.  With the doors closed the sound decreased to 87 decibels.  To put this into perspective an automobile reads 80 db at 25 feet away and 90 db for a motorcycle 30 feet away.  A diesel truck at 30 feet away will read 100 db.  So it a good thing to have the sound deadening foam in the new CNC machine.

  The last thing I need to do yet on the CNC machine is to make sure  that the gantry is aligned from side to side so that when you cut a square part it will be square when you put a gauge to it.  Just a matter of doing a few test cuts and tweaking the gantry so both sides match.  So I am very close to getting the machine dialed in once again. Like having an old friend back in the shop and ready to work at a moments notice.

Finishing Touches On The CNC Machine Enclosure

The last couple of days I have been varnishing the CNC enclosure part by part.  Eight doors, enclosure frame, enclosure stand, and enclosure top.  Lots of dismantling, varnishing, and reassembly.  This alone has been quite an undertaking with all of the varnishing to be done.  I ended up using almost a half gallon of polyurethane on the assembly but it has been worth the effort along with all the other details that you will see here.

After all the varnish had dried I installed the sound deadening foam.  Here is a good shot of just a small piece of the foam.  Installing the 33 square feet of foam into the doors and top panel turned out to be the simplest thing to do in this project.  I simply laid out the one foot squares where I could and then cut smaller pieces with a scissors where they were needed to fill the smaller voids.  Once a door was set up with the foam I pulled all the pieces out and then sprayed in contact cement on the door and the foam parts. After a couple of minutes the glue had become tacky and it was just a matter of putting the foam back into it original location. Fast and easy just the way I like it.

Here is a  couple of good shots of the enclosure top panel with the foam installed along with the electrical lighting that I found was needed in the enclosure. I was able to install and wire the lights on the work table and test them out before putting the enclosure top into place. I simply had to remove the light bulbs and lift the top into place with the fixtures already in place. This took a little effort to do as this top panel is large and heavy.

Here is a photo of the enclosure once again assembled without any additional lighting. The first thing that I noticed with the enclosure was the shadow below the router.  Not a good thing as it would always block the view of the bit cutting parts.  Also the enclosure as I suspected became much darker because of the charcoal gray sound deadening foam.  This was not a surprise.

Now with the lights installed into the enclosure it is much brighter and easier to see the work table for cutting or engraving parts.  The shadow that was below the router head now is gone.  A big improvement.  The close up photo is what you will see looking through one of the front windows when milling parts.  A nice view!

This is a good shot of the enclosure closed and lit up with the new lights.  I installed four 60 watt florescent bulbs which turned out to be more than enough lighting for the project.  Each of the lights are wired together so all are lit at one time.  The power cord plugs into a power strip for the machine and it all comes to life once a switch on the power strip is tripped.

  The CNC machine now in the enclosure is a tight fit to be sure.  But I can already notice a sound difference in the enclosure just by sticking my head in to it to make adjustments to the machine.  I will put a sound meter inside and out once I get the CNC up and running again to find out how much the sound has changed because of the enclosure itself and the sound deadening foam. Should be interesting to see what kind of a difference it will make. 

  With the enclosure ready to be used with the CNC machine I will next put my efforts into completing the plans that are 90% done so that I can get them out on the plans page here.  I'll put together a post just as soon as they are ready.  

  One last thing.  The enclosure should stand up to almost anything I can throw at it.  This thing is heavy.  I thank my lucky stars that I put casters on the enclosure.  Even with them it takes a bit of effort to move it around the shop.  Luckily this is something that I will not have to do on a daily basis.  No matter what this addition to the shop will be a great to use with the CNC machine.  Enjoy the photos.

Always Expect To Make Revisions With Your Projects

This week has taught me that there is never a time when a project is ever really completed.  Point in case is the CNC Computer Desk that I thought was ready to use four months back when I put the last coat of paint on it. I was wrong.

  I was sure that it was exactly what I needed until yesterday. The desk will be used for my newly redesigned CNC machine and it's enclosure.  With the PC tower placed on the lower platform of the CNC enclosure stand I am not able to plug the monitor into it. The cable to connect the monitor is way to short to reach.  So a revision to the desk needed to be made.

The simplest thing to do is to have the tower inside the desk with the addition of a new lower deck and a 2 x 4 brace to support it.

The lower platform only took about twenty minutes to add to the computer desk and now gives the computer tower a great place to be stored along with anything else that needs a place to be stored.  It also solves the problem with being able to connect the computer to the CNC machine and the monitor at the same time.  An additional plus to the upgrade is the fact that I can now unplug the computer desk easily from the CNC machine and move the desk out of the workshop when I am not using it.  

  So I learned another lesson today.  Never say any project is completed until you plug it in, power it up, and play with it a while. Even then you just never know what changes can or will be needed to make it better.  Moral of the story.... keep an open mind when it comes to your projects and ideas.  I know from now on I will here at The Tinker's Workshop.

The CNC Machine Is Coming Together Once Again

With half way decent weather today I was able to make a big push on the varnishing that needed to be done on the newly constructed CNC machine enclosure.  I removed all of the doors and the top of the enclosure and moved these parts to my garage where the varnishing will continue over the next few days (dry weather permitting) until they are ready to be reassembled on to the enclosure frame.  While these parts were drying today after having already put several coats of varnish on them, I got my CNC machine installed into the new enclosure.  Here is what it looks like.

The enclosure frame and base that you see here have already been varnished and so now was a good time to put my Solsylva CNC machine finally into it's new home.  As you can see it fills the open cavity of the enclosure with little room to spare.  I had to double check that all of the stepper motors, gantries, and wires would not bump or snag anything while running.  So far everything has still got the green light to look like it will all work properly.

The CNC machine is resting on four rubber pads that I made from a one inch thick rubber tile that I found at the local hardware store.  I cut the tile down to make four six inch squares to keep the machine off of the platform and hopefully reduce the vibration and ensuing noise that can come from it. 

Here's a good shot of the right side of the machine and the wiring that needed to be routed to the computer that will run it.  I gave myself a good sized opening mainly because of the fittings on the end of the wiring that need to be plugged into the computer are rather large.  They slid through this opening with ease.  Both of these wires are for two of the three stepper motors that make the CNC machine move in different directions.  

I was more than happy to have the doors off of the enclosure while putting the CNC machine into it.  The machine base is 38" wide and the opening on any side is 43" wide so there was not a ton of space to guide the base into the enclosure but enough to get the job done without fancy foot work to get there.   The cord hanging down on this side of the machine is the power cord that runs to the router itself.  It also had to be routed through a bottom hole in the base of the enclosure. I'll have to make sure all of my connections can be made without to much trouble also.  You can also see in the photo two orange rods that stand vertically at the top of the CNC machine.  These rods hold up the wires for the top stepper motor and the router so that they do not drag on the parts that are being engraved or cut while running the machine.  This is the reason why the enclosure is as tall as it is. 

  It's a good feeling to be finally looking at the end of this project.  But there is a lot of little things that need to be done to get my CNC back up and running again.  It's been over eight months since I last used it so I will have to relearn how to make it work when I get to fire it up once again.  I also will be able to put the sound deadening foam in the inside of the enclosure and see if I will need any extra lighting too.  But even without the doors on the enclosure it's already pretty impressive just to look at.  Another good day at The Tinker's Workshop!

Upgrades To My CNC Machine For The New Enclosure

Progressing is being made on the CNC machine and enclosure project that I have been working on over the past weeks.  Today in the shop I was able to put together the upgraded Solsylva CNC machine that I use.  With the newly constructed enclosure I have had to upgrade the CNC machine so that it will work inside it.  

Here is a photo of the original Solyslva machine or at least the base assembly of the machine.  This is what needed to be updated.  The original machine that you see here has a slotted table which works OK as long as you can slide a large washered bolt up through the table so that a clamp can be mounted to the top portion of it to hold down the part you are trying to make.  This simply will not work in the new enclosure.  Just no way to come up from the bottom of the CNC machine.  

Another change that I have wanted to make on the CNC machine was the fact that there seemed to be very little travel in the Z axis (vertical) when I wanted to make parts.  Once I put a sacrifice piece of wood on to the table and then add a one inch piece of material to be milled I only ended up with about a half inch of free travel. Not a good idea. So the travel in the Z axis for the new machine has been upgraded to be 3.5 inches taller.  The horizontal tubes on the top of the base were also modified so that leveling adjustments could be made easier.  The original design was a pain to say the least when trying to zero out the table to make it level on all corners for perfect cutting of parts.  I changed the bolt lengths that hold these upper tubes so that they could be adjusted either up or down to find the correct height anywhere on the table top. Just a matter of a few turns of a wrench. 

I was able to save a lot of parts from the original design.  I then painted any new parts and added a new 1/2 inch piece of plywood to the frame. 

To this plywood deck I then spaced out 1 x 4's that were trimmed down so that aluminum eight 32" Incra miter t-slot tracks could be mounted between them.   These parts were far from being inexpensive but I had no choice to spend the money for them to make the CNC machine work with the new enclosure. Being that the tracks were exactly 32" long was a big plus for me so that I did not have to fuss with them to make them work. 

The parts were then screwed down to the plywood deck and the frame for a nice clean look that will work perfectly in the new enclosure.  I really like the look of the gold slots with the blue and white table top.

The clamps that I had been using with my CNC machine no longer would work with the new design.  Again because there was no slot to go through.  Just the new t-slot. To correct this I designed new base adapters that I made with my 3D printer and would work with the clamps and the t-slot.  

The new modified clamps work perfectly with the t-slot table and are just an upside down carriage bolt which a twist knob and clamp bar are attached to.  This will hold the part to be milled down securely and be much faster to set up the machine than trying to fish it through a slotted table from the bottom. 

  With this done I'm now able to get the assembly off of my work table for a little while and take the CNC machine enclosure apart again so that I can start varnishing it inside an out.  I'll post more photos once this is done and I install the CNC machine into the enclosure and get it set up for the first time.