thanks dennis.....that means alot coming from you, since i think your phaltprinter is the best to me....you also gave me some of the best mods....thanks, bud....as far as the dumpster cnc stuff, its top shelf...the coupler is half shaft, and half screw thread. the fit is so, so perfect. being a machinist, im a pickey sob, and it excedes my expectations. randy.

 

fellas, just got my new steppers today.....they will be installed asap.....nice looking hardware. nice round shaft with no flat.....ther perfect for the dumpster cnc couplers. will install and report rapids with new motors...randy.

 

Those look nice. Good price too. Hope you get great results! If you do I'm gonna get some of them.

 

yea 3-d, ther the same ones i got on my y-axis.....and i can get over 70ipm feeds, with a out of line screw.....one of the reasons i tore the machine down.....i made it so i can adjust the motor with the side panel on. after i tweak the linear rods in, then i can line the screw up. before i had to do backwards. line up screw, install side then tweak rods.....when you do that ya throw the screw out...wile i had tore down, figured i might as well work the sucker over, with a z-axis acme screw also, and new x-axis stepper. all 3 motors are 175in. oz. here is a link if your interested. in the description they show a double shaft...but its not, a single like in my photo.randy.
http://stepper3.com/shop/stepper3-ozin-wire-aphase-p-83.html

 

hello agian fellas.....got my printer all worked over....reset the control board to 2.5v the stepper volt specs....as of now i am getting......with 1/4 steps on all axis.

X-axis = 70ipm
Y-axis = 70ipm
Z-axis = 40ipm

now, the printer runs how i want it to.....no waitin on the z-axis now. i will break the machine in agian, on my sisters christmas decorations she wants.....mark, she seen your snow flake.....thanks bro.....lmao. that should give the printer a good work out. then i will tweak it some more. might try 1/2 steps.....but machine seems fast now. randy.

 

Hey Randy,
I noticed the steppers are 2.8 amps/phase. The easy-cnc board shows a max of 2.4 amps/phase. Did you do something to make sure your not over amping the board?
I would think those chips would be getting really hot.

Thanks,
Shaun

 

no shawn. kept a eye on the temp with my little temp gun...same as before temp wise. also i got my fan cooler going on the board, been dry runnin marks snow flake program like 10 times now....seems solid, no worries here. randy.

 

HA they just took them off sale. Bummer.
I'm still concerned about the 2.8 amp per phase though. I guess if your temps are good then your probably safe.

 

yea 3-d runnin the snow flake non stop for the last hour and a half...no trobs....im gonna nick name it my ferrari...., lols. man i thout it ran good before....way, way better....

 

Ok after reading the easy-cnc manaul a little better, it looks like the max amps the board will put out is 2.5 amps/phase. I was originally thinking that was what it could handle.

So Randy does this mean you vref setting is as high as it can go? The way the manaul sounds it seems like it would be.

 

3-d im a little dicey on how to really set....i used my volt meter and set to 2.5volt. is that rite?. im really weak with the electric stuff. randy.

 

Oh man, I bet you could get even faster speeds if that is what you did.
The 2.5 setting was for the stepper motors that easy-cnc supplies with the board.

Vref = 2 x (the desired current)
So in your case your steppers are 2.8 amps per phase. This would be a vref setting of 5.6v on your volt meter, but the board will only go to 5v which will give 2.5 amps/phase.
This explains why your chips are not running hot. The manaul recommends lowering the vref setting if you don't need the full output anyway(keeps things running cool).

70 ipm is very impressive with that setting then :mrgreen: .

 

well heck 3-d, i suppose i am doing this all wrong....i will mess with and keep a eye on the temps and see what i can come up with. thanks man peace, randy.

 

ok fellas...i messed around with the steps, voltages, and it seems to like 1/4 steps are the best. the motors are rated for 2.5volt and they work the best at that voltage. my final travels are.....

X = 70ipm
Y = 70ipm
Z = 40ipm

it will run marks snowflake program in exactly 15 mins. i figured it as being a good benchmark, as the program seems like a long one.....i was gonna build a spiffy bench for it, but to be honest, im lazy and im tired of building rite now....i wanna start cutting.....so i just bought a ghetto black and decker clamp bench thing at lowes i seen for $80 bucks....it will have to do. now that i got the machine tweaked how i want it, it found its new home in my work shop. i call it the dungeon, but its were all my projects get started....just like the phlatty....after i make this post, its shower time, and a trip back to lowes for a bundle of the foam, so i can get my foam table supports cut...... mark if this bastage wasent so heavy, i would bring to toledo to help show off your product. that brings to mind some hand slots on the side for carring, lols. ok, i said it before, but i will say it agian, i think my phlatprinter is completed, lmao....yea rite....randy.

thinkin about of gettin that old scroll saw outta ther....lols.

phlatprinter made it home to my workshop....

 

WOW what a beauty!.. and super fast as well! Nice work Randy thank you for posting this.
MnT

 

thanks mark, dennis....started on the table supports. wanted to use 1/2in thick foam, so i just made up a drawing. the cuts were made with X and Y set to 30ipm, and the Z set to 40ipm. the dremel was set to half speed. this is the first side, gonna use for the back. i will add phlatboyz.com for the front table. have to get more red paint now, lols. randy.

 

got the back table on.. reinforced with a thin piece of ply....found a piece of 1/8in mohogany and used a hole saw for some washers....drilled and tapped 10-32 mounting holes....this will help in cutting the front one, lols. randy.

 

Thats cool Randy
I have never tried to tab anything that was 1/2" in a design.. Really cool
Mark

 

got the front cut....gonna stick the top piece back and see if i can do some text.....hope i dont mess it up...hey mark, man ya gotta offer a optional shelf for your phlatprinter.....incorporate the mounting holes in your design. randy.
almose done....

front completed...

 

bad news fellas....after i cut the front shelf, i went to cut marks phlatboyz.com on it, and the y-axis motor is gone...tested the controller with a different motor, and its fine. guess the motor just went, man i donno. got a 285oz coming for the replacement. be here in a couple days. randy.

 

yoram, no it was not one of the orginals, it was one of my upgraded ones....randy.

 

fellas, i think this is my best mod yet.....when i was cutting out my table support, i had to hold the foam up on one end or the other...twards the end of the cut i got tired of supporting the foam and said heck with it....anyhow the first table got skewed, and i had a slight mis match. not enough to not use the table, but i seen it...... with the back table mounted, i cut the front, just had to support the foam in the front, the cut came out perfect.....then i was reading a post were someone filled the pressure roller with sand to get more weight, as to keep foam from shifting on the feed roller. i decited to make a spring loaded pressure roller. went to the local hardware store and got some aluminum. i had some delrin material laying at work. to keep the clearance in the square for the spring, i decited to jb-weld the side angle pieces on. also i designed the delrin bushings to rotate in the square tubing, as to not have any binding and ease the install. i wanted the roller to maintain the free floating design mark had built. the photos speak for themselfs. also ther is a small video showing how my mod works. also i will have to install two top lid latches so the springs will maintain pressure to the roller. i will update when its complete. this is a very easy mod to build. actually i wanted to cut it outta thin ply on the phlatprinter, but its down rite now with a bad y-axis chip. so i keep busy modding, wile i wait on new part. randy.



wanted to maintain marks floating roller design