Reefdaddy1
Reef Geek Jedi
Parallel ports can be had at Best buy for about 5 bucks, Plug it in and go. Or wont that work?
Or give me your addy in PM I have tons.
Or give me your addy in PM I have tons.
CNC for acrylic projects
- Thread starter DonW
- Start date
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DonW
R.I.P.
All we own is laptops. I do have a OLD desk machine that I can upgrade or use for parts to finish off a bare bones machine. I might stop by a used computer place to see what they have.
Don
:lol: :lol: :lol:
And people say upgrading from a desktop to a laptop is a GOOD thing! (Guess they were wrong!)
I guess the price figured to build one of these, assumes you dont have to go buy a dedicated machine huh???
Reefdaddy1
Reef Geek Jedi
That what I use for my tank Don, An old E machine , Like 600 Mhz, its in network but runs Aquanotes just fine.
pista01
Member
With old PCs and CNC, you just have to be careful that the PC/OS can keep up with the interrupt rate of the stepper motor driver. Otherwise, it will result in the motor skipping steps. Have to shut down all the non-essential Windows services as well.
Last edited:
DonW
R.I.P.
I decided the best option was to use the space in the back of the machine for electronics. I think (havent measured) I can fit a shelf that I can mount boards. If there is enough room I can use a cheapo micro atx motherboard, HDD, chopper drives and break out board. It seams like a pc supply and the cnc supply may also fit but again I need to do some measuring.
Don
DonW
R.I.P.
Ok so here is what I actually ended up with.
I have a old cash register that has a nice metal box for the drawer. I should be able to stuff everthing except for the power supplies in the box.
Xylotex 3 axis driver board
Xylotex 24v power supply and fan
282 in/oz stepper motors
Micro Atx all in one mother board
2g memory
80g hard drive
usb cd drive just to load the hard drive
Rubber bendable indestructable keyboard
Microsoft blue tooth mouse with wheel
usb wireless network adapter
Should have this thing cutting early next week.
I have a old cash register that has a nice metal box for the drawer. I should be able to stuff everthing except for the power supplies in the box.
Xylotex 3 axis driver board
Xylotex 24v power supply and fan
282 in/oz stepper motors
Micro Atx all in one mother board
2g memory
80g hard drive
usb cd drive just to load the hard drive
Rubber bendable indestructable keyboard
Microsoft blue tooth mouse with wheel
usb wireless network adapter
Should have this thing cutting early next week.
Reefdaddy1
Reef Geek Jedi
Cool Is Micro ATX a ASUS? If so they overclock really well. And If its AMD processor they can handle it, Be surte to set the Core Volt up , and your in Buisness. That thing will rock.
DonW
R.I.P.
I'm not going to pretend I know what any of that means. I got the elcheapo combo deal at tiger direct. I havnt built a pc since the 8086 was hot.
It should run xp-pro just fine. I only got a 80g hard drive but if its on the network Ive got an extra 2 terabytes just sitting as a nas drive. Ive also got a 4 tera full of movies I can watch when I get board watching the router cut.
Don
DonW
R.I.P.
Motors and power supply will be delivered today. PC stuff saturday and the driver tuesday. I'll start putting it together tonight. I need to tear it apart and paint the gantry tonigh also so it looks pretty.
Don
DonW
R.I.P.
I'm using 5 coats of grey primer and 4 coats of grey machine paint all from a rattle can.
Don
DonW
R.I.P.
These are the motors 282 in/oz. The first metal box idea isnt going to work so I butchered a computer. The shiny gizmo is the power supply for the cnc portion. So far it looks like it may work. The outer part of the case is going to need some work for vents and fans since its a old style pc case.
Don
Don
DonW
R.I.P.
Here are a few more of the controller going together. Both the power supplies are now mounted in the top section. The cnc psu is wired to the pc power connection so there is only one power cord. I need to run and get some power switches one for the pc and one for the cnc.
DonW
R.I.P.
Here are some of the controller with the cover and face plate installed.
DonW
R.I.P.
Frankenstein controller lives
Well my frankenstein controller lives. I have to admit the darn tin box won, there was just no way to get eveything it there. The specs on the mother board were wrong so it was quite abit larger than it should have been. I just mounted everything on a sheet of aluminum that will get hung on the wall. When its done i'll build a hinged box over it. I also need to build a switch box. The cnc supply is a pass through from the pc supply, so just one power cord for both. Right now I'm running with no power switches.
You can see the parts.
Motherboard
Hard disk
PC power supply 12v
Cnc power supply 24v
Xylotex 3 axis driver board
Don
Well my frankenstein controller lives. I have to admit the darn tin box won, there was just no way to get eveything it there. The specs on the mother board were wrong so it was quite abit larger than it should have been. I just mounted everything on a sheet of aluminum that will get hung on the wall. When its done i'll build a hinged box over it. I also need to build a switch box. The cnc supply is a pass through from the pc supply, so just one power cord for both. Right now I'm running with no power switches.
You can see the parts.
Motherboard
Hard disk
PC power supply 12v
Cnc power supply 24v
Xylotex 3 axis driver board
Don
pista01
Member
That's probably for the best. I don't know how hot the CNC power supply can get, but you probably would have run into heat issues with everything crammed into the same box. It would have taken several large fans to keep it cool. I have enough trouble keeping my PC cool in the summer, can't imagine how hard it would be with the CNC controller and power supply.
Can't wait to see it in action
DonW
R.I.P.
That's probably for the best. I don't know how hot the CNC power supply can get, but you probably would have run into heat issues with everything crammed into the same box. It would have taken several large fans to keep it cool. I have enough trouble keeping my PC cool in the summer, can't imagine how hard it would be with the CNC controller and power supply.
Can't wait to see it in action
They get pretty hot. I test ran one for a few minutes last night and that heatsink got warm. I'll still use few fans. Ive got a little 24v and 2 12v that will be stuck on later.
Don
DonW
R.I.P.
Just a quick update. Now that I have all the parts. I took it all apart and gave it some more paint. I'll finish the y axis this week end and should have it cutting sat or sunday.
Also need to find a decent lcd monitor. The one I have is the old style so its huge by comparison. Its way to big and takes up valuable bench space. I need a bigger shop.
Don
Also need to find a decent lcd monitor. The one I have is the old style so its huge by comparison. Its way to big and takes up valuable bench space. I need a bigger shop.
Don
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