Cube construction questions.

[gazetaj]

Hi there everyone,

My Name is John. I am a hobbyist and I have found your project very
interesting - specially because it tries to compromise between
fractional and metrical conventions. I would like to put one together
and I have some questions...

What is the working area of the cube?
Are the CAD files available in sketchup format, can anyone provide
copies that I can import (i.e. STL, other). So that I can change the
specs and get quotes before starting the work?
Where can I find the part List for the cube, I could not find
600x25mm? I have found one for the frame, but I could not find the
rails specs or the linear bearings specs (is there one?).
Considering the Cube and it's specs - could I use RepRap's electronics
to drive it? (Has anyone tried?)
Can I use Phidgets's electronics to drive it?


Thanks in advance for your time and responses.

[John Griessen]

On 04/13/2011 01:08 PM, gazetaj wrote:
> Considering the Cube and it's specs - could I use RepRap's electronics
> to drive it? (Has anyone tried?)
> Can I use Phidgets's electronics to drive it?

James is developing a milling machine for a cube, but has not said if the
drive system is any particular kind or an open hardware design. I
think he's imagining customers will want some kind of working machine
with external connection specs and not worry so much about internals.

John Griessen

[Data Pathway]

Hi John,

This project has been moving pretty slowly due to a lack of time on my part - but it is moving!!

I will attempt to answer your questions, and feel free to ask any more come to you.

On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 1:08 PM, gazetaj <gaz...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi there everyone,

My Name is John. I am a hobbyist and I have found your project very
interesting - specially because it tries to compromise between
fractional and metrical conventions. I would like to put one together
and I have some questions...

What is the working area of the cube?

 

the mill (mark1) design is approximately (X,Y,Z) 8x13x4.5 inches 

 

Are the CAD files available in sketchup format, can anyone provide
copies that I can import (i.e. STL, other). So that I can change the
specs and get quotes before starting the work?

 

all the cad drawings for the frame are here  http://www.cubespawn.com/600mm.html

for the motion module all the drawings are here http://www.cubespawn.com/625Motion.html

the drawings are PDF's and have a version for inch and metric - but I can add Cad Versions - just have not done so yet

 

Where can I find the part List for the cube, I could not find
600x25mm? I have found one for the frame, but I could not find the
rails specs or the linear bearings specs (is there one?).

I will add those specs to the list...

the rails are 9mm hi-win and the ballscrews are salvaged 15mm 5tpi rolled screws

 

Considering the Cube and it's specs - could I use RepRap's electronics
to drive it? (Has anyone tried?)

yes and no - I have a set of Gen 3 RepRap electronics that I got to turn the motors, before I had the motion assembled - but this set of electronics is on loan to the San Antonio Hackerspace at present - and I'm trying a EMC breakout board at present - I'd like a lot of varied solutions to work so no-one is pinned down with a particular implementation

 

Can I use Phidgets's electronics to drive it?

This I don't know... anything that'll drive NEMA 23s should work - and there is no "standard" spec yet - we are creating it

here is a current picture (last few days) of the state of the motion module

http://www.cubespawn.com/news.html  More specifically  http://www.cubespawn.com/Images/625-04042011.JPG

due to the slow progress on making all the parts, I have purchased a Z motion stage, a spindle, the X and Y energy chains - and all will be arriving in the next week or two - I can export the cad drawings in several formats, and would be happy to provide any of those formats to you via the website...

also - while getting out of date again, checkout this project site - if you'd like ;-)

http://openpario.mime.oregonstate.edu/projects/cubespawn

Thanx,

James

[Data Pathway]

Yep!

I am also trying a precision ACME thread version  (as opposed to precision ball-screws,for lower cost)

For this project: http://openfarmtech.org/weblog/2011/03/open-source-micro-factory/

(i'm the circuit board mill)

There also appears to be a "turnip twaddler" shaping up -> 4 1800 mm cubes that do some deviltry to produce (sort, grade, defect removal) although the specifics are quite fuzzy at this point...

I'd be pleased as punch if someone out there with a LOT of ELECTRONICS knowledge (nudge, nudge, wink, John G...) would work out what controllers are good choices, procedures to evaluate motors to select proper configurations etc - this learn by doing stuff is somewhat painful, even when its fun!

 - I have detailed files on the many and various options currently on the market - although I doubt my list is comprehensive.

If this interests you - feel free to contact me!

James

[Data Pathway]

oops! the google warehouse stuff is significantly out of date - I may have to re-draw the "Real" parts in sketchup - but for now they are in solidworks - if you need the source geometry...

the rails and bearings are: hiwin mgn-9

http://www.hiwin.com/html/extras/mgn-c_mgn-h.html

Y's are 17 5/16 inches about 440mm long (inside edge to inside edge 23 holes) 

X rails are 14 13/16th or about 376 mm  long (20 holes) I cut the rail with an abrasive cutoff - 

For reference-able dimensions I used the hole to hole lengths for repeatability in the absence of good fixturing or large calipers...

I put a few more pictures here to hold you until I get an exploded view put together

James

On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 9:59 AM, gazetaj <gaz...@gmail.com> wrote:

Seems like I was not paying much attention to the link on the front
page. There is a link to the google warehouse with the files out
there.

If these rails and linear bearings are of any particular kind and
someone has already used it for experiments - please let me know which
one were those.

Thanks for the replies so far.

[John Griessen]

On 04/14/2011 05:39 PM, Data Pathway wrote:
> - I may have to re-draw the "Real" parts in sketchup - but for now they are in solidworks

I got some decent time vs. results ratios with HeeksCAD, an open source free 3D
creation tool set written in python. I was just drawing cabinetry though.
Cabinetry and brackets and frames are similar though.

John

[Samuel Rose]

Been using HeeksCAD too. I think it's worth anyone's time that needs
access to CAD

--
--
Sam Rose
Future Forward Institute and Forward Foundation
Tel:+1(517) 639-1552
Cel: +1-(517)-974-6451
skype: samuelrose
email: samue...@gmail.com
http://futureforwardinstitute.com
http://forwardfound.org
http://hollymeadcapital.com
http://p2pfoundation.net
http://socialmediaclassroom.com

"The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human
ambition." - Carl Sagan

[Samuel Rose]

What was wrong with RepRap3 controllers? Where have you left off on
your evaluations? Just curious to see if there is something I could
put my shoulder into here.

>  - I have detailed files on the many and various options currently on the
> market - although I doubt my list is comprehensive.
> If this interests you - feel free to contact me!
> James
>

--

[Data Pathway]

YMMV but I kept running into problems with my NEMA 23 motors on the RR3 motor boards - I built the controller and 3 of the boards using the hotplate method and all appeared to work correctly - at that time I was constructing a McWire RepStrap - which now has big "do Not Build" warnings on the RepRap page, and having revisited the RR3 setup several times in the last year, I got the gcode interpreter on the controller, the motor boards connected to the motors and every thing ALMOST worked, but never worked very well - I still have the hardware - so mayhaps I should visit it again... I was using this motor: http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/8927

and my setup looks like this: https://picasaweb.google.com/Data.Pathway/Cubespawn#5431635576404803266

it should of worked, but not for me ;-[ .....

maybe your understanding is deeper or there is a goat in the machine (  ;-)  )

I would love to see a solution to this - but have been unable to produce one.

[Samuel Rose]

On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 9:45 AM, Data Pathway <data.p...@gmail.com> wrote:
> YMMV but I kept running into problems with my NEMA 23 motors on the RR3
> motor boards - I built the controller and 3 of the boards using the hotplate
> method and all appeared to work correctly - at that time I was constructing
> a McWire RepStrap - which now has big "do Not Build" warnings on the RepRap
> page, and having revisited the RR3 setup several times in the last year, I
> got the gcode interpreter on the controller, the motor boards connected to
> the motors and every thing ALMOST worked, but never worked very well - I
> still have the hardware - so mayhaps I should visit it again... I was using
> this motor: http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/8927
> and my setup looks like
> this: https://picasaweb.google.com/Data.Pathway/Cubespawn#5431635576404803266
> it should of worked, but not for me ;-[ .....
> maybe your understanding is deeper or there is a goat in the machine (  ;-)
>  )
> I would love to see a solution to this - but have been unable to produce
> one.
>

If we maybe put aside RepRap.x hardware for now, then the question
seems to become: what would be the best candidate open source hardware
collections to work from for motion control?

[CubeSpawn]

This thread continued, but I probably "replied to author" rather than
"reply to all" so it boiled down to this:
Using EMC rather than Arduino, simplifies the control implementation.

EMC is open source, and is quite sophisticated, so no harm there.

This accommodates the possibility for an embedded PC controller in
future cubes, very likely required above a certain level of
complexity.

An Arduino solution can still be implemented or adopted as required at
any time.

James



On Apr 15, 7:22 pm, Samuel Rose <samuel.r...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 9:45 AM, Data Pathway <data.path...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > YMMV but I kept running into problems with my NEMA 23 motors on the RR3
> > motor boards - I built the controller and 3 of the boards using the hotplate
> > method and all appeared to work correctly - at that time I was constructing
> > a McWire RepStrap - which now has big "do Not Build" warnings on the RepRap
> > page, and having revisited the RR3 setup several times in the last year, I
> > got the gcode interpreter on the controller, the motor boards connected to
> > the motors and every thing ALMOST worked, but never worked very well - I
> > still have the hardware - so mayhaps I should visit it again... I was using
> > this motor: http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/8927
> > and my setup looks like
> > this: https://picasaweb.google.com/Data.Pathway/Cubespawn#5431635576404803266
> > it should of worked, but not for me ;-[ .....
> > maybe your understanding is deeper or there is a goat in the machine (  ;-)
> >  )
> > I would love to see a solution to this - but have been unable to produce
> > one.
>
> If we maybe put aside RepRap.x hardware for now, then the question
> seems to become: what would be the best candidate open source hardware
> collections to work from for motion control?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> > On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 9:51 PM, Samuel Rose <samuel.r...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Data Pathway <data.path...@gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
>
> >> > On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 3:06 PM, John Griessen <j...@industromatic.com>

> >> email: samuel.r...@gmail.com

> >>http://futureforwardinstitute.com
> >>http://forwardfound.org
> >>http://hollymeadcapital.com
> >>http://p2pfoundation.net
> >>http://socialmediaclassroom.com
>
> >> "The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human
> >> ambition." - Carl Sagan
>
> --
> --
> Sam Rose
> Future Forward Institute and Forward Foundation
> Tel:+1(517) 639-1552
> Cel: +1-(517)-974-6451
> skype: samuelrose

> email: samuel.r...@gmail.comhttp://futureforwardinstitute.comhttp://forwardfound.orghttp://hollymeadcapital.comhttp://p2pfoundation.nethttp://socialmediaclassroom.com