[Hughes500E]

I looked at my wife and I said, I want to build a CNC cutter. She says, "what will that do for me"?

First off, I have no experience what so ever when it comes to CNC. I have just recently upgraded myself to, able to build a square box and I owe that to my Ridgid compound miter saw!

Although there are many plans available for such a project, I like to be unique. Evident from my choice of aircraft and some days my attire, I will design my own.

I did 30 minutes of research and logged on to Ebay. Bought myself a TB6560parallel controller new in the box with free shipping out of Ontario for 80 bucks. I also found 3 new stepper motors rated at 1.3 amps 4kg holding power. These were favored by many with over 200 units sold. I joined the ranks and hit add to cart. Hope they work! They too came from a Canadian supplier.

I happily waited for the arrival of my new parts. Meanwhile, I did more reading.

Has anyone else taken on such a project?

[Hughes500E]

I should have done more reading. Turns out the TB6560 controller is not the choice I should have made. Many complain that they "fried" when power was applied or they simply couldn't get them to work or they miss steps. It also turns out that the controller is good for 1.5 amp to 3.5 amp max, (Wish I would have read that sooner) Received my stepper motors. I anxiously ripped the box open and yup, sure enough 1.3 amps. Incompatible with my controller

Another 30 minutes of research and I'm convinced that some overclocking or hyper drive stepper motors will be OK. Either that or I'll reduce the amps going into the system or change the resistors on the board. I just need the controller now!

Searching for parts to build a table is turning out to be arduous. There is a ton of parts to choose from and if you use proper words like linear motion in your search title you get even more choices

[Hughes500E]

I received the controller. Turns out the Ebay seller was only joking when he said new in box. It also arrived shipped from New Jersey. Quite the sense of humor this guy has. I didn't have to open the box, or the antistatic packaging. The ones before me did a fine job of ripping that apart. Two CD's were suppose to be included. I received one, and it was snapped in half. Think that happened in shipping

[Hughes500E]

At this point I'm thinking I better not plug this all into my desk top in the office. Turns out my son still has his old 1.7 Mhz desk top under his stock pile of dirty socks in his room.

After little effort I have a bare bones system off the network running win 98 service pack 3 with a parallel port. I have already decided to utilize the MACH 3 software to run the cutter as I have tried to run Linux in the past and don't really want another learning curve.

Step 1: install Mach 3 on the computer with no network or network adapter and.......... I can't find a flash drive !

Step 2: figure out how to wire this all up.

Step 3: configure software to run my motors

Sounds simple

[aceplant00]

if the contro, board was received damaged poor shipping etc take it up with ebay/paypal. Ge the money back if not as described

[Hughes500E]

I have started that process. We'll see where it goes.............

[Hughes500E]

Much to my surprise I was able to find the wiring schematics for the stepper motors and the pinouts for the DB25 port setup. I actually found three sets of pinouts LOL for the TB6560 controller. I also had to do some fancy soldering on the board as the power input block was missing.

I fired up the desktop, started Mach 3, adjusted the settings and............. nothing. This could be fun....

Nothing like a good challenge to keep the cabin fever at bay!

[Hobby Woods Online]

I built my own router as well in the past.. 2 actually.. They went pretty good. Its the balls screws, nuts and rails that will cost you though. Don't use threaded rod. You will be very upset with the outcome. I did a 8x12 with 4" of z travel. Used NEMA 23's and had no issues. It was a nice router to cut wood, plastic and I even did some thin cuts of Alum.

If I can help in anyway, let me know.

Good Luck and Enjoy!!! It's great when things start to come together.

Dezi

[tskca]

I have to hand it to you, Steve, you're taking things in stride, still composed and positive. Good model for us to follow.

[Nick Milligan]

Hey steve, maybe when you have it all figured out you could show me how to run my miling machine... LOL.

I have bee thinking I might like to build a CNC foam cutter. Folowing along.
NIck