My ShopBot Mod.s

[Steamplates]

In the 2 years I have had my ShopBot I feel I haven't done an awful lot with it, I'm always getting pulled in other directions. Looking back though, I have built it up, learned how to run it and arranged many things for an easier life when it is in full-blown use (imminent).

I thought it might be useful to show some of the mod.s I have made. I don't claim that any of them are original, clever or of any real interest to others, but think it still worth putting them on this site even if they only help one person.

So, If I can work out how to use the pictures part of yet another forum, I might be able to show them here. I will begin with boring and simple ones, building up over many sessions to get up to date. Then I'll move on to what I'd like to do next!

To begin;

Spindle Z Axis.

Having to move this right up to change a longish tool, especially with the supplied dust boot fitted, brings a problem I haven't seen mentioned anywhere. There is no Z axis limit switch on my machine. It is possible to hit the top hard stop, accompanied by an unhealthy sounding thumping noise, resulting in a complete loss of the Z Zero you just carefully set. The bits of red tape in the first pic. help me to avoid this, especially when using my wireless mouse to move Z.

Let's see if I can do the pic. part now....

Looks like we're in business!

Steve

[Steamplates]

Mod No 2 is only marginally more interesting, especially as it has a marginal theme...!

When I fitted the baseboards I fixed 4 x 2 along the X Y sides and then trimmed them up on the inside edge with the machine, all nice and square like. Now an 8 x 4 sheet slips into position easily. The pic. shows my baseboard with no work on it.

Mod 3 makes a much better seal on the dust boot to spindle joint. It is a plastic pot with the bottom cut out and slipped over the spindle. It held a chocolate pudding (yum!) but now does more important and less fattening work. It is very easy to remove and refit and behold! It is almost the same colour Blue as the ShopBot (pure luck!)

[adana]

Steve,

Thanks for this thread. It's a very nice idea. The three issues you've just illustrated are three that I've fretted over as well.

I did exactly what you did with your red tape... except just using Sharpie marks. Not as pretty, but same idea.

I'm off to find a good chocolate pudding tub now!

Thanks again,

Adan

[dubliner]

How do you surface your table, is that what that little divot is at 0,0?

[garyb]

Steve for less than $20 you can add a limit switch to the Z axis ;)

[myxpykalix]

I like your Z limit mod, I can't tell you how many times i have put a longer bit in my router, start a file and because it is running you can't hear it hitting the limit and crapping out till you see the router just fall.

Gary,
Where did you get your Z limit switch? Part numer? I would like to rig one up to trigger a light.:eek:

[Gary Campbell]

Jack...
I originally bought some online, but had problems on my PRS. I replaced them with OEM prox from ShopBot and they have worked fine since.

On your PRT you can use any 24V, NPN NO prox (or a mechanical limit switch) Ed Lang wrote a column on mounting one on his PRT. Might be some info there for you

[garyb]

I got my limit switches from automation direct, I prefer the plunger mechanical type
zoom in on the image and you will get the part #
Gary

[dubliner]

Cant read it, its written in Australian :-)

[Steamplates]

Well I'm pleased some like the idea of this thread. I have several more mod,s to come, time is the enemy.

Neville - I thought the best way to surface the table was to 'pocket' it with aspire, rather than learn more and different code (I am a Mach 3 man due to another machine). The result is that little addition in the XY corner as the tool is made to clear the XY point flat.

Gary - Thanks to both of you! I will certainly fit an extra switch but I did have another idea;

How about putting the Z Zero plate in a metal (but insulated from m/c) holster when it isn't being used, wired up electrically through the energy cable trunk to an adjustable contact over the spindle slide? That could stop the Z axis on its way up when toolchanging and make more use of the mostly redundant plate?

Adan - Good luck with the pot hunt. You are allowed to use a flavour other than chocolate though!:D

Regards

Steve

[Steamplates]

Addendum to Mod. 1

I've just realised how unclear my explanation of my Z Zeroing difficulty was!

The problem (for me at least) is that I have to remove the dust boot to change the tool more easily and to zero it if the tool's protrusion is short. The DB skirt gets in the way of my manual zeroing. I then zero the tool, but I have to move the Z axis right back up to re-fit the boot with its long attachment leg. If, when doing this I bump into the hard stop, I lose the Z Zero I just set and some swearing comes out, not from the machine though!

The cure will be another mod. in the pipeline, make another Dust Boot with detachable skirt. These have been shown many times elsewhere. Along with solving my Z Zero plate problems that is, but that's for another thread I guess.

Regards

Steve

[jimmya]

Steven,
If I need to change bits, I lower the Dust Shoe change bit and put the dust shoe back in place. Then I put the Zero plate under the bit and hit c2. you can hold the plate in place with very little effort.
Hope This Helps
Jimmy

[gundog]

I have a line drawn on my Z car for height limit also it seems to me the machine should have had a limit switch from the factory. I would like to add one to mine. Does SB sell a kit for the PRS for this? The sound of the Z hitting the top makes my skin crawl that is the reason I put the line on there. I have had the machine lock up and continue into the end until I hit the E stop on more than one occasion while using the SK move commands. Every so often when using SK the machine stops responding and continues in whatever direction it is headed until the E-stop is pushed.

Mike

[Steamplates]

Jimmy,

Thanks for the thought. Normally I would do as you suggest but I have problems I haven't got around yet.

The job I intend to do involves cutting out parts from an 8' x 4' sheet. Because it is hard to reach 4' (or 2' plus over the machine rails) into the centre of the board for Zeroing (yes, I too have a special ShopBot tee-shirt!) it is better for me to use XY Zero at the bottom left-hand corner.

This presents 3 problems that I need to solve;

1. When I position XY to Zero Z and hit C2 the gantry goes back to the original XY Zero point (bottom left-hand corner) where I cannot set Z Zero (shown in picture above).

2. If I could set Z Zero in this position, I'm not going to get a repeatable (resettable) XY position, very necessary as I have had countless instances of the machine losing its zero settings for XYZ mid task. Without wanting to open multiple cans of worms (I just want to get on and use it!) I think it best if I always have a repeatable XY position, say a hole, that I can use to reset XY when I'm in trouble with half a job done.

3. For reasons that will become clear when I describe one of my later mod.s, I really need to use the bottom left-hand corner of the machine's movement
(96" x 48") for XY Zero. I will come to this later.

Now I'm sure it is possible to write up a sub-routine to allow Z Zeroing with the plate at any position on the table, quite independant of XY position. If the gantry did not move when the ZZ process was going on life would be so much easier and I would have an XY position (bottom LH corner) to go back to if the Zero loss gremiln creeps in. I just haven't had the time to research and write up such a sub-routine yet.

Anyhow, enough of all that - Time to show another mod.

Regards

Steve

[hespj]

Steven, I must be missing something here. I've been using a ShopBot for six years and in all that time the Z-zeroing routine always takes place wherever X & Y happen to be at that time. If there were not the case there'd be times when I'd find the machine unusable.

John

[Steamplates]

Mod. 4 might be a let-down I'm afraid, as it isn't a mod. at all. It should really be described as 'arrangement' I guess. But I don't want to start yet another thread...!

Design Rationale (thinking!);

I decided that for once in my life I was going to set something up with no compromise, not put up with any 'lash ups' of any kind. The ShopBot project was to be set up to give maximum ease of use, nothing awkward nor annoying and eveything in its place. That's one reason it's taken me ages!

I was lucky enough to buy a good cyclonic dust extractor but it does take up a little space. It also emits ultra-fine particles of whatever is being collected, not good for breathing, or a clean shop.

Why not put the cyclone outside? So I did! It now lives outside under a little roof but with 3 sides open.

I have to stress that the hose gantry is not my idea, I found that on this site some time back, thanks to whomsoever. It is easy enough to fix the gantry in the right place once the offset of the dust boot output tube is taken into account, i.e. it should not be placed over the centre of the machine bed. Dust extraction is now uniform over the whole 8' x 4'.

The on/off contactor for the cyclone is placed right by my computer monitor and The SB's inverter are all close together on the wall so I don't have to go running round the shop to switch this seperate system on and off, and there is a lot less dust in the shop.

More later!

Steve

[Steamplates]

Thanks John.

Maybe I'm making some kind of mistake? My gantry goes right on back to XY zero every time I go for automatic Z Zeroing but I think in the dim and distant past, it maybe didn't do that? Perhaps I forgot something or I'm using the wrong command?

It is because the Partworks SW knows that my Aspire file is drawn with XY where I need it to be, in the bottom LH corner?

Time for thinkin' cap to be worn...

Regards

Steve

[adrianm]

When you run the initial shopbot setup it gives you the option of always going to the same place to run the Z zero routine otherwise it will run wherever the gantry is at the time.

You can check your my_variables.sbc file to see if this is set.

I've got two Z routines. One that goes to the same place to zero to my surface bar if I'm cutting to the table and another that zeroes to the material surface from the current xy using the plate or super Z.

[Steamplates]

Thanks Adrian.

I have just checked the operation of C2 and my gantry definately goes to XY Zero.

I will follow your advice, I am sure it didn't do this early on, might be the result of having to load a later version of the SB software. I'll let you know how I get on, important for others.

Regards

Steve

[Steamplates]

Adrian,

I found the set up menu and went through it all. My preferred XY position was still selected (box checked) and the position entered (X = 5.0 Y = 20.0) so I didn't change anything, I just quit with 'Im done' at the end.

Now it works...!;)

Odd but at least it works now, I can finally use the plate. Thank you for this help, I hope someone gets something from my posts that is useful in return.

Regards

Steve

[Steamplates]

Now I think about it more carefully, Mod. 5 isn't really a mod. either, more a detraction from the set-up manual. I'm beginnng to think that I should have chosen a better title!

To build the base I used all the correct 8x4's of the correct grade but I didn't want to have to undo lots of screws to replace a worn out (spoiled) spoil board and to have to re-face it.

I decided to put an extra not-spoil-the-spoil-board (1/"4) of reliable and uniform thickness on top of my faced spoil board. I have to screw my boards down currently (no vacumn hold down) so this extra board is left loose but is fixed by the screws that go through the work board into the spoil board proper. Changing my not-spoil-the-spoil board is as simple as lifting it off, then a bit of a sweep up and putting another on.

Regards

Steve

[steve_g]

Steven:
Thank you for posting your "mods" it's always interesting to see what others are doing with their bot.

Mod 4 concerns me a little however... Your dust collector is removing air from inside your shop and sending it outside. To make up the pressure difference, air is returning to your shop from somewhere. This "somewhere" is wherever the path of least resistance is... hopefully not a gas water heater flue pipe or gas furnace flue pipe. Also, if you are conditioning your shop air (heat or cooling) your defeating that also. Others of us have wanted to accomplish the same thing you are trying to do but found it necessary, for safety's sake, to build a "sound proofed" closet with a filtered air return in the door or wall.

Be safe!

Steve Glassel

[Steamplates]

Thanks Steve,

Good thoughts an very important for others to consider. My life in Aviation and a degree in Aerodynamics stand me in good stead, so I just got away with it!

Regards

Steve

www.helicopterpilotsguide.com

[paulkiecka]

When depth of cut isn't critical, I lay a 4x8 sheet of cardboard on my tabletop. ( we often have some just lying around) Not having a vacuum hold down I just screw right through my work piece into the spoilboard. this way I can cut through my piece and not deal with onion skins. Occasionally I take the cardboard off to sand down the screw hole pimples with an orbital sander. Then I lay it down turned 180 degrees to user the other corner. I still will surface the table top but not nearly as often. Generally, when I am doing a job where depth of cut is important.

[CNYDWW]

When depth of cut isn't critical, I lay a 4x8 sheet of cardboard on my tabletop. ( we often have some just lying around) Not having a vacuum hold down I just screw right through my work piece into the spoilboard. this way I can cut through my piece and not deal with onion skins. Occasionally I take the cardboard off to sand down the screw hole pimples with an orbital sander. Then I lay it down turned 180 degrees to user the other corner. I still will surface the table top but not nearly as often. Generally, when I am doing a job where depth of cut is important.

1/8" tempered hardboard is what i'll use when depth is important. At $6 a sheet, as long as u don't go crazy, it's worth it.

[Steamplates]

Using cardboard seems like a good bit of recycling to me, especially as it is often quite firm over a large area. The tougher grades are actually quite hard to dent with a footmark if you tread on the material. If it is readily available and cheap (like free as waste!) then it has to be good idea, especially if Z depth is not paramount, i.e. cutting through the work board.

That said, I don't have a supply of cardboard and that's why I came up with the 1/4" MDF idea, it is £6.00 a sheet here. I may move on to hardboard though as it is silghtly less poisonous!

Regrads

Steve

More mod.s on the way, time permitting....

[Steamplates]

Here is my attempt at a ShopBot control centre. It is designed to allow me to run the whole machine and do any setting up whilst standing in the same spot.

The control computer is up on the top shelf an easy to reach. The monitor will be bracket mounted on the wall soon, freeing up some more desktop space. The keyboard and Mouse are wireless which gets rid of some wiring but also allows me to use the Mouse on the Bot's table when Zeroing up.

All of the spanners and stuff I need are close by and I have a plastic box on the top shelf with all of my software CD's in it so I don't have to go rooting through drawers and my office for that missing CD, always the one I want! Cutters and collets are also in easy reach as are the instruction manuals.

Hardware - You will see more than you'd expect in the electrical hardware dept. That's because I have contactor switches controlling the spindle and the dust extactor, the reason for this will be explained later as mod.s
The contactor with the brown case controls the dust extractor.

Both the Spindle and the dust extractor contactors have an entirely seperate power supply from the ring main that runs the control computer and driver box by design. The thick black cable you can see running down the wall comes right from the fuse board on the other side of the shop, some 50ft away. This was done not only to ensure that enough current can be supplied to the spindle but also to keep any interference out of the control computer and driver power supplies as they are now seperated.

All of the 240V plugs for the computer, drivers and so on are labelled so I know what is what, and I ensured that I have spare sockets to avoid those piggy-back adapters that eventually work their way loose due to their weight.

More soon...

Steve

[paulkiecka]

1/8" tempered hardboard is what i'll use when depth is important. At $6 a sheet, as long as u don't go crazy, it's worth it.

I forgot to mention that one. as a matter of fact, I have to hollow out the back of a butcher block and round the corners on it. that is exactly what I was planing to do. (Now if I can just get the cutomer to indicate the radius of those corners...)

[Steamplates]

Mod 6 is where things might become more interesting.

I wanted my Bot to switch off ts spindle when coming to the end of a job, not so I could go off and leave it cutting (fire risk) but so I'll know when its done when I'm working elsewhere in the same building.

This is why I decided to run the spindle through a contactor - Microswitches can easily be added to cut the power safely. The idea grew a little, a microswitch was added to cut the dust extractor too. I haven't mounted these switches yet, this needs a bit more thought, but they will be triggered by the gantry when it returns to XY Zero.

When I get the switches mounted it will be a good day, spindle and dust extractor will both stop at the end of a job and save some power. Over a year that will add up.

Mod 7 is a natural progression of those two ideas. I was never comfortable with not having an emergency stop switch for the spindle, the one on the inverter being far away and way too small to hit in a panic. The added red 'kill' buton is in series with the spindle microswitch and can be seen in the second pic. NOTE that this is in addition to the standard switch which only stops XY motion. The spindle does lack its dynamic braking effect in this mode of stopping, but at least it doesn't continue regardless.

Regards

Steve

[br928]

Steve,
From your previous post I assume that your spindle is not controlled by the ShopBot controller. I built a spindle start/stop station for my PRS using output #4 as a permissive to start, and to stop the spindle when the file had completed.

A simple relay stop/start circuit is used in series with output #4. The spindle can not start on its own without the operator pressing the start button.

When output #4 turns on the green start light is turned on, indicating a permissive to start. Once the start button is pressed the red stop button is lit indicating the spindle is running and can be stopped by pressing the stop button.

When output #4 turns off the relay circuit drops out and the spindle stops running.

To turn on the spindle without running a file you simply go to the keyboard mode and output #4 is turned on. I use this to warm up my spindle. After a period of time the keyboard mode will time out and the spindle will stop.

[myxpykalix]

Stan,
Where did you get your box and what was the cost?

[br928]

Stan,
Where did you get your box and what was the cost?

Jack, The box and indicating pushbuttons are Allen-Bradley. Best bet is to look on ebay for them. Retail price is out of sight. Over $100 ea.

Any pushbutton and lights will work. I am using the 12VDC power from the ShopBot power supply.

[Steamplates]

Stan,

My spindle is controlled by the SB supplied inverter V7 FD or whatever it is. it can be seen in one of the pic.s above. It controls spindle speed but I was told it cannot stop the spindle at the end of a file which didn't suit me.

It looks and sounds like you may have made a better job of yours, I have little electronic knowledge and didn't want to risk inverter damage, a little knowledge being dangerous!

When I get my limit switches mounted the way I want them I guess I will have achieved two goals, stopping the spindle and the dust collector at file end.

Still I have a lot more I want to do, make a foolproof and easy to use XY re- zeroing system (perhaps the limit switches will give me this but I'd like a back-up), then I'd like to deal with the dustboot and there's the fitting of a Z limit switch to stop top travel overrun. Enough to keep me interested for some time yet!


Regards

Steve

[br928]

Steve,
I was using the same VFD. There is an input for a remote start / stop. If the input is on it runs, off it stops. The dust collector can be run off the same relay circuit.

[Steamplates]

Thanks Stan.

A pity that I went to a lot of trouble and expense after being apparently misinformed by tech. support. I was told I had 'the old model' even though I hadn't long bought it, but perhaps my inverter is different to yours.

Useful for the future though!

Regards

Steve

[br928]

Did you get a users manual for the VFD? I downloaded mine off the web. The manual should show how to hook up a two wire run/stop input. On my V7 it was between terminal S1 & SC.