Where are my washers?

[jimmythethief]

after finnishing building the table I realized that I don't have anymore 1/2" washers and I know I need more I think shopbot shorted me...I hope nothing else is missing. I hope this isn't a bad omen.

Erik

[gerald_d]

Erik, I had a lot of parts left over - you can come and fetch them with pleasure.

[weslambe]

It's not an omen at all. The Shopbot is as good as you are. The IT world had a saying that applies everywhere; GIGO. Garbage In, Garbage Out.

As for the washers, how many are you missing? Are you not able to get them in your part of the country? They must be about 7c each.

While you are at the hardware store, get some stuff to build a good dust skirt.

Wes

[papadaveinwy]

Eric, If I were you I would ask jimmy the thief [
] David in Wyoming

Gerald I love the new look, much prettier than the old pick on your profile. But isn't that a Female? [
] Dave

[jimmythethief]

Wouldn't you figure I'm almost done building my bot and my hard drive fails...Maxtor sucks! One other question...I am pretty sure I am very close with my Y being square to my X, but is there a good easy way to set it by yourself...how much error is acceptable? I have done what they said in the manual...using a square, but it seems I will be square on one side then go to the other and I'm off a little, I did what it said and tried to divide the differance, but how can you be sure...Oh yeah, Jimmy doesn't have the washers either...but its ok...I bought a 5 pound box just incase anyone else needs some.

Erik

[gerald_d]

Dave, that elephant is a male but it is still a "teenager". Was the only close-up elephant that I happened to have on my camera from 2 weeks ago.


Erik, check the square by trimming a large board and measuring the diagonals. The amount of error is a personal choice - a millimeter or two difference on the diagonals of a large board is good enough for us.

[rob williams]

We just completed a PRT 96 setup and were short on washers as well....

Hmmmmm.... I think it's a washer conspiracy....

[jimmythethief]

I noticed a good amount of flex in the y cart if I grab on to a single rail and sort of pull in opposite directions(pulling with one hand and pushing with the other)...now I realize that the two motors will be pulling it along the x hopefully at the same rate, but I was wondering if this was normal...all my bolts are tight...I didn't go crazy cranking on the thing, but just wondering if I am missing something.

Erik

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Erik,

I would guess your "flex" is normal. The "Original" ShopBots were of small "Uni-Strut" and cable driven. A glance at how they flex would lead one to believe there was no way to make an accurate part. They could, did and can make nice parts.

The newer machines are a long stride up in all accounts. If it were my machine I would start making parts and learning the machine. Folks who never had a decent rule in thier hand ask if the machine will cut to "the thousandths" but have no idea how they might even measure how much they might be off.

Or, one could pay about $40K more and have a machine placed in the location of your choice, a reprun a part, pronounce it "Set-up" and you would never notice if the machine were either square or accurate because, "The factory set it up."

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Erik,
Get the Y car all squared up, and crank down the bolts...I mean really crank them down. Check for square and check it again. It literally took me 6hrs to get my 5'X16' ShopBot X car square. Take your time and make sure that it is square and the bolts are super tight. I doubt that you are going to break a 1/2" bolt...so torque it hard.

Generally in my experience with my machine, it is not possible to rack the X carriage by hand. It is important to square it right and accurately drill the holes for the X rail stops. These stops will tell you if your carriage is out of square, in addition to keeping it from falling off of the rails. If it is out of square, *briefly* run the gantry against the stops to tweak it. My machine has been running for almost a year now and it's been dead on.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of squaring your table diagonally, leveling it with a laser or 6' level, squaring your X car (entire gantry), shimming the rails, making sure that they are parallel ALL the way down and taking utmost care in squaring up your Z axis in both directions....After all of that is done. Check it again. For good measure...check it one more time.

If you don't get these things spot on, you will pay for it later and subsequently wind up doing it right anyway.

When you go to surface your spoilboard, pay close attention to the overlap of each cutter pass. If you see ridges, your Z is out of plumb an excessive amount. By looking at the ridges you will be able to tell which direction it needs to go. You'll see what I mean ~ when you run the routine...Hey that rhymed! LOL!


Good luck,
-Brady

[jimmythethief]

Has anyone figured out a good way to protect the control box from filling up with junk? The back of mine is wide open...any suggestions? Also, Brady, I have checked and re-checked but I'm sure there will have to be more tweaking once I start using it...as this is my first go at it...I don't really know what to look for or the problems that are most common and what to do about them...she's all together now and all I have to do is hook up it up to the computer and pray.

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Erik,
You'll be fine. Think of it as your initiation
We've ALL been there! I would check your unit values to make sure that when you tell it to go 12" in the X and Y, it does in fact go that distance. Then check the Z to make sure that it is going down the proper distance. Since I have a Colombo, my gearbox is a 7.2:1 ratio. Most are 3.6:1 and the unit values had to be exactly doubled since it was going .25" when I told it to go .5".

Don't be scared of the machine! If you don't have a z-zero plate...get one or make one. It is an invaluable tool.

Just to be on the safe side and to eliminate bit breakage, go to Home Depot or Lowes and get some 3/4" or 2" pink or blue insulation foam. It is a great medium for practicing on and getting to know the tool. It is so soft that if you do move too quickly through it, you won't break your $30 bit...don't start using the tool with a 1/8" bit...go with a 1/4" or 1/2" just to be safe.

I put my control box in an enclosed cabinet that I bought at Lowes. I could have made one but felt lazy at the time. Just be sure that the power supply gets enough cool air and make it a routine to blow out the box and fan with compressed air from time to time.

Have fun!
-Brady

[magickeith]

Because of the fans and air circulation you can't keep the junk out. All sealing off the back would do is put the dirt out of sight, out of mind. This way you see the junk and hopefully air it out once in a while unlike your poor PC. I say leave the back open and hinge the side to make cleanout easier. Or...better yet, just a few holes in the removable side panel would make blowing it out much more effective than blowing air into the same airstream that the dust is trying to exit. A side panel with a grid of a few holes would be the ticket. Hmm.. where's that drill.. ???

[jkforney]

In my shop I have taken a low tech approach. The side of my control box is off. This allows me to blow off the entire inside and monitor the amount of dust. Also I blow out the small power box fan. In addition to drawing my attention to the dust in the box, I can change any wires easily.

My thinking or lack of same is that the dust goes everywhere and this way I can see it.


John Forney

[Mayo]

I might caution people about blowing dust out of power supply fans that are ON.

I made the mistake of doing this on a friend's computer. I started to blow out a significant amount of dust from the power supply using a can of that compressed air.

All of a sudden there was a whoosh and flames literally shot out of the rear of the fan about 12" back. Besides burning all the hair off of my arm that was holding the computer case, it also completely fried the power supply.

I'm glad there were no curtains within reach of that 12" flame thrower.

Moral of the story is, shut off the computer or the control box before you blow out the dust.

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Mayo,

I guess the "Magic Smoke" left the power supply too?

[magickeith]

From my observation electrical power requires smoke to work. The smoke is contained within the wires. Every time without fail I have observed that if the smoke leaks out of your wires, it no longer works. So it could be Mayo, that you accidentally blew a hole in the wiring and let the smoke leak out?



Keith

[gerald_d]

Talking of wires . . . . . .

Can someone explain to me how those little plastic pipes work when they are blocked up with copper??

[Kevin Reid]

Gerald
The copper is melted by a little gnome who lives in the pipe. The melted copper gives off the smoke which flows through the pipe, making the power. (Kinda rough on the gnomes living in all that smoke though)

[jimmythethief]

Well that is how the smoke gets out...sometimes the gnome can't see because of all the smoke and burns a hole through the plasic pipe while he's melting the copper.

[kevin reid]

Maybe if we had a gnome fire saftey class----

[kerrazy]

No Good, we tried empowering them, but the small man's inferiority complex weighed to heavy into the situation. Not a speck was learned by these little twerps.

Dale.
Head of Gnome and Fire Safety Research for Central Canada. Including all but Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec and the Maritimes

[magickeith]

I recently learned that if your cable gnome can't escape under ground during a lightning strike not only does he die, but all the other gnomes in the house commit suicide, including my ShopBot gnome. You all should check to make sure your cable installer installed a ground pipe in the gnomes cable box or your gnomes could also die! I lost 3 computer gnomes, 1 shopbot gnome, 1 tv gnome, 1 router gnome, 1 cable modem gnome, 1 telephone gnome, and one Xbox gnome. My cable company is hosting a very expensive funeral.

Mourning in Ohio,
Keith

[rer]

image

[christopher@crasshomestead.net]

In response to the question of keeping your box clean. I came up with a way to keep the control box and the computer cool and clean. I too enclosed my computer and control box in a cabinet. Learning the hard way I did not ventilate it at all at first. I eventually overheated my processor on the computer. (Not fun) I have since upgraded my enclosure by cutting a large opening near the top front of the cabinet and covering the hole with an air conditioning hepa-filter. Then in the back of the cabinet near the bottom I installed a bathroom exhaust fan. The fan is on a switch but I generally leave it on any time I am in the shop. This keeps the air moving down past the computer and the control box keeping it plenty cool. In addtion the hepa-filter keeps the inside free from most of the dust and dirt.

[artisan]

Chris, if you reverse your fan and blow or draw air IN to your cabinet through a filter, you'll create a "positive pressure" enclosure where the pressure in your cabinet is slightly greater than the outside pressure..... creating a barrier to dust and a nicer environment for the Gnomes....D

[gerald_d]

I gave the gnome a broom, so that he can do some cleaning while he isn't making smoke.

[elcruisr]

I'm doing OK with the wiring gnomes, my problem is my night crew of elves. They don't get a thing done all night, just play, play, play. The gnomes claim they are willing to "make smoke" but won't do anything until the elves push the right buttons. The elves claim button pushing isn't part of their union agreement, that has to be done by humans. The upshot is as soon as I leave for the day, nothing more gets done!!

I guess I gotta hire humans to run the night crew again.....

Eric

[gerald_d]

Where's Snow White when we need her?

Hiho
Hiho
It's off to work we go....