Getting Started

December 25, 2009 - Thank you Sally and Benn for giving me the CNC mill! I managed to assemble the mill and it looks pretty good. The image below is a link to photos of the mill in different stages of development:

CNC

Up to now, I kept a log in an old-fashioned notebook. For completeness, I'm entering that info here. What follows are notes from the logbook:

January 4, 2010 -

• Placed order with Jameco for a Transformer (part 123450, catalog 82368). This will be the mill's power supply at 24 VDC.
• Placed order with www.easy-cnc.com for 3-axis driver, 2.5 A per axis.

January 8, 2010 -

• Ordered PVC sheets from freckleface.com.
• May use sheets in 3-D sculpture project. Here's a link to my patent application for the sculpting process.

January 9, 2010 -

• Added felt footer to the base of the mill
• Need serial mouse to get the old computer running. Oops - the computer only has windows 98. Need machine with XP.
• Checked stepper motors to identify which wires to use. Middle of each set of 3 is the common, so isolated those, as they won't be needed.

January 11, 2010

• Ordered from Winford Engineering: DIN Rail, Black and Gray mounting clips, DB25 breakout board.
• The breakout board will allow me to signal the controller from basic stamps
• The other stuff will help me keep everything organized - mounted to wall or inside a cabinet.
• Purchased PC and wireless USB from MicroCenter. This machine will be dedicated to the mill.
• Downloaded limited version of Mach 3 software.
• Mach 3 driver test - success at 25 khz!
• Configured Mach 3 Mill - The Mill is actually working now! Need to make a movie.
• Installed Open Office and Google Chrome
• Installed R and Tinn-R