Use this forum to post pictures of your Quick Cut CNC and the setup you are using!
#326
Hey everyone!

In preparation of receiving my new Quick Cut, I've been assembling some things to get going as soon as it arrives, and I figured I'd post some links that I've found to products that would make a great addition.

If you know of something I don't have listed here, post it up and let's get a great reference list going!

First is a precision nut and collet set specifically designed for the Bosch Colt router:

http://precisebits.com/products/equipme ... lt_Collets

It includes a 1/4" AND a 1/8" collet.

I'm primarily going to be using my machine for PCB etching at first, so I've been more focused on engraving bits, but Precisebits.com has some good prices on engraving bits as well.

Dust management is an important thing for me, considering my machine will be in a garage that will have cars parked in it.

Through some research and discussion with friends, I came across some modifications that will make an inexpensive Harbor Freight dust collector function similarly to a machine worth 2-3 times as much.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-hp-indus ... 97869.html
(Find it on sale with a 20% off coupon for the best deal.)

Discussion of modifications and replacement (MUCH higher quality filters)
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread. ... -collector

I'd like to design and build a dust shoe for my machine as my first 'project', but if it ends up not being feasible or necessary, I'll still use the dust collector manually to clean things up.

Protecting the PC running everything is going to be an interesting affair, I'm planning on building a simple PVC pipe frame covered in plastic with some fine-grit furnace filters attached to allow clean airflow.

Any other ideas, tips or recommendations to add to my growing list of things to add to my garage?
#327
Making a dust shoe as the very first thing you make is a great idea. We hope to sell a dust shoe for our machines, eventually.

The harbor freight dust collector you posted is actually a great little dust collector. It might be a little overkill for a machine of this size, but it is definitely a goal to aim for. The Wynn filter is a MUST for that dust collector. I have one and it works great!
#328
I went a bit overboard on the shop PC I'm getting in preparation for the quick cut. I figured I could probably scrounge up a free or cheap p4, but I don't really feel like collecting more components for my mishmash of 10 year old computer parts. I could probably have even put something together with what I have, but everything I did turned out flaky, and I remember why I retired the motherboards in the first place. Old computers are old.

So, I figured there is no harm in putting together a new shop pc. I could use one anyway so I'm not always fumbling with a precarious laptop, or running between my office and the shop. Besides, I already bought a brand new desktop cnc, I might as well pair it with a computer designed specifically for its needs. I didn't care about it being too powerful, but I wanted it to have a couple of modern niceties. One of my primary interests was in taking advantage of small form-factors to reduce the footprint. If your shop is anything like mine you can understand why, and if you are ordering an eight cubic foot cnc machine, I suspect it is. It's also easier to dust manage, a problem that crix brought up.

I spent a while speccing out this build, giving consideration to the needs of the cnc. AJ, if I've ignored any obvious needs let me know (preferably within 30 days). When the parts arrive I'll let you all know how the build goes.

I wanted to go with the mini-ITX form factor in order to really keep the footprint down. The machine didn't need to be powerful, nor did it need much in the way of expansion, disk-space, graphics, or drive bays. I wanted something really stripped down. I opted to try and make the machine fit in this case by antec. A word of caution, this is about the smallest case in one of the smallest form factors. It's about the size of a yellowpages, cut to be square, with an external (80W brick) power supply. I liked the case because it doesn't have any of the fluff I honestly don't think I need, for instance an optical drive, or space for big hard drives. I don't suspect it will be a dream to build a machine in however. It's reportedly pretty cramped, and requires some patience by the builder.

The most critical component of any build is the motherboard. I was interested in going with a Sandybridge socket (LGA 1155) to take advantage of the 35W i3 chips with on-chip graphics. I hear atoms aren't that great, and anything else was going to draw too much. The only other constraint was that in order to drive the quickcut I needed a parallel port. With those two criteria in mind I ended up with this mobo. I could have gone with a nicer one that had built in wifi, and some fancier ports, but then I would have had to buy a pciE parallel port, and would have needed a bigger case with an expansion slot, and probably drive bays etc. I was completely sold when I realized that this one has an internal mini-pciE slot in addition to the standard pciE x1 slot. That meant I could expand it with this wifi card and not have to futz with an external wifi solution.

That just left me to fill it with some memory and disk space. I went with a 2x2GB pair of dimms to take advantage of the dual channel slots. I think (hope) this kit is low profile, because it looks like memory will be in a cramped portion of the case. Next I needed a 2.5" disk drive. I'm a sucker for solid-state, but they are just too expensive. In a rare compromise with my rational self I went with the new Seagate hybrid 500GB platters w/ 4GB ssd.

Total damage was $465 shipped. The plan is to load it with the last Ubuntu LTS, and EMC. Let me know what you think.
#329
Mini-ITX stuff is great! I had a small sized system in my car back around 2005.

At some point, I hope we could offer a small sized computer system that would be paired with our controller systems. Perhaps even an all in one computer and CNC controller! We'll see where that leads. We would definitely choose a Mini-ITX for that purpose.
#330
Brian,

Did those computer parts/setup work for you? If so, could you post the parts list/links? I've been looking to buy a computer specifically for the CNC and I'd really appreciate it!

AJ,

Any other suggestions/modifications to his setup? Is there anything else I'll need to get? This is my first CNC so it's all new to me!

Thanks!
#331
Hi Mike -

I got it all set up, and the computer works. I will say though that I'm new to the cnc game as well. I'm taking a chance by going with free linux software as my cnc controller, and I'm sure that is going to bring with it some of the usual headaches. I already know that I need to patch my kernel to make it work with the package I'm going to use, because the latest Ubuntu "Long Term Support" (gotta love that terminology) doesn't "support" Sandy Bridge motherboards well.

The computer itself I couldn't be happier with though. It's been working well for me as a little shop machine. I just installed openscad, so I've been playing with that. There is no reason (other than a potentially irrational hatred of Redmond) I couldn't just install Windows, and go with the controller software AJ has recommended. All the parts I used were listed in my other post. The only thing I forgot to order before posting that was an internal antenna for the wireless card. They can be found on ebay by searching for something like "TYCO wireless antenna."

*edit
I guess the links weren't the easiest to find. Here they are in list form:
Mini-ITX case
35W i3 processor
Mini-ITX motherboard with parallel port
Mini-PCIE wireless card
TYCO Wireless Antenna
4 GB Memory
Hybrid 500GB SSD/Platter HD

Steve, Thanks for letting us know. I believe the[…]

What are your DIP switches set to? They can cause […]

CNC electronic questions?

AJ, Thanks a lot for your help,

Testing the 3 Axis Controller

I had replied to your email, but I'll post this he[…]