CNC Pendant from Homann Designs to control my G0704 Milling Machine. I narrowed my choices down to the Vista CNC P4-SE and the Homann MP-03, in the end I went with the MP-03 because I thought it would make an interesting project to complete.
Box with all the parts arrived within a few days from Australia to the US.
http://youtu.be/JAB76ndN75U
The kit went together more easily than I expected. I used solid core 22awg wire for the runs between components so I could bend them into the shape I wanted and stranded for the data and other wires that would need to bend when the two sides were assembled.
I used different color wire to help differentiate and troubleshoot later if necessary
Red: + DC
Green: Ground
White: LED Data
Yellow: Switch Data
http://youtu.be/LL7y8VFgxTE
The Serial cable terminates in a Male DB9 and goes to a dual DB9 plate on my CNC Controller. There the E-Stop and Power Cables are attached inside the controller and the Serial TX/RX and ground are passed through via a DB9 Female to the PC.
How the DB9 on the end of the MP-03 is wired –
Which goes to the back of my CNC Controller
Where it’s separated into Power, E-Stop and the Serial TX/RX & ground go back out via another DB9 to the PC running Mach3.
My Serial is COM8 and the 6 is set by the MODIO. Once I had that set and went through the process outlined in the Plugin’s help file I just had to set the values for the Left and Right 12 position switches who are shown in the MP-03 screen. I just went roughly 20 either side of the value when entering them into the plugin config.
Video showing the Software setup and a demo of the basic functions.
Having followed www.hossmachine.info since I first got my X2 Mini Mill in 2008 I was very envious when he purchased an RF-45 Clone… Way too large for my shop, but I soon picked up when he announced the G0704, a BF-20 style Mill.
Took a while until I was in a position to buy one, but over this past summer I sold my X2 to a nice Gentleman who was going to use it for engraving serial numbers on parts he was machining on a VMC (He didnt want to tie up the VMC doing it).
I bought the Mill at the end of this past summer and it sat until I purchased the Electronics. Using Hoss’s recommendations I went with –
I installed and configured Mach3 on my PC (a Dell Dual 2GHZ Celeron with 1GB RAM) and hooked up one stepper and driver to the C10 to test it.
Next step was to assemble all those parts in a suitable housing. I opted to use an inexpensive ATX Computer case (Rosewell brand from NewEgg for $24). It’s cheaper and larger than enclosures designed specifically for CNC so I have plenty of room for extra parts and boards line.
Next was a wait while I went through my options. I’d made my own motor mounts when I converted the X2 using plans I bought from Stirling Steele and I even bought the Hoss DVD with his plans but decided to go with BD Tools/ALM Design/Billy Stepper and Ballnut mounts to make the process go a little faster (plus his parts are many orders of magnitude better than anything I could make). I cannot speak highly enough of Billy – his customer service is amazing and the quality of the mounts is excellent.
The bearings and ballnut mounts billy makes call for 16mm Diameter with 5mm pitch Balslcrews for the X and Y (RM1605) and 20mm with 5mm pitch (RM2005) for the Z. I sent Chai from linearmotionbearings2008 an eBay message with the Ballscrew and Nut specifications I received with the mounts and soon received them in the mail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGGThfsvkss
I took the screws apart to clean some dirt out and to count the balls (17 per circuit in the RM1605 and 20 per circuit in the RM2005). I was missing 1 ball from a RM1605 Nut, I emailed Chai again and he shipped me a package of several balls.
Other than the little bit of grinding grit everything else was fine and fit well into the 12mm bearings.
I’d already removed the Table and Column before when I broke it down as much as I could to carrying it into my basement so I was familiar with that and it went smoothly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHoqVccW0Ag
The Y Axis installation required some grinding of the Saddle. I tried using a drill press and end mill but it didn’t work out and resorted to an angle grinder. It looks a mess but works fine. I plan on buying a new saddle and using the CNC Mill to make oiling channels in for a one shot oiling system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qfTgmLqWQU
The X was much easier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBsdvBsGr2M
The Z is pretty simple, but as you can see in the video there are a lot of bolts to either tighten or loosen and no easy way to do it. The 3 bolts that help hold the head onto the Column are my least favourite part of the entire project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY4zD-XRU6I
Now its “done” …. the rest of the work begins such as adjusting gibs, checking backlash etc etc.
Note – I switched the Lovejoy couplings out and now use Oldham style, which I bought from Amazon.com. The Lovejoys have quite a bit of play in them and introduce significant backlash, the Oldhams are more expensive (which is why I went with Lovejoy at first) – But offer much better performance.
Here you can see the Ruland Oldham on the right and the Lovejoy L-50 on the left.
Links to Amazon product pages for those (3 of the Disks, and 6 of the Hub’s for a 3 axis Machine) –
Here are some links you may find interesting if you enjoyed post.
russtuff – Has a lot of Machining related videos and a G0704 series of videos much better than my own with excellent narration. He used the Hoss Machine plans for his, so he also gets extra credit for that.
jmillerid – Blog entry also about the Hoss plans on a G0704, his Controller has to be the best DIY I’ve seen.
Xnaron – G0704 CNC’d with the same parts as mine – some neat quadcopter stuff too.
MrBallistic31 – Another one with BD Tools mounts and a whole bunch of other machining videos.
