Fw: machine as a new resource for the electron club

[Roy Mohan Shearer]

Would it make a good PCB mill?

On Thursday, 2 November 2017, Andrew Back <andrew at carrierdetect.com> wrote:

> On 02/11/17 08:27, Kenny Duffus wrote:
> > On Wednesday, 1 November 2017 20:57:53 GMT Jerzy Dziewierz wrote:
> >> * It is heavy. I am not sure how much does it weigh, but it might be in
> >> range of 300-500kg.
> >>
> >
> > I think the first stage has to be narrowing down a bit the weight of the
> > machine on its own and its table.
> >
> > Also the dimensions of them both.
> >
> > Without this we can't really work out how we could move it i.e. Vehicles,
> > trolleys and number of people.
> >
> > We'd then also need to check if there were any issues depending on its
> > weight with having it in the EC room from a structural point of view
> >
> >> I have talked to Blair about this, and he rightfully points out that
> >> generated noise and dust might be a problem. To answer this, *
> >> Currently, the machine has no end effector (no spindle, no 3D printing
> >> head e.t.c.) meaning no noise for now. We can decide together what
> >> effector to put on it, and what the environmental consequences would
> >> be. This will not happen for at least a few months due to the fact that
> >> this machine has no driver at this point. Still, this is something to
> >> clear up with the EC management so that there are no misunderstandings
> >> later.
> >>
> >
> > I agree that this is something needing solving and that it could probably
> > be done as you say at the stage of working out tools for it.
>
> Using it as a router/mill will be very messy and you'd need a pretty
> good enclosure plus extraction to avoid getting dust everywhere.
>
> It does look like a very solid machine and had me wondering if you could
> achieve a high degree of positional accuracy and repeatability with it.
> If so one very cool project could be to make a laser cutter. CO2 tubes
> are a bit of a pain, due to high voltages and need for liquid coolant,
> but we are now starting to see 6W and 10W laser diodes, and I've also
> wondered about combining these, e.g. via a knife edge combiner.
>
> That said, even a DIY solid state laser cutter has its own set of
> problems, namely laser safety — best fully enclosed, with interlocks and
> a laser safe window — and fume extraction.
>
> In terms of motion control, I'd be inclined to throw away whatever
> electronics it uses, save for the stepper motor drives, and to hook
> these and the sensors up to a BeagleBone Black running Machinekit.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Andrew
>
>
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