on 2017-11-01, we have an opportunity to acquire a heavy split-axis cartesian XYZ machine for our endeavours:

———– machine size and weight ——— Outermost dimensions with some margin:

Width 115 cm Depth 100cm Height 170cm Weight: at least 300kg

The machine itself is very robust It is likely approx. 40 years old. There is no driver electronics whatsoever, but there is: * high precision rails on both axes. No play. No rust, no damage. * Linear motors. There are noiseless. Known coil resistance: 14 ohms. Tested working. * Ultra high precision linear encoders, with sine-cosine output. Tested works at 5V supply. * elastic covers to all axes. We need to build the servo amplifier and the motion controller for it.

Before we can bring it to the club, there are following concerns to be addressed first:

———– Risk : Environmental - office conditions versus dust, noise, vibration e.t.c. ——- [2017-11-14] At this point there would be no noise, no dust, no vibration e.t.c. Detailed explanation to follow soon

———– Risk: Health and Safety from the moving parts ———— [2017-11-14] [Bob]: H&S?

[Jurek]: I to have to give You that this machine could potentially be a H&S issue. It has heavy moving parts. There is no sharps, but there is a potential for finger capture if one puts his finger into just the right place at just the right time.

The risks are mostly similar to the ones coming from a regular 3D printer (that is already there) or the motorized table saw, which is also already there.

To mitigate this risk, we could build it into a lockable cabinet to make it even more obvious that it is not to be messed with.

——— Risk : How to remove it from the club after the interest wanes out ———— [2017-11-14]

[Bob]: In case if the interest stalls, it will be difficult to get rid of it.

[Jurek]: I must agree with this. In order to mitigate this risk, may I suggest that we start a fund, to be held by the CCA, in which there will be a deposit to cover for the machine’s eventual disposal. I guess we might need to find somewhere in range of 300gbp . Another method might be to get an official quote from one of the scrap metal collectors: https://www.yell.com/s/metal+collection-glasgow.html since there is easily 300kg of metal in this thing, I would guess they might be interested in picking this thing up for free from us.

Recently we had someone contact us via the website to very kindly donate various tools and components. A volunteer collected the donation, which contained among other useful things some stepper motors. A good friend very kindly donated the shell of a CNC machine:

Further to this we have:

• A suitable power supply (donated by Kenny D)
• An arduino mega, ramps board and various stepper drivers (donated by Martin McG)
• BeagleBone Black plus Probotix PBX-BB board, kindly donated by Anderw B.

A CNC machine will allow people to build things in the Electron club, for example circuit boards cut from copper plate, among other things. This video is a reasonable primer on the subject.

The current plan is to hold an event on a Saturday were we put all this together to build a CNC machine. Initially for testing purposes we'll have a pen so it will draw things. The remainder of the components required should be in the room, somewhere. Later we'll figure out which route to go for drilling (dremel, brushless spindle etc).

The details of when this will happen are pending, please watch this space and the mailing list.

Should you have any questions, or wish to donate related equipment please contact us.