Tag Archives: machinery

In adding an alternative cutter drive motor (‘spindle’) to an existing cnc machine, an electrically isolated pwm to analogue converter is needed. The machine uses a ‘grbl’ controller, which has an Arduino-based circuit that includes multiple outputs, including a powerful 24V pwm signal that is generally used to drive a 60-80W spindle motor. Update: See a constant current approach to ...

I have seen so many articles and videos on the ‘correct’ way to assemble the anti-backlash nuts on the various small cnc routers that are available for hobby use, particularly ‘1310’ units, and possibly their slightly larger ‘1419’ types cousins. And so many of the articles and videos are partially right, or even just wrong, and plenty of sources complain ...

This cnc conversion is taking for ever. But it is progressing. A few stolen hours this weekend meant that an x-axis stepper motor mount could be designed and printed (right). This is actually the second attempt at this – I used the wrong belt length in the first one, and made little attempt to get internal forces in the correct ...

grbl is stepper motor controller firmware for three-axis cnc machines, intended to run on Arduinos with a motor driver add-on board. Engineer in Wonderland cnc-related blogs are indexed here It is the result of an amazing open-source project, and once more I am thankful to those who have put there time and expertise into such endeavours. Update: The Cronos grbl ...

Does anyone out there know of a source of proper (not too expensive) F8-16M (8 – 16 x 5mm) ball thrust bearings? By ‘proper’, I mean that both end ‘washers’ have ball grooves in, and the washers are not identical: one washer’s central hole fits the shaft snugly, while its outer diameter is slack in the bore, while the other ...

Does anyone know where I can buy proper ball-type F8-16M thrust bearings? (not too expensively) That is, thrust bearings where both end ‘washers’ are groved to form a ball-race, and: one washer is sized to clear the 8mm shaft and fit the 16mm bore, while the other is sized to fit the 8mm shaft and clear the 16mm bore. This ...

Two weekends ‘ruined’ by bad weather meant extra time in the workshop – yippee. And meant a deep dive into a problem that I have not seen solved by 3D printing so far (and I can’t claim to have solved it yet, but things are looking promising 🙂 Update: prototype y-axis mount Update: thrust bearing help please Update: Arduino-based g-code ...

A while ago I bought an ‘1610Pro’ CNC router (below) on which to carve pcbs. Instead, it got used to break a lot of cutter bits – the learning curve to CNC-ability is strewn with such things, everyone discovers. Engineer in Wonderland cnc-related blogs are indexed here The steam ran out a little as I discovered that using CNC router ...

SMEs have mostly got to grips with surface-mount components, but is seems to me that positioning components prior to reflowing small batches is still an issue, particularly at the small enterprise end – and amongst the pro-makers who make small batches to sell on websites like Tindie. Tweezers and a microscope seem to be the only option, or order part-populated ...

The open-source grbl project has produced software that allows an Arduino to control a three-axis CNC machine – it is the software within ‘3018’ and related low-cost Chinese-made CNC desktop routers. Admired for the capability that its developers have squeezed into a 16MHz 8bit AVR microcontroller, and their ingenuity in doing so, the associated hardware has started to show its ...