When it all just works (warning-nerdy content!)

To move slightly off course for a moment, I wanted to post a little bit about the things that work right. We all have been through it, we buy a computer upgrade part that when we get it home, it needs something else. Remember when printers were making the switch between parallel port to usb? Or you wanted to move to Win 7 and your pc (which seemed fine with XP) couldn't handle it. As I am also a closet computer nerd, these things would pop up from time to time, and drive me batty. I remember my old cnc routers. When I got my first one, it was running win 95! As I was running win XP, I really wanted to upgrade the router.  I could do an upgrade, but it was gonna cost me $5000.00 for new electronics and I would be stuck with the old mechanics of the machine. Fast-forward to now. I purchased my Techno cnc 2 years ago, used. I would guess the machine to be between made between 1999-2005.  I recently picked up the ART hand held pendant   from Techno. This is a fantastic piece of technology. It basically provides complete control of all machine functions via a small touchscreen monitor.It also allows me to move around the machine and do all my set-ups where they need to be done, instead of commuting back and forth from the PC to the machine. So this is where I am going with this. I was able to download the drivers from the Techno cnc website, plug in the ART pendant and it all just works. Period. No expensive upgrades, new components or computer changeover. It just works. A  new piece of technology-working in tandem with my older machine. I think the developers over at Techno need a round of applause, or at least from me, because this is the way it always should be. 

JO

Death can be a little complicated in the beginning

Or at least all the parts for it are! I finally got to cutting some of the bits and pieces for the Death machine today, and I hope it all comes back to me when we start to assemble. There are a lot of pieces that don't differ all that much from each other. When I nested all the parts in Aspire, I had grand plans of keeping the pieces that went together in some sort of grouping. That approach quickly went the way of the dodo as I would sneak a piece from there and put it in here, to get the best sheet yield. Almost all of the structure is going to be 1/2" MDF, due to the cost vs quantity of all the parts. Our Techno made SUPER short work of cutting it all out. No more than 18 min per sheet. I could have easily halved that, but I can be a bit of a baby when it comes to cutting sheet parts, playing it safe, rather than pushing feed speeds on the Techno to hard. I ran all the parts with 2 passes. The first one was at .4" and the last was .5" As I dont have a vacuum hold down yet ( but the router came all plumbed for it) I have to resort to screwing my sheets down. As a lot of the parts were skinny strips, I have found that taking a deep first pass, leaving only a small amount for the final pass, results in less pulling on the part by the cutter. I also have found that running a parallel cutting bit over using a spiral cutter creates a better edge on the MDF parts.

JO

Techno cnc routers

I thought that for this post, I would take a few moments to discuss the single most important tool in our shop, as our next few jobs are still at the early computer stage. When I started using cnc routers, I had no idea the creative potential I could unleash. I had very little computer experience, and I thought vectors and .STL must have been some kind of government agency!

At that time, Aspire software wasn't available. I had bought a used camtech router which was cable and chain driven(that's right, you heard me) and the pc (win98) came with a copy of Artcam 5. The machine software was running in a DOS shell and was VERY limited by today's standards. None the less, I was very happy at the time. I think I paid $2500 for it. The cost was the only reason I was able to move to automation at the time. I had no tech support, as the machine was out of date, and the cost to upgrade the mechanics was WAY out of reach. I learned quite a lot about this new world on that machine, but as time moved on, It became apparent I needed faster cut times. That machine had some seriously under-powered stepper motors on it. Not that steppers are bad by any stretch, I have heard of steppers that can shear a 3/8" cutter off without stopping. But UNDER powered steppers gave me a world of grief. I then actually found another used camtech machine, fairly well priced, that I purchased as well. Being that I already knew how to use our first machine, having a second one that ran the same control software meant no steep learning curve....again! I ran both those machines for about 2 years. One was 4X8 and the other was 5X10. Needless to say, that's a huge amount of real estate to lose. As more and more work started to arrive, I found that 2 under powered machines were not going to cut it. Secretly, I wouldn't take some jobs on, as I couldn't count on their accuracy. If you compound under powered machinery with an open loop stepper configuration, the combination can be disastrous. I sometimes would let those machines run when I went for lunch, and would come back to a pile of lost steps, parts cut through other parts, etc. Time was another factor. It took our one machine 10 hours to 3d machine a sci-fi machine gun out of MDF.
And that was just one side. Still though, it was faster than doing it by hand. Those machines did carve a lot of great stuff though:) As time went on, I knew if I wanted to stay in the cnc business, I HAD to upgrade. I spent hours online looking at new machinery, I would attend woodworking and sign shows, learning all about what was out there. I finally decided to go with a Techno cnc router. I chose them for a multitude of reasons. Largely for the closed loop servo motors. In a closed loop system, the servo motors are always talking to the computer, letting it know where they are at all times, and correcting any errors on the fly. The other is the LIFETIME support. I bought my machine used from a fabrication company. Even though it was a used product, I have received software and firmware upgrades for free, as well as unparalleled tech support. I used to read on some forums (after I bought my machine) that Techno's tech support was terrible, I have from day one never found this. In fact I have Mike from Techno (i think that "from Techno" might even be his last name) in my cell phone speed dial, just in case I need help. Our Techno has run miles of cuts, quite literally. I do a small amount of maintenance, like lubrication and cleaning, and that's it. Compared to our last 2 machines, the maintenance is minimal at best. I will, at a later time, answer some questions and myths regarding cnc routers. But for now I need to finish drawing up our up-coming projects.



Oh yeah, That same sci-fi gun, cut on our Techno took 45 min. a side to machine. Which means that our Techno can outrun the old stepper machine by making 13 full guns to 1. With that ratio, you can see what makes sense!

JO