The pearly gates opened up and rain upon me!!!!

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workinforwood

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Mar 1, 2007
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Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Woohooo!!!!!! Finally something good happened to me this week and no I am not talking about the nachos I had for dinner yesterday.:biggrin:
 

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jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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NJ, USA.
It is just amazing how some one can get so excited about a wooden box. :biggrin: But then again all I get is cardboard boxes so I can see how the extra material could be exciting.
 

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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Gee and here i thought it was just a box that got you excited. Someone went ahead and put some gizzmo in there. They ruined it. :frown:
 

workinforwood

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Mar 1, 2007
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Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Hehe John. Don't worry I will find uses for the plywood.

I made a few mods to this cabinet and here she is all set up. The only thing damaged in shipping was a crack in the plastic tote which is used to hold the spindle coolant. The machine is running in manual mode but it does not run off the computer. E stop error triggered and who knows what else. This is always the worst part, trying to figure out the proper settings, and the manual is 100% Chinese. There is English manual on a mini disc but I don't have time left today to start looking at that.

The working ranges are very similar in size to my other machine. It is physically very similar in size but only 140 lbs. the other machine is more industrial with solid steel castings and huge transformers and weighs 950 lbs.
 

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workinforwood

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Mar 1, 2007
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Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
That chuck is garbage in my opinion. You have to use two rods to open and close the jaws, and there is no rods so I have to make my own. I much prefer turning a key...but for the price I can get by with it.
 

workinforwood

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Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
8,173
Location
Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Leer, just search for 3040 column engraver on eBay. I paid something like $2020 for this on including the freight which was near $600. It's a good deal at that price point and they ship using Dhl, which only took about 3 weeks or less right to my door and I incurred no extra customs fees. What sucks about this machine is the spindle is only around 10,000 rpm, the chuck on the 4 axis is a bit of a hassle opening and closing and it's a bit squeaky or something when it's moving..ohhhh, and the spindle is manual only which really blows chunks. It's liquid cooled which is a bonus but you must turn on the spindle by hand, Mach 3 can't do it. Now if you are One of the Bruce's, you can do a bit of rewire to get Mach 3 to do spindle control but I am a Jeff not a Bruce ;). If I disconnect that rheostat I am likely left with scrap metal.
But...that being said, there's some real positives about this machine too! It's easy to move around. It uses pretty standard parts and is easily upgraded. The frame is solid and set up in such a way to make upgrades super simple. Down the road I can easily replace the spindle with a 30,000 rpm one. I can down the road buy a better 4 axis, it's basic 4 pin plug and play so I can upgrade easily to one that uses a chuck key. And with the relatively low cost I can recover my investment in a reasonable amount of time.
This machine won't run as much or often as my other one but any extra machine time help and it's good to have a machine to fall back on just in case one of them has a break down.

I just finally figured out the setup about 40 minutes ago. Here's the first plastic dust landing in the box. It is cutting a Panda hopefully. I don't need a panda especially a pure white rod one but it's what I loaded for a test subject.
This is btw how people obtain one off odd ball blanks. Any time I have a successful test run on a design or am just testing a machine, if the cut is a success i let it continue down the line as a finished blank. Eventually it ends up in Dawns hands at no cost and she tosses it in whatever customers package she feels like. :highfive:
 

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