News

05/26/2011 11:42 AM CST (GMT -6)
More pictures - showing the progress to date

04/11/2011 09:54 AM CST (GMT -6)
The foot surgery has limited my activities more than anticipated - creating a backlog of non-cube related tasks that have further crimped my time - none-the-less given that the remaining work is more integration than design, good (albeit slow) progress has been made:

Here is a recent picture of the state of the motion module...

click to see larger
here are a few more...

And the:
breakout board (for EMC) should be in this week or next
Spindle - this week
Z motion stage - ordered yesterday
Energy chain - ordered last week
Motor controllers - on hand
24 volt power supply - ordered last week
Zero back-lash couplings - last week
Power & signal quick disconnects - selected - not ordered yet
I'm certain many additional small challenges lie ahead, but I'm both excited and optimistic about the state of the machine and its nearness to being functional...

02/28/2011 09:04 PM CST (GMT -6)
Been busier these last 3 weeks than anticipated, had foot surgery, and got 4 part #'s made and validated, not much progress on the motion-control / Arduino / Easydriver setup, but we should live to fight another day against that issue, the entire Y Gantry is assembled! and X is now only 2 additional part #'s away!!
A spindle is selected and the Z axis will be mounted rather than made so it can be considered complete. The only challenging part left is the x axis ball-screw, and it should become a functioning 3 axis light mill.

02/06/2011 07:08 PM CST (GMT -6)
Epiphany!! I have thought of a fairly universal way to approach the electrical wiring and electronics, to make the machine compatible with Arduino, EasyDriver Makerbot/RepRap Gen3 electronics(Sanguino), RepRap Gen6, or Gecko drives. - You Choose! Other controllers should also work
It will also include an EMC-able control schema, or you may use Mach3 - trying for a no limits approach.

The crucial thing is, all the motor electrics and signal electronics will run to the electrical cabinet at the top of the machine where a standard grid of stand-offs will allow the mounting of any boards, a breakout block that will let any input to output pin schemas to be matched to the physical motor and telemetry wiring - then its just a cookbook intruction set for each configuration. Euuuureka!!!

01/24/2011 05:08 AM CST (GMT -6)
Additional updates to the project site regarding a part numbering scheme, a lot of activity on this page on this site as I add component drawings for the 600mm cubes. As always: Progress!!

12/29/2010 09:36 PM CST (GMT -6)
Added a old rendering of the 500mm cells - it more clearly illustrates the System Design concept than any of the more recent material, which focuses on more specific subsets of the system.
See it here:

12/16/2010 05:53 PM CST (GMT -6)
Just added several pics to the picasa site
http://picasaweb.google.com/cubespawn/600mmCubes#

12/15/2010 02:00 PM CST (GMT -6)
Much communication back and forth with the Machine Shop in the last 2 weeks, prints and parts are nearing completion, after the last round of minor revisions and completely new part designs the motion module is operating mechancally in X, and Y , now I can hook up the motion boards and begin to see if any other complications exist...

Z is next!
Then the detachable spindle, and detachable extruder modules can begin ( this is for repstrap/mill changeovers)

11/11/2010 05:57 AM CST (GMT -6)
Picked up the parts yesterday, upon close examination - there is an error, (mine, theirs, whatever) with the hole placement for the linear bearings, sigh...
so a rework on the T-Bracket part... other than that, it appears this design will work out fine.

10/21/2010 04:08 AM CST (GMT -6)
Lots of progress on the site, starting to look as if it may be readable someday...
Focusing on the "designs" subset of pages at the moment, slow going, but progress is being made...
The company I work for is entering their "slow" season, so its hoped that the pace of development will increase on this project.

10/02/2010 10:37 PM CST (GMT -6)

Finally getting around to re-vamping the website, I have dumbed it down since the script based site was a spam magnet.
I have been toiling away since May on any number of other projects as well as my more-than-full-time job so progress has been small but steady.
I'll be trying to devote 1 hour per day to populating this site with some of the information I have collected in the last year.