Is this thing even a Shapeoko anymore?

[Improbable Construct]

The last two weeks has brought a whirlwind of changes and modifications to my machine.

My DW660 started to sound really bad, like a bearing was going out and the runout became pretty bad as well.
I still like the DW660. For under $60.00 it works really well and mine probably had well over 100 hours of use, most likely more than 200 hours.

Its last job was to cut a set of UHMW mounts for a DW611 1-1/4 HP trim router.
At $120.00 its not cheap and only comes with a 1/4" collet.
Lucky for me Precisebits.com sells precision collets for the DW611.
http://www.precisebits.com/products/equ ... it!!!PG!!!
I went for the 1/8" and 1/4" kit with a balanced collet nut and wrench.
Video of the runout on the DW611 with Precisebits collet and nut.




The DW611 is a beast. Do not try to mount this on a stock shapeoko! It will tear it apart. Dual Y motors and Double X are a minimum and even then the DW611 is probably too much.
It has soft start and an electronic speed control built in. I bypassed all that stuff and modded it to be controlled by a Super PID.

I then used the DW611 to make a dust shoe for it. It blows its exhaust air straight down so I created a diverter/dust shoe to keep the exhaust air separate from the vacuum side. The first iteration was too flimsy and broke in half mid-job so I redesigned it with some 3d pockets to give it a bit more strength. I am also using craft foam for the dust shoe instead of the brush strip. It seems to work pretty well.

I also ordered 1000mm of 4080 extrusion, 250mm of 8020 and a chunk of 5mm carbon fiber plate.
I redesigned all of the motor plates to work with a 80mm tall X axis!
I moved the gantry back on the motor plates a la the eShapeOko and made them 40mm taller.
The Z-axis is now a piece of 8020 with hard coated openrail and steel wheels.
I flipped the Z-axis around so that the extrusion is bolted to a custom plate and created a new spindle mount out of 3/8" aluminum plate.

At the same time my trusty TB6560 controller crapped out on me. The X axis just quit working for no apparent reason (I am sure that my opening it up and soldering a few extra wires in there had nothing to do with it.)
I got it working by using the A-axis for the X and doubling up the Y motors but I had the feeling that was not going to work for very long.
So I ordered a GeckoDrive G540.
I don't have it fully tuned yet, (and one of my Y motors may be going bad) but I now have my maximum rapid rate set to 20000 mm/min for X and Y and my Z is set to 2200 mm/min!

This setup is unbelievable! It is rock solid! It is Sunday and I am not allowed to make noise on Sundays (long story) so I have not had a chance to cut with the complete setup yet but with the new Z-Axis mounted to my old setup I was able to cut out the carbon fiber parts to go to the 80 mm X gantry and it was amazing.

List of new upgrades and mods:

5mm carbon fiber motor mounts.
8040 + hardcoat openrail X-axis
8020 + hardcoat openrail Z-axis
Steel wheels for X and Z
Flipped Z-axis
Dw611
Precision collets for Dw611
New dust shoe/ diverter
Craft foam finger for dust shoe
3/8" aluminum mounts and plate for DW611
Geckodrive G540
48v power supply
Project enclosure for G540 and powersupply


And now what you have all been waiting for.... Pictures!

shapeoko 166 (Large).jpg (119.07 KiB) Viewed 7859 times

DW611 dust shoe with two bottom plates.

shapeoko 170 (Large).jpg (129.49 KiB) Viewed 7859 times

Carbon fiber pieces cut out.

shapeoko 173 (Large).jpg (105.56 KiB) Viewed 7859 times

New Z-Axis

[Improbable Construct]

shapeoko 175 (Large).jpg (72.03 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

This is how the 8020 is attached

shapeoko 176 (Large).jpg (68.89 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

Gantry end motor plate.
I dropped it and it chipped there on the diagonal side.
Its just cosmetic, but kind of a bummer.

shapeoko 178 (Large).jpg (66.15 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

Close up of the Z-axis and spindle mount. I had intended the plate to travel lower than the extrusion but it hits the bearing block. turns out I didn't need the travel anyway. I am going to remake the spindle mount, the UHMW mounts I used to hold the DW611 to make the aluminum parts flexed to much and the parts are kind of ugly. When I remake it, I will spread the wheels out..

[Improbable Construct]

shapeoko 180 (Large).jpg (76.34 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

The small wire going into the DW611 is the speed sensor for the SuperPID.

shapeoko 181 (Large).jpg (69.96 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

X-axis motor plate.

shapeoko 183 (Large).jpg (100.32 KiB) Viewed 7855 times

Electronics enclosure. G540, power supply, mail power switch and E Stop.
Fans are on the way... it gets a bit hot in there.

[Improbable Construct]

shapeoko 184 (Large).jpg (69.92 KiB) Viewed 7853 times

Back of the enclosure. There is a 3 pin XLR for the touch probe and a 5 pin XLR for the SuperPID.

shapeoko 185 (Large).jpg (68.27 KiB) Viewed 7853 times

Mounted DW611 and dust shoe with craft foam fingers.

shapeoko 186 (Large).jpg (82.38 KiB) Viewed 7853 times

Precise bits precision DW611 collet and wrench. Note the drill holes where the collet nut was balanced.

[WillAdams]

Wow. I rather regret my avowal that my upgrades would be limited to stock on hand (next is extending to 1m and doubling up X-axis) and what I can get cash and carry @ True Value (planning to order a DW660).

Have you worked out what the upper limits of what you can cut are?

[twforeman]

That's impressive.

Can I get more details about the PID controller for the spindle?

[Improbable Construct]

That's impressive.

Can I get more details about the PID controller for the spindle?

Its a SuperPID.
http://www.vhipe.com/product-private/SuperPID.htm

They are made in Australia so be ready for expensive shipping.
Great product however. I had it running on my DW660 before it started to go bad on me.
It can be run as a stand alone controller or it can be controlled by software like Mach3.

[LTMNO]

WOW!!!

[jubei]

Impressive, indeed.

Is the dxf for these motor plates available somewhere? Information is a bit scattered..

Thanks!
J

[PsyKo]

Really impressive machine you got there !
I'm trying to design my double X axis system.
What kind of screw did you use for the top V Wheels ? Mine is supposed to be at least 80mm long, but I can't find it. I was wondering if cutting a M5 threaded rod will do the trick, but since it's not real 5mm diameter (more around 4.6 or 4.8) I'm not sure how the bearing will hold on it...

I guess the bottom wheels with excentric nuts have to be on separated screw, right ?