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!

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DW611 dust shoe with two bottom plates.

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Carbon fiber pieces cut out.

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New Z-Axis

[Improbable Construct]

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This is how the 8020 is attached

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

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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]

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

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X-axis motor plate.

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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]

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

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Mounted DW611 and dust shoe with craft foam fingers.

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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 ?