New PM30 for CNC, or what have I done!

[Rogbo]

I've been kicking around wetting my left little toe into the CNC waters. I went as far as posting to this forum, asking which computer to buy and which CAD to run. I grabbed a couple Kindle Unlimited beginning CNC books to read. In general, when dreaming adventurously I was thinking about the $250 desktop cnc router on Amazon to play around with while I built my retirement house.

Through some crazy mistakes by my mortgage company I ended up getting a gift card that needed to be cashed out by the end of month and would take two acts of God and probably the underwriter to cash it out or apply it to the loan. So my taxes are paid, I own my old car outright, and my kids and grandkids got shoes, so what could I do?

I decided what the heck, be bold grasshopper, both feet in all the way to my eyeballs and I ordered a new PM-30MV from Precisionmatthews.com and the hardware CNC kit from Arizonacnckits.com.

OMG, what have I done? That is the whole gift card AND everything I know about CNC conversions too.

To be continued...

 

[Just for fun]

Well that's cool, I've been thinking about a PM-30MV myself but not the CNC stuff. Mainly because what I know about mills is not much. Looking forward to updates!

 

[Rogbo]

Next:
What Front End/Controller? Is that even what it's called?
In my searchs I see Centroid/Acorn, Mach 3/4, LinuxCNC, UCCNC, are there other, better options?

I'm an ex-IT guy with a lot of Unix and Linux experience going back a hundred years. Because Redhat was commercially marketed and supported Redhat/CentOS/Fedora were my forte for years, FreeBSD. Solaris, heck what was IBMs Unix called I even did that. Windows back to 3 with Banyan Vines, Windows NT, Netware, WOW what a trip down memory lane.

Anyway I like the thought of a FOSS System end to end - LinuxCNC probably on Ubuntu and FreeCAD. But is this enough? Is there a FreeCAM or does FreeCAD take care of that piece? Another consideration is, is the end user experience similar to a commercial system. I've been teaching my son on our manual equipment and would like his experience to be transferable to the workplace if he likes it.

TThen there's Centroid / Acorn. I like the look of this product, it looks stable, has mostly good reviews, and helps my CNC ignorance with a fairly complete package.

MMach3/4? Well probably Mach 4. I keep reading that it's not getting many updates or support. IDK.

Any others?
Any thoughts or advice?

AAnd then on to steppers or servos!

 

[Rogbo]

Ordered the Acorn kit for Centroid last night.
Ordered an i5 fanless mini computer and a 21 inch Asus touch screen monitor from Amazon.

Need to figure out the steppers now.
The design the control cabinet.

 

[Radials]

Very cool project in the making! I just purchased an RF-45 clone and came across your post in doing some research on possibly converting it to cnc as well. I'll be following. Looks like I'm just a stones throw away from you too.

Nick

 

[Rogbo]

Hi neighbor Radial! Ain't we blessed living in God's country. I wanted a heavier mill like the RF-45 clones, and thought hard on the PM-932M that's a tad over 800 pounds. The problem, for me, I knew nothing about CNC before I started and there were kits to at least kick start my build. I was seriously afraid a year long build that lost focus.

Anyway, as most stuff on this adventure, I was having trouble finding and picking a cnc controller cabinet. Looking at Amazon daily deals I came across a nice 28x28x6 Craftsman wall cabinet for $99 delivered that should fit the bill and match my hodge podge shop decor.

Still kicking around steppers, but probably steppers online nema 34 kits. I hear Arizona CNC hardware kits are a couple of months out so maybe hold off on the stepper kits for now.

 

[macardoso]

Hi Rogbo, I am a long time CNC hobby guy. I have a mill running Mach 4 + ESS + AC servos and I am helping a guy from another forum with schematics for a control panel based on the Centroid Acorn. Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to help (as would many others here).

-Mike

 

[Rogbo]

Hi Rogbo, I am a long time CNC hobby guy. I have a mill running Mach 4 + ESS + AC servos and I am helping a guy from another forum with schematics for a control panel based on the Centroid Acorn.

Thanks Mike! I'm going to take you up on that Acorn wiring schematics when I get that far. I'm sure you know about the Acorn schematic zip file on thier site that covers about everything, down to wiring my probably steppers online drivers - HERE. It's a nice resource, that mostly left me lost.

I also found a good YouTube series on industrial control panel build out HERE. A lot of videos, but informative for building a CNC control panel.

My touch screen came in last night, my mini computer is out for delivery today, and my Acorn probably the first of next week.

Woop, and my Oregon retirement home breaks ground today, weather permitting!

 

[macardoso]

Happy to help, just let me know.

Here was an HM post I wrote a while back.

Tips for Your Electrical Panels!

Hi all! I am probably an oddball here who really enjoys the process of building electrical panels. I have two CNC mills (Sherline and a G0704) for which I have built several electrical panels over the years. At my day job, I design industrial control panels for some special applications. I...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[macardoso]

I also found a good YouTube series on industrial control panel build out HERE. A lot of videos, but informative for building a CNC control panel.

Never seen these, but I really like the material presented and definitely agree with his points. Nice find!