Zenbot 1216 CNC
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Contents
General
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Current status
- As of Nov 4 2012
- Still being setup.
X,Y,Z is tested and software configured such that its close to real measurements.
Spindle control is blown, parts on order to fix (expected on the order of 1 week)
One set of belts received (based off of recommendation from wolfgang eng) but still not the right size/material. Close enough that an array of sizes on order, one pair of which should work correctly
Equipment Description
Parts that make up this system:
- Zenbot itself (Includes the body, armatures, and the x, y, and z motors and actuation hardware (belts))
- Believed to be a Zenbot 1216, hasn't been absolutely confirmed (Unsure if zenbot stamps model numbers on their products) zenbot 1216 product page Zenbot 1216 manual
- X, Y, Z motor controller
- Believed to be a Mechatronics 3-axis CNC micro-stepper motor driver mechtronics 3-axis
- Power brick for X, Y, Z controller
- Labeled "PA3290U-2ACA SEB 100P2-15.0". Input 100-240v 2.5A 50/60Hz. Output 19V at 6.3A. Center of connector is plus, outer shield is minus.
- Spindle (the routing part) - Believed to be a Wolfgang Engineering ... um ... spindle? (they don't seem to have any model info on the spindle or historical information on the website)
- Wolfgang engineering website
- The belts needed to couple the motor to the spindle are MISSING.
- Gerrit has talked with Wolfgang about this and he may have enough info to order the belts as parts (They may effectively be big O-rings)
- Spindle motor controller
- Cytron Technologies MD30B
- Spindle power supply - MISSING
- Documentation for the MD30B controller says that it wants between 10 and 30Vdc with with a peak (output) of 30A (at 12Vdc?). Current product from wolfgangengineering has 200W 12Vdc motor, so 30A peek seems possible.
- Computer running EMC2 CNC control software and that has a parallel port
- Thin dell desktop sitting with the zenbot is believed to be ready to go. There is some debate whether the EMC2 configure is complete. The people with Zenbot have said they have a (non-guaranteed) config that a customer made for EMC2 but thus far they haven't posted or emailed it to us
- Bits
- There is one bit with the Zenbot, but to be of use more will have to be acquired. There seems to be agreement that the best way is to buy of Ebay, more digging will be needed to understand what to buy and how to re-cert/re-measure it in order to make it usable with the machine.
Pictures
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Operating instructions
As-of-Oct-2012 the equipment shouldn't be operated
Notes from initial equipment build
Log of research (newest to oldest)
Nov 5 Mike L
Copy of status update email:
- Progress made:
- The x and y stepper control wires were switched and the Axis config rewritten for X,Y,Z such that motion is true to Zenbot docs and is also much closer to real-world measurement (Was > 730% off, now estimated at < 1% of real world) - Chris P
- Belts for the spindle are on order - delivery unclear, worst case expected before Nov 16th - Mike L
- Motor controller blown - replacement motor control IC expected yet this week - Chris P
- Next actions:
- Directly test spindle motor make sure its isn't the cause of the trouble with the controller - Mike L & Chris P
- (as parts come in)
- Install/test belts connecting the spindle motor to the spindle rotor. - Mike L
- Repair/troubleshoot spindle motor controller. - Chris P
- Run a test milling using soft material (machinable wax) - Mike L
- Run test milling to better lock-in the real-world vs. software measurement accuracy. - Chris P & Mike L
- Unaddressed needs:
- More spindle bits - have been told to "carefully" order off of ebay
- Gerrit may pick this up, but if anyone else out there wants to take charge of getting and calibrating rough and fine milling bits off of ebay let me know.
- More spindle bits - have been told to "carefully" order off of ebay
- Future/dream stuff:
- Add limit switches to X,Y,Z -- important to prolong the life of the machine
- Chris P has switches on order - still lots of planning to figure out how to install and use
- Add homing switches for X,Y,Z -- required to allow high resolution milling and/or double sided alignment for circuit board cutting
- Chris P has switches on order - still lots of planning to figure out how to install and use
- Sacrificial milling surface overlays and/or jigs - surfaces that would screw in the zenbot surface to increasing the distance the mill would have to improperly travel before it started destroying the Zenbots primary surface. Best made on-mass, likely using the big CNC in the basement. A subset should also be created for specialized use of the mill (alignment pegs for circuit board milling, etc)
- No work done, no one offering to do the work
- All-in-one enclosure -- Desire of Gerrit
- One of Gerrit's ideas - no significant planning or sourcing has been done to make this happen
- Vacuum system -- Desire of Gerrit
- Another desired feature Gerrit would like to see - no significant planning or sourcing has been done to make this happen
- Add limit switches to X,Y,Z -- important to prolong the life of the machine
- An aside:
- For the last two weeks I've been working-on, writing-up and PM'ing anything I've found on the Zenbot because I'm highly amused by it and I've had a small block of extra time. I've been taking the communication approach you've seen (all info on wiki plus occasional email updates) because I expect I may suddenly run out of time and/or others may choose to work on the machine, and I both want to enable the project to continue with or without me and avoid people repeating others work.
- With that said, I'm not under any illusion that I have sole (or even any) exclusivity to the machine and I apologize if anyone has taken my communication to mean I am claiming dominion over it.
- I've had one person walk up to me, wanting me to take a different approach to the way I was proceeding with the machine, when I explained that I wanted to continue in the course I had planned (after all this is hobby work for me, I want to do it as I see fit) they were quite unhappy me. It didn't occur to me at the time, but what I needed to say to them was, "while I'm not going to do what you want, if you want to do that, go ahead, but it would be cool if you would add to the notes on the wiki so we all know what the current state is", instead I think my past communications may have lead them to think had dominion over the machine and I was forbidding them from trying what they wanted. That was definitely not what I meant to do.
Nov 4 Mike L
Moved the page now that the model is clear - its a 1216
- The reason is that 12" by 16" is the x/y travel of the head, but the measurement of the baseboard of the CNC is roughly 16 by 24 (causing many of us to think it is zenbot 1624). If you look on the zenbot product page, the specs for the 1216 is:
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- Travels: X-12”, Y-16”, Z-4”
- Table size: 23” x 16.5”
- Footprint: 28” x 24”
- Motors: 4 wire bipolar 285 ounce/in Nema-23
- Which matches the machine the space has.
Nov 3 Chris P
The manual for the Zenbot 1216 states that "the drive pulley diameter on this machine is .458 inches. The circumference of the drive pulley is 1.439. This means that the motor rotates .695 turns per inch (1/1.439). The stepper motors on this machine are .9 degree per step motor, which means that there are 400 steps per revolution. Now you just need to know the micro-step settings on your drivers. The formula for calculating the steps per inch is .695 x 400 x micro-steps/step. For a 1/8 micro-step driver, the formula would be .695 x 400 x 8 = 2224 steps per inch."
The stepper motors on the Zenbot 1216 at the LVL1 space are labeled as 1.8 degree per step. The steppers have 200 steps per revolution. The DIP switches on the driver are configured for 1/8 micro-steps. Using the same formula 0.695 x 200 x 8 = 1112 steps per inch.
Settings for LinuxCNC: Driver Type = Other Step Time = 10000 (unsure, using the recommended value) Step Space = 10000 (unsure, using the recommended value) Direction Hold = 200000 (unsure, using the recommended value) Direction Setup = 200000 (unsure, using the recommended value) First Parport = 0x378 Base Period Maximum Jitter = 10816 (Measured with latency test, could be higher in which case a dedicated video card should be installed. Current PC has a low profile PCI-E slot). Parallel Port Pin 1 = unused (inverted) Pin 2 = X Step Pin 3 = X Direction Pin 4 = Y Step Pin 5 = Y Direction Pin 6 = Z Step Pin 7 = Z Direction Pin 8 = Spindle CW (future) Pin 9 = Spindle CCW (future) Pin 14 = Spindle PWM (future, inverted) Pin 16 = unused Pin 17 = unused (inverted) Pin 10 = unused Pin 11 = unused Pin 12 = unused Pin 13 = unused Pin 15 = unused X Axis Motor Steps Per Revolution = 200 Driver Microstepping = 8 Pulley Ratio = 1:1 Leadscrew Pitch = -0.694927 (negative causes axis to move in opposite direction) Maximum Velocity = 3.33 (using the recommended 200 inches per minute from Zenbot manual) Maximum Acceleration = 40 (using the recommended 40 inches/sec/sec from Zenbot manual) Home Location = 0 Table Travel = 0 to 12 Y Axis Motor Steps Per Revolution = 200 Driver Microstepping = 8 Pulley Ratio = 1:1 Leadscrew Pitch = -0.694927 (negative causes axis to move in opposite direction) Maximum Velocity = 3.33 (using the recommended 200 inches per minute from Zenbot manual) Maximum Acceleration = 40 (using the recommended 40 inches/sec/sec from Zenbot manual) Home Location = 0 Table Travel = 0 to 16 Z Axis Motor Steps Per Revolution = 200 Driver Microstepping = 8 Pulley Ratio = 1:1 Leadscrew Pitch = -0.694927 (negative causes axis to move in opposite direction) Maximum Velocity = 3.33 (using the recommended 200 inches per minute from Zenbot manual) Maximum Acceleration = 40 (using the recommended 40 inches/sec/sec from Zenbot manual) Home Location = 0 Table Travel = -4 to 0 Spindle (future, using guessed numbers now) PWM Rate = 5000 Hz (MD30B can do up to 10000 Hz) Speed 1 = 100 Speed 2 = 800 PWM 1 = 0.2 PWM 2 = 0.8
The MD30B spindle motor driver was damaged during initial test of power supply, parts are ordered/shipped for repair.
Oct 29 Mike L
Info found on motor:
12 VDC MOTOR Mabuchi # RS-555VD. 12Vdc, 750mA (no-load). Operates over 8-18 Vdc range. 38.5mm diameter x 65mm long. 3.17mm (1/8") diameter shaft. Solder lug / 0.18" qc terminals. CAT# DCM-354 $3.50 each
From http://www.scribd.com/doc/66758727/42/DC-MOTORS page 79
In order to get something going on the belts, I ordered:
Products ------------------------------------------------------ 2 x 3/16" (4.8mm) Orange 83A O-ring Belt = $8.00 Cut-Length 5 2 x 3/16" (4.8mm) Orange 83A O-ring Belt = $7.78 Cut-Length 5.5 2 x 3/16" (4.8mm) Orange 83A O-ring Belt = $7.86 Cut-Length 5.3125 2 x 5/32" (4mm) Clear 83A O-ring Belt = $7.10 Cut-Length 5.25 ------------------------------------------------------
from Ebelting.com
Oct 28 Mike L
Working to figure out which belt to acquire.
The durabelt people have a calculator for spec'ing out a belt at http://durabelt.com/beltlengthcalculator.php. Method three seems the most promising given the measurements Chris and I took.
After two pages of trying to work out the math, I came up with a length of 146.35mm (5.76181") for the unstretched length, durabelts calculator gave me the same thing (if I said 0 percentage stretch.
Still not sure if I have this right though. The belt vender sells belts in 1/16" increments.
Oct 26 2012 - Mike L
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Zenbot has been moved to a desk in the front (broadway facing door) room.
It is missing one of the rubber feet (that might have been added aftermarket). May be easiest to just replace all four - the three that are still on are clearly "stick on" type. There is no special size or shape required.
PC originally wouldn't boot. Chris P. futzed with the ram in the machine (added/removed/cleaned-with-eraser) and the machine became willing to boot.
Once machine was booting the EMC2/linuxcnc?/axis-software was willing to run, and upon turning on the X,Y,Z controller, the software would drive the armature.
The machine is sitting with its orignal QR code facing out, this seem to be a good way point it so-as to have the x driver-motor pointing out at the user as it slides left to right BUT the config on the machine currently has both x and y configured for the machine rotated 180 degrees. I'm working to understand the config, with the expectation that I'm going to reverse both the x and the y (the z is fine)
Also critically important, all the axis are WAY out of scale. Moving the head 1.4 inches in the controlling software really moves the head very rapidly 10 inches in real space. Given the machine only has 10-20 inches of travel on x and y this makes a really easy to crash the head into the end of the rails its mounted on. Given the machine has no sensors for the end of the rails, if the software commands it there it will simply slam the head into the rails and grind the motors trying to keep moving on. (specifically moving 10" in real space read 1.3892" on the software, moving the head 10" on the y axis in real space read as 1.3762" on the software, z wasn't measured)
To the right are pictures of measurements of the spindle belt groves, with the goal of computing what size belt we need to acquire
Chris found a "O ring style belt" custom belt maker. dura-belt durabelt.com is the manufacture, but they don't sell retail. ebelting.com is one of the retails for them.
--
Chris Pettus did some googling and found another zenbot user using a Wolfgang spindle and powering it with a computer power supply: https://plus.google.com/103014027224354212001/posts/9EELxYozG4W
Oct 25 2012 - Mike L
In a back-and-forth with Chorgy he said: "The spindle I ran using a generic 13v regulated bench top that I bought from radio shack for like $30-$40." Which I'm somewhat unclear if he donated but regardless is not in the pile of equipment with the Zenbot.
Chorgy also added that he really can't see the motor drawing more then 20A 12v dc max (.. through the motor controller board) and so he though a computer power supply would work.
Oct 24 2012 - Mike L
Warped photo of the QR code that attached to the Zenbot
Oct 23 2012 - Mike L
Following up on what I found out about the zenbot:
- Chris connected me to Gerrit, he is the writer of the note (that I sent earlier) on the zenbot and seems to be on top of what needs to be done to get it going. (I.E. he does "have the ball")
- Current status
- Believed capable of high precision operation other then a non-operating spindle (the router part) because of multiple missing parts, and likely incompletely configured control software.
- Parts needed to get the zenbot operating:
- Power supply for the spindle motor
- either found by chorgy or an expense of $75-150
- Belts for spindle
- Gerrit had an exchange with Wolfgang Eng (maker of the spindle part) and thinks he may have enough info to order from a parts house (price currently unknown, though expected to be low)
- More bits (there is one with the zenbot now)
- Both Gerrit and chorgy agree that ebay is the way to go. Gerrit's comment was that the reason that ebay bits are so cheap is because they are partly used and have become slightly out of dimensional spec. With effort, the bits can be re-measure there-by enabling them to be used at full precision.
- Config for EMC2? (x,y,z stepper motor control software)
- The current assumption is that the EMC2 on the linux box doesn't have a fully configured config for the zenbot. Gerrit has contacted the zenbot and they have said they will send him a (customer supplied) EMC2 config, though they haven't yet so he is planning on bugging them again.
- Brian W posted that he had x,y,z working a few months back, Brian if you think the config is complete then please reply so Gerrit doesn't have to keep hassling the zenbot folks
- Power supply for the spindle motor
If the zenbot gets up and running, there are number of improvement that Gerrit is already thinking about ("stops" to calibrate the arms - likely requiring a different controller, enclosure for the control systems, vacuum system, etc..)
The consensus seems to be that machine is in good shape, and should really be capable of high accuracy milling if the parts/config are done and the machine is treated gently.
I have some extra time over the next few weeks and I'm going to try and help Gerrit move things forward, I suspect that may not be enough to get the system operational, but if nothing else I'll make sure to document what happens.
Pre Oct 20 2012
Had written notes from Gerrit:
