Show must go on

Hi, I am thinking if there will be some interest in reading posts on that blog. But recently I started looking back at my workshop and making some small jobs in it. One of the tasks is to end all started machines. Like that CNC which has some elements from epoxy granite. So let's start! One of the things I made is a table for that machine. I used recycled aluminum profiles and plywood. I used some casters to make it movable. There is some place for electronics for CNC in it.

Another thing I made is to fill the bottom of the machine with more epoxy. Its purpose is to make it heavier and less vibrating. In future there will be aluminum table on it. Added also some PE boards to avoid chips and cooling flying around.

Some work on drives is also made

And the electronic board almost connected, some small corrections needed and it will be tested.

I am old school and it still will be driven by Mach3 over the LPT connector. I bought all the elements so long ago and there is no point to scrap them and buy new stuff.

Come back - new CNC

Hi all,

If you thought that blog end you were wrong. Family eat almost all my free time, until now. I decided to go back to my workshop and build some thing new. First I have to end my old project that was stared about year ago. Second CNC for my workshop.
Table with one drawer and main frame are ready:

Workshop update

Hi,

Last time when I have visitors in workshop, they said that it is totally different from what they seen on blog. So small update of current layout (before some other things will be presented). Forgive me for the mess.

New/old CNC after some upgrade. Lot of epoxy granite used to reinforce construction. Wider X axis, ball screws installed on all axis, new enclosure. Still waiting for new spindle to rebuild Z axis.

 Drilling spot, rack with materials.

Assembly table with PC to draw all elements. Plan is to made it from 8020 profiles, but have no time ;)

Bigger CNC. It have dissembled Z axis, as cheap ball nut from China has lost all balls from nut. New one is waiting for installation during weekend. Some new "project" stuff is also visible, but I will write more about it in another post.

Manual lathe and rack with screw.

I hope I will stay in this place till next winter, but who knows.

Lucas

Cheap rotary tumbler

Hi,

Sometimes I cut a lot of small aluminium parts. Deburring them take a lot of time. That why I need something that will help me to do it automatically. I made rotary tumbler.

 

Lathe

Hi,

Once in the past I sad that lathe is one of the most important tool in DIY workshop. And this did not change. That why I decided to buy again lathe, and this time I will not sell it.
I was checking www.allegro.pl and looking something affordable for me. I do not need big one in this moment. And PROMA SM - 300E show up. It was quite old (2006 production), but from pictures it looks OK. I decided to go and see it, and it look that it was not used! Everything was looking like new, and it still was in original box. I decided to take it, prize was very good in my opinion.

Changes

Hi all,

After long period of silence finally I found time to create new post. As title says: changes. That is main thing that was happening during end of this year 2013 and will be in new 2014 year.
First of all I moved to a new place. Finally it is my own one. So I have to move all my things from home and my workshop. Renovating of the house was on the first place on the list to do. I need place to live and sleep.
Workshop is bigger problem. I have a garage where will be my permanent workshop. But roof of it has no isolation, winters in Poland are cold. So I can not move in there right now.
I made agreement with my fiancee and one of rooms will be my temporary workshop till Spring time.
(Sorry for poor quality of photos. I made those afternoon and light in my room/workshop is poor)

LASER

Hi,

One of things that I never show before here. LASER. I was using it when I was trying to build SLS 3D printer. Project was stopped as there was no time and money to continue to develop it. But laser stay and now I like to show it.
It is 808 nm 20W diode. When it was new, but when I bought it, it have 14W on output. There are 2 fibers taking beam outside of diode. Here is some datasheet of it <link> .
To power it up I have adjustable power supply from 1,7V to 2,3V with 40A.
To cool it down there is a 40W Peltier whir heatsink and 2 fans but it looks that it is not enough. IT goes up very fast after 2 min of continuous usage on max power. But I set it for about 40% of max power and it works fine for me. PID driver is measuring temperature of  diode and control power supply of  Peltier.
There is additional multimeter that is showing up voltage on diode, but it power supply is not stabilized and it does not work well.

Workshop reorganization

Hi all,

It is February already and I realized that I did not post anything. But there was a lot of work and changes from last time.
First of all I reorganize my workshop.

I made a "dirt" half, were ale machines are placed. In the corner on right you can see a place where will be new bigger CNC.

Workshop heating

Hi there,

I had a problem with warming in my workshop. But anymore problems. I bought a ceramic propane heater. It works great. Workshop warms up about 5 degrees in 1,5 hour.  I work there with pleasure.

 

I  have to work a little bit on the ventilation to work more efficiently, and the cold air was heated in some way before returning to the workshop. In January, plans to rearranging the furniture thoroughly and put two partitions. This will reduce the areas which will be warmed. At the same time separate part of the work (where the equipment is working) on the part of the build machine and electronics. 

Workshop - more photos

Hi,

It is hard to keep clean workshop. After I moved in I start to work immediately. So it will not be clean, never. But I decide to show some photos.

 some panoramic view 

New workshop - again

Hi all,

There was a long period when I did not write here. But I had a lot of stuff to do and I took some holiday :)
Most important think is that, that I found new place for my workshop. It is 4 times bigger that last one. And I have big window. It is in poor condition generally, but if I stay there for longer time I will repair everything.

Move out

Hi all,

Sad news, I have to move out. Owners of the place where I have now my workshop are complaining. Noise is to big for them. even that I work there 2 times a week for about 3 hours per visit. But ok ...
So I trying to find new place to hire.
Let hope that I can managed to do it.

Lucas

Workshop - part 2

Hi all,

Today I decided to show some of my stuff I have and use in workshop, So let start:

- CNC I build it myself, from scratch. It is working almost 2 years now. It allow to cut aluminum, all kind of wood, PCV and others soft materials. I did not try steel. Later on I will show thinks that I made using it.

- lathe - I bought it almost for nothing, I do not work often on it, but it help a lot.

Workshop

After almost 2 years having workshop in my room I moved out. Now days I have now separate flat, and workshop. Below you can find picture from it. There is still a lot of mess, but  chaos help me thinking.

In few days I will describes something more about stuff I have there. 

Lucas

Po prawie dwóch latach posiadania warsztatu w pokoju wyprowadziłem się. Dziś mam oddzielnie mieszkanie i warsztat. Powyżej możecie znaleźć zdjęcie stamtąd. Wciąż jest tam sporo bałaganu, ale chaos pomaga mi myśleć. 

Za kilka dni opiszę coś więcej co w nim posiadam.

Łukasz