Building 3DTek Heavy Mill

[aussiemike]

I bought the Heavy Mill kit with Masso/Gecko G540 2.2KW Spindle May 2017. It took a few weeks to get the assembly and initial wiring done, then life got busy and it sat in my shed gathering dust. Finally found some time for it again and switched on for the first time this week. No luck getting the steppers to respond yet and have questions not covered by the documentation. Maybe the other Heavy Mill people here can help.

My background is ex RAAF communications technician working on 10KW and 20KW HF transmitters, airfield navigation aids and air traffic control tower equipment for 15years. The last 25years I've been a subcontractor to Defence installing data networks. I'm also a hypnotist. I'm a woodworker and beekeeper and will use the mill mostly for woodwork, but want to give metal milling a whirl too.

 

[testyourdesign]

Welcome aboard @aussiemike

Sounds like you've had a great career. I'd love to see some photos of your Mill Kit setup so we can help with sorting out. Peter @masso-support has experience with those G540's so stay tuned for more feedback.

Cheers, Stephen Brown

 

[aussiemike]

Thanks Stephen,

I just realised I started the build May 2017 and put it on hold for ages while I was too busy for a life. Just got back into it this week. My Masso is way out of date, so have emailed for the latest software updates. I still have a bit to wire up. Spindle coolant pump relay, work coolant pump relay, touch plate. I'll take some pics when I'm next in the workshop. I'm looking forward to each stage... getting the steppers to jog will be exciting.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[clover]

Yes welcome from me too @aussiemike. A great range of experiences, they will be useful in the days to come, thanks for sharing. Congratulations on resurrecting the dormant project.

I own a Shapeoko XL, not quite as heavy or big as your machine but similar. I also have a G540 plugged into my Masso and had no trouble getting it up and running. I didn't discrete wire between the Masso and the G540 but used a Masso to Parallel converter with a flat strip wire between both. I note however that 3Dtec's price has more than doubled in the 3-4 months since I purchased mine so I'm not so sure this is such a great idea anymore.

Reiterating Stephen's comments ( @testyourdesign ) Peter is such a great resource and help. If you haven't bought your relays yet you may like to have a look at the discussions here. As an electronic guy you will be able to follow it.

Image below is an early prototype of my setup. It'll all go into a metal case when finalised - well that's the plan anyhow.

 

[masso-support]

Hi Mike and welcome

Like you I use a G540 for my machine but have not connected it to Masso yet. That is something I hope to remedy in the not too distant future. The G540 is a great drive and you should have no problem getting it going as they are very easy to set up. I'm happy to answer questions you might have. Looking forward to seeing the photos of your machine.

I like the parallel converter you have on your setup Patrick but I will be manually wiring mine. Still waiting as quickly as I can for the relays to arrive so we can get some testing done.

Cheers

Peter

 

[breezy]

Quote from clover on January 9, 2019, 4:08 am

I didn't discrete wire between the Masso and the G540 but used a Masso to Parallel converter with a flat strip wire between both.

Quote from MASSO Support on January 9, 2019, 7:33 am

I like the parallel converter you have on your setup Patrick but I will be manually wiring mine.

As I said in the Bicton Men's Shed intro, if you don't seat the converter board correctly on the MASSO you will have intermittent strange behaviour of the steppers.

To get a firm seating of the board I had to remove the cover of the MASSO, just replacing the cover after seating the board could start the intermittent faults.

Regards,

Arie.

 

[aussiemike]

Thanks Clover and Peter,

Nice looking build Clover. I have the Masso/Gecko interface too. I didn t realise I had to leave the Charge Pump switch off. thanks Peter. Now I have stepper action, except the A stepper won t budge. I figure there s something awry with Y to A signalling. When I unplugged the A stepper the gantry moved at least. Although everything was in reverse direction. Fixed that in Masso. Now Home is the Right Rear. Interesting.

Thanks for the Support email Peter. I ll start a Heavy Mill thread as you suggested.

cheers,

Mike

 

[aussiemike]

Arie,

I had the same issue properly seating the parallel interface. So many pins to insert together takes a bit of a push with fingers supporting the underside of the motherboard. Seems solid enough once seated.

Mike

 

[clover]

I had the same issue properly seating the parallel interface

Yes agreed, and it is a bit of a pain to remove it also!

Nice looking build Clover

Thanks @aussiemike