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Weiss VM32 CNC Conversion

gerritv said:
it's just a G20 or G21 away from being one or the other on the UI regardless of what your ball screws are. Those should always be part of your generated G code regardess.
Click to expand...
For those who aren't CNC savvy the G20 and G21 just mean that a move like
G1 X1.0 Y1.0 F20 moves
1mm at 20mm/min if a G21 is at the start of the G-Code file and
1" at 20in/min if G20 is in play.
 
After feeling good about the state of affairs on the conversion I ran into a snag today.
I’ve been having issues with the X axis binding at the ends of the travel. I thought it was because the gib was too tight. Slacked it off and it helped a bit. Removed it completely and presto, full travel with no binding. But I noticed that the table was not parallel to the edge of the Y carriage.

I believe the ball screw is not running parallel to the X axis ways because the slot where it mounts in the Y saddle is not perpendicular to the X axis ways so the whole ball screw is at a slight angle.
I ran the table to X+ to the point where the servo errors out and then undid the servo mount. It shifted over about a 1/16”
I’m going to try shimming where the ball screw mounts to the Y saddle and see if I can get it parallel.
Will only have to take the table off. Again. Sigh.
 
David said:
I’m going to try shimming where the ball screw mounts to the Y saddle and see if I can get it parallel.
Will only have to take the table off. Again. Sigh.
Click to expand...

Can't help with your CNC stuff, but I've seen this exact problem on manual mills before. The fix is to let the end caps float until you reach an extreme, then tighten down the end cap while the table is all the way at that end. Ie, let the end caps tell you where they want to be. Oddly, I just had this exact problem with my new Power X a few days ago. I fixed it the same way. Problem gone.
 
After morning chores were done I escaped to the shop.
Tore the table off and did a bunch of measuring. At first I thought the screw was not parallel so I put a 123 block in the slot and another up against the X axis dovetail. Using an engineers square I could not slide even a .001 feeler gauge in between the blocks.
I ran the table down to the full extent of the positive X axis and put the servo mounting bearing block on so I could spin the screw with a drill.
Ran the table to the full X negative and the put on the mounting block.
Ran it back and forth maybe 20 times and could detect no binding. The ball screw can easily be turned by hand at both ends of the travel.
The only thing I can think of is that the last time I reassembled it, the slots in the mount may have allowed too much droop in the ball screw which made it bind when the mount was near the ball nut and the was no flex possible.
So problem solved I hope.

X travel is 405 mm
Y travel is 180 mm
Z travel is 338 mm
 
Last edited:
David said:
After morning chores were done I escaped to the shop.
Tore the table off and did a bunch of measuring. At first I thought the screw was not parallel so I put a 123 block in the slot and another up against the X axis dovetail. Using an engineers square I could not slide even a .001 feeler gauge in between the blocks.
I ran the table down to the full extent of the positive X axis and put the servo mounting bearing block on so I could spin the screw with a drill.
Ran the table to the full X negative and the put on the mounting block.
Ran it back and forth maybe 20 times and could detect no binding. The ball screw can easily be turned by hand at both ends of the travel.
The only thing I can think of is that the last time I reassembled it, the slots in the mount may have allowed too much droop in the ball screw which made it bind when the mount was near the ball nut and the was no flex possible.
So problem solved I hope.

X travel is 405 mm
Y travel is 180 mm
Z travel is 338 mm
Click to expand...
Have you tried placing a bit of weight on the table and driving the X axis full travel from left to right? The weight will cause the ball screw to have more of a load on it. The same thing happens if the gibs are too tight. There might be some flex in the mount you made on the left side of the table. I would think it would only get stiff on the one end of the travel, not both.


Edit: read back to post #71
 
Perry said:
Have you tried placing a bit of weight on the table and driving the X axis full travel from left to right? The weight will cause the ball screw to have more of a load on it. The same thing happens if the gibs are too tight. There might be some flex in the mount you made on the left side of the table. I would think it would only get stiff on the one end of the travel, not both.


Edit: read back to post #71
Click to expand...
There definitely was flex in the mount I made when the gib was too tight. I just "plopped" my 8" rotary table on the table and everything still moves well to the full extent of the travel.
I am going to weld some braces to the mount though as it does flex a little bit.
 
That’s much stiffer now.
image.jpg
 
Another big step forward in this project.
I've had this tool setter since I built my CNC router
It's a basically two switches; one for tool length, one for over travel.
I could never figure out how to get it working in UCCNC though. So I figured I'd try setting it up in Masso for the mill.
It could not have been easier.
Printed a block to clamp it in the T-slot. Wired it up to two assignable inputs (there are 20+ such inputs). Assigned one as the tool setter, the other as cycle stop.
Set the parameters for the X, Y location of the tool setter, Z safe height (point in the Z travel where the travel slows to crawl to avoid crashing into the tool setter.

Tried it out and to my amazement it worked the very first time. Did a manual tool change and it worked.
Checked the tool table and the offsets are there.
IMG_2192.jpeg
 
Honestly the toolsetter is a game changer for using multiple tools on a single project. Set up all the tools and get them measured before running the program. Then, whether manual or automatic tool change, just being able to cycle into the next tool and have it already set to the correct height is amazing for efficiency.
 
Mike R said:
Honestly the toolsetter is a game changer for using multiple tools on a single project. Set up all the tools and get them measured before running the program. Then, whether manual or automatic tool change, just being able to cycle into the next tool and have it already set to the correct height is amazing for efficiency.
Click to expand...
I can see how it will change the game on the mill as a minimum of two tools (end mill and chamfer tool) are likely for every job.
On my CNC router I don't do a lot of tool changes but I am going to try and figure out how to set it up.
 
Do you have an electronic edge finder? I bought one from AliExpress for ~$75 CAD and its also been great, so easy to setup a part using the probing routines

like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005338147288.html

I'm assuming the Masso will have some built in probing Macros.
This is actually my 3rd probe but I don't like to talk about what happened to the first 2 :oops:
My biggest complaint is the usb-c connection isn't "full depth" when you plug it in so it seems a bit fragile. I may add one of those magnetic connectors to make it less prone to breaking.
The only other thing is to see if the Masso can take 2 probe inputs - I ran into issues there on the Tormach
 
David said:
Another big step forward in this project.
I've had this tool setter since I built my CNC router
It's a basically two switches; one for tool length, one for over travel.
I could never figure out how to get it working in UCCNC though. So I figured I'd try setting it up in Masso for the mill.
It could not have been easier.
Printed a block to clamp it in the T-slot. Wired it up to two assignable inputs (there are 20+ such inputs). Assigned one as the tool setter, the other as cycle stop.
Set the parameters for the X, Y location of the tool setter, Z safe height (point in the Z travel where the travel slows to crawl to avoid crashing into the tool setter.

Tried it out and to my amazement it worked the very first time. Did a manual tool change and it worked.
Checked the tool table and the offsets are there.
View attachment 61257
Click to expand...
My tool setter is on the same input as my probe. The over travel on the ESTOP line. At one point it was working perfectly .
For my system when it works right it's just great. Especially with TTS holders. If the tool table entry has a zero length then the tool change causes it to go to the too setter and measure. If the tool table has a length then it just uses that after the tool change.
The 0 length are for things like drill chucks where we don't know the length of the drill.
 
Mike R said:
Do you have an electronic edge finder? I bought one from AliExpress for ~$75 CAD and its also been great, so easy to setup a part using the probing routines

like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005338147288.html

I'm assuming the Masso will have some built in probing Macros.
This is actually my 3rd probe but I don't like to talk about what happened to the first 2 :oops:
My biggest complaint is the usb-c connection isn't "full depth" when you plug it in so it seems a bit fragile. I may add one of those magnetic connectors to make it less prone to breaking.
The only other thing is to see if the Masso can take 2 probe inputs - I ran into issues there on the Tormach
Click to expand...
I do have a 3D touch probe and plan to get that installed as well. I've used it on the router but the UCCNC probing interface is super confusing (it's the part I hate the most about UCCNC)
 
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