Original post here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sienci/longmill-benchtop-cnc-router/posts/2521864
More news, more progress…
Wow, one and a half or two weeks goes by so fast.
Stuff in production/ordered
Here are the things that we’ve ordered:
– Motors
– 3D printer filament
– Some of the fasteners
– Lead screws, pulleys, couplers, bearings, collars, acme nuts, and other transmission parts
– Aluminum rails and linear guides
– V-wheels and eccentric nuts
– Arduinos and drag chains
We expect that these items, will be complete or have arrived near the middle and end of June.
The motors however, are estimated to arrive in early July since it takes a few weeks to manufacture.
Here are the things that still need to be ordered:
– Power supplies
– Drivers
– Some of the fasteners
– Gantry plates
We expect to have the remaining electronics parts to be ordered in the next week or two. We were trying to make sure that all of the specs for the electronics are up to par and are as safe and reliable as possible. However, with waiting and testing for samples, things have taken a little longer than expected. For example, making sure that the DC female connectors are able to handle the full current from the power supply, and running the driver for many many (15+) hours to check for drifting and temperature.
Below: Stress testing the drivers for drifting and temperature change.
With this in mind, we expect that parts are estimated to be arriving in mid-July because they are being ordered later in the game. Backers (at this point) should expect shipping to start near the end of July.
A new shield
The beta testers will know that we used a ST25 shield with the Arduino involves a complicated nest of wires. This makes assembly complicated and unreliable.
We’ve created a new shield that will make the wiring easier, along with all the features so people can add more easily:
– Endstops/Limit switches
-Z axis probes
– Spindle control/lasers!
Some small improvements you can expect
Between the beta machines and the newest machine, here are some minor improvements you’ll see.
– Aluminum router mount (discussed in previous updates)
– Better bearing support on the lead screws that can support more forces
– Some small tweaks to the gantry design to offer a little bit extra travel
– Steel motor plate on the Z axis to improve heat dissipation for super long jobs
– Lock nuts in as many places as possible
Shirts
Thank you to everyone who commented/messaged us letting us know that they are interested in shirts!
We’ll make sure to make them available soon!
We were in the newspaper!
Thank you to Greg Dent, one of our beta testers, for inviting a reporter from our local newspaper to interview us! We got nearly a full page in the newspaper yesterday. Read the full article here: https://www.therecord.com/news-story/9402898-waterloo-startup-develops-affordable-desktop-cnc-machine/
