Actually Building the Machine!

[vonG]

I get what you mean, the regidity of manual machines isnt that good. With a little force you can move the quill and dop out of angle and the base is as you say thin metal with a wooden base.

But here is where a good faceter comes in to play, you get to know the machine flaws after some time and learn to work around them.
I guess it all comes down to how many hours you want to spend in front of the machine to get those extremely good polishes and meetpoints.
I think when working for money time is of essence.

Its only hobby faceters that do it for the pride and craftsmanship behind every cut stone. You will never get rightly paid for spending a week or two on a single stone just to get it perfect. (Sorry if I hurt anybodys feelings)

Hopefully you have found the way around that and can get a precision cut stone from rough to gem within 30 minutes or so on your machine.

 

[Nena]

Yah. I dont know... its just a tryout as i call it. I dont even know if i earn anything out of it. But what other choice do i have? Dont have anything to do otherwise and this may be a way, and im going to take it with both hands. Mayby the whole thing is a flop and doomed to fail. That is possible. The other side is, im learning a lot and made a simple start to improve faceting on the automatic way. (No, i dont want to hurt others also!) Lets make some things straigth... Its a dieing hobby here in the Netherlands and also also in Europe. Ok mayby not in other countries but here it is. 30 years ago it was a good hobby here but now, there are some who has this hobby of cutting stones but i think i can almost count those on one hand. So my story on the other hand is, if i want a hand in this dying hobby (here) build something what can be used in a simple maner and in a perfect way that can be used in the comercial brange (not for the mid class but for the high class) and get a litle grain from them who can affort to pay. So build a machine, have some idears what you can do with it and think about new inovations that can get some feet on the ground. Uhm, and what do i have to loose?! Totaly nothing. Some money but i mayby have also something to win. Uh or something like that. For example, for me it is possible to make rounded facets also in small scale or do complete other things with the machine. So why not? Oh and sorry to tell folks of facetron, my quell run-out is 1/1000th of a mm, thats 10 times smaller... Its a hobby and be honest, what isnt cooler than to make from your hobby your work!? But for some that are worried, i wont make machines for the mass! If only a cutting head already costs 10.000 euro's ONLY ON PARTS what should a complete machine costs?! Dont worry folks No need to! I just trying to take a litle grain To feed my wife and daughter

 

[StoneTheCrows]

Any more pics Nena?

 

[Nena]

First time moving the Y1 Axis. It was just a test if my new software was working with the hardware. It sounded like a air alarm but it is working as expected! Soon i will test the Homing function. First i need to correct some features.

[video=800,600]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sNPxdkoU-Q[/video]

Soon More!

 

[vonG]

Always fun to see your video updates.

Are you working on this every day or do you have some other side project going at the same time? I know you bought, cleaned/repaired and resold stuff before.

 

[Nena]

Hehehe, uhm not every day

Im still buying/selling and repairing cnc things. But all in the sense of this machine. Next to it am i home husband Ya im almost thinking every day about it since i started thinking about it lol.

Couldnt set homing today in action, while i didnt set the direction of the motor correct but mayby i can do this tomorrow otherwise friday.

 

[vonG]

Its a big project and will take some time to complete.

Looking forward to your next video.

On a side note, about conventional machines. What would you change in the regular machines? Do you have any drawings of the perfect conventional machine according to you?

 

[Nena]

Pff i would almost redesign the complete machine but the price would be to high for the most people. This would make the machine too expensive. No i dont have drawings. What does the current machine cost? Almost 3500 usd? I think when i should make a conventional machine it would cost about 3000 usd. But with precise materials such as linear block guides and more robust, heavier etc. Dont know what the weight is of a facetron? But i think if i would build one it will have a weight of about 50 - 60 kg. (120lb)

 

[vonG]

An Ultratec cost 5k. So 3k sounds cheap for the ultimate conventional machine, at least in my mind.

Rigidity, precision and repetability. The 3 magic ingredieces that are needed. At the same time it should be easy to use.

Dont like the thought of being able to bend the machine out of angle with the force of hand. It should be firm when set at a specific angle.
The weight is of no problem, it should not be moved around anyway.

So many things that can be done when thinking about it.

 

[Nena]

Your totaly right!

Now that i know the motors will run as i want, i want to do the homing verry soon now lol so tomorrow ill test Used 2% of the programming memory right now so there is room for other stepper controls on the teensy. First thing now is getting the basics right now and also implant a multi axis control. (only executeble) Uhm a sort of a smal piece of programming on the mcu only to execute, no calculations. I want to control all the 7 axis on the machine with 1 byte. (8 bits, 7 for the motors, 1 for extra information like direction (extra byte) etc...).

I think the most work will be in the programming.

But when the homing is working ill give a update and, with a new video

 

[StoneTheCrows]

Sounds like an Air raid Siren

 

[vonG]

Youre getting there Christian.

You know your programming and I think you will solve whatever problems you will stumble upon.

Just take your time and dont let me or anybody else put you down or force you to hurry.

 

[Nena]

I cant rush it and i dont want to rush it. Oh, there is much to learn. But theres so much to program and want to get a stable platform where i can run all the functions on. The server is already a stable platform, 8 day's without any failure But the program is already getting complicated so i cant rush that anymore But the server is almost done and mayby i need to do some things again and change some of the functions but the main program is stable for now!

The Air Raid Sirene sound is comming due the frequency of the motors 2e6 for starting the motor to 30 rpm gives that sound ill change that to a smaller interval and mayby a bit higher rpm and you'll see its sound is different

 

[Nena]

Running homing on the Teensy 3.6 without any problems. Proximity test works perfect. Did the test this time
with an start and stop at 500.000 Microseconds to a ful 50 RPM.

[video=800,600]https://youtu.be/LBNTDX5_O3o[/video]

Soon More!

 

[roddosnow]

Been a while since an update,

how is your progress going Christian?

 

[Sodabowski]

Wow dude you've come a long way since I last checked up on your faceting tank project. Mine is at a halt right now since I've been working my a$$ out on that faceting software thing, which also comes with a lot of challenges once you want to break new ground.

 

[lards]

Any chance of an update on the progress?