X50 experience and tips

[Pony]

I thought I’d throw out some positive comments about the X50 Woodworker. Sorry for the length of this.

I think it’s a wonderful machine which I’ve owned for a little over 2 years and have put over 168 hours of cutting time on it with no problems other than the wireless dongle went out once and OF replaced it immediately. I also changed the brushes in the router once.

Why I believe I don’t have many problems is that this is not the 1st cnc I’ve had and I’ve learned over the years how to set one up right and what needs to be done on a regular basis to stay trouble free.

Background - I’ve been a woodworker all my life and spent my career in a corrugated box factory. Corrugated (or cardboard to most of you), is a lot like working with wood as it generates LOTS and LOTS of dust which means lots of cleanup.

My first cnc was at work where I ran one with a table size of 86x220 inches and again, we did lots of weekly cleanup on it. So going into retirement, I already knew how much maintenance a cnc takes.

At work, I made over 30K drawings, and since retiring, while I don’t have an exact count, I’ve done hundreds.

My OF is actually the 2nd desktop cnc I’ve had in retirement (I won’t mention the 1st one), and it’s a good one. The options I’ve added are:
Drag chains for wiring
Extra ball screw wipers (which I highly recommend)

*I have the OF in a home made sound box with a fresh air blower and dust collection hose.

*I keep a complete spreadsheet of hours ran, bits and wood used. (If there is any interest, I could post a blank copy of it).
*I don’t run it day in and day out (hey, I’m retired!), so I don’t do weekly maintenance, but anytime I’m done with a job, I blow dust out and vacuum.
*Anytime I notice that I’m getting uneven bottom cuts, I tram and flatten the waste board. For tramming, I use something like this: Is your Router on the Level? - CNCnutz Episode 131 - YouTube
*I wipe & oil everything about every month paying special attention to the Z rails.
*Every 50 run hours, I check the brushes (I change them every 100 hours).
*Every 50 run hours I also pull the ball screws, clean them and oil. At 50 hours, there was quite a bit of dust in them which is why I added the extra ball screw wipers. At 100 & 150 hours when I tore them apart, there was MUCH less dust in them which is why I recommend the extra ball screw wipers.
*While I know how to set the depth of bits with a piece of paper, I use a Z depth aluminum block setup for consistency.
*I make sure and follow the Feeds and Speeds recommended for various bits.
*At 100 hours I opened the electronics box and cleaned it out. Due to where I keep it, there was not much dust in it.
*I’ve updated the software for the OF to the latest stable version and have had no problem with it. But I do wish the software had a simple button that allowed you to send the machine to the factory 0:0:0 location even if you have a different Home location set. This would be VERY handy.
*I recently added curtains to the Y rails and they’ve helped keep dust off the rails. Nothing fancy, just heavy clear plastic drop cloth material.

In closing, remember to always keep your electronics & router cool, machine clean and do your maintenance. More is better!!!
Pony

[jhancock61 (Jeff Hancock)]

Very helpful information for a complete beginner like me. I have done quite a bit of woodworking the last few years, but a total newbie to the CNC world. My X50 Journeyman is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I am in the process of building a bench for the machine. I’ve been retired for several years and have been doing traditional woodworking. The info you have provided is important for someone like myself. Although I’m not sure how to complete some of the tasks you have listed, I look forward to researching and learning. I don’t get in a hurry. I learned a long time ago if I don’t take my time, more often than not, it ends up taking longer and costing more because of mistakes.

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Pony,

@Pony

But I do wish the software had a simple button that allowed you to send the machine to the factory 0:0:0 location even if you have a different Home location set. This would be VERY handy.

Unfortunately, the version of the Buildbotics firmware that Onefinity took to fork it did not yet have the macro buttons, and they did not implement this new feature from upstream. Many users wish the Onefinity had programmable macro buttons.

However, you can at any time go to the command entry field of the MDI Tab and enter:

G28
or
G53 G0 X0 Y0 Z0

Explanation

• G28, G28.1 (Go/Set Predefined Position) Go to predefined position. If no positions are stored with G28.1, then all axes will go to the machine origin (aka home position).

• G53 (Move in Machine Coordinates) Don’t use the currently active coordinate system, but machine coordinate system for the motion command on the same line.

• G0 (Rapid Move)

Both commands will leave your workpiece zero coordinates untouched.

[Pony]

I forgot to mention that when I assembled mine and added the drag chains, I realized that I also
wanted the electronics in a different location and had to order the wiring extensions from OF.

I put wiring labels on all connections, even inside the drag chains as memory gets foggy the older you get!

[Pony]

Excellent advice.
Thanks!

Never be afraid to make wild drawings, you never know what you will come up with!

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

PS: To be complete: Better than just using bare G28 would be to use:

o10 if [#5213 NE 0]
    ;(debug, Debug: Offset is not zero {#5213})
    G28 Z-[#5213+#<_z>]
o10 else
    ;(debug, Debug: Offset is zero)
    G28 Z0
o10 endif

G28_with_Z_home_as_intermediate_position.ngc (310 Bytes)

which would make sure, independently of your workpiece zero offset, that the Z is first lifted and only then X and Y go to the machine origin (aka home). This is the original purpose of G28 when used with an intermediate position.

G53 G0 Z0
G53 X0 Y0

would do the same.

[Pony]

Wow, I haven’t seen if/else programming forever!
Thanks,
Pony

[Pony]

Well after bragging that I almost never have problems, I should have knocked 3 times on the spoilboard… And why does things like this happen on a weekend?

Ran most of the day yesterday with no problems. Went out early today to finish up the project and the controller was dead. It would not turn on at all so I started troubleshooting.

*Made sure that I had power to the controller first by plugging a circuit tester into the end of the power cord, and I did have power.
*Shut off the power and took the controller apart. I knew that there’s a fuse inside that could have blown (how many of you know this?).
*As I took the controller apart, I looked around and made sure that I didn’t see any burned or blown circuitry or loose wires.
*Finally got to the fuse (why did 1F have to put the fuse at the bottom of the controller? THAT WILL Change).
*Ohm meter confirmed that the fuse was good. Reassembled controller except for the switch panel.
*Next check was the rocker on/off switch, (and I should have done this first - duh - slap forehead).
*Took the 2 wires off of the switch and hooked them together, then CAREFULLY plugged the power cord in. The controller started up. Removed power.
*This told me that the on/off rocker switch had failed and needed replaced.

Since this happened with no warning and failed instantly, and on a weekend to boot, when I replace it, I’ll also get a spare and keep it handy for next time.

I haven’t decided yet, but since I have my controller turned around so it’s easier to get to the plug-ins, this puts the rocker switch in the back. I may move the switch to the top of the controller so it’s easier to see and get to. I may also swap out the original style of switch for a lighted one, the type that lights up when it’s on, or else install an extra led bulb that turns on when the power is on.
Pony

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Pony,

@Pony

*Took the 2 wires off of the switch and hooked them together, then CAREFULLY plugged the power cord in. The controller started up. Removed power.
*This told me that the on/off rocker switch had failed and needed replaced.

this is a known issue.

@Aiph5u

…now you know why @satoer uses IP67 (dust-tight, water-proof) switches in their CNC Remote Control Panel

That is probably one of the reasons why with Version 5 of the Onefinity Controller, the power switch is now a push-button (with additional circuitry onboard) which replaced the rocker switch of the Version 4. The additional circuitry that does this looks like this. You can still add a rocker switch to J18 in case you want to power the controller on with a power strip (would not work otherwise with the new power pushbutton).

@Aiph5u

@HardtailSr

I see people talking about dust getting inside the controller box and even in the power switch. what if you put the controller inside a box built with furnace filter type filters? appropriately sized of course? then you would simply change the filter out when you needed to. could save a lot of trouble.

this is a good idea which is only limited to how you affect the ventilation for heat dissipation of the controller. A temperature sensor inside the box would make sense then. Another way would be to enclose the source of the dust, e.g. by an enclosure like this or this (view of dust hose outlet here and here).

I have experimented for a while with filters for fans on PCs, but it turned out that they immediately limit the air flow and also clog too quickly (I have seen someone using such a clip-on fan filter on the (in my opinion too small) fan of the Onefinity Controller but I don’t think this is the right solution, especially not with such a small fan). My solutions since then have been to run the computers in large enclosures with a filter at the entrance of an air circulation system. This allows for a larger filter area and therefore better airflow and less clogging.

A good solution if you don’t have the machine in an enclosure (and the controller outside of it) or no powerful enough dust collection is to enclose the controller in a case with a fan and a pleated polyester filter. I would use a fan of at least 120 mm size as larger fans which don’t run that fast so aren’t that noisy (and I would use a PWM control for the fan). The fan in the Onefinity controller is the first thing I disconnected as its noise is absolutely unbearable (but I run the Onefinity controller open in the lab for testing purposes, not on a machine). For the Onefinity controller I would make a 120 mm hole into its top plate and put a 120 mm fan that exhausts to the top. That would 1. reduce noise 2. prevent that the Raspberry Pi is in a location inside the controller box that is not much ventilated and 3. possibly leave a big enough hole in the faraday cage to make the WiFi connection work better! (since unfortunately, unlike the Orange Pi, the Raspberry Pi has no connector for an external WiFi antenna)

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Pony,

@Pony

*I have the OF in a home made sound box with a fresh air blower and dust collection hose.

In this image, it looks like the dust shoe and hose prevents closing the door. Is this the case?

[Pony]

It actually happened that way as an accident as I didn’t plan for the dust shoe and hose when I made the cabinet. I could enlarge it but it doesn’t bother me. There’s only a problem when the cut is so huge that the carriage comes all the way to the front which is very rare.

And I’m kind of a rare duck, my 0:0:0 is always the center of the job, and I usually have my jobs about in the middle of the spoil-board, so about the only time the carriage is in the home position is when I first start the 1F up.

BTW, the encloser works perfectly. I made the panels by gluing 1/4" plywood to both sides of 1" foam with some solid wood where needed for connecting. The window is sealed double pane made out of 3/16" plexiglass which I bent.

With the door closed and the cnc running, it’s quiet enough that I don’t need hearing protection and I could talk on the phone if I wanted to.

The bigger fan on the controller is a good idea and I’m going to do it.

Thanks for the feedback.
Pony

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Pony,

@Pony

It actually happened that way as an accident as I didn’t plan for the dust shoe and hose when I made the cabinet. I could enlarge it but it doesn’t bother me. There’s only a problem when the cut is so huge that the carriage comes all the way to the front which is very rare.

And I’m kind of a rare duck, my 0:0:0 is always the center of the job, and I usually have my jobs about in the middle of the spoil-board, so about the only time the carriage is in the home position is when I first start the 1F up.

I imagined that you simply work away from the front edge then

I always try to post the links to dust boot overhang with my links to table dimensions and to space to reserve around the machine when someone asks for tabletop dimensions. It’s easy to not think of dust boot overhang!

@Pony

BTW, the encloser works perfectly. I made the panels by gluing 1/4" plywood to both sides of 1" foam with some solid wood where needed for connecting. The window is sealed double pane made out of 3/16" plexiglass which I bent.

With the door closed and the cnc running, it’s quiet enough that I don’t need hearing protection and I could talk on the phone if I wanted to.

Very impressing! If you clicked on the links to enclosure in my quoted older posting above, you know that I like enclosures like this.

But I think I want access from the rear too, like on this one here

You know you can mount the Y rails in the other direction, with the stepper motors pointing forward? This way you could mount the machine a motor’s length more towards the back.

[calbert (Carl Albert)]

Thanks for the good comments, they are really helpful. I have the same x50 and have had it for about 1 month. I love the machine. If I could ask, where did you order the drag chains from?

[Pony]

On Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1061570442/onefinity-cnc-yx-drag-chain-mounts-for?ref=share_v4_lx

If I’d had more side room, I’d have went with a wider chain, but it works good.
Pony