Has tragedy Struck Metalmaslow

I’m sure the power supply will work fine. I was just expecting something that looked like I paid real money for it, instead of an old computer power supply with some cheap electric tape wrapped around the unused bare wires. The plastic tube for housing the Arduino is also super cheesy. The fan is just sort of wedged in the one end, and I’ll have to figure out some way to mount the Arduino in there. Again, I’m sure this will work fine as well, it just looks very hacked together.

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The electronics should be fine at 19 volts if he’s decided that is a better option. I think that actually sounds like an improvement if he did do that.

The power supply puts out 12V

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the motors are not rated for 24v (although there are 24v versions of the motors,
it’s not clear if it’s a real difference or just a labeling difference)

going to 24v would move faster and have more force for the top center, allowing
a heavier sled, which would improve things in the bottom corners.

David Lang

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if you go looking at the prices of power supplies (available in quantity, not
singleton used ones), you will find that the price of a nicely packaged one is
about double the more open frame version.

David Lang

I recently had to buy a couple of new CUI 12vdc power supplies from Digikey and it was something like $54 each. So you are spot on with your assessment.

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I’m a little stumped on this one. What do I do with these 3 plugs coming from the 12V power supply? The instructions only mention plugging one into the motor shield, and these don’t fit the socket on the motor shield…:thinking:

What is this guy for ?!? This thing is like building a jigsaw puzzle without the box :thinking::joy::cry::joy:

Is one of the 12v plugs for a fan?

I guess I could use it for that :person_shrugging: This thing is really turning into a “you get what you pay for” situation :joy:

Maybe some pics of the entire inventory will help.

I have one of those plugs with the exposed wires… still. (no idea).

the 3 barrel connectors. no idea if they don’t fit the shield.

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That’s it. The other electrical inventory is the Arduino, motor control shield, and motor cables, which are all self explanatory. No idea. Bonus cord to I guess :person_shrugging::joy:

I’m going to automate the router and my shop vac. turning on when I start a cut, so I dug through my random electrical goodies and found what I think I’ll need. It’s getting closer to being operational. :+1:

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I automated my router but decided not to for the vac. I like to be able to switch it on manually to clean up if necessary.

I used a 3x outlet box with a light switch, relay and outlet wired in. Light switch acts as an e-stop. Top outlet has the shield plug-in and the bottom outlet is controlled by the relay for the router. Works like a champ.


The relay is found all over Amazon. You might need a bigger one if you want to control the router and vac with the same relay based on how many amps they will pull together and at the same time.

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I removed the socket from the motor shield and soldered on some wire leads instead, so that issue is fixed. I also ordered a different power supply. The Dell one is major over kill and looks cheesy as hell. I’ll save that for some other project. It’s coming along. Slowly, but surely. :+1:

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Here my final electrical setup. The grey box houses all the 120V stuff, and the box with the clear lid is the low voltage stuff.

The repurposed Dell power supply would kick out everytime I ran the z axis, so I bought a different one. There’s 2 relays in the 120 box for controlling the outlet on the front. This allows for the router and vacuum to come on when I start cutting. I had to use 2 relays because one isn’t rated to handle the load of both the router and the vacuum.

I replaced the kit electronic “enclosure” (if you can call it that) with an enclosure I had from another project I upgraded. I used terminal blocks and cable grommets for keeping everything in place, and allowing for future expansion, because why not :wink:

The kit fan wouldn’t start without my spinning it by hand first. I Happened to have one the same size in the misc electrical drawer so I replaced that.

Now to work through the seemingly crazy calibration process. :+1:

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Looks nice

Thanks Tim. I think it turned out pretty good.

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