ERC TimSav - Cheap DIY CNC Foamboard Cutter

[Dudley1001]

Most of the problems with the unit seem to be from connection problems with some of the cheaper UNO boards. I have had this with the larger Arduino Mega boards but not so much with the uno's. I have been using a different board for a while now and it seems to work well. Its a clone of the MKS DLC cnc board and is just over $10US right now without drivers which are about $2 each for the a4988 driver. They do sell as a kit with the drivers included but the math doesn't work as they almost doubled the price with the drivers so buy them separate. I actually bought their board on Alibaba as a sample but just checked and they have raised the shipping cost so it works out about the same cost. I haven't had too much trouble with Banggood and their shipping time to Canada has been fairly good lately. The shipping time from Aliexpress is not been great and is pretty hit and miss. I did modify the board for power to the blue motor connector to supply the speed control with 12v direct. The board is really just the uno and cnc board on one board and takes the same software. Keyestudio CNC Board

 

[Dudley1001]

BTW if you are on Facebook, head over to the ERC Timsav page https://www.facebook.com/groups/erctimsav

 

[Matthewdupreez]

BTW if you are on Facebook, head over to the ERC Timsav page https://www.facebook.com/groups/erctimsav

Soon to not be Facebook anymore 😂😂😂 better start getting ready to call it Meta (meaning dead in Hebrew) 😂😂😂

 

[Dudley1001]

Facebook will stay, just the Company name . Google did the same thing.
I have built 2 Timsav cutters now so if you have trouble, let me know. I run both a needle cutter and a NEJE 30watt laser on mine so dual purpose. There are a number of different cutting heads around that work better than the original as it had too much play. There is one called a v-rail in the facebook file section and a few on thingiverse such as my mount for the laser and needle cutter.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

Facebook will stay, just the Company name . Google did the same thing.
I have built 2 Timsav cutters now so if you have trouble, let me know. I run both a needle cutter and a NEJE 30watt laser on mine so dual purpose. There are a number of different cutting heads around that work better than the original as it had too much play. There is one called a v-rail in the facebook file section and a few on thingiverse such as my mount for the laser and needle cutter.

I first need to decide if I can afford to build it....

 

[Merv]

I do not know if anyone has done this before, but I could not find any info so thought I would post.....

Thanks to your post I got my offline CNC controller working.

 

[rkozak]

Most of the problems with the unit seem to be from connection problems with some of the cheaper UNO boards. I have had this with the larger Arduino Mega boards but not so much with the uno's. I have been using a different board for a while now and it seems to work well. Its a clone of the MKS DLC cnc board and is just over $10US right now without drivers which are about $2 each for the a4988 driver. They do sell as a kit with the drivers included but the math doesn't work as they almost doubled the price with the drivers so buy them separate. I actually bought their board on Alibaba as a sample but just checked and they have raised the shipping cost so it works out about the same cost. I haven't had too much trouble with Banggood and their shipping time to Canada has been fairly good lately. The shipping time from Aliexpress is not been great and is pretty hit and miss. I did modify the board for power to the blue motor connector to supply the speed control with 12v direct. The board is really just the uno and cnc board on one board and takes the same software. Keyestudio CNC Board

Hi, can you share any details for connections of the servo? I don’t use Facebook.

 

[FoamyDM]

The thingiverse files have it all inside.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3951161

 

[rkozak]

The thingiverse files have it all inside.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3951161

If you are responding to my recent post, I was inquiring about the Keyestudio CNC Board .

 

[FoamyDM]

If you are responding to my recent post, I was inquiring about the Keyestudio CNC Board .

Oh.

 

[Dudley1001]

If you are responding to my recent post, I was inquiring about the Keyestudio CNC Board .

sorry for the late reply, the way I used it was to plug the servo into the CX connector on the board. I connect just the white or yellow servo wire to the signal pin then the power for the servo comes from the servo tester/esc. My laser pwm is driven from the same signal pin.

 

[rkozak]

Most of the problems with the unit seem to be from connection problems with some of the cheaper UNO boards. I have had this with the larger Arduino Mega boards but not so much with the uno's. I have been using a different board for a while now and it seems to work well. Its a clone of the MKS DLC cnc board and is just over $10US right now without drivers which are about $2 each for the a4988 driver. They do sell as a kit with the drivers included but the math doesn't work as they almost doubled the price with the drivers so buy them separate. I actually bought their board on Alibaba as a sample but just checked and they have raised the shipping cost so it works out about the same cost. I haven't had too much trouble with Banggood and their shipping time to Canada has been fairly good lately. The shipping time from Aliexpress is not been great and is pretty hit and miss. I did modify the board for power to the blue motor connector to supply the speed control with 12v direct. The board is really just the uno and cnc board on one board and takes the same software. Keyestudio CNC Board

Hi
When you say "I did modify the board for power to the blue motor connector to supply the speed control with 12v direct. ", does this mean you are powering and controlling the RPM to the needle motor?

Happy New Year

 

[Dudley1001]

Just happens that I have the board removed from my cutter at the moment so a picture is worth a thousand words, ok 2 thousand. I cut a trace that goes to the negative connector on the blue motor connector and ran a wire from the negative pin on the power to the negative motor pin. I use that blue connector to feed the 12v power to the esc and also the laser when mounted. I cut the trace to prevent 12v from being fed to the output of the mosfet as I originally thought that my laser would require the use of the laser pins on the board but I found my laser was fine being controlled by the same connector that the servo signal went to as in the picture above.

 

[rkozak]

Just happens that I have the board removed from my cutter at the moment so a picture is worth a thousand words, ok 2 thousand. I cut a trace that goes to the negative connector on the blue motor connector and ran a wire from the negative pin on the power to the negative motor pin. I use that blue connector to feed the 12v power to the esc and also the laser when mounted. I cut the trace to prevent 12v from being fed to the output of the mosfet as I originally thought that my laser would require the use of the laser pins on the board but I found my laser was fine being controlled by the same connector that the servo signal went to as in the picture above.

So the mod was not required? BTW I'm not using a laser at this time.

 

[Dudley1001]

I would still do the wire but the cut trace shouldn't be needed for our purpose with the needle cutter. Depending on the laser used then it would probably be required or the laser would be pulled to full on as they use the negative to control the pwm. The wire was just to allow me to have an easy way of connecting the esc/motor to the board. BTW I use a newer version of grbl GRBL1.1H-servo as it also gives me the new laser mode that is not in the older version of grbl specified for the erc timsav.

 

[rkozak]

If I were to switch to DRV8825 steppers, should change jumpers to adjust to microstepping to 1/16 or do I just ~double settings 100&101 in garb?

 

[Dudley1001]

If you do change, you can do either, If you just drop them in with the three jumpers, you will be in 1/32 stepping and you will have to double your steps. For a foam cutter its not really necessary for accuracy and depending on the motors the a4988 drivers should be fine. From what I understand is that the higher the steps the less torque and a lot of folks including me, have had trouble with skipped steps when cutting so I would stick with the 1/16 stepping. cnc guide

 

[SSgt Duramax]

Is there still a place to get the kit for this? Or do you have to piece it together. I went on the site but they were sold out.

 

[Dudley1001]

For now you have to piece together. There was a guy in the states that was trying to get a bulk order together but not sure what happened with it. I have made 3 now but did mine piecemeal including using stepper motors from scrap copiers. In the thingiverse download there is a file with the parts needed.

 

[chris398mx]

For now you have to piece together. There was a guy in the states that was trying to get a bulk order together but not sure what happened with it. I have made 3 now but did mine piecemeal including using stepper motors from scrap copiers. In the thingiverse download there is a file with the parts needed.

Are you giving these away when you finish building them? LOL. why have you made 3? What is your take, do they work pretty good?