ERC TimSav - Cheap DIY CNC Foamboard Cutter

[Javiester]

Hi Guys, I am David Corscadden up in Edmonton, Alberta Canada. I have been on the the ERC Timsav facebook page for quite a while now and thought I may as well say hello over here. I have built 2 timsav's now, one for our club president and one for me. I am a tinkerer and have been modding it out for some time now. I just did up a new cutter head that can also take a NEJE 30/40 watt laser. Dave's cutter head

I have bought the same laser
What speed and power parameters do you use to cut the black foam?
I am going to print your laser stand
thanks for the work

 

[Sero]

Did you get this resolved? I have heard that the power supply you use for the Arduino can cause this. Here's the one I am using - over 30 sheets through mine with no issues:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0842ZBH5H/?tag=lstir-20

With the new Uno it now completes. I never got it to work with my Laptop, but it works fine on my desktop.

 

[Dudley1001]

I have bought the same laser
What speed and power parameters do you use to cut the black foam?
I am going to print your laser stand
thanks for the work

only ran it as a test and I think I was at about 10-15% power at 2000mm/minute

 

[rkozak]

I recommend powering the machine through the blue power connector on the cnc shield. There is a diode on the uno that is only rated at 1 amp and has been known to go up in smoke if the machine is run through the black power connector on the uno. As far as running on higher voltage power supply, you can probably go to 24vdc without any problem. The cnc shield will power the uno and the onboard 5v regulator will supply the other power requirement. I do also suggest that you power the servo off the extra pins on the servo tester (red and Black wires to the tester and white to the pin on the uno) as this will reduce the load on the 5v regulator on the uno.
View attachment 203567

 

[rkozak]

Hi, I’m just calibrating my new ERCTinSav, and came across this post. I’m going to rewire as per your suggestion. I have just need some clarification:
1) you have the EN/GND pins identified with a green box. Do I need to connect anything to those pins?
2) obviously I should remove the power jumper wire I soldered in as per edwards instructions
3) other than the removal of the power wire mentioned in #2 and blue power connection, the servo gnd/5v connect to the servo test as applied to the CNC shield, right?

 

[Dudley1001]

That was a picture I pulled from the web and you can ignore the green arrow to the en/gnd pins. No need to remove the soldered power jumper wire but you can if you want. Yes all you need to the cnc shield are the power in and the esc power out, to the blue power connector, the 2 stepper motor connections and the white or yellow wire(depending on the servo). The red power and ground for the servo is connected to the extra pins on the servo tester which draws the 5v for esc onboard voltage regulator which can usually supply at least 3 amps.

 

[rkozak]

Time for testing! I did (what was for me) something unthinkable, joined Facebook and spend the last week plowing through the ERC TimSav group and incorporating all that information with everything I've read here. @dutchmonkey , I ordered flanged bearings from Amazon, at $10 it was a cheap experiment. I printed the X-Tensioner & support from the Facebook group, which seemed MUCH less prone to flexing on the far end of the 2020 X-carrier extrusion, and modified the Y-plates in TinkerCAD to add a second rolling support and standoffs to tie the end of the Y-plates together as the stepper motors flexed a lot on the Y-plates and I don't like things dangling. @Matagami Designs, I also printed Zerok's improved cutter assembly, which relies on linear ball bearings and has no flex or slop, but is smooth as glass. Gonna be doing a lot of cutting this weekend! View attachment 174942 View attachment 174943 View attachment 174944
.

I build the ERC TimSav ball bearing head (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4330662). I've figured what goes where except for the Brass Gears. Is this used for the Pen?

 

[Dudley1001]

if you are talking about the brass threaded inserts, they are probably used for the various screw holes and would be melted into place with a soldering iron Installing threaded inserts

 

[rkozak]

Hello
I'm having issues with my new ERC TimSav build. I cannot get through a full sheet with out the machine stopping at various points in the the sheet. I tried multiple sheets of gcode......ones I've generated as well of a couple from the "erc shared gcode" google drive. All have failed.
I purchased the lite kit from Edward's store earlier year. Could I have a faulty UNO or CNC Shield?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Dudley1001]

one thing you can try is disable "usb selective suspend " as it may be shutting off the usb ports on your computer. Others have found that the cheaper uno clones with the CH340 usb chip may cause the problem. If replacing the uno look for one with a 16u2 chip (square chip by the usb port rather than a rectangular chip for the ch340). I have run both without problems but for others the 16u2 fixed them up. As for the cnc shield, not much on it to cause problems and they are generally bulletproof.
disable usb suspend

 

[Sero]

Hello
I'm having issues with my new ERC TimSav build. I cannot get through a full sheet with out the machine stopping at various points in the the sheet. I tried multiple sheets of gcode......ones I've generated as well of a couple from the "erc shared gcode" google drive. All have failed.
I purchased the lite kit from Edward's store earlier year. Could I have a faulty UNO or CNC Shield?
Any help would be appreciated.

I had this problem. It was suggested to power the CNC separate from the UNO and the servo from the ESC but neither fixed it.
It ended up being a bad UNO board.
I also got my kit from Edwards store.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

What is the least amount you could build one of these needle cutters for??
If I already had a 30amp power supply, and plenty of Alaminium....
And if I bought everything from AliExpress or banggood...
I'm keen to build one.. but I'm on a budget

 

[rkozak]

I had this problem. It was suggested to power the CNC separate from the UNO and the servo from the ESC but neither fixed it.
It ended up being a bad UNO board.
I also got my kit from Edwards store.

I kind of suspected bad UNO or Shield. I placed an order on Amazon for original UNO and a new CNC Shield. Will swap the UNO out and test with original CNC Shield. Thanks for the response

 

[Dudley1001]

What is the least amount you could build one of these needle cutters for??
If I already had a 30amp power supply, and plenty of Alaminium....
And if I bought everything from AliExpress or banggood...
I'm keen to build one.. but I'm on a budget

Uno/cnc shield and drivers $15-$20
2 STEPPERS $15 X 2 $30
v-SLOT ROLLERS 10 $10
gt2 BELTS AND DRIVE PULLEYS $10-$15
HARDWARE $15
RAILS $40
WIRING $10
3D PRINTED PARTS IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PRINTER $30 I think is what a member of the facebook group sells them for.
The big problem is the hardware and not having to buy more than you need.

That is a ballpark cost. Your power supply is overkill but will work. I run mine on a 12v 5amp laptop style power supply

 

[rkozak]

one thing you can try is disable "usb selective suspend " as it may be shutting off the usb ports on your computer. Others have found that the cheaper uno clones with the CH340 usb chip may cause the problem. If replacing the uno look for one with a 16u2 chip (square chip by the usb port rather than a rectangular chip for the ch340). I have run both without problems but for others the 16u2 fixed them up. As for the cnc shield, not much on it to cause problems and they are generally bulletproof.
disable usb suspend

Thanks For responding fellow Canadian
I've disable the usb suspend in Windows 10 and received the same results.
What's weird is that for all failures, except for 2, the situation is the same. The process would stop and the X & Y axis are not engaged (i.e. I can move either axis without any friction as in the steppers are disengaged).
As for the other 2 scenarios...

• In one case the steppers remained engaged and hummed with no travel. I disconnected power then USB as soon as I realized this.
• In the other case I heard what seemed like a connect "knock" that I normally hear when I complete the connection of USB and DC power when starting a sheet. (it's like the sound I hear when I power up my PRUSA or Other CNC devices when the steppers engage). The cut continued and started to move beyond the limit of the Y axis. I shut it down immediately.

So, I'm thinking the issue is related to a faulty UNO board. I doubt it's a laptop issue either, it's an high end MSI.

 

[Dudley1001]

The steppers on this guy are only engaged while moving. As soon as they stop the motors disengage. This includes when the servo is moving up and down which can cause skipped steps and misaligned cuts. If you change the $1 setting and set it to $1=255 then the motors will stay engaged but if you don't have the stepper drivers vref adjusted right you can overheat the motors.

What part of Canada? I am in Edmonton.

 

[rkozak]

The steppers on this guy are only engaged while moving. As soon as they stop the motors disengage. This includes when the servo is moving up and down which can cause skipped steps and misaligned cuts. If you change the $1 setting and set it to $1=255 then the motors will stay engaged but if you don't have the stepper drivers vref adjusted right you can overheat the motors.

What part of Canada? I am in Edmonton.

I'm not far from you, I'm in Lamont about 50 mins NE of Edmonton.
Nothing is over heating, even when the steppers froze in that one case. Drivers are not even getting close to warm. This is my 3rd DYI CNC (1 MPCNC, 1 3D Printer..MP3DP that produces pretty good 3D printing results and this one. The Prusa was a XMAS gift from my wife, and its the best).
I've never had issues like this before in the previous 2 DYI's. This really seems like a hardware issue.
I will share my results when I receive the new UNO. In the mean time I will use my MPCNC needle cutter as it produces super results. The only reason for the ERC Timsav is for portability.

 

[Dudley1001]

I have some 3 spares here if you need and I am on the northside of Edmonton. I also have a MPCNC and a Cr10s and an Adminlabs Gantry S printers. I have built 2 of the ERC Timsavs, one for a friend.

 

[foamboardflyer]

I was wondering, is there going to be a restock on the timsav? If not, all the parts are listed on banggood and I’ve only heard bad things about them. so I was wondering if there is a different place to get the parts (besides amazon) I’ve never built any ardiuno projects so I thought this would be a good first (and I’m really tired of cutting out my planes by hand)

 

[Matthewdupreez]

I was wondering, is there going to be a restock on the timsav? If not, all the parts are listed on banggood and I’ve only heard bad things about them. so I was wondering if there is a different place to get the parts (besides amazon) I’ve never built any ardiuno projects so I thought this would be a good first (and I’m really tired of cutting out my planes by hand)

I have had excellent experience with banggood... They are always willing to refund of somethin does go wrong, and they also have pretty fast shipping.
I've bought all of my rc gear from them or AliExpress
and nothing has failed...