So here begins the micRo journey.

The concept in a micRo-nut shell is this: A tiny-ish gantry RoBOT...a pet of sorts. It doesn't cost much but does plenty useful....heck, its 10"x12"x2.5" working environment may be all you need (base dimensions 16.5" x 19"). By building micRo, you will learn the fundamentals of CNC robotics, while having constructed a "bridge automaton"; a "facilitator".

That said (sure to change soon):

A spindle for such a (router) machine is not obvious...what do you think about this AC-syncro motor developing 20,000 RPM and some 1/12th HP at stall? Yay!!
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So will you be supplying kits for this also?

Yep. They'll retail all-inclusive for around $400-500.

That's a nice price, and given the limits of space available to me and the fat that most projects I'm looking at can be fairly small, this is starting to look much more reasonable.

Sweet. Now I gotta teach myself autocad/solidworks...

You may consider many of the possible programs and file types you can use...a tiny sampling:

.ai - Adobe Illustrator Artwork (AI) is a proprietary file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing single-page vector-based drawings in either the EPS or PDF formats. The .ai filename extension is used by Adobe Illustrator.

.eps - Encapsulated PostScript, or EPS, is a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions intended to make EPS files usable as a graphics file format.

.hpgl - HPGL, sometimes hyphenated as HP-GL, is the primary printer control language used by Hewlett-Packard plotters. The name is a set of initials for Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language. It later became a standard for almost all plotters.

.dxf - AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format, developed by Autodesk as their solution for enabling data between AutoCAD and other programs.

.dwg - DWG ("drawing") is a format used for storing two and three dimensional design data and BIM metadata, it is the internal format for the AutoCAD Computer Aided Design package.

.3dm - The main file format of Rhino3D is called 3dm. It is very useful especially for the exchange of NURBS geometry because it is released as an Open Source Toolkit called openNURBS, which is provided by the developers of Rhino3D.

BC, I might be the same as Supra but I intend to carve out aluminum as well. Will the micro be able to perform such a task aside from obtaining a good router of course.

All day long and then some...

I don't intend to make any machine that can't take a flogging...and hell, if it breaks you know exactly what to do.

The micRo is small yet powerful. It is designed to test extremes in a model way. There is a notion that certain materials can't be machined without sufficient force: nonsense! micRo can cut to China given sufficient time. Maybe you've heard of the Chinese-water-torture? The oft rejected emphasis is on time... I mean, if you can "set it and forget it", 8 hours isn't a bad time at all.

I know I hate being asked this question but I am curious as to a guestimate on the time frame for this project.

Sorry to put you on the spot as I know stuff happens that can push deadlines back a lot.

The design is finished. I could probably have it finished in two days' time if I could find two days.

Today was a good RoBOT day, in that all of the micRo parts are ordered! The mighty micRo has a massive 19" x 16" footprint! (4 on a desk ) All 3 axes* use 10mm Acme screws that run in ABEC 7 bearings [edit: Z runs on 6,, screw]. micRo uses Delrin anti-backlash nuts, and uses 3 NEMA 17 motors; one for each axis, complete with drivers. The gantry rides on supported 16mm ways. The Y ways are 12mm and the Z ways are 10mm (downright dinky, but so cute!) All bearings can be clamp-tightened for very high precision; a bigger version used on RoGR:

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The platform can be alum plate, mdf, rigid composite etc. Very little machining is required and the micRo can be built with just a drill and a tap (drill-press highly recommended). A single SMS power supply (included) is all that is required; you get to wire the motors, the power supply and the parallel-port breakout. I'll supply all of the small annoyingly hard-to-find stuff as well, so you can concentrate putting micRo together while focusing on the principles of robotics, rather than hundreds of hours of painstaking research! I will also supply the software configuration files for EMC2 with an explanation of the programming, so you don't need a 2 year degree just to start using micRo, and you can later tweak the parametrics when you're ready... (OC'd micRO???? bzzz). More soon....


*(Axes is a heteronym; the plural of both axis and axe.)

Oh my this is excellent news. Excuse me while I go wipe the drool off my chin.

With the $300 price point, I think this machine will be very accessible. I will probably jump on one of the kits myself. It would be especially worth it since it can machine the aluminum parts for its big brother.

Yep, as well as route circuit boards, apply solder masks, pick and place SMDs etc...

Weee, I finished the micRo motor kit today! Isn't it cute? It works excellent too...High fives!

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How did that spindle motor work out?

Still testing. Currently awaiting the Pluto-P FPGA to signal the PWM required by the AC syncro motor controllers. I have two AC syncros to test as spindles; the larger of them I posted at the beginning of the thread. The smaller motor is more impressive though. The smaller motor has far higher tolerances; it is very precise, and can hit 40,000 RPM. Alas, until they are cutting, it is pointless to surmise!

Aside from that, the main goal for MY micRo is an SMD pick-and-place bot with hot-air in-situ reflow (why not???).

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any leads on a bigger spindle motor for RoGR, or is it more cost effective/practical to just use a standard vari-speed router?

Bigger than what? RoGR uses the "big" router per se...although "routing" is a minor RoGR capability....

More important is the question: What do you want to do?

micRonuts:

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What the hell is Robin doing in the micRonuts post???

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I know you get a lot of these kind of post but still
OMG That's SO Cool!!

just a few redundant questions tho

How soon can i get my mitts on one?
How much will it dink my bank account?


found this in RoGR fourm
"micRo parts sourcing is nearing completion, about 95% done. A full micRo kit is ~ 2 weeks off."

micRo is almost finished; within the next 3 weeks certainly.

I'm waiting on a few concluding pieces and working out some bugs in the supply chain (arrrrghhh!!)...speaking of supply hiccups...the price necessarily has crept up to $500 due to an "underabundance" of quality screws @ micRo sizes, blah. Screws must currently come from Japan which is 4x the price of China...but I'm not giving up.. I'll never let micRo rise above $500; even if I lose money on it. micRo is my "RoBaby" and it must live!

(FWIW, much of the micRo is USA-made, and more US-made parts are coming online daily. I mention this because I think that America is rife for the next "American Revolution", and not some pithy "revolution" marketing crap, but a real "transformation event". CNC robotics will transform man's being as much (or more) than computers, the web, refrigeration....)

500$ and about 1 month?
sign me up!

Forgive me, as a total novice it's not obvious to me why we would want to use micro-size screws. I can appreciate that visually they may be a better match proportionally, but any other reason isn't jumping out at me. If small screws are 4 times more than large screws: lets use large ones!

Also, is the computer PSU part of the $500 price? I don't know about anyone else, but I've got a PSU that's just begging to be put to use. I figure the savings wouldn't be much, but a combined shipping and product savings of, say, $25 would be nice...

I've factored a 24v, 5A power supply into the $500 cost. The drivers top out @ 30V, so 24V is an excellent choice for speed and safety. Recent advances on the driver-front have offered some excellent options.

A way, screw and motor must be carefully matched for constant torque loads, + delta . A big screw is of little use to a small motor, since most of the motor power is consumed turning the big screw instead of doing the actual work (10th gear uphill on your bike).

I see you using the dumpster Anti-backlash lead nuts and clamp on couplers, Good choice, I use them in my 4x4 with no problems at all and i have 323 hours on it so far.

Joe

Yes, Tim's work and service are both excellent.

BTW, Hi Joe!

Check out micRo's BK!

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All but the largest (16mm) rails are smaller than your pinky (well, unless you're some kind of big-pinky freak!).

ya got something against big pinky freaks?


watching...
waiting....
drooling...

You don't wanna know...
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna grab me a micRo kit as well as the RoGR. There goes my kid's education fund.

No, no, no!

"Here kids, come and look at this. You might learn something."

See how wisely you're investing their education fund?

Of course, all I ever get is "Yeah Dad, whatever." :sigh:

Actually, that's the argument I plan to give my wife when she questions why I splurged for two robots.

A micRo is looking like something that I'm definitely going to want to have. Small enough that I don't have to worry about where to keep it, big enough to do some really cool things with.

Definitely a winner.

There were several new developments with finishing micRo recently, all for the better. This little machine is the "killer toy"; the price is right and the machine is extremely useful. This satisfies my stated purpose as:

(And for my own good, I'll reiterate the purpose:)

A highly accurate, true "industrial" robotics platform with just a 10"x12" cutting area that can make RoGR.

This has the potential to save me some money! I've considered getting a machine shop to cut some aluminum plate, mostly 2mm some 4mm at max. They want $500 just for setup!Since these are prototype parts I want made, if the part doesn't work, I have to pay another $500 to setup another prototype part! Whereas with something like this, I simply reptrogram and get some fresh stock. I looked at the RoGR initially, but I feel it's really too much for what I need...it would still be cool, but it's more than I need. However the micRo may not be enough for me either. Some of the parts I need cut from 2mm aluminum plate would require a cutting area of about 18" x 18". Could the micRo be modified so that it could have a 18" x 18" x 2.4" cutting area?

When will the micRo bearing kit be in the store?

-Brian

You'd want to "spec-up" the maximum way length for any given way d . I intend to stock a variety of individual bearing and way sizes, as well as cut to length screws. The notion is that following the micRo or RoGR examples, a member can "fab up" robots for any need based on proven and simple repeating mechanical constructs. I plan to include a "Made To Order RoBOT" function (MOBOT!!!) to the LL shop that navigates a user through every necessary category of required pieces, allowing the user to specify their exact requirements, while disallowing choices under-spec. This is at least 2 months away though....


Should be tonight if time permits.

micRo Bearing Kits are now on sale. micRo-motor kits on sale next...

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Following the 500 dollar price point for the whole shebang. The BK costs ~300, so does this mean that the motor kit will be roughly 200 and include the power supply to run the whole thing?

Just to be clear, to put together a micRo, you need:
-Bearing Kit
-Motor Kit
-Mounting base (be it aluminum, mdf, etc)

I'm just trying to piece it all together in my head (whether there are other additional costs or whatever), it looks very interesting.

Hi Liphel,

BK is ~$270, MK (+PS), ~$160, screws ($?), nuts ($?)...

It is close, but inflation moves faster than my price calculations.

BK ordered

Good news came in the mail today, such that I might actually be able to order a complete kit when it becomes available. Of all my list of projects that have emanated from this (damn) site, I think I probably need a micRO to build half of them properly.

Very exciting! I've had desire for an adaptable platform like this for a while...so many things to make with it and experiments to try. Of course, let's not forget business opportunities that it may create (for LumenLabs and us).

I'm very very interested in what you're putting together here. I have a few questions:

Is there somewhere here that has information on what the end result looks like? I'm having trouble picturing how the bearing kit is pieced together. I assume there are other metal plate parts that need to be created to tie it all together. Are these parts included in the kit? Are they included in the cost estimate?

I recently built a LinStepper motor controller, and bought 3 NEMA-23 motors on ebay. Would this adapt well to driving the bearing kit?

I'm hoping to be able to machine rack mount front panels for home built synthesizers. While 10"x12" is a just a tad bit smaller than a 19" rack panel, I'm hoping that I could do a single panel in two passes. Does this sound reasonable?

Kurt

Thanks!

Wow, impressive amount of orders for the mighty micRo! I wonder if any will be left by the time they land?


A complete micRo-kit is only awaiting completion of "RoGR One" (built by rogr jr), who is gonna crank out those micRo base-plates...


Indeed, it is an enabling technology that I intend to take the sting out of learning to use.


I'll try to have some more detail tonight.

Oh boy, the new computer is going to have to wait. Reallocation of funds, lol.

I'll be placing an order once the motor kit is up as well. PM me if you anticipate supply not meeting demand and I'll go ahead on the BK, just figured I'd drop it on one order.

Any pictures of an assembled prototype? My noggin is ticking away with all kinds of aluminum and acrylic projects. Yeah, I know only a small part of the potential, but that's going to be first step - mill it, and make the swappable setups from there.

Oh, and yeah, I too followed the link from hackaday...I've been drooling all week on this.

Hi mas,

I had intended to set up the micRo pieces on the base plate today, to grab an indicative picture of the size and position of pieces. I became obsessed with RoGR instead and worked up until we had to leave, trying to finish RoGR's motion assembly. There is some priority to finish RoGR, since the micRo-bk is 3-weeks to deliver I want to have this RoGR ready to make micRos, (and a few more RoGRs for the "shop" to produce more micRo and RoGR parts for the public).

Phew, that's a mouth full.

So the micRO motor kit's normal price is $199 and the sale price is $199. I don't get it I thought the motor kit was also supposed to come with the power supply. Am I mistaken?

Edit: I am not mistaken. I figured since the pic didn't show it, it didn't come as part of the package. What's up with the pricing?

Looks like the Power supply is included, just not pictured (maybe it's ugly? lol

Going to place my order this evening =]

I'll place mine as soon as I know if the pricing up there is correct. Brain has a few too many pots on the stove and I'd completely understand if he overlooked it.