Hey. So i've officially finished my saw that i've built and shot a short video of it working, it just needs a little tinkering with the feed rate for the fastest cut. I built this saw specifically to cut some 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4" metal plate that will be used to build a milling head spindle attachment for my drill press, and i will be building a metal lathe later this year.
Tonight i hope to be able to shoot a better video of it finishing the cut and then measuring the angles to make sure they are perfect before cutting the next piece.
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Looks nice 
How long did it take to cut the plate in the video?
I haven't had a chance to time it yet. I've been working out the bugs for the past week, and the first half of the cut i had to manually adjust the feedscrew after each pass and it took a bit longer, and it wasn't until yesterday when i've been able to get the feedscrew automated as well. so tonight i'm gonna finish with the cut, and then double check it's squareness, both longitudinal, and through the thickness of the plate. And then i'll be starting on my first piece to be cut.
but i'm not necessary going for speed. It's more for precise cutting. I made it specifically for cutting square and straight lines to save me time truing up the pieces after cutting. My test cut was thru 1/4" thick by 8 inches wide, and was able to cut it perfectly and this is my first cut thru the thicker plate.
What is the arduino's part in this?
At the moment the arduino is controlling the y and z axis of the saw. Once i get far enough into my projects, it may get the x axis control for a job or two, since i have multiple plans for this setup. And not that it matters much, but it has a homing function that allows me to double check everything before i actually start cutting, and once the saw reaches a certain position, the saw turns itself on, and runs until i turn it off. There may be a time in the future where i'll put an end of job turn off function. and that will be for unattended cutting whenever i get it fine tuned.
Pretty neat. More mechanical stuff going on than I could put together, that's for sure.
