Depends. Who got the firewood?
She did. Favor then.
Congratulations on a successful first run!
The first thing I used my CNC for was to cut acrylic sheets that I used to mount MEGA's to DIN rail. It worked quite well.
The acrylic has a tendency to gum up. I'm still a total newbie. LarryD is a good resource.
you could potentially add counterweights on the z axis. People do that with deltas for flying extruded mods. Alternatively, you could get some pulleys and use them to drive the z axis to gain some mechanical advantage. Springs seem like they might increase backlash, but if you don't do any/a lot of z-lifts then it doesn't matter to much, maybe.
If anything is being harvested maybe get a bunch cheap? Peas maybe, they taste so good fresh.
Or get down the coast and buy lobsta off the pier?
There's someone in Franklin Co. with a laser tag arena but I dunno if it's up and going yet.
Some time look on youtube for warping concrete. It's glass fiber reinforced (GFRC), they pour out flat shapes, wait for it to set a bit then bend the crete like you would steamed wood.
Look a bit more into fiber-crete with wood shavings or paper pulp. If you like it, you might take it somewhere.
travis_farmer:
i also have to work on the Hall-Effect home/limit switches for my CNC, as well as devise a way to help support the Z-axis.~Travis
If you set the linear Hall sensor and magnet up and then slide a piece of steel (can metal will do) in between, it should read less to nothing.
If you can read the magnet through a hole in one piece of steel and slide another in to shut it off then you have diminished the sense area. I have no real idea of how small a hole can work.
If you move the magnet across the direction that the Hall sensor points, the read values should peak when they are directly across from each other as long as the magnet is pointing at the Hall switch right then.
Make yourself a Hall sensor wand and have fun probing magnets and EM fields. If you combine a magnet and Hall sensor then you should be able to detect moving non-magnetic metals. You can use the wand to detect EMF in your own projects.
You need a Linear Hall Sensor, not a Hall Switch. The Hall Effect is used in many different devices, just because it says Hall doesn't mean it's the Hall you want. For your limit switch, maybe good but for probing EM fields and finding out what's going on you'll want the linear sensor and probably some kind of sensitivity control circuit.
You might want the linear Hall finding where the magnet field is strongest as that may provide your best zero.
A linear Hall sensor has a direction along which it measures field strength. You get strength and direction. If you make a wand that points in the direction and lets you get the sensor away from your hand then you can find the invisible shape of the field.
You can get more precise stops with light and use the Hall or cap sense to tell the motor to slow down, fwiw.
With 2 slits and a red led you can probably get an interference pattern. That will gives bands of light to sense and if the distance from slits to sensor is small, the distance between bands wil be smaller... you'd need to mask the sensor to see only narrow light or dark band alone. And no, you don't have to have a laser to do the double-slit experiment, it's just more clear with one.
I was steered away from optical (on CNCzone), as the router dust may obstruct the sensor, unless i build it into a sealed mechanical sensor that passes a vane through the sensor. seemed like hall would be easier to implement, of the non-mechanical sensors.
So true about the dust and all.
With the linear Hall you can delineate mag field through or not holes or slots in sheet steel, or how moving metal affects an existing field (gear tooth counter) or whatever else might seem neat for whatever use it may have.
You will have to throw the saw away now!
Once they taste blood, they become to habituated to it.
.
Did anyone else show up before you got clear of the intersection?
What wattage is your iron? Mine's got a dial.
travis_farmer:
I thought my soldering skills were at least passable, until i tried to solder a PL-259 connector on to RG-8X cable. :o
first try: melted the foam core, shorted.
second try: works, no shorts.
third try: melted the foam core, shorted.i tried my electronics soldering iron first, and got a lot of gobs of cold solder due to the thermal mass of the PL-259. then i tried a small butane torch. no more cold solder, but the heat is a bit too intense. the you-tube videos make it look so easy. and i tried desoldering the connectors for re-use, and only managed to completely melt the insulator.
~Travis
Bet you got the cheap nickle plated units.
Paul
travis_farmer:
my linear Hall sensors should arrive tomorrow
Time to investigate magnetic fields?
You can read a Hall sensor on wires with analog in and blink led13 faster and brighter with higher read values.
This is for limit switches, right? The CNC part needing movement limiting is steel? Stick a magnet to it and start probing for fastest/brightest blinkies. Hold the sensor still and move the part with magnet under it. There will be a brightest zone.
The old fashioned microswitch is accurate and extemely repeatable - I doubt if you'll be as accurate with a Hall device...
Allan
ps good luck with the Ham radio exam - here in the UK we're only allowed 150W max except with a special licence..
Hi,
CONGRATS MATE... 
So trip home didn't feel that long....
Tom... 
travis_farmer:
it didn't seem as long, for some odd reasonNow i just have to wait for my license, and i am golden
~Travis
Congratulations! Well done! Now hope the government doesn't shut down before the FCC issues your ticket.
Paul, KD7HB, CN94jj
travis_farmer:
The CNC is mostly aluminum, so the magnets will have to be attached with some sort of adhesive, like epoxy.
Well there you have luck, what you attach to the frame won't be affected by it.
You can be very accurate as to position with a linear Hall sensor. That's what I want you to see.
With a bar magnet you have field pointing out full strength each end that varies throughout the length of the magnet between N and S, with + and - readings depending on which way you point the sensor. If you adjust your circuit, you can read 0 to 1023 on an analog pin, your precision is the distance from N to S pole divided by your analog read max value. Errors in the length of your magnet are also divided by analog read max.
Stick a button supermagnet to a flathead steel nail and check readings from nail tip to head always along the nail axis pointing towards the head. That should match how the nail and magnet attached to the CNC frame would move under the sensor. You may need to tune the sensor circuit to reach 1023 at the head, perhaps with a turn pot.
With the linear sensor you can watch the limit approach. That's what I want you to see for yourself with a DIY Hall EM field probe.
A precision joystick runs 12 or more bits analog read, linear Hall sensors are commonly used since they don't wear out or need cleaning. These are instrument quality devices unlike Hall switches used in door and window intrusion systems.
Mess with the fields, make the thing that lets you read them! You already spent the nickel, get your time out of it!
That probe will let you find EMF sources better than an unterminated jumper.