Brushless DC Motor Fixture Complete

In the last post I showed a screen shot from SketchUp of a fixture I planned to print and construct.  The purpose was to allow me to safely operate a brushless DC motor using an Arduino and an ESC (electronic speed controller) as part of a proof of concept for a new device I'm developing.

The fixture worked well, and I have a video on YouTube that shows it serving its purpose with the motor turning (those of you who have been through similar situations will appreciate how significant it is that the motor is actually turning :) ).  Please take a look:

Since that time I have used most of my free time to work on a CNC machine design.  It is basically a CNC router type of design, but it is truly 3-axis and has 6" of travel in the Z axis.  It also has 18" of travel in the X axis and 22" of travel in the Y axis.  I mention it here on this blog because I plan to equip it with (in addition to a router or spindle for machining) a hotend and extruder, meaning that not only will it be a decent CNC machine, it will be a FDM 3D printer with a 18" x 22" x 6" build envelope (and ball screws and linear rails and bearings, large stepper motors, etc.).  I will try to update the blog with developments of this 3D Printer + CNC as the build progresses.

I haven't given up on the 3D printed lathe, and I have the cross slide and 3 jaw chuck both 90% assembled.  Work on the lathe has taken a back seat to work on the device that will use the brushless DC motor and Arduino control and the CNC machine, but I can't just let it die off completely . . .

In other news, please take a look at this design for a 3D-printable (well, except for a few parts) Sterling engine.  This is something that I had hoped to design and build myself, but Doug Conner knows a ton more about Sterling engines than I do, and has done a fantastic job of designing and documenting his build.  Here is a video of the 3D printed Sterling engine running:

And on this page Doug Conner documents the build in great detail, including a link to download the .stl files from Thingiverse.  Awesome job Doug!!

D