Hi all.
I've been reading these forums for a long time now and have gained a lot of knowledge and thought it might be time I post something...
You can check out some of the things my company does at http://www.ammodel.com.
Anyway, I've completed my first project...
1) Remove 2/3 of the parts on a Grizzly G0602 lathe and throw them in a bin.
2) Throw on a couple steppers and it cut parts.
Okay, there was a lot more to it, but it amuses me how much of the original lathe goes away.
Attached are some screenshots of the design. There are couple things missing in the screen-shots as I need to update the CAD geometry with the parts I made. Hopefully, I can get some pictures taken and put online tomorrow.
I made no modifications to the lathe casting or cross-slide (no new holes, etc.) for the Z axis.
The X axis needed two holes drilled and tapped for a plate that holds the ball nut (on the cross-slide). I chose to put the nut under the slide, so I had to mill a pocket in the cross-slide so the nut would fit. That is the total modifications to the original lathe -- two tapped holes and a pocket.
I modified the lathe electronics quite a bit. The E-Stop now connects to a CNC4PC C11 board to shutdown the spindle, steppers, etc. The fwd/rev switch still switches direction, but the C11 is in charge of the spindle on/off. The enable button is just there to look pretty now.
I get 65"/min rapid -- I could probably get more if I tweaked it, but that is PLENTY fast for me.
Parts:
- Grizzly G0602 Lathe
- 5/8" 3' Ball Screw (Z axis)
- 5/8" 1' Ball Screw (X axis)
- Ball Nuts
- CNC4PC C11 Multifunction Break-Out-Board
- CNC4PC C21 Voltage Regulation Unit (supplies power to the C11 board)
- Xylotex 3 Axis Bipolar Stepper Motor Driver "Kit" With Power Supply, 269oz/in Steppers.
- Various bits of Aluminum.
- Lots of #10 Screws.
- 2.4ghz Used Computer from the Store Down the Street.
- 15" Dell Touchscreen Monitor (very important!!)
- 4 Angular Contact Bearings
- 2 Hi-Misalignment Spiders (0 backlash)
- 15/16-16 Tap for Nut Holders
I'm sure I missed something...
I can post pictures, etc. if anyone is interested.