Emco Compact 5 CNC Retrofit to EdingCNC

Folks.. back again.. i know some of you really dig my topic's, so i'm cooking up this one.. just felt like it.. :wave:

Ok.. as the title of this topic states.. the retrofitting of an EMCO Compact 5 CNC lathe to EdingCNC..Time to Party!!.. P..A.. R.. T... why?.. 'cos i gotta!.. :banana:

I recently started my own Company, producing Titanium Watches., i got a message from another Dutch Watch Manufacturer.. "Can you make Stainless Steel Watchcases?.. "

- Erhm.. No.. Stainless steel is for Cooking Gear Ok?.. what about Titanium?..

"Hmm.. Sounds nice.. can you make me a sample?.. well... to make a long story short.. i made some 50 Cases for him over the last few months..

so now you know... where i've been all the time.. and why http://www.cnczone.com/forums/vertic...671-cnc-4.html is sleeping at the moment.. i'm Churning out Titanium watchcases.. that's why..

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w...o/DSCN2222.JPG

This is one of the cases i made for my customer..

when he asked me to make a sample, i did not have a CNC lathe.. so i went on www.marktplaats.nl a dutch site to sell second hand things.. and i found an Emco Compact 5 CNC, with a price i could afford.. so the same evening i jumped in my car.. drove across the country ( luckilly the Netherlands isn't that big..) but still some 700 Km's..so.. i had my CNC.. and i started programming.. i used Mike's free Interface.. great program.. but after making 3 cases.. the control broke.. Now what?..

I had the old EdingCNC board from the Beagle lying around.. and also 2 stepperdrivers for the HBM C1 CNC in the aforementioned topic.. , i bought 2 2Nm Nema 23 Steppers with a ¼" spidle which i could easily fit to the Emco..i just opened the back of the controlcase of the Emco, put the Eding board in on one screw, wired it to a PC i had, wired the steppers.. and off i went.. the Main Spindle motor was still running manually...

I wrote some macro's for the most used operations.. and i started making Cases again.. but this time to much more accurate dimensions... so.. that was great.. repeatability of the old Emco are within a couple of µm, so if you make part one at a certain diameter.. part two will come out just as good..

That's when i decided.. i want another one.. since the turning of a watchcase takes up the most time of producing them... double the capacity.. half the time needed.. or machine Back on Emco 1, and machine Front on Emco 2..

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-d...o/DSCN1782.JPG

It's really a small machine.. it fitted nicely in the back of my car..My neighbour helped me carrying it inside. to my toolroom.. where i installed it..

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4...o/DSCN1785.JPG

here it is still working with the original control.. but after that failed.. i switched over to EdingCNC..and i had it running again in just 2 hours or so..

For making Cases.. i needed some Collets to clamp the titanium Rings.. i order rings, that saves me the hassle of turning the center out of every one... i just order with a hole 2 mm smaller than needed.. 2 mm is turned out in a jiffy..

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Zn...E=w958-h636-no

So i dreamt up this... the big part at the top is a "pot" that goes on the spindle with 3 allen bolts.. the collets sit in the cavity, perfectly centered.. and the cone at the bottom is pulled in to clamp the parts..

the first operation is turning the inside of the case.. that's done in the 3jaw chuck.. then the inside is clamped on the collet, and the outside is machined..

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/GI...M=w958-h636-no

here, a Crystal Caseback is on the collet for machining the inside of it.. the collet clamps in the seat for the crystal, only 0.8 mm deep, but that does suffice..

I wrote some macro's .. and i found a way of making EdingCNC a teach-in control.. you can program dialogs with DLGMSG, and you can write data to a file with LOGMSG.. so what i dreamt up:
you can make Eding CNC load a program at startup, and you can also make it reload when it is edited(changed).. so... i made a file called Teach-in.nc.. and i wrote the dialogdata to that file.. to make an NC file that does the cycle programmed in the dialog... then.. i found a way to write those operations to another file.. to make part-programs.. "Partprogram.nc".. now i can program a part step-by-step..
program a cycle, run it.. is it Ok?.. store it in Partprogram.. program next.. Ok?.. Store.. and so you build the partprogram one step at a time..
when the first part is finished.. just load Partprogram.nc instead of Teach-in.nc. hit start.. leave the building. :cheers:

A Partprogram can look like this:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-P...splusLathe.jpg

a Facing operation, turning, chamfering and filleting... all in one go!..
I worked further on finetuning the macro's .. i can now also include toolchanges.
Unfortunately.. the Toolchanger is not yet controlled by EdingCNC.. that will be solved in the near future..

But.. as i said.. i wanted a second Emco 5 CNC.. so.. i bought one.. and instead of moving it into the toolroom, i moved it to my workshop and took it apart..

I bought 2 HP 7900 PC's ( small boxes (250x250x70 mm) and to smackscreens (touchscreens)..one for the new Emco. and one for the old..
the new one doesn't have a Toolchanger.. but i've found a wormgearbox with about the same size, so i will get me one of these.. and make it "emco-compatible" i.e. it will have the same "toolplate" as the original EMCO..
That way.. i can make multiple toolplates, for specific jobs.. and put those on when needed... :)

So.. the conversion!.. what are we going to do?.. well.. first of all... i was told that the original motor PCB could be used with EdingCNC, i just had to get a 0-10V board to connect between EdingCNC and the board.. i could get rid of all the other old hardware.. leaving me with an almost empty controller case.. Riiiight.. i like that.. that gives me plenty of space to get my gear in..

I gutted the case.. taking out the Controllerboard, the stepper controllerboard, the VideoController board, the cassette recorder and board.. the Powersupplyboard.. and i was left with an almost empty case.. Nice..

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/wN...o=w958-h719-no

the PC and the Screeen both had VESA mounts.. so i drilled 4 holes in the top of the PC Case.. screwed that to the back of the screen.. and put the PC back on..
Cut a hole in the front for the screen.. and welded in some small brackets to hold the screen in the case..

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z...o/DSCN2237.JPG

Not bad.. .. now.. how are we gonna power up the PC?.. a grinding disc provided the answer.. i also cut a hole in the side..

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f...224_213610.jpg

the fan has acces to cool air.. the CD Tray can still open.. i have acces to the powerbutton and the USB slots.. Nice..

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...224_220249.jpg

So now i have a CNC controlCase with a smackscreen, i moved some of the switches to another location.. Job done!..

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0...o/DSCN2240.JPG

and this is how she looks when powered up.. EdingCNC running.. and already a part programmed..

I only need to find a way to make a keyboard console..

Arie, thanks for writing this up in your usual well-explained style! :) Lots of pictures helps, for sure.

I am going through a similar process for my Emco Compact 5CNC, and am having trouble deciding on the control. One of my biggest concerns is being able to thread on the lathe - as someone said, if you can't thread on it, it's not a lathe... ;)

Since the Compact 5 comes with a 100-count encoder and a spindle index pulse, I would like to use both as inputs - does the Eding board do this? I have not been able to find out. I don't like the 1-pulse-per-rev threading, as I fon't think it gives a sufficient resolution for threading well. If it works well, I would consider using it on the other couple of lathes I have waiting in the wings for updated controls... :)

EdingCNC is capable of threading.. otherwise it wouldn't be a lathe control.. :)

a friend of mine also converted his Emco 5 CNC to a new control, not sure if it was Mach or EdingCNC, but he had to replace the spindle encoder.. well.. such a device is not expensive..

EdingCNC has a manual online of the CPU 5 Board at http://www.edingcnc.com/upload/files...flyer_tech.pdf

I recommend using the Ethernet version, because of better communication reliability..

as far as using the encoder to regulate machine RPM's.. i don't know if a VFD works fast enough to cope with that amount of info.. maybe a servomotor on the spindle works..

I don't thread on the lathe, because i can do that faster and better on the CNC mill.. i spiral-mill my threads.. M39x0.5 being the most common here.. yes, thats 39 mm diameter, and a 0.5 mm pitch.. watchcase thread.. in titanium...

Arie,
Where I can learn to make watch? Or can you direct me to links that I can learn to make watch? I like to make small thing like that, it is interesting.

Making a watch.. well it is not that hard.. i'd say.. start with making a case.. if you buy a cheap watch, take the movement out measure the case, design a new case, and put the movement in that.. that's quite easy.. you will however need a press to get the crystal out of the original case, and put it in the new case.. dimensions are quite precise, you need to machine withing 0.02 mm to pull this off.. when you start with just making a case, you can use the old caseback.. on cheap watches, that's always a press-fit.. not hard to do..

You will need a good CNC mill or a lathe and a mill.. if you Mill is precise.. you can mill out the recess for the movement, and the crystal.. i did so when building my first watch, later i used a lathe to machine the inside, and the CNC mill to do the outside..

Now that you have been using the updated Emco for a while, how do you like the new controls? Are you happy with them? What other tweaks have you done to it? Tried threading on it yet?

Sorry for the questions, but it's still one of the systems I am considering for upgrading my machines...