Just bought a Prolight 3000 lathe

Hello, I just picked up a used Prolight 3000 lathe for $500. It's missing the control box but I'm kinda glad it's gone because I probably would have converted it any way to use Mach 3 instead of the Prolight software.

The lathe is pretty cool as it's a slant bed lathe and has an eight position tool changer, a pneumatic operated chuck and the door opens with pneumatics too so you can have it open and close with your computer. Also the chuck can be removed and a 5C collet will fit right inside the spindle with out having to buy a special 5C chuck. The seller said he also had a standard chuck that went with the machine and to my surprise it was a Bison brand chuck!

I'm going to keep the original stepper motors at this time and add some KL 6050's or KL 5056 drives. I'm not sure about the breakout board yet. I really want to buy the combo board from Campbell Designs but they sell for $250! So it may be the Breakout board plus from Campbell Designs or a C-11 board from CNC4PC. The power supply will be a 56 volt toroid transformer with two secondary taps for 5 and 12 volts to run a few extra things.

Each axis already has limit switches on the machine as well as a micro switch in the tool changer so wiring it up to a breakout board should be pretty easy.

Here are some pictures of the lathe. I will post more as the build progresses.

I tore into the lathe this weekend and found a strange set up for the spindle speed control and am not sure what it's for. There is a large resistor next to the speed control and it's hooked up to a relay and the spindle motor. I'm guessing it's there for some kind of soft start but I'm not sure how it works and what times the relay to kick out the resistor and let the motor go to full speed. Could it be the small capacitor that is hooked up to the relay, or perhaps something in the relay it's self?

The reason I need to know is the coil on relay takes 28 volts to run and it use to plug into the original control box. It looks like this was used to turn the spindle on and off and I don't see an easy way to hook it up to a new breakout board unless it's a 5 or 12 volt relay. So I need to figure out if there is a good way to use this relay as it sits or if I can easily replace it with a 12 volt one.

Thanks for the help!
Dale P.

Wow, I missed the fact you only paid $500.00 for that lathe over on the other thread Dale. That is one heck of a lot of machine for that price. Sigh, lucky you, I never get those kind of deals!

I have a CNC4PC C11 multifunction B.O.B. in my ORAC retro and I think its relays should do whatever switching you need. Here's a quote from the manual:

"6.3 Electromechanical relays. (pins 1 and 16)

Mechanical relays are very flexible because they can be used for AC or DC and
come with NO and NC (Normally Open and Normally Closed) positions. Relay are
independents, one reacts to Pin 1 and the other one to Pin16 and that both can be
used at the same time. The relay specification are showed in the below table.

ELECTROMECHANICAL RELAYS SPECIFICACTIONS
Maximum Current (AC) 7A@240VAC; 10A@125VAC"

Well I took the time to trace the wires and figured it out. The large resistor is used to slow down the spindle when it is shut off. The relay adds the breaking resistor to the circuit when the power is removed and the coil for the relay actually works off 110vac not 28 volts dc.

I miss read the relay and thought it had a 28 volt coil and didn't want to add a different power supply to run it as everything in the machine runs off 5 or 12 volts dc. Unfortunately the relay on the C-11 board wont work as it's a single throw and I need a double throw, but since the lathes relay is a 110 volt coil I will be able to use it as is and won't have to change a thing.

I'm still not sure which breakout board I want to use though. If I use the C-11 I will need to add two 5 volt power supplies and one 12 volt as well as the 48 volt for the stepper drives Or I could buy a Campbell Designs board and only have to power it up with 110vac and it also had a built in spindle control board as well as four relays and an input for a MPG, but it cost $250.00 instead of $135.00.

How is your retrofit going on the Orac? Did you get your dual tool holders done?

Yeah, I bought the C11 because of the price but had a LOT of trouble getting it to work with my KBIC-120 DC speed controller. The instructions were much too vague for my level of electronics knowledge. I didn't understand the isolation issue well enough and blew a trace on the C11 and fried a KB control before finally buying a KB Signal Isolator board on eBay ($35.00) to fix the problem. Fortunately I was able to easily fix the C11 and it all works great now. I think the Campbell and Homann boards have on-board isolation but of cource cost more. Ya pays yer money & takes yer choice.)

I'm still working on the twin QCTP mount system and am waiting for a payment check for some lathe work I did to hit the mailbox before pulling the trigger on the 2nd QCTP. I dread wading through Mach tool tables & offsets as well. Gonna have to learn it though!

The machine itself is working smoothly, repeats nicely and all the electronics stuff stays nice & cool. Yay!

If you want to see the typical resistive braking on those types of drives, and using a 120vac relay, see the KB120 manual, it has the typical circuit shown.
Al.

Here you go B/L...pg. 20.

Al's the Man!

Is your lathe still alive and well? Just picked one up myself.

Yeah it's working great and is very accurate! I really like the ball screws that it has. It can keep .0005 all day long. I turn mostly aluminum on it and take around .030 to .040 off per pass at a pretty good feed rate. It could take off a little more but then the metal gets stringers that wrap around the chuck and make a mess.

Im very happy with the machine and want the matching milling machine which is the prolight 3000.

I just bought a six jaw chuck for the lathe and am about to start programing mach so it knows all of the tools I have in the tool holder. I ended up replacing all of the stepper motors and went with digital stepper drives from lead shine. The motors are very powerful and I have no issues with loosing steps and the motors and drives stay nice and cool.

Lets see some pictures of your machine! Do you plan to retrofit it to run mach 3? Feel free to E-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions or need more pictures.

Dale P.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bencht...ml#post1342218

That is my build log. Haven't started buying anything yet, just trying to figure our what direction i'm going with it.

I have a X3 mill so this will compliment it nicely. Any help would be appreciated, feel free to chime in!

I've got these two machines that I'm looking to get rid of. Have manuals, original hardware, computers, and tons of accessories just need to find the right home for them. I'm in Portland, OR area. Anyone interested or know of anyone that is? Perhaps a route to connect to someone that can put them to use?

Thanks,

Jon

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=464472&stc=1https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=464474&stc=1

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gearmonger

I've got these two machines that I'm looking to get rid of. Have manuals, original hardware, computers, and tons of accessories just need to find the right home for them. I'm in Portland, OR area. Anyone interested or know of anyone that is? Perhaps a route to connect to someone that can put them to use?

Thanks,

Jon

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=464472&stc=1https://www.cnczone.com/forums/attac...d=464474&stc=1

---

These are gone. Not available any more.