[Aaron Powter]

Hi Matt, just found you build thread today on CNC-Zone. Must I say I'm very impressed. Even subscribed to your youtube channel. I'm from Australia and I have similar clone copy of the G0704 and the the G0602. I have already converted the milling machine, but will leave the lathe manual for now. I recently purchased an old Rhino ST-6 CNC lathe. I need to gut it and replace the electronics etc... So glad I found your build thread. You've taught me so much. Thank you, Aaron Powter (Melbourne Australia).

[jerricho1422]

Great thread! I'm in the process of converting my G0602. I was wondering how many microsteps your controllers are set for.

Thanks,
David

[EddieO]

Figured I would try here. I am almost complete with my lathe, but the one spot I cannot find much info on is programming the teco drive to work with the c41 board. In one of your previous posts, you mentioned it but didn't go into details on programming it. I've managed to figure out most of the other stuff, including getting the motor running and such, but the programming has alluded me. After searching everywhere, I cannot find anyone else who has used this setup....stumped to say the least.

I tried reading through the manual for both, but got more confused than anything.

Any help would be great.

[Turbo442]

Has anyone tried running the lathe features in Mach 4 yet? Is it worth trying to upgrade this lathe to Mach 4 yet or should I stay away?

[lcvette]

Have you checked out linuxcnc? Right now I think for a Lathe and threading it is the best setup out there with its abikity to use an encoder for spindle feedback in quadrature mode. Of you don't need threading (a really important feature to me) mach3 is OK, and it even works decently with a single pulse feedback, but not nearly as well as linuxcnc. I would let mach 4 incubate another year or two, I keep seeing horror stories about issues on the machsupport forum.

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[Fastest1]

Figured I would try here. I am almost complete with my lathe, but the one spot I cannot find much info on is programming the teco drive to work with the c41 board. In one of your previous posts, you mentioned it but didn't go into details on programming it. I've managed to figure out most of the other stuff, including getting the motor running and such, but the programming has alluded me. After searching everywhere, I cannot find anyone else who has used this setup....stumped to say the least.

I tried reading through the manual for both, but got more confused than anything.

Any help would be great.

What model Teco are you using and what would you like it to do?


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[SSN Vet]

Glad to see you're still at it...

I'm upgrading my G0602 lathe, but have no plans for CNC.

Variable Speed? Maybe. but I need to turn the wheels more, make more parts and up my skill level to justify the expense first.

Looks like I'll need to start reading your thread from the beginning.

Re: the bearings. I'm getting <0.0005" TIR on my spindle taper and chuck hub and consider myself lucky. So I'm not going to mess with bearings. I think a lot of the noise comes from the drive belt and stock motor fan cover.

[Turbo442]

Upgraded my G0704 last week.






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[lcvette]

Awesome machine!! Congrats, bet you're super excited to add that beast to your work shop!! What kind of deal did you find on it?

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[Turbo442]

Awesome machine!! Congrats, bet you're super excited to add that beast to your work shop!! What kind of deal did you find on it?

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Yeah I'm excited about the VF2. I have been looking around at various mills for about a year. Mostly shopping on Craig's List and EBay. As a hobbyist starting with a G0704 and then a Novakon NM145, I didn't really know what to look for when buying a used machine. So I looked at various brands and models of machines over the last year or so. Of course also talking to my machinist friends helps some, but you will run into a million opinions. And you know what they say about opinions.. I was also somewhat limited by my garage door size. I have a 9' wide by 7' tall door to work with. The ceiling in my shop is 9'6". The haas VF0, VF0E, VF1 and VF2 series mills all have the same height and foot print. There is a lot of them out there, so there is a reasonable amount of shared internet information on them. That turned out to be really helpful when it came to learning what I was getting into. HAAS claims this machine will need a 7'6" opening. I went ahead and raised the header a foot and installed a new 9x8 door. We removed the Z Echain plastic housing prior to shipping this mill from LA. It appeared this would give a lot of temporary z clearance. It turns out I am pretty sure just laying the Echain on its side is all you need to do to fit it through a 9x7' door. No big deal though it makes using my forklift much nicer now. For those that don't know, mills like this VF2 have a ton of options available when purchased new. Both hardware and software features are available which can double the purchase price new. It takes a while to sort through all of the options and models available. Over time I realized I wanted the features the VF2 model offered like the bigger table and travels over the VF0 and VF1. It also became obvious to me that many of the used machines on the market have been driven into the ground. That's not to say there aren't low time cream puffs out there, you just need to be patient and willing to pony up extra $$$ for a clean machine.

This particular machine is a 3000 hour VF2D built 12/21/04. Weighs in around 8500 lbs, travels are 30x16x20. To me, the machine over all looks in good condition compared to many I looked at. The paint in not all blown off, the spindle and ball-screws sound quiet and smooth. As far as options, this machine has a 10k spindle (stock is 7500), an auger, renishaw probing and tool setter, programmable coolant (coolant nozzle adjustable by m codes), cat 40, air blast (controlled by m codes), 4th axis ready.

So far I have had no issues using my 20hp rotophase and my 60 gal dual stage compressor.


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[lcvette]

Yeah I'm excited about the VF2. I have been looking around at various mills for about a year. Mostly shopping on Craig's List and EBay. As a hobbyist starting with a G0704 and then a Novakon NM145, I didn't really know what to look for when buying a used machine. So I looked at various brands and models of machines over the last year or so. Of course also talking to my machinist friends helps some, but you will run into a million opinions. And you know what they say about opinions.. I was also somewhat limited by my garage door size. I have a 9' wide by 7' tall door to work with. The ceiling in my shop is 9'6". The haas VF0, VF0E, VF1 and VF2 series mills all have the same height and foot print. There is a lot of them out there, so there is a reasonable amount of shared internet information on them. That turned out to be really helpful when it came to learning what I was getting into. HAAS claims this machine will need a 7'6" opening. I went ahead and raised the header a foot and installed a new 9x8 door. We removed the Z Echain plastic housing prior to shipping this mill from LA. It appeared this would give a lot of temporary z clearance. It turns out I am pretty sure just laying the Echain on its side is all you need to do to fit it through a 9x7' door. No big deal though it makes using my forklift much nicer now. For those that don't know, mills like this VF2 have a ton of options available when purchased new. Both hardware and software features are available which can double the purchase price new. It takes a while to sort through all of the options and models available. Over time I realized I wanted the features the VF2 model offered like the bigger table and travels over the VF0 and VF1. It also became obvious to me that many of the used machines on the market have been driven into the ground. That's not to say there aren't low time cream puffs out there, you just need to be patient and willing to pony up extra $$$ for a clean machine.

This particular machine is a 3000 hour VF2D built 12/21/04. Weighs in around 8500 lbs, travels are 30x16x20. To me, the machine over all looks in good condition compared to many I looked at. The paint in not all blown off, the spindle and ball-screws sound quiet and smooth. As far as options, this machine has a 10k spindle (stock is 7500), an auger, renishaw probing and tool setter, programmable coolant (coolant nozzle adjustable by m codes), cat 40, air blast (controlled by m codes), 4th axis ready.

So far I have had no issues using my 20hp rotophase and my 60 gal dual stage compressor.


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That's awesome!!!I bet we looked at a ton of the same machines over the last year..Lol. Post up some vids of some parts making!!!

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[Turbo442]

That's awesome!!!I bet we looked at a ton of the same machines over the last year..Lol. Post up some vids of some parts making!!!

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I'm sure we looked at some of the same machines. Im pretty sure the junk ones sit around for a long time on CL and the nice ones go fast. I got the machine set in place and powered up and then had to head to France for a week. The time zone is killing me coming from the west coast. I get back in a couple days and will finish up the fine leveling and tram. I have yet to make any chips yet. I set the transformer taps for 250V, set the LV taps for 230V, made sure there was not a phase error. (There are lights to indicate correct phasing) So far my 20hp rotophase and mill seem happy with each other.


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[trottrr50]

I have been looking at your thread on the g0602 conversion and i have been having trouble seeing some of the images as there is a box substituted that says the foillowing:

Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting

Is there a fix and is this my cnczone acct. I have not found anything related to 3rd party hosting.

Steve

[Turbo442]

Some of these photos were hosted on Photobucket.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/4/15...sy-paid-update

At this point I can not go back and edit the photo links without the mods help. After a period of time I can no longer edit the original post. I put up a help ticket with CNCZONE to allow me to modify the old post photos.
I was able to go in and download the original photos from photobucket. Photobucket is requesting I pay $399 through paypal to enable third part hosting.

Matt

[Turbo442]

I pulled the trigger on the new Centroid Acorn CNC controller and the $99 lathe software.

Acorn CNC controller, Step and Direction 4 axis CNC Control board with ethernet communication.

I am planning on retrofitting my MACH3 setup and adding an encoder.

I will do my best to document this retrofit as it happens. My Acorn board is set to ship Jan 3 2018.

[tomfool12]

I was considering the acorn board as well. It seemed to me as stream lining components and help cut cost when running a smooth stepper.

What made you pull the trigger?

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[Turbo442]

I was considering the acorn board as well. It seemed to me as stream lining components and help cut cost when running a smooth stepper.

What made you pull the trigger?

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In my opinion, the heart of a CNC machine is its control software. If I am going to be honest for a second, Mach 3 really sucks. Especially Mach turn. I dislike the interface, the conversational programming sucks, the control software can be buggy, Mach turn doesnt support encoders, the CSS function doesn't seem to be implemented correctly, the software is no longer being developed....Time to try something else!!!!

I looked at Path pilot. The interface and conversational stuff looks GREAT! But it seems like a lot of screwing around to get it to work. Also questionable support from Tormach and the whole Linux thing on top of it all.

Masso looks interesting, I dont know much about it.

Things I like about Centroid Acorn CNC controller so far. (Keep in mind I have yet to receive the unit!)

1. The hardware and software are being developed by the same company! YEAHHHH!!! No more finger pointing!!!
2. Centroid has been successfully developing CNC retrofit solutions for a LONG time! NOT A KICK STARTER!
3. The price point is great!
4. Software is running on Windows 10. AWESOME!
5. Real encoder support!
6. Real back lash support!
7. The lathe conversational support looks awesome!
8. Did I mention encoders!!!! Threading!!!!
9. Lots of youtube videos popping up! Documentation appears good.
10. The platform is new and still evolving.
11. And of course, getting the control software off the PC and onto dedicated hardware.

We will see how it goes...

[Turbo442]

For those that want more info, go to youtube and search for :

centroid acorn lathe

Lots of videos out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1w7ekfH8h4&t=524s

[CL_MotoTech]

4 axis limitation means I won't be doing the Acorn anytime soon. Currently I'm doing a number of 5 axis projects, which Mach 3 handles (not without quirks admittedly). The Acorn looks like a great setup though. I do pine for a Mach3 alternative, it's a hard sell though since I am so entrenched. Sometimes I run for hours even days without issue, then one day I spend three hours trying to get a single part made.

[Turbo442]

4 axis limitation means I won't be doing the Acorn anytime soon. Currently I'm doing a number of 5 axis projects, which Mach 3 handles (not without quirks admittedly). The Acorn looks like a great setup though. I do pine for a Mach3 alternative, it's a hard sell though since I am so entrenched. Sometimes I run for hours even days without issue, then one day I spend three hours trying to get a single part made.

Yeah Im not sure if Acorn even supports full 4 axis yet? I thought I read it was currently 3.5. At any rate I am mainly after the conversational features and the encoder. 5 axis with mach is pretty brave. What machine is that on? What do you use for CAM?

Trying to figure out the best way to mechanically connect the encoder to the spindle. I assume its going to be a thin toothed belt. I have a crap load of encoders around here somewhere. I need to dig some out of my junk bin. I am assuming I dont need to run 1:1 ratio with the spindle. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Also kicking around the idea of building a new controller or modifying the original. I have the extra drivers. cabinet and power supply. I can probably do a better job the second time around. But it will be a lot more work. Decisions decisions....