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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Novakon upgrades.

    Ok hopefully this thread will get some miles on it. Should be generic enough so we can explore a few topics. The mods I have done so far are. 1) half built sheet metal and lexan enclosure. 2) Dumped Mach 3 and put in an acorn. 3) Upgraded the coolant system. Its actually truly flood coolant now.

    Photos to follow.

  2. #2

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    only things I've changed is moving from mach to pathpilot , and the silly stop bar on the y has been replaced with something more solid and reliable .
    Next mod if any is to have a new base fabricated and be done with the coolant dumps on my floor

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Posts
    386

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    On my Pulsar, I've moved to PathPilot, built a coolant enclosure made from coreplast (corrugated plastic) and my favorite is a power draw bar. I also picked up an aluminum 12" x 26" SMW fixture plate along with a SMW mod vise for machining material which does not fit in my vice.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Posts
    481

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    This new thread is going to be epic!


    Quote Originally Posted by Steve303 View Post
    On my Pulsar, I've ... built a coolant enclosure made from coreplast (corrugated plastic).
    This sounds cool and would definitely be an upgrade from my “temporary” shower curtain enclosure. Any pics or links?


    Quote Originally Posted by upnorth
    3) Upgraded the coolant system. Its actually truly flood coolant now.
    I am working in the coolant system as we speak. Let’s just say there were leaks and I had to bring out the welder. :violin:

    On my Torus (NM-145 mill and stand) the coolant drains into a tank. This tank has a removable tray with holes in it. Is anyone using a filter in this tray? If so, what kind of filter are you using? Pics if you got them.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    I'm running a torus Pro. I don't have a filter on the tray but I will be putting one on my coolant lines for sure. I know that some chips go through the pumps and lines because they plug up the wash down nozzle.

    Here are a couple of photos of the coolant upgrade. I am using the stock pump the upgrade was putting in some PVC pipe and a couple of loc-line nozzles. It made a massive difference in chip clearing.

    Attachment 444764Attachment 444766

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Second mod was something to contain the first mod. Even with the original setup it made a huge mess if I tried to run with coolant. The front and sides are leak free the back leaks a little but all I have to do is tweak the position of the plastic. I have not put in the doors back there yet. The enclosure is made from galvanized steel sheet its held on by a U shaped bent piece that is riveted on to the sides. The doors just slide on a piece of electrical conduit. This summer I will put on the doors and hopefully make a top with LED lighting its way to dark inside especially when running the machine at night. I'm running Qualichem 250 and am very happy with it.Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    594

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    I went to PP from Mach3, and added a bracket around the spindle to hold a high speed spindle for small tools and engraving bit.

  8. #8

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    You guys should look up the coolant rings on Alibaba, I bought one for my G0704. 2/2, it works great. I’m not sure if they have one that will fit the Novakon spindle well, but for my G0704 the coolant ring is 2mm larger ID than the spindle OD, so with a 1mm shim it’s a perfect fit. I think it was like $80 delivered.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Can you post a photo of the bracket and high speed spindle?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    359

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Quote Originally Posted by upnorth View Post
    Ok hopefully this thread will get some miles on it. Should be generic enough so we can explore a few topics. The mods I have done so far are. 1) half built sheet metal and lexan enclosure. 2) Dumped Mach 3 and put in an acorn. 3) Upgraded the coolant system. Its actually truly flood coolant now.

    Photos to follow.
    I'm seriously considering the Acorn for my Torus Pro.......although I'm really liking PP on my Tormach 15L Slant Pro. Any more info on what it took to put the Acorn in? I really like the probing options available for it. Thanks!
    Don't have to be too bright to be me

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Quote Originally Posted by mklotz70 View Post
    I'm seriously considering the Acorn for my Torus Pro.......although I'm really liking PP on my Tormach 15L Slant Pro. Any more info on what it took to put the Acorn in? I really like the probing options available for it. Thanks!
    Do you have a stepper version of your machine? I can't remember if you do. I think I watched some of your videos when I first got my machine. Going from memory are you the guy on youtube called blue hands video? If you have any specific questions about the acorn install I will try to answer them. For the most part the install was easy. The only issues I had was it was a little confusing to hook up the power draw bar. I did get that figured out though. I'll take a a photo of the install later today and post it.

    In short I am very happy with the acorn install. It works smoothly and so far has not made any errors. Not one. It just does what its told I will never use Mach 3 again. I did upgrade to the mid level software on the acorn a $130 option. This gives you the probing. They recently made the probing macros included in the software upgrade. One of the users is working on an app that will make the probing even better its in the final stages and being beta tested. I have a Drewtronics probe and am happy with it. I never liked my previous method of setting up the part. I used to use edge finders for X-Y and a 123 block for Z. The probe has made machining much better.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    359

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Quote Originally Posted by upnorth View Post
    Do you have a stepper version of your machine? I can't remember if you do. I think I watched some of your videos when I first got my machine. Going from memory are you the guy on youtube called blue hands video? If you have any specific questions about the acorn install I will try to answer them. For the most part the install was easy. The only issues I had was it was a little confusing to hook up the power draw bar. I did get that figured out though. I'll take a a photo of the install later today and post it.

    In short I am very happy with the acorn install. It works smoothly and so far has not made any errors. Not one. It just does what its told I will never use Mach 3 again. I did upgrade to the mid level software on the acorn a $130 option. This gives you the probing. They recently made the probing macros included in the software upgrade. One of the users is working on an app that will make the probing even better its in the final stages and being beta tested. I have a Drewtronics probe and am happy with it. I never liked my previous method of setting up the part. I used to use edge finders for X-Y and a 123 block for Z. The probe has made machining much better.
    Yep...that's me. lol
    I have the servo version.
    I've turned the mill on 3 days in a row and two of those days mach3 didn't want to play and I had to power cycle the machine again before I could run a part. The first day, it glitched after the warm up...the next day, right after it fired up....couldn't even home the machine. third day it actually played nice. Mach has more than paid for itself, but it's also cost me more in broken tooling and Haimer probe tips. The USB hanging up and breaking tips is probably a windows issue......but the Acorn will do away with that too.

    I'll be looking to use the upgraded software. I bought a used Reinshaw probe and tool setter awhile back. I haven't been in any hurry to set it up since I don't want mach to smash it. lol Another friend converted an older mill he bought to the Acorn and loves it. I had the shop shut down for a few months....I should have done the conversion then. Too much going on in the next couple of months, but I can start acquiring parts.

    I use a Edge Precision tool setter and the Haimer for work offset.....very happy with both of them, but there's definitely times where I know a probe will do it faster and more easily. That's good news about the probing upgrades. I think I saw the app back when I bought the probe and was looking into all of that stuff.

    I'll be looking forward to seeing any pictures you're willing to share. Thanks!!!
    Don't have to be too bright to be me

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Quote Originally Posted by mklotz70 View Post
    Yep...that's me. lol
    I have the servo version.
    I've turned the mill on 3 days in a row and two of those days mach3 didn't want to play and I had to power cycle the machine again before I could run a part. The first day, it glitched after the warm up...the next day, right after it fired up....couldn't even home the machine. third day it actually played nice. Mach has more than paid for itself, but it's also cost me more in broken tooling and Haimer probe tips. The USB hanging up and breaking tips is probably a windows issue......but the Acorn will do away with that too.

    I'll be looking to use the upgraded software. I bought a used Reinshaw probe and tool setter awhile back. I haven't been in any hurry to set it up since I don't want mach to smash it. lol Another friend converted an older mill he bought to the Acorn and loves it. I had the shop shut down for a few months....I should have done the conversion then. Too much going on in the next couple of months, but I can start acquiring parts.

    I use a Edge Precision tool setter and the Haimer for work offset.....very happy with both of them, but there's definitely times where I know a probe will do it faster and more easily. That's good news about the probing upgrades. I think I saw the app back when I bought the probe and was looking into all of that stuff.

    I'll be looking forward to seeing any pictures you're willing to share. Thanks!!!
    I understand your problems with Mach 3. The main issues I had were: 1) failure to apply height offsets to the tool 2) axis runaway when jogging using the keyboard 3) lockups 4) weirdest one was after 10 or so parts it tried to cut the 11th part in a completely new position. I had a few other issues I can't recall at the moment. I have Mach 3 on an old computer and on that one it seems to work ok.

    I don't know how much an upgrade the probe will be over the haimer. Probing is sluggish but I still like it. My probe was far cheaper than a Haimer that's gor sure. I also use a Edge Precision tool height finder. That thing is awesome. I can set up tools to a ten thousandth of an inch reasonably quickly.

    I'll post a photo in the next day or two of how the acorn fits in place of the original break out board.

    Another mod I did was replacing the lead acid battery for the power draw bar with a switching type power supply. That seems to work well.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Quote Originally Posted by CL_MotoTech View Post
    You guys should look up the coolant rings on Alibaba, I bought one for my G0704. 2/2, it works great. I’m not sure if they have one that will fit the Novakon spindle well, but for my G0704 the coolant ring is 2mm larger ID than the spindle OD, so with a 1mm shim it’s a perfect fit. I think it was like $80 delivered.
    Those coolant rings look pretty nice. I might give one a try when the speed of shipping stuff from China returns to normal.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    594

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Quote Originally Posted by upnorth View Post
    Can you post a photo of the bracket and high speed spindle?
    Here's a Solidworks image of the bracket. The spindle is a German Makra. It's 220V so I have a transformer to run it. It has some metric collets that don't work for me, but does have a 1/8" collet (3mm?) that works with tools that size.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails makra mount.JPG  

  16. #16

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    has anyone done any bearing upgrades .
    Blowing 2 steppers over the month was bad enough but the bearings just went again on the y axis and tomorrow I'll be putting what will be the 4th or 5th new pair . Not complaining considering the amount of machining this thing has done but I really hate crawling behind the mill to swap them things out . If someone has found a decent set of bearings that will stand up then I'm all ears

    Getting back to mods , the y bearing block will be getting a grease nipple

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    147

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Quote Originally Posted by metalmayhem View Post
    has anyone done any bearing upgrades .
    Blowing 2 steppers over the month was bad enough but the bearings just went again on the y axis and tomorrow I'll be putting what will be the 4th or 5th new pair . Not complaining considering the amount of machining this thing has done but I really hate crawling behind the mill to swap them things out . If someone has found a decent set of bearings that will stand up then I'm all ears

    Getting back to mods , the y bearing block will be getting a grease nipple
    I have not replaced the bearings, but as I was finishing my last job I did have a strange clunk during some adaptive clearing. I think it may have been the y axis. Novakon website sells 7004 bearing for y axis, is that what is in there? If so, NTN or SKF are readily available.

  18. #18

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    I've had the bearings from novakon . There are a lot of 7004 available which is why I'm looking to see if someone has come up with the perfect set , possibly sealed . For now I'll throw in a pair of nsk .
    I think adding a grease fitting will help to keep the bearings flushed of crap . This pair probably got too much moisture and rust due to a run of bad coolant

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    My spindle has always had .0005 of play in it I always wondered if it was the bearings. Let us know what you come up with.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Posts
    400

    Re: Novakon upgrades.

    Here is the photo of the acorn install I did. I was never happy with the Mach 3 system. So far the acorn has been good. Not a single glitch. It was mostly an easy install. I did have a few left over wires from the power draw bar but it operates fine without them.

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