Well, after trying various stepper control setups for indexing the turret on my CHNC, I have not been able to achieve the indexing reliability that I need to get the tooling plate to lock down on the dogs every time.
I have tried direct drive to the turret plate (with a large timing pulley ring)
I have also tried running the indexing stepper through the existing indexing gear train (not including the air motor) by attaching a timing pulley directly where the original indexing magnet sensor was.
Both methods achieved indexing, but not accurate enough. I need about 0-1.5degree accuracy (estimate) to reliably lock down on the dogs. I only could get about 0-3 degree accuracy (estimate) with either method.
I guess Hardinge really did know what they were doing after all, and I am going to rebuild their setup...
First I would like to thank everyone who helped me get this far with the turret. several of you helped me get Mach3 firing air solenoids and even wrote VB for my stepper indexing setup. All of your help is very appriciated.
I am now embarking on a quest to make my turret functional through Mach3 with a PLC. It has been done.
See link-
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/vertic...onversion.html
I have reached out to Vince, and although he wants to help, he is extremely busy right now and so it looks like I will have to go at this without his help.
I am going to do this post as a conversion log. I will begin by adding pics tonight and will be doing this step by step so that anyone in the future can very easily replicate the task.
More soon....