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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Benchtop Machines > Prolight turning center mach 3 conversion
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    3447

    Prolight turning center mach 3 conversion

    Hello Everyone! New lathe picked up from a local school that was hardly ever used. The controller was sold months before in a previous auction so ill be converting it to mach 3.

    It appears in great shape. Came with a 5C collet holder and quick change tool post. Machine seems really well built.

    Anyone been there done that as far as the conversion and this lathe go? I'd rather monkey see monkey do that reinvent the wheel!

    I'd like the purchase the 5C collet to 3 jaw chuck for it, and maybe possibly go to a gang style tool holding system.

    I guess i need to know where to obtain the pin outs, and the required tech documents of the machine to learn what makes it tick.

    Here are some photos for now.

    Any help would be much appreciated. This will compliment my KX3 cnc mill for prototype use.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails photo (61).JPG   photo (62).JPG  

  2. #2
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    Do you have manual spindle control now? How about some extensive shots of the electronics? Even if it hasnt been successfully interfaced with prior, many members here could help identify a way. Good find.

  3. #3
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    It does have a knob for manual spindle and pc controlled.

    Ill get some more pictures and well go from there. Looks like the spindle has an optical encoder on it for feedback.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    29
    Im sure your right about the 5C chuck and it will work just fine. I have never used one and I'm sure it will be ok.

    As for the tool post the AXA size should be good for that lathe. I wouldn't want anything smaller as the AXA will only hold a 12mm or 1/2" tool shank. I have a AXA tool post on my 9X20 manual lathe and it works good. The aloris brand is really nice and expensive if you buy their tool holders, but thankfully most AXA holders should work so you can get cheap china knockoffs and they should work just fine. I get mine from CDCO and each tool holder is $9 to $10 each depending if you want one that will hold a boring bar as well as a cutting tool. Just make sure to replace the set screws right away as the ones that come with it are cheap and strip out easy.

    If you plan to buy the boring bar holder and cut off tool holder then it would probably be best to buy the whole tool post set (on sale for $83) and then add some more tool holders to it. Other wise you could get away with just a bunch of standard tool holders for $10.00 each. I have around 6 tool holders for my manual lathe as well as the rest of the AXA set.

    If you want to stay with the aloris brand of tool holders you can check out Grizzly as they have them in stock, or E-bay.

    I will post a few pictures of my air chuck. It has machinable soft jaws and will open and close with air. There is a rod that attaches to the back of the chuck that has two nipples. When you apply air to the nipples the chuck opens and closes. I have no idea what the value is of this chuck, but I'm sure it was an expensive up grade. My lathe was set up so the door will open and close with air along with the chuck so you could make them work with an M code. It's pretty cool, but right now I don't use the air system as 99% of the time I'm running the lathe at night and my air compressor is loud.

  5. #5
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    Nov 2009
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    It should be able to turn on the spindle with nothing but a power cord.

  6. #6
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    Apr 2008
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    More pictures.

    The chuck has the 2 1/4" X 8 back plate for mounting.

  7. #7
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    Feb 2010
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    chuck showed up. I mounted it up and it fit well. I used a Mitutoyo indicator that is a little sensitive 0-1" .000005" to test run out. I don't have any wrenches for the machine, so i just fitted it up hand tight but was getting about .0002" on the chuck back plate, and at the front of the chuck was seeing .003". Didn't have time to chuck up a ground test bar. I'll do that tomorrow along with upload a picture of it mounted. As for the Air chuck you can PM me, still on the fence.

  8. #8
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    Feb 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by boatlover View Post
    More pictures.

    The chuck has the 2 1/4" X 8 back plate for mounting.
    Do you have paypal boat lover? If you were to just sell that chuck, how much would you be looking to get?

  9. #9
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    Oct 2013
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    Thanks for the info. I just bought a Prolight turning center yesterday. It too is missing the control box, has some damaged wires, but otherwise looks new. I am new to CNC so I plan to go the easy rout. I have a 4 axis mill a friend build to inlay pool cues. So I have a little experience in using Mach 3. My mill has the deep groove Gecko 540 kit with 270oz motors. I plan to use this same kit to upgrade the Prolight. I apologize in advance, because I will be asking a lot of stupid questions. Most of what I am reading here is Greek to me. I was completely lost 10 months ago, when trying to learn how to run the mill. This just seems like the next step.

    Thanks, Larry

  10. #10
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    Apr 2008
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    I was just trying to point out to Mark that he will need some type of brake or "pawl" to position and lock the tool post. I included some pictures of mine for some ideas as he is building one from scratch.

    I never said that you had to rotate it 300 degrees to lock the tool, just that you had to back the tool a little bit to lock it in after you rotated it. I did mention that my tool changer has a micro switch that activates once every rotation, but I don't know what exactly Prolight used this for.

    Your right my tool changer does look a lot like the Dyna Mite one, but I have had this one torn completely apart and there there is nothing else inside that would allow it to unlock and turn back wards and there aren't any extra wires running out of the unit other than for the stepper motor and limit switch. The pawl is just a piece of metal and a spring.

    Looking at this picture it looks like the Dyna Mite tool changer has a large solenoid on top to activate the pawl which is different than mine.

    Dale P.

  11. #11
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    Sep 2013
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    67

    Thank you very much Boatlover! Here have been my thoughts about this project

    Hey I don't have the words to express my gratitude for your offer and the effort of uploading this photograph! Now that I finally have a lathe to put the ATC on... I was thinking about this steper motor with a worm gear reduction that is for sale on Ebay! perhaps I can take it put even a slower gear reduction. and set a a "Set of pins to lock in position with an encoder switch to name the tools posts in that way the march-3 can use them as named tools! you know "T3 M01" etc! Attachment 228978
    Attachment 228980

    Very much any kind of help will be greatly appreciated.

  12. #12
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    Feb 2010
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    Link to a guys conversion.
    Prolight 3000 Lathe Retrofit - Home Model Engine Machinist

    "The lathe has some really nice features such as precision ground ball screws, limit switches on all axises, a 8 position tool changer, an air operated door and chuck, and the spindle is set up to accept 5C collets. It also came with a 4" 3 jaw Bison chuck to replace the air operated chuck.

    To build the control box I bought three Leadshine Digital DM 856 drives, a Combo breakout board from Sound Logic, a 48 volt 7.5 amp power supply to run the stepper drives, and a C-3 pulse board from CNC 4 PC to tell Mach how fast the spindle is turning. There is an encoder on the spindle motor that tells a RPM gauge on the front of the machine how fast it's turning too.

    I also replaced the Z and X axis motors with some more powerful ones from Kelinginc.net to make sure I didn't have any issues with missing steps when running. The original motors were 150 oz and the new ones are 282 oz. I didn't replace the tool changer motor as it works just fine.

    I'm happy to report that the lathe is running great, and I have the amps turned way down on the stepper drives as I have plenty of power on each axis. With a simple M code I can control the spindle speed, open and close the chuck and open and close the machine door. Accuracy has been really good and it looks like I can easily keep .0005 accuracy."

    Quick specs
    http://www.intelitekdownloads.com/ma...IGHT_Lathe.pdf
    User manual:
    ftp://ftp.robotec.co.il/Techsup/plt3...Turn-guide.pdf

  13. #13
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    Mar 2007
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    2083
    Hi diyengineer

    this could give you an idea of how to reuse the original stepper drivers and power supply -

    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bencht...soft_mach.html

    as an alternative to this link you found

    Prolight 3000 Lathe Retrofit - Home Model Engine Machinist

    John

  14. #14
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    Feb 2010
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    Hello John, Good find. I do not have the controller box at all.

    I''m trying to find a suitable, and simple controller solution. My router i went all crazy with servos, and every bell and whistle and i wanted to pull my hair out.

    I'm thinking of installing a Gecko G540 controller, with cnc4pc C3 index pulse card for spindle speed feedback, and upgrading both steppers to Gecko 280oz/in, with a 48V and 5V power supply. This would all be in a single box, with fan, and it would utilize the cnc4pc MPG16 lathe panel with C22 interface board connected to a second parallel port. Seems like it "Should" be a no brainer? However the price tag will be about $900 bucks (for everything).

  15. #15
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    results.

    Quick test shows i have about .00505" @ 2.25" from the jaws. Not bad for a $90 dollar 3 jaw chuck. For quick and dirty stuff, this will be great. I'll get a 4 jaw chuck later on. Looks like the Shars 5C to 3 jaw chuck is pretty good overall.

    I'm debating if i should tear it apart, clean it, grease it, and reassemble it? Other peoples results seem to improve after cleaning a new vise.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by diyengineer View Post
    Quick test shows i have about .00505" @ 2.25" from the jaws. Not bad for a $90 dollar 3 jaw chuck. For quick and dirty stuff, this will be great. I'll get a 4 jaw chuck later on. Looks like the Shars 5C to 3 jaw chuck is pretty good overall.

    I'm debating if i should tear it apart, clean it, grease it, and reassemble it? Other peoples results seem to improve after cleaning a new vise.
    You busy? Otherwise start cleaning. Test and report the results.
    A lazy man does it twice.

  17. #17
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    Apr 2008
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    Larry please post pictures of you machine so we can see what you have which will allow us to help you better. Don't worry about the wiring if you take it one step at a time it's pretty easy.

    Mark, I love your ATC! I agree that it's really helpful with a cnc lathe so you can program the tool locations. My changer holds 4 square tools and 4 round bits such as boring bars. Right now I have been just using one tool and haven't taken the time to program the locations of each tool. To be honest I'm a little confused on how to program them and to me it looks like I need to have the home limit switches set up so the lathe can auto home each axis when it's first turned on as it doesn't keep it's settings when powered down.

    Also I have read that Mach 3 isn't set up to run a ATC and you have to write your own program. I have my tool changer set up so I can advance the tool by pressing the + key on my keyboard. I just plan to put a pause in my program when a tool change is needed and manually press the + key until the correct tool jogs into place. Some day I will try to write the program to get it working, but I'm waiting for Mach 4 to come out first as it might have a tool changer feature.

    Here is a picture of the inside of my tool changer. As you can see there is a locking leaver so the turret can be locked into position by turing the motor back a little. This is why a program to turn the tool changer will take a little time to write as the tool needs to advance and then turn back to lock it into place. My tool changer also has a micro switch inside which clicks every full rotation. I'm guessing that Prolight used this as a type of home switch.

    Dale P.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails DSC03823.JPG  

  18. #18
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    I will jump in.
    Quote Originally Posted by boatlover View Post
    Larry please post pictures of you machine so we can see what you have which will allow us to help you better. Don't worry about the wiring if you take it one step at a time it's pretty easy.

    I agree! We all love pictures.

    Mark, I love your ATC! I agree that it's really helpful with a cnc lathe so you can program the tool locations. My changer holds 4 square tools and 4 round bits such as boring bars. Right now I have been just using one tool and haven't taken the time to program the locations of each tool. To be honest I'm a little confused on how to program them and to me it looks like I need to have the home limit switches set up so the lathe can auto home each axis when it's first turned on as it doesn't keep it's settings when powered down.

    Also I have read that Mach 3 isn't set up to run a ATC and you have to write your own program. I have my tool changer set up so I can advance the tool by pressing the + key on my keyboard. I just plan to put a pause in my program when a tool change is needed and manually press the + key until the correct tool jogs into place. Some day I will try to write the program to get it working, but I'm waiting for Mach 4 to come out first as it might have a tool changer feature.

    Not true at all. You just either need to get a macro that does the specific rotation for each tool. The quantity of tools in a changer are all variables that have to be accounted for in the macro. There are a few other changes within Mach and your post processor to get the correct code. Though I dont know how to write one, I have one in my Dyna and it will advance according to the called tool. Hoss, RWSkinner, Ray and many others have tool changers running from Mach.

    Here is a picture of the inside of my tool changer. As you can see there is a locking leaver so the turret can be locked into position by turing the motor back a little. This is why a program to turn the tool changer will take a little time to write as the tool needs to advance and then turn back to lock it into place. My tool changer also has a micro switch inside which clicks every full rotation. I'm guessing that Prolight used this as a type of home switch.

    Actually what I believe you are seeing is a pawl that is electrically activated to allow the tool changer to be bidirectional. If you dont hook it up the changer can only go one way and has to back up. Very similar to the Dyna. MRM has a good build log on a DM3000. He explains the use of that pawl and actuator. IIRC it was a 3 volt switch. Seems like he burnt it up. Might want to read about that part first. I have the macro he uses on his video but it is a single direction macro and is time consuming. Hope this helps. I personally think having limit and homing switches can only increase your awareness of position or repeatability and accuracy has to be better. Maybe if only a little.
    Dale P.

  19. #19
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    Oct 2013
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    Quote Originally Posted by boatlover View Post
    Larry please post pictures of you machine so we can see what you have which will allow us to help you better. Don't worry about the wiring if you take it one step at a time it's pretty easy.

    Dale P.
    I will try to get pictures this weekend. Mine looks just like the ones pictured. It has a c5 collet with the turret changer. It Has a tail stock. Is the only difference.

    Not sure what I am going to do with it, but for $400 I couldn't pass it up.

    Larry

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    2083
    Hi diyengineer

    with the Gecko G540, motors and various cnc4pc boards you will be starting with known good parts with detailed instructions
    they may be expensive but you will not be gambling with cheap items that you may need to replace because they don't work as expected

    the MPG16 looks interesting I'll have to remember that

    John

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