[tmarks11]

Mike-

You are a brave man to drive a DTI into a stop at 650 ipm. I might be willing to do that with a 1" travel indicator (where it has a physical stop if you hit more than 1" of travel), or a back plunger indicator.

Is your Torus bolted to the floor? If you are going to operate at those kind of speeds, I don't think leveling pads are going to do the job for you; you will walk all over the place.

[G59]

I'm just curious, when will the chips fly? Seems like all fun and games for the time being.
As for always restarting Mach3, I see it as pointless. When setting new tool offsets, just remember to confirm and save the new offsets in the tool table and you should be good.
My biggest beef with Mach3 is the dropping of the Parallel port if idle for too long. That's actually the only time I've ever had to restart Mach3.
Being that you have the ESS board, I imagine that problem is taken care of?
Any plans for ATC? I'm patiently waiting to see when Novakon will offer an ATC for the Torus Pro. That would make me so jealous.
700 ipm is amazing and Leeway is right, it looks like a pile driver....LOL. Now what material can be cut by the Torus at these speeds? Seems frivolous.
Good job documenting the progress though.
Good day and be careful with that thing.

[bill south]

Mike;
Heck. with all that is being presented (great job), I was wondering if your machine was purchased with a ESS or did you install it? I have one that I'm going to install and was wondering if there is any specific changes to the ESS setup that is necessary for the PRO servo? I am removing a practically new ESS from an RF 45 that I'm going to sell and am downgrading it so I can present it at a decent price. Thought I would save some $$$ this time and use existing equipment instead of buying new again.
Thanks for all the vids which is making this setup easier for us poor noobies to understand.
Bill

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Mike;
Heck. with all that is being presented (great job), I was wondering if your machine was purchased with a ESS or did you install it? I have one that I'm going to install and was wondering if there is any specific changes to the ESS setup that is necessary for the PRO servo? I am removing a practically new ESS from an RF 45 that I'm going to sell and am downgrading it so I can present it at a decent price. Thought I would save some $$$ this time and use existing equipment instead of buying new again.
Thanks for all the vids which is making this setup easier for us poor noobies to understand.
Bill

Bill,

I'm sure if you e-mail Novakon, they will send you the Mach3 profile for a machine with ESS. It should, in theory, work just by installing the ESS, and perhaps tweaking a few of the spindle settings.

Regards,
Ray L.

[mklotz70]

I've learned bad things happen if I don't hit "apply" when changing offsets in the tool table before hitting "ok". Also regenerate the tool path after any changes to the tool table. I still have the random occasion where Mach forgets where tool "0" is in the Z offset. I'll zero everything when touching off zero with my Haimer, Current tool set to 0. Regen tool path, hit cycle start, and the tool is (fortunately) way above the part. I'll repeat the process and everything works.

I was having grief with the tool table, but it was on my lathe. Since the tool swap on it doesn't seem to stay accurate physically, I quit doing tool changes when I make parts on it. I'll keep an eye out for any glitches when I start doing tool changes on the Pro..

Mike-

You are a brave man to drive a DTI into a stop at 650 ipm. I might be willing to do that with a 1" travel indicator (where it has a physical stop if you hit more than 1" of travel), or a back plunger indicator.

Is your Torus bolted to the floor? If you are going to operate at those kind of speeds, I don't think leveling pads are going to do the job for you; you will walk all over the place.

If by brave, you mean stupid.....than yes, I'm very brave!!!! lol Seriously.....that king of thing is from lack of experience and knowledge. The more mistakes I show, the more I learn!

Nope...not bolted down and no, I will not be running it at those speeds. A lot of that movement can be eliminated by turning the accel setting down from the 300ips it was set at.

I'm just curious, when will the chips fly? Seems like all fun and games for the time being.
As for always restarting Mach3, I see it as pointless. When setting new tool offsets, just remember to confirm and save the new offsets in the tool table and you should be good.
My biggest beef with Mach3 is the dropping of the Parallel port if idle for too long. That's actually the only time I've ever had to restart Mach3.
Being that you have the ESS board, I imagine that problem is taken care of?
Any plans for ATC? I'm patiently waiting to see when Novakon will offer an ATC for the Torus Pro. That would make me so jealous.
700 ipm is amazing and Leeway is right, it looks like a pile driver....LOL. Now what material can be cut by the Torus at these speeds? Seems frivolous.
Good job documenting the progress though.
Good day and be careful with that thing.

I'm hoping to be doing chips next week. I actually started putting in the power draw bar this morning. The mill has taken a back seat this last month while I tried to get caught up on other projects, obligations and house work.
I would think the problem is taken care of too...if only because that's the sensible answer. If I remember right, the ethernet ports command a way higher priority than the parallel port. Even when the computer is asleep, it can typically be awoken by a signal on the ethernet port. Not sure if that's true on all windows computers or not, but I've owned a few that had that option.

The future option of Ray's ATC was another deciding factor in getting the Pro. I'm hoping that when it becomes available, I'll be in a position to buy it. I will get one, the only question is exactly when.

Yep...the 700 looks cool, but is completely irrelevant when it comes time to machining. It's just nice to know that if you're running rapids at 250ipm, you've got a ton of head room and you're nowhere close to any speed limit. You can't drive your car as fast as it wants to go, but it's nice knowing what it will do.

Mike;
Heck. with all that is being presented (great job), I was wondering if your machine was purchased with a ESS or did you install it? I have one that I'm going to install and was wondering if there is any specific changes to the ESS setup that is necessary for the PRO servo? I am removing a practically new ESS from an RF 45 that I'm going to sell and am downgrading it so I can present it at a decent price. Thought I would save some $$$ this time and use existing equipment instead of buying new again.
Thanks for all the vids which is making this setup easier for us poor noobies to understand.
Bill

I purchased it without the ESS because at the time it wasn't available. Novakon installed it just before it got shipped, so it showed up with it in place. Since that's the case, I don't have an answer, but Ray has already responded.
You're more than welcome! Thanks for watching them. I still have to go back and do some of them the "right" way! lol I'm still behind in editing, but I just installed my new BOB and got started on the power draw bar. So far on the draw bar, I'm not sure video from me is going to add much at all. The instructions are extremely clear and well laid out. I thought I'd be able to add a bit of extra help to them, but it's not the case. lol!!

Thanks guys!!!

[mklotz70]

Just a quick update. I've got the power draw bar in and it works beautifully!!! But....the sheet metal was installed with a rearward lean causing the relay board mounted in the door to hit the draw bar assembly. I need to relocate a couple of holes and it will be all good. Vids will come a bit later.....just wanted to post something since it's been a month.

[mklotz70]

Novakon Torus Pro - New BOB(Break Out Board) - YouTube

[mklotz70]

I've been busy with other parts/projects that need to get cleared up. I'm still trying to get through the backlog of video. This one is nice and short and is simply to show those that have never used a VFD before that they're nothing to be afraid of. With that said.....do not go in and change any settings without writing down what you changed and where. Only change one thing at a time if your testing settings. This is fairly easy and simple if you pay close attention to which digits and the blank space!!!! It's pretty easy to change the wrong one.

Novakon Torus Pro - VFD External Braking Setup - YouTube

[mklotz70]

Finally!!!! Part 1 of the drawbar vid. Probably more involved than need be, but it's not a step by step either.

YouTube

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Mike,

Credit where credit is due - the PDB manual you have was actually written by Gary Kurtz, a fellow Novakon Customer. Gary also wrote the big, thick, owners manual for the Torus Pro itself.

Regards,
Ray L.

[mklotz70]

Thanks Ray. I put an edit in the comments to reflect that.

[mklotz70]

Novakon Toru Pro - PDB pt2 - Mechanicals - YouTube

[mklotz70]

Novakon Toru Pro - PDB pt3 - Front Door - Finale - YouTube

[mklotz70]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRlUuagDqmg

- - - Updated - - -

http://youtu.be/j-rmpFmj7Nk

[mklotz70]

YouTube

[Hirudin]

Do you have SolidWorks? If so, check out engnerdan's models of his modified Torus Pro, if you haven't already of course. I haven't looked at them yet (I only have SolidWork 2013 installed), but it looks to be a much more complete set than what I drew a while ago. I bet most of the measurements you could want could be derived from those models.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/novako...ml#post1565404

[mklotz70]

Sorry for the long absence! Things seemed to be a bit more negative than I wanted, so I held off posting updates to let calm down. I've been posting vids to my youtube channel, just not here. I know there's a few guys like Hirudin that have seen some of the progress....but I figured I'd come get this thread caught up a bit. Sorry, but I'm going to dump a bunch of vids on here. I have no expectations for them all to be watched, but I at least want them in my thread.

I decided to mount up a vise on the mill. I need to start making chips to learn how to use it and that doesn't require it to be perfect. I spent a couple of hours on the vise since it wouldn't open the first time I tried it. I cleaned it up, stoned off any burrs and clamped it down.

https://youtu.be/KuXcMRyWMHI

[mklotz70]

I took a piece of scrap and converted part of it to chips....just for the heck of it. I've spent all my time with the mill working on the mill itself. I decided it was close enough for now so lets just play. If I find something else out of whack, I'll take care of it then. This beginner has to start somewhere. Just did a couple of round pockets .200" deep in some 3/8" scrap pieces I had.

https://youtu.be/X2w7PVOO9zw

[mklotz70]

I split this off from Chips1 because of time. I left more chip time in this one.

https://youtu.be/d3tBBwgTv3w

[mklotz70]

I got most of the spacers done through OP1 before I killed the little cnc lathe. I had to finish up OP1 on some of them with the Torus. OP 2 will be completely done on the Torus Pro. I'm about half way done now. Hopefully, I can get some vid of it up before too long. There's been a clip or two on my instagram/facebook.

https://youtu.be/ZXPIydky37w


- - - Updated - - -



I didn't get this crash on vid, but this is the repair of it. It should hold until I can afford a replacement. I'm sure I'll run this one until it proves to be too inaccurate or I learn how to not crash my equipment!


https://youtu.be/hbbACBfs7tA


- - - Updated - - -



Since I killed the motor on the little lathe, I figured I'd get on the Pro and learn how to mill turn. MachStandardMill had made it a lot easier, since I can use the same code I had for the lathe......for the most part. Doing mill turn is one of the reasons I bought a cnc mill to begin with.


https://youtu.be/4BiLSvFExPs


- - - Updated - - -



I've still got a lot of backed up video. Figured I'd throw this clip up...the results of a crash.....but I was pretty impressed.


https://youtu.be/Po_vjYVPoqs


- - - Updated - - -



I could not seem to find a short arbor for these 2" face mills. So, I got some long ones and modified them. The hang up was that I needed the shaft to be 3/4". I'll get more vid when I start using them.


https://youtu.be/PIMP9TLxj4E