[tootalew]

Will,
Havce you bought your motor and vfd yet? If not grizzly has some 3 phase motors on sale in the outlet store. below is a link to 1 hp 3 phase for $76.50.

http://www.grizzly.com/outlet/Motor-...30V-460V/G6239

[will gilmore]

I bought the motor 2hp, inverter duty, 1800 rpm from ebay. I think around $100 I had my uncle pick it up and he still has it. Hopefully I'll see him soon so I can get it mounted. I'm sure shipping on a motor is pricey so I jumped on this one that was fairly local.

I haven't researched the VFD yet. I was thinking about one from automation direct but there isnt a GS1 for 2hp with single phase input and the GS2 is $241 http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/..._VAC)/GS2-22P0 I think it has features I don't need so I'll look around for a cheaper one.

Will

Good to see you back working on your lathe!

[tootalew]

I went with the mini mill spindle housing and the 7x14 lathe spindle as my headstock, and am starting off with 1/2 hp and a Hitachi vfd that i got cheap off ebay a couple of years ago. The manual on the vfd is awesome, leaves little to question. What is nice about this line of vfd, is it can run off 115v single phase, and can be controlled by mach3. I went with timing pulleys on mine because there be an alternate stepper motor to switch the belt over to for engraving purposes.

Here is another source of vfd's that run off 115v, I don't know anything about the vendor or if products are quality, but might be a good link to bookmark for future reference.

http://www.lightobject.com/CNC-CO2-Laser-C11.aspx

[will gilmore]

Thanks for the link. I haven't really done the research so I dont really know what I'm looking for.

I want to go to a timing pulley and stepper/servo for indexing of the spindle. My headstock came with a V pulley so I'm going to start with that.

[Teyber12]

hey mate how are you achieving a pre-load on the z-x ballscrews? do you think you could maybe post a picture of how your ballscrews are fixed?

cheers mate! i know lots of ways to do it but i think there has to be a easier way.

cheers!

[will gilmore]

My ball screws already came with bearings just no bearing blocks. On the Z I bored a hole in the block to accept the bearings, fly cut the block to the width of the bearings and made two blocks to retain the bearings.

On the X it was a bit tricky to figure out how to mount the screw and the stepper so I ended up doing it all in one block. I bored a hole to the size and depth of the bearings with a block to retain them. The stepper mounts to the other side of the block and there is a coupler in the middle.

Z:



X:

[will gilmore]

Its alive!!! ...sort of



I need to figure out how to mount the tools on the tooling plate and get a VFD and wire all that up.

[The Blight]

Looking good!

[vishnu]

Good, keep it going.Like to see him making chips

[Enraged]

looks great! I'm hoping to build something similar in the future. Your project is very inspiring.

[brunog]

Wil,
what photo file format are you using on post #87, I just can't see it.

Probably a file a file format I can't read for know.

Thanks,

Bruno

[will gilmore]

#87 is an embedded youtube video

here is the link: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xCo7e5EB5c"]YouTube- CNC lathe test[/nomedia]

[will gilmore]

Finished the tool plate. 17 positions. Each has 2 dowel pins and a threaded hole.



I'm having an electronics problem and I'm hoping someone can help. I ordered two of these optical switches : http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...ds=365-1234-nd to use as spindle index pulse and two home switches. Data sheet here: http://www.optekinc.com/datasheets/OPB930-940-L&W.PDF

I got OPB941 buffered open collector (top right page 2 of data sheet). To test I wired from 5VDC to LED (w/ resistor) to "output". I thought with the slot unblocked the output transistor would be on and LED would be lit. Turns out the opposite is true. Slot unblocked = LED off, Slot blocked = LED on.

For the spindle pulse this is fine but for the home switches I want the "normally closed" logic so if I have a broken wire I don't crash. I can just order the inverted open collector but I'm curious how I'm misreading the diagram.

[ebrewste]

I can just order the inverted open collector but I'm curious how I'm misreading the diagram.

Bummer about in inverted polarity. Where did you see a definition of polarity? I only saw the plots of logic ouput vs. distance. And they seemed to reinforce your idea of polarity. But I didn't see anywhere where they just came out and said which is which. Intuitively, I would have guessed your idea of polarity.

Erik

[will gilmore]

I didn't see anything about polarity and I have limited electronics knowledge so I'm sure its obvious to anyone who knows anything about electronics. My thought process was:
1) + to anode, gnd to cathode --> lightning bolt
2) lighning bolt strikes photodiode and provides + to amp
3) amp provides + to trigger
4) trigger provides + to transistor
5) transistor connects output to ground

so light on --> output to ground

There are a lot of steps and im sure one of them works the opposite way I thought. no biggie.

[Home Shopper]

Is the tool plate made of steel or aluminium?

[will gilmore]

everything is ground steel, o1 i think

[will gilmore]

finally...

[Home Shopper]

First class!

[bret4]

Nice! Isn't that just like the phone to ring when you are trying out your new lathe. Now you need some insert tooling for it. Good work man!

Bret