[TOTALLYRC]

I am using the same control box on mmy lathe as on my mill since I really like it and I had analog input servo amps in stock.

The x has .003 backlash and the Z Has about .005 I am going to work on reducing the baclash on both axis as I progress but for now I am wiring up the control box, putting together the computer and adding the limit switches.

A couple of things.

1. I will be putting the Z limit on a slider so I can set the limit switch near the chuck depending on the job I am working on.

2. I will be making a nice control panel and possibly getting a touch screen computer, depending on how the money goes.

3.I will be looking to add an air operated cylinder to the collet closer so I can just push a button and have the collet open and close. It will allow for a bar feeder to be added later.


Pics to follow.

Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

Here are some pictures of where I am at today.

I have removed all of the parts that were needed for maual operation, but are not needed for CNC. They are available for purchase if anyone is interested.

On the electronics side I have 2 AMC brushless servo amps and a 50v power supply. Since the lathe only has about 15" in the z, I would like to get at least 50ipm and preferably 100ipm.

For the BOB power, I scored a Phoenix contact 24v, 2.5 amp power supply for the I/O. To power the dspmc/ip and the 5v needed for the bob control power I had a combined 12v/5v potrable hard drive power supply.

The control cabinet, terminal strips, and the fuse holders are all dumpster finds.

The jumble of orange wires coming from the drives is just temporary wiring to make sure the drives power up and come out of fault status. I will need to use a few relays to get the enable and fault signals from the drives to the dspmc.

I have 2 40 amp solid state relays to turn on the coolant and something else. I know they are massive overkill, but they work great on my other machines and I bought them real cheap last year.

I currently have a RPC(rotary phase converter) ready to power the spindle motor, but I am saving my pennies to get a Hitachi sj200 vfd since the one on my mill works so well.

The VFD will go inside the factory electrical cabinet. I am considering putting all of the controls inside the factory cabinet, but I will do it only after everything is wired up and tested.

Please feel free to ask question, offer suggestions, or just general comments.

For those of you who want more insight into my choice of controller and its capabilites, see my mill build log here.

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66994


Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

I forgot to attach the pictures.

The control cabinet is sideways in the picture but the dspmc should be at the top.


Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

I was able to get some more work done in between bouts of yard work.

Both the x and z pulleys are bored to size and the x was counter bored to clear the bearing adjustment housing.

When I find the factory nuts I will put them back on. The Z pulley is on a tapered shaft. I set the lathe for a 1 deg taper and it fits really nice.

Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

I was able to grab my wife's old desktop and my son's old monitor and get them installed and talking to the dspmc.

I also installed the latest lockdown version of Mach3 and setup a lathe profile.

If I keep this up, I will be finished in less than a year.

Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

I placed my order for amt 102 capacitive encoders and the line driver cables.
This way I have a lot less soldering to do.

The encoders have nice adjustable resolution and since the dspmc will handle high pulse rates 2mhz, I will go with higher than 500(2000in quad) encoders.
With just the change of settings on the encoders, and a change in the steps per inch, I can really test out the capabilities of the encoders, the dspmc and the lathe itself.

I am looking thru the pile-o-motors to see what I can use or more likely will order something from ebay today. I would love to go with brushless motors since the drives will run them, but I don't want/can't spend a fortune this month.

More updates to follow as they happen.:cheers:

Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

The encoders came in in 2 days and they look like they will do the job nicely.

I am still pursuing motors but haven't come up with any ones just yet.

I have been side tracked by the latest additions to the shop.

A nice Monarch 11" "C" with an actuall swing of 14.5", which came with a bunch of goodies, a conventional surface grinder with magnetic chuck, and a Greenard #3 arbour press. I think I will need to expand the building soon.

Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

Just a quick update to let you know I am still working on it. Seeing as how it has been almost 4 months since the last update.

I have several different motors that I picked up and will be starting back on it this weekend since it is raining and is expected to rain all day and possibly tomorrow.

Any body have any questions or comments? It gets lonely here all by myself.(group)

[Milton SWFL]

Have that same lathe, hope to someday to cnc it.

What are your plans for turret?

Milton in SW fl.

[TOTALLYRC]

Have that same lathe, hope to someday to cnc it.

What are your plans for turret?

Milton in SW fl.

I will start out by doing the turret manually but I will probably drive it with a servo or stepper when the rest of the machine is done.
Let me know when you start yours and we can swap notes.

In this economy it is hard to believe but I have been swamped with part time work, mandatory overtime at the primary job, and a few machining orders.
I will take it though as not working sucks.
That is why this is taking a lot longer than expected.

Mike

[pofo]

Mike,

How did the DSPMC work out?

[TOTALLYRC]

Mike,

How did the DSPMC work out?

Hi POFO,
Well the dspmc is working great on the mill but I still have not had the time to get the lathe up and running. The latest excuse is that I spent the long Thanksgiving weekend (4 days) moving in a nice Monarch CK12 lathe and a surface grinder into the shop. Not to mention working on the honey do list. Since I had to remove my Atlas lathe in order to fit the two new machines my time has been taken up with getting the 3 phase converter setup and wired. This way I can use the new lathe to make some parts for the Tsugami conversion.

:drowning:The overtime monster :drowning:has aslo been attaking me again. It is hard to pass on the OT in this economy. Besides the extra money will come in handy when I need to buy more toling and stuff.:wee:

I will be posting some updates when more work actually happens.

I will have some time in the shop over the holidays and since the Monarch is just about wired, I should be able to get some time on the Tsugami and the BTC-1.
I have just updated the firmware on the mill to a test version that Rufi is working on. It contains all of the updates to this point. A nice change is that the machine will now home and back off of the homing switchses as opposed to just stopping on them.

The lathe htreading from what I undersand is working well but I will testing that out as soon as the lathe is up and running.

(group)As always, feel free to ask questions, I have this sickness and like to answer them, even if I am wrong.(group)


Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

Well, I actually did some work on the lathe today. Of course the first thing was to remove all the stuff that was piled up on it.!!!!!!!

I have made a decision to remove all of the original electrical components from the stock drive cabinet and install all of the CNC stuff inside of it. I have also decided to make the door swing the other way as it stand you have to get behind the cabinet area and then open the door. The door is between you and the rest of the shop while working on it and I just don't have the room to have it in a more accessible position.

I scored a couple of Fuji VFDs from ebay and put one on my Monarch CK12 and one on the Tsugami. The RPC didn't have the power to run the Monarch and I wanted full speed control via the computer fro the spl.

More to come.

Mike

[TOTALLYRC]

Todays topic is a continuation of the last one.
Fitting all of the new stuff in the old cabinet.
I have most of the items mounted and would love to post the pics but I have misplaced the camera card with the pictures on it.

I will find it and post pics.

One of the things I have decided to do was to mount the VFD inside the factory control cabinet. There is one problem in that the VFD is as deep as the cabinet and it will need some room in the front for air flow. Instead of finding a new cabinet I have decided to space out the door ~1" to provide much need room to clear the VFD and the cable coming off of the DSPMC/ip.

More work to come and as always feel free to chime in with suggestions, comments and questions.

Mike

P.S. The Monarch CK12 lathe is up and running with one of these GE/Fuji VFDs and so far so good. I will be able to use it to mount the encoders on the new motors.

[TOTALLYRC]

Today I powered up the electrical board. Step one was to just put 240v power to the breaker and test to see that I had 240v on the two legs and then to see that I had 120v between each leg and the neutral.
Next step was to install one fuse at a time and power up the rest of the circuits.
I powered up the drive transformer and verified 48.9 volts no load which is close to the 50v I was expecting.
Then I powered up the external hard drive power supply that I use to power the DSPMC and the breakout boards.
The 5v for the dspmc side of the breakout board and the 12v for the DSPMC power were within tolerance.
Then I powered up the phoenix contact 24v power supply and verified its output. This supplies all of the power for the inputs and outputs.
So Far so good.
I then connected the DSPMC and verified that all the lights came on the way they were suppose including the breakout boards.
I then put the VFD in the circuit and it came on as expected.
Looking better and better.
Once all of the core components were powered up and the voltages were verified I connected it to the computer. Since I had in the past already loaded Mach3 and had communications, this went well.

Started Mach3 and got it to come out of e-stop.
Since I don't have motors connected, I wrote a little program of spindle on and off, coolant on and off.
I set up some ports and pins and then ran the program. The nice little lights on the breakout boards danced in time to the G-code.
All of this testing was done on the bench because the bottom of the electrical panel is almost on the floor and there is not a whole bunch of room to get in there and work on it.

Since it is all working and I have wired as much as possible without installing the electrical panel, I went ahead and installed. I will need to finalize the 240v power coming into the box and install the wall wiring properly, but tomorrow is another day.

:wee:I am a very happy boy and will be doing more work this week.:wee: I am hoping against hope that I can turn motors before the weekend.

Mike

P.S. Still looking for the pictures.

[TOTALLYRC]

Well today was another good day of putting stuff together.
I was able to finish running the 240v line to the machine with proper grounding and inside the wall and ceiling where it belongs.

After running the line and making sure the power was again 240v, I powered up everything in its new home.

Voila, it all turned on again.

After a power down I then connected the spindle motor. The motor is a 2 speed motor with 6 leads. I picked the high speed ones and powered back up. Turning the VFD know by hand I was able to run the motor up and down a few times. Same thing with the low speed windings.

If it is not too much trouble I may attempt to get a relay to switch between windings via Mach3 and a Macro. The factory relay has burnt contacts and is no rebuildable. I would also have to find a place as the electrical panel is almost full.

Next up is making the extension for the electrical cabinet and refitting the door. I will concurrently be adding encoders to the motors and making mounting brackets. At this point I could put the handles back on and use it as a manual lathe with VFD control.

I am waiting on a delivery of IDEC relays and socket so I can power up the servo drive.

A couple of questions.
1. The coolant motor is 3 phase. Does anyone see a benefit to a variable speed coolant pump? I already have a spare A VFD.

2. The lathe also has variable speed by a vari-sheave system controlled by a 3 phase motor. Any one see a benefit to using this or do you think that just the VFD and the 2 speed motor would do the trick.

4. I have been taking a good look at how I originally planned on mounting the motors and may have to rethink it. Putting the motors on the back side would give me the option of keeping the handles for manual use. Any input?

5. Is any body out there?

Mike

[Bubba]

Mike,
Yep at least I am out here looking at what your doing. Giving me some ideas for my next project.
As far as a vfd on the coolant pump, unless it is a positive displacement (I doubt it), or way over sized for your application. Why? The biggest benefit you have is that you have the spare vfd and this will give you the three phase you need. Just set it and forget it!

As for the main spindle motor, there might be enough torque at low range to satisfy your needs without the vari speed of the belting system. It would be nice to eliminate that if you could as it is a power hog. I would guess you would have to take some trial cuts to see what it will do.

As for the handle thoughts, I can only relate what I did on my mill. I lost them completely and haven't looked back! All necessary movement is done through the keyboard on my machine. Also, there is the old argument of having handles that can grab you in the sensitive parts of the body when they are flailing around!

Just my thoughts and keep up the good work.

[TOTALLYRC]

Hi Bubba,

I hear what you are saying about the coolant and will most likely set it up full speed and call it a day. I guess when it is running I can see if the flow is excessive and the reduce it if need.

I usually give the same advice on the handles and milling machines.
I have heard stories from the guys at work about how fast you hit the ground if the handle gets you in the wrong spot. Since I read a post about the Haas lathe that has handles and CNC I thought I would ask if there was a better reason for it on the lathe

I am hoping that I can use just the VFD but the motor is 1.1 kw which is about 1.4 hp. Since the VFD is 3 hp I could always upgrade the motor if needed.

By the way, what is your next project?

Mike

[Bubba]

I plan on making my 12x36 atlas into cnc to go along with my mill/drill. I have some projects in mind that require long tapers and also metric threads. I figure I can cnc it and have the best of all worlds and do it cheaper than trying to find a taper attachment and gearing needed for the threads. This will also allow me to make some threads that are not in the usual setup also!

Things are a bit stalled right now due to weather. Lately it hasn't gotten up to freezing till late afternoon and my shop is not heated. I am getting to be an ole wuss when it comes to things like that:})

[TOTALLYRC]

I scored some real nice IDEC 24 vdc relays.
I really only needed 2 but the price is right.

Ebay Item #290388274022

Hey Bubba, I have a taper attachment and a complete Atlas lathe with the tumbler gear box if you are interested in them. The taper attachment is I believe homemade but it looks like it should work well. I have not has to use it. I also have a ton of parts for the Atlas 10/12 inch lathe. I will get around to selling them once the winter rush is over.

I spent today wiring up the surface grinder. I got the RPC all wired up and test but then I blew fuse in the control box. The machine might have been wired for 480V and I was told 240v.
I will have to check it out tomorrow.

Mike.