Building a CNC Lathe

[mtt.tr]

Well, the Controller DID arrive this morning, despite the Fedex Tracking saying it was in Stoke on Trent! It came well packaged with plenty of Styrofoam (More about that in the Dogs thread!). I was a bit surprised at just how BIG it is, Proper, Industrial Strength thing, hours of fun working this out:-) Christmas reading "Instruction Manual - CNC Controller" Going to have to make a new housing for it:

View attachment 324237

Remembered that I DID buy a MPG for it, Manual Pulse Generator- Twiddly wheel thingy to everyone else, you can just see it at the bottom on the right:
View attachment 324239
totally missed the keyboard layout, a recipe for disaster, WHY can't we have just ONE standard?

View attachment 324240

Brilliant glad you've gone for this one as it would be my choice.


Keypad makes sense for manually programming

 

[northwest]

Keypad makes sense for manually programming

Unless you are used to a QWERTY keyboard and you are a one fingered stabber like me!

 

[northwest]

Brilliant glad you've gone for this one as it would be my choice.

I was told by someone who knows far more than I about these things that this was the one to get, I would have been crazy not to take the advice.

 

[Hood]

As said when programming you will use the axes keys (X and Z ) and G and M the most, so it does make sense.

 

[northwest]

As said when programming you will use the axes keys (X and Z ) and G and M the most, so it does make sense.

I would bet the farm the thing I will be using most on this is the big red button on the bottom left!

 

[Hood]

Really? did you not get the wireless pucker stuffer option?

 

[citizen kane]

I know this is probably a dumb question but what will this controller do, does it talk directly to the motor controllers or to some kind of motion control board?

 

[Hood]

I know this is probably a dumb question but what will this controller do, does it talk directly to the motor controllers or to some kind of motion control board?

It is a controller, it will send out the pulses to the servo drives or stepper drives, control spindle, toolchangers etc. It calculates and computes the motion etc

 

[citizen kane]

Interesting, don't want to hijack this thread but say for instance I had an old Boxford CNC lathe could I wire one of these controllers into the existing stepper drives, spindle control and tool changer?

 

[Hood]

Interesting, don't want to hijack this thread but say for instance I had an old Boxford CNC lathe could I wire one of these controllers into the existing stepper drives, spindle control and tool changer?

Yes, well as long as the stepper drives accept step/dir signals.

 

[citizen kane]

Thanks, food for thought.

 

[m_c]

I would bet the farm the thing I will be using most on this is the big red button on the bottom left!

I doubt it.
When something goes wrong, you usually can't find it

My suggestion for the MPG, would be to gut it, and mount all the bits somewhere convenient next to the main control panel.
On a small machine, I prefer to have everything in a fixed position.
It's not like a ML10 is a huge machine where you could be setting work up several feet away from the controller, where the hassle of a cable flapping about, and an MPG controller that never sits where you want it, is a necessity.

 

[indy4x]

Interesting, don't want to hijack this thread but say for instance I had an old Boxford CNC lathe could I wire one of these controllers into the existing stepper drives, spindle control and tool changer?

Let me know if you find out

 

[northwest]

I doubt it.
When something goes wrong, you usually can't find it

This is not a silly notion either, A job on the big Mill went horribly wrong the other day and although my hand was actually resting next to the emergency stop I took the trouble of pushing the actual motor stop button, nuts!

 

[northwest]

Interesting, don't want to hijack this thread but say for instance I had an old Boxford CNC lathe could I wire one of these controllers into the existing stepper drives, spindle control and tool changer?

In theory yes you could. John Stevenson did a lot of work with these controllers retrofitting them to quite a number of machines, if anyone would know it would be him, sadly he is dead!
He did do a complete conversion kit for the ARC supplied small Mill I think it was the X2 or some such nomenclature but I distinctly remember he did a good few machines at a college or some training establishment, what they were exactly though I have no idea. as Hood says, if the drives are step/direction yes no problem. I strongly suspect that these are a copy of a FANUK controller but others far more experienced than I would know whether or not this is the case.

 

[northwest]

Well, the main Spindle Servo has arrived, it s a BEAST!, I am not going to stop this in a hurry, Turns out I was trigger happy on ALIEXPress as two smaller servo's have made an appearance. I am going to see how they work out and possibly use two more as replacements on the Mill, we will see:



complete with driver for less than £50, unheard of 18 months ago.

 

[mtt.tr]

Well, the main Spindle Servo has arrived, it s a BEAST!, I am not going to stop this in a hurry, Turns out I was trigger happy on ALIEXPress as two smaller servo's have made an appearance. I am going to see how they work out and possibly use two more as replacements on the Mill, we will see:

View attachment 324577
View attachment 324578
complete with driver for less than £50, unheard of 18 months ago.

Sorry how much!!!

 

[Hood]

Is that a closed loop stepper?

 

[mtt.tr]

Is that a closed loop stepper?

That's what I was wondering

 

[Hood]

Seems it is, not sure how suited to a spindle it will be, would imagine the max rpm would be limited to about 1000rpm.
Then again I know nothing about closed loop steppers, I think @m_c has used them before.