Brian's Emco Compact 5 Retro

[arturod]

John,

That will work, but you would still need to add a turret lock a couple of sensors.  The turret could loose position while cutting and you would never know, causing a serious safety issue.  If you mounted an encoder or use servo and read the encoder position you could monitor the turret position at all times.

From my experience an adding a mechanical lock using a solenoid pneumatic valve and pneumatic piston will do.  The sensor for the turret home and turret lock are a MUST.

Your proposed solution will imply major mechanical reforms for Brian’s small machine that already has a tool changer.

Arturo Duncan
http://cnc4pc.com

[Amnz]

Hi John S,
  That gearbox looks like the same one I was bidding on  in Ebay a while ago!  Is that where you got it?

John (Bloy)...as Amnz

[John S]

Arturo,
This wasn't touted as a replacement for Brian's tool changer but more for a conversion of a centre lathe to CNC.
This also answer Bloy's question in the same post, these are off the shelf units, made in Italy to quite a high standard and available in a number of ratio's.
As an idea these cost about 80 UKP each, new.

You couldn't make one for the price given hardened worm, bronze wheel and 4 bearings. I have had one of Brian's tool changers in pieces and they are crudely made.
There is tons of backlash in the worm and wheel, in fact it's a gear not a worm, and it relies heavily on being driven backwards against the pawl

My idea was to take one of these, fit a stepper and a large top hatted disk, the smaller diameter to fit inside the final drive worm and the larger diameter disk to carry 6 or 8 tools.
On the rear of the disk would be machined 6 or 8 ratchet teeth for a pawl to lock into.

[Brian Barker]

I just got in the Minarik DCD01330 DC drive for the spindle I hooked it up as a test and WOW did that ever make that motor work better! The spindle will go from 0 - 3000 RPM in about .5sec ! The spindle can now go full forward to full reverse (3000 RPM) in about 1 sec, This is going to be very good for CSS

This is a small update but there will be more as the parts start to show up

Thanks
Brian

[Brian Barker]

Arturo Duncan from  cnc4pc.com send me some boards to test. So I will not be using the PMDX that I had on the shelf... I have a CNC punch press that I think it will go on . The Board from CNC4PC  (  C11 -   Multifunction CNC Board ) is making it so i will not need a PLC! The board has all the stuff to do 0-10V! On a machine this size I need all the room I can get! He also sent along the  C3 - Index Pulse Card that will be used to read the spindle index pulse...  after I have all that tested and running I will be adding an other parallel port for the two MPG's

The geckodrives are in and I was talked out of using the old motors (thanks Art!) So I got new motors from AutomationDirect.com , it is 39.00 for a motor and 9.00 for a 20 foot cable! That is a very good deal because I didn't want to add wire to the motor cable...

Well I am off to start working on  the little lathe

[arturod]

Brian,

How is this project comming along?

Arturo Duncan
http://cnc4pc.com

[Brian Barker]

You are Good!  I have the drives in the machine and the breakout board is in place! (BTW the board seems to be working well at this time) I need to get a new computer or have the other one worked on I get a checksum error and have not had time to look into it... I will post pics soon as it is starting to look more like a lathe at this time!

Thanks
Brian

[bigbigjimbo]

Brian,
Will the new board from Arturo Duncan the C11G control the motor speed on the compact 5, I know it works on the Seig X3 Mill

[yosefi83]

Brian,

What's happened to this thread? I guess you've finished your retrofit long ago. Could you post some pictures tell us the results?

Thanks,
Daniel

[Brian Barker]

I got busy and didn't have time to finishe the project BUT I have a friend that finished it for me .. He still has the lathe but I should be able to get back here in a few more weeks! As soon as I have the Lathe back here I will be sure to post a pic or 5
Thanks
Brian