Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: NJC on June 16, 2008, 09:44:35 PM
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I just purchased an older Okuma Lathe, LB15, wondering if anyone has retrofitted one of these to run on Mach?
Scott
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This will be interesting. What kind of controls does it have now?
Brett
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Hey Brett, it has an OSP5000 control, apparently there is an intermittent problem with the control booting up. It's an older machine and control with a tape reader, mechanicals are in very nice shape with Fanuc servos. The Okuma guys seem to think the control is a good one and there is a device that takes place of the tape reader and accepts input from a pc. I'm interested if anybody has done a retro to Mach and how easy or difficult it is, if there ends up being a good reason to replace the control, Mach may be a good replacement.
Scott
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Do the drives or can they be set up to accept step and direction signals rather than analog?
Brett
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With the age of the machine I would think the servo drives will be analog only so that would be a problem. Got any pics of it?
Hood
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Brett and Hood, I have no idea. I ran into this problem with my older Bridgeport as well, Kcrouch and I have been working on it to get it figured out... we're close, well, Kenny's close ;DÂ He's been a huge help!! I was afraid it wouldn't be easy, then again if it were, everybody would be doing it.
Anyway, here are a few pics
Scott
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Here are a few more pics...
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Sorry NJC, It will never run. I think you need to just truck it to me so I can put it with all the other old things I have. I'm hold out on scrap steel to go up a little more. ;D
That is a nice looking machine NJC!!!!!!!!! I hope I have one like that one day. We need to figure out what makes the drives tick. I'm not familiar with that one at all. If the drives can accept step and direction they will be fine. I doubt that is the case though. You may be able to find converters that will change the step and direction signals to analog. I can't recommend any of those as I have never used any. Another option would be to get new drives and possibly motors.
I have sent you a Personal message.
Brett
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LOL, with how much this beast weighs, it's almost worth it's value in scrap these days ??? It's worth way more than that to me though, of course.
Thanks, I think it will be a great addition to my shop, can't wait to get it running. I appreciate you being willing to help out!
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Dont listen to Brett, he wouldnt have a clue what to do with it, it would just end up sitting beside his Hurco for the next 10yrs :D
Do you have schematics for it? If not then you will have a lot of work figuring out how everything is connected, wont be easy but could be done. I recently did a Lathe of similar size or maybe a bit bigger but I had the schematics and fortunately had someone who was familiar with the schematics and was able to give me a lot of pointers in reading them.
I remember someone on the forum saying CNCTeknix were working on a StepDir to Analogue converter so might be worth giving them an email.
Hood
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Hood,
Did you manage to get your lathe running smoothly on Mach? Was it similar in motor type, if so, how did you deal with converting to step and direction?
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My lathe had big DC motors but the drives and control were not part of the deal so I had to try and get drives. The motors were far too big for any of the normal drives such as Geckos or Tek10's but as I didnt know too much about servos at the time it didnt stop me trying LOL. In the end I picked up AC servos and drives on eBay that did the job and they accepted Step/Dir.
The first drives I got from eBay were analogue and I did try them out, (well kind of) with the top boards from the Tek10 drives as they converted Step/Dir to analogue, however the drives I am using now came along at a good price so I never went any further with the convertors.
Hood