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1

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Emco PCturn55 slow conversion..

« on: October 24, 2014, 11:44:52 AM »

Hi Guys,
I have an emco pcturn55 cnc lathe that I am in the process of converting over to MACH3. I got the machine with all cards and software. Supposedly it was all working so before starting the conversion process I though I would give it a go. To my surprise it all started up. The software to run the lathe is called 'winnc32 ver13', this runs inside windows 98. The Gcode command/interface is via a funky tablet and is 'FANUC series 0T'. The only problem was no power supply for the 'tablet' - I did a bit of research and found it was 500ma 5v center positive, hooked up a lab supply to test it out and all was good. There are some programs still in the program memory so I used them to start learning Gcode (I am new to that). All ok so far, the system works and is very effective - great machine to get up and going with and worth a change over to MACH3 as that opens up more options. I have already made quite some investigations into the conversion process and will update this post when I have all the parts and am ready to go. Upon testing and playing with the machine I discovered that the main spindle was 'Knocking' - spin it up to speed 3000 (not sure if this is RPM but that does not matter for the moment) and a very annoying 'tap', 'tap' can be heard. Looking carefully I found some play in the rear bearing. I am concluding this must be worn and will change both front and back bearing. I have attached pictures - upon disassembly I have no idea how to remove the two (or one) circlips. I am hoping someone can give me an idea on this. As you can see access to grab the clips is rather small. Any ideas?

I will post up more pictures as I work on this - hopefully they will be useful for someone else.


many thanks,
John

2

General Mach Discussion / Using the the taig mill to turn parts...

« on: October 25, 2010, 08:27:52 PM »

Hi,
I apologise if this question has been asked and answered before, I had a look but could not see it.
I would like to use my taig cnc mill with mach3 to turn a part. The turning tool would be mounted on the table and the part on the z-axis in the spindle collet. What would be the best way to set this up in mach3?

many thanks,
St.John

3

General Mach Discussion / Setting up the taig cnc micromill 2000 to work with mach3

« on: October 21, 2010, 03:33:56 PM »

Hi Guys,
I have a question about getting the taig cnc micromill 2000 which is in the quantum cnc enclosure up and running. I am using a thinkpad T40 laptop with windows 98, mach3 and connecting the micromill2000 driver box to the laptop parralel port. I downloaded the mach3taig2000.xml config file and fired it all up accordingly. Axis x,y and z all work via jog at 50% speed reduction. Jogging at 100% caused the z-axis stepper to slip. My problem now is that I can't get the spindle to run (ac induction motor, belt driven). I would think it would be relay controlled with either an on or off condition (M3 does nothing). The emergency stop button on the quantumcnc cabinet also does nothing. Any suggestions how I can get the spindle going and how I can get the e-stop button working?

The spindle motor does work as I can get it to spin up in manual mode.

I am completely new to the taig and mach3 so any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I have read the mach3 documentation but think most likely I would benefit from some expert advice here...

many thanks,
St.john