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Messages - mc

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361
Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Conect 121 lathe retro
« on: August 21, 2012, 01:57:48 PM »
It was probably a combination of the Z-axis lacking power, and a not very sharp centre drill, but it wouldn't do any more than mark the steel.

362
General Mach Discussion / Re: Drilling 3 holes on a lathe
« on: August 20, 2012, 06:02:51 PM »
Rather than clutter up Hoods Conect thread, here's the final item. It's taken far longer than planned to finish, as other stuff keeps getting in the way, but I've been making a point to grab the odd hour over the past few weeks to get this finished.


Gang Collet Holder by mc_mtb, on Flickr

As mentioned in my last post, the lathe simply doesn't have the power to drill steel. So after marking the holes, the holder was put into the milling machine, and the holes drilled to a mm or so under the final size, ready for boring to final size. The holder was then put back on the lathe (after using it to make a 20mm adapter for my boring head, so I could mount in in the ER32 chuck), and using a bit manually coded G-code, bored the holes out to final size -


190_LatheBoring by mc_mtb, on Flickr

This process was a bit tedious, however by the time the holes were bored to size, I had the G-code tweaked so the spindle stopped before rapiding back to the start, and I could just about have the boring head adjusted ready to hit cycle start again.

And in case you're wondering how the holder is supported, I machined a basic support that is permanently bolted to the cross slide.

Gang tool holder by mc_mtb, on Flickr

The holders were made from some 1" silver steel I had lying around. I cut sections long enough to get 2 holders out of each, faced and drilled it to 12.5mm on my other lathe (big enough for the boring bar to fit in), then mounted them in the Conect, set it to work, changed the tools when needed, then spinning the stock in the lathe, before repeating, then finally parting the two holders in the other lathe.

I'm still needing to order stub drills to try the holder properly, however using an 8mm jobber drill which just cleared the collet chuck (Z-axis travel is limited due to the ballscrew covers), it sank into some alumiunium without any issue. I'll admit I was abit worried about this after the lathes inability to drill steel, however it sank straight in without any hessitation.

363
Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Conect 121 lathe retro
« on: August 20, 2012, 05:32:47 PM »
The holder drops into the QCTP, and I've added a support (pic here)for the far edge to rest against. It's only intended for drilling/reaming, so it shouldn't see any up/down forces, just end on forces, unless I somehow manage to issue an X move with a drill in hole.

To mark the original holes in the bar (the Z-axis didn't have enough power to sink the centre drill into the steel), I used G52 offsets as per this thread. I still need to get stub drills in the required sizes to try things properly, and figure out how I'm going to code the gang tooling. Actually, I'll go and update that thread!

364
Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Conect 121 lathe retro
« on: August 20, 2012, 01:02:02 PM »
All the mechanics/motors are the original, however the original controls were dead to the world, so it now sports an original SS connected to a CNC4PC C23 with a couple Gecko 251s and a KBIC.

If I was to change anything, I'd swap the SS for a ESS, and use a PMDX board, however I already had the SS and C23.
I would like to add some extra functions via PoKeys, however I'm trying to resist spending anymore money on it until it's made me some!

365
Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Conect 121 lathe retro
« on: August 19, 2012, 06:19:33 PM »
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one taking my time getting a fully functional machine.

I finally finished the gang tooled collet holder for mine today.
Made the collet holders from some silver steel I had lying around and I'm surprised how well the standard motors handled the threading (vid here if you want to waste a minute or so!).

I'm interested to see how your's handles all the upgrades you've done. I doubt I'll do anything but running repairs to mine, as I could really do with something a bit bigger, although a bigger stepper on the Z would help with drilling...

366
General Mach Discussion / Re: Drilling 3 holes on a lathe
« on: November 29, 2011, 03:42:07 PM »
Thanks for that.
Using some G52 offsets worked perfectly, although I discovered the limitations of the lathe, so I'll have to move the tool holder into the milling maching to rough bore the holes.

367
General Mach Discussion / Drilling 3 holes on a lathe
« on: November 28, 2011, 03:35:43 PM »
Sounds simple, doesn't it?
And I'm sure it should be, but I'm really struggling to get my head around it!

I'm working on a gang tool bar that fits in the QCTP to mount drills/reamers in via ER25 collets, and I'm now at the point where I need to drill 3 holes, 40mm apart.
I've managed to turn a few bits, including a couple threads, using the wizards, but I figured I should really learn a bit more about G-codes instead of relying on wizards.
So, after reading the manual, and trying various options, I finally tracked down the lack of movement to the G83 macro being missing from the profile folder, so I copied the standard one across from the default turn profile folder (I found the thread with the 'fixed' M83 version, but I figured I'd stick with the original one for now)

However, although I can get movement in the Manual screen by typing in G83 X0 Z-5 Q1 R1, the line doesn't even show once saved to a file and loaded in the Auto screen.
I'd like to create a file that will drill the three holes in one run, so I can edit it as I swap drill bits.

Anybody got any pointers on how to achieve this?

368
Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Conect 121 lathe retro
« on: October 05, 2011, 03:30:49 PM »
Looks good.
Although I'm now more interested in how well the PoKeys keyboard works!

I was looking at them at the start of the week, as now I've actually used my Conect for a few jobs, I'm already fed up moving between computer and lathe to tweak things.
I know I could add a few normal push buttons and wire them into the BOB, but I think I've only got room left for another 3 or 4, and I'd quite like to add an MPG aswell.

369
General Mach Discussion / Re: Index Pulse Setup Problems (Lathe)
« on: September 17, 2011, 06:54:27 PM »
Good point, but the physical properties of all the connections appear to be the same, so it shouldn't make any difference.
The Z obviously signifies some changes of the internals.

This is the kind of problem where an oscilloscope comes in very handy!

370
General Mach Discussion / Re: Index Pulse Setup Problems (Lathe)
« on: September 17, 2011, 06:39:06 PM »
Sounds a bit strange. Normally any interference causes random readings.
You don't happen to have a multimeter with a frequency setting?

I've also just ran through the datasheets for the B and BZ, and there doesn't appear to be any obvious differences. All the specs are identical, and having a quick scan of the optek website, it appears only the BZ is available now, so I doubt the Z means much to those using it.


All the sensors I'm running are optical. Not sure when I'll be in the workshop next, but I'll try and remember to check to see what the spindle sensor is, as I'm sure it was a good bit cheaper than the one I mentioned above.

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