Messages

5241

General Mach Discussion / Re: Merry Christmas 2009

« on: December 24, 2009, 05:27:30 PM »

Same to you Brett and all the others on this site.
RICH

5242

General Mach Discussion / Re: How can a CNC machine save time?

« on: December 24, 2009, 11:19:50 AM »

Depends on what your doing and the capability of the machine.
I do mostly one of a  kind of milling and turning.
For some things i can do them faster manualy ( by the time i draw it, create the code i can have it done manualy, but it's realy simple stuff ). Sometimes it's only foolish thinking.

You get into any profile cutting, make more than one part or a complex part...CNC is the way to go.

The wizards also provide for single tasks and CNC use.  

Just hand code a turn profile, or a pocket once and you will see the benefits.

Most importantly, you can screw up a part in a repeatable fashion.  

A good analogy is having a digital readout, you wonder how you ever did things without it!  

RICH

5243

General Mach Discussion / Re: To CV or not to CV

« on: December 24, 2009, 11:01:08 AM »

Phil,
I don't use cv when cutting threads on the lathe ( may affect the pull out and end of thread ). I do use it when cutting a profile as it they usualy have angular and arc moves. You may want to just cut a ball on the end of a piece with it on or off and see the difference is surface finish and axis movements.

Use it also for the mill. Same thing when milling a circle or curved surfaces.

RICH

5244

Machscreen Screen Designer / Re: Encrypt Screen set

« on: December 23, 2009, 11:57:00 AM »

Don't get scared Phil,
I just tried Klaus's screen designer and at the rate i am going you have a least a 6 months before i get dangerous. 
Maybe longer..... 
RICH

5245

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: CNC CONVERSION - 6" ATLAS LATHE

« on: December 23, 2009, 11:43:56 AM »

Dan,
Will not do any "heavy drilling or milling".
Example: Say I turn a tapered profile and it has a flange on the top of it. Without removing it from the lathe i will be able to flute part of the tapered section, drill around and into the face of the flange. So  I am combining some of the features that you would normaly do using an rotary table on the mill. Additionaly i can do engraving around  the piece. Save a lot of time.

Since the lathes axis are very accurate i can do some realy nice peck drilling of small holes ( thank's to Melee's macros he just posted). I have not tried profiling using Copy cat on the lathe yet,but, again combining some things will just make makiing some of the small parts for a model so much easier and less time consuming.
I can easily swap my drives axis cables around and manipulate the Gcode.

It all depends on what i am going to do.
I don't know how my barrel for the 629 will prfofile out, but should be interesting.  I want to minimise some of the hand work.

Hope that gives you an idea of use,
RICH

BTW, You realy should have the A setup so you get a nice ratio which is divisible by 360 evenly. May need to make my owne pulleys and not use the 10:1 gear reducer.

5246

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: CNC CONVERSION - 6" ATLAS LATHE

« on: December 23, 2009, 08:00:54 AM »

This picture shows the mounting of a stepper which is used for indexing of the spindel.
The stepper is mounted out of the way and just removing one screw in the based allows
for easy belt removal. Setup needs to be easy. The spindle pulley is mounted onto an expandable mandrel
and then just tightening one screw expands the mandrel and locks it to the spindle bore.
Not much of a reduction via the pulleys so steps per degree is only 7.04 which is not desireable.
But I wanted to see how usable and easy the setup would be. Need to order some belts and pulleys so
the stepper with the gear reducer can be mounted.

So now i can experiment using the rotary feature for drilling and milling along  the Z  and X axis.

RICH

5247

Works in progress / Re: Lathe screen re worked

« on: December 23, 2009, 07:22:37 AM »

"My next step is to make the buttons more uniform but it will mean losing the graphics on the buttons."

Just a future thought..........
Should you want to use a touch screen, then button size may become an issue. Don't use one.
Guessing that all the screens would need to be reworked for a touch screen so it dosen't matter. 

RICH

5248

Works in progress / Re: Lathe screen re worked

« on: December 23, 2009, 06:52:26 AM »

Phil,
Tried out the latest screen and looking good in my opinion. Made a few users aware of it and lets see if they have
any feedback. A few comments below:
1. The large screen option is great.
2. The MDI line addition was nice also. Other than setting machine coordinates and tool offsets you can now
     do most anything from the cycle screen and not have to go back an forth between screens.
     A user commented about the jog button being available on the cycle screen and it changes the lathe use logic
     and that you can get in trouble. That is true, but then again. that is why the you can also turn it off on the
     new screen!
2. Version button say's 19. you May delete the 19 text since the fly out tells which version the screen is.
3. Meed to add a ZERO WORLD button for A in the manual screen.
   - The Set Y DRO button should be "Z"
4. Need to add the jog buttons for "A" in the jog fly out screen. I think that would complete the addition of
   another axis for the lathe. Should a user want to modify the screen such that A is something else than rotary
    the screen work is done.

Attached is a pic of the A / rotary indexer  i did on my lathe. The stepper stays mounted and set up to remove the
belt  and pulley from the spindle is quick. Should another setup or more complex use of the lathe be required I will probably use a Mill profile to do the work. 

Hopefully some other folks will chime in.
 Have a Good Holiday,
RICH

5249

LazyTurn / Re: LazyTurn

« on: December 22, 2009, 10:09:02 PM »

ART,
So will there be a Holiday / New Year present called FINISH PASS posted for LT?
Or you still thinking about it like Logan? 
RICH

5250

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: My Balding Beaver

« on: December 22, 2009, 09:53:05 PM »

AH.........., may Swarta Pete bestow all the Black Peter's  you would ever want onto your doorstep.
Sorry my Dutch is stuck in the snow!
RICH