Messages

431

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: January 24, 2013, 07:33:51 AM »

Hey Steve,

    So, give me a web site where I can get those Springs I REALLY, REALLY like that idea over Belviells, I guess my concern would be, how would you keep the spring centered so it would not wobble the shaft?
Scott

Sorry for late replay. Your question about the centering will be answered in the next few posts. I'm happy to give you the source and part# for the spring, but since it is a potentially dangerous part, please PM me so I can give you the standard disclaimer blurb along with the info.

I will address the air cylinder throttling separately. Thanks for your comments!

432

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: January 24, 2013, 07:19:11 AM »

Nice try stevo BUT " your" words proved my point .   IF you look back through your posts the main objective was to sell someone on the site your wares. AND it was hard to sell your wares to Tormach users as long as Tormach LOCKED you out of the picture.  Then you were pissed because Greg would NOT work with you so you could access his customer base

Then there is the ME syndrome. Basic genetic flaw in a LOT of engineers who think the world cannot revolve without their guidance.

I dought that Greg needs your help with anything concerning his CNC products. He is light years ahead of you already .

But you Have a good one anyway, YA hear

(;-)TP

Jeez, don't you get tired of being wrong? 

I have no trouble selling to Tormach owners. If I did not sell to Tormach owners, I would not have any reason to work with Tormach on their MACH software mods. You don't have to be a conceited, narcissistic engineer (like myself, apparently) to make that connection. Just have some common sense.

Also, you are just delusional if you think putting together a stepper driven bench mill and using an entire tiny lathe as a 4th axis is 'light years ahead' of anyone. Perhaps those examples of engineering prowess are impressive to you, but honestly I think even the greenest newbie can get to that level in a few months.

Next correction; I was not and am not 'pissed' at Tormach or any individual there. Nor am I 'pissed' at you. You are entitled to make as many inaccurate, incorrect or even idiotic statements as you like. I am entitled be amazed at baseless and idiotic some of your comments are. I am firm believer in the serenity prayer and your Tormach fanboi affliction and your belief that your assumptions are facts is one of those things that I can do nothing about.

And to correct your last incorrect assumption, I am not 'locked out' of anything. Tormach's MACH implementation took about 5 minutes to crack and I did the QC myself in about 5 more minutes.  As I said, this stuff is not rocket science. Some people like to pretend that it is so that their knowledge of it seem oh so impressive to newbies.  If you simply copy a standard copy of the MACH .exe over Tormach.s, it come up with access to all parameters. Oh my - OOPS,. was that supposed to be a secret?  . .  Sorry Obi Wan. . .

433

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: January 24, 2013, 06:57:11 AM »

Meant to ask, what is the cost of the Mitsu drives? Say the 400watt ones.
Hood

Sorry for the late response. Been a busy boy.

New price is a bit under US$1,000 each for the drive and the motor. Ebay has a number of vendors who have good used stuff and usually you can get good clean pair (Drive and motor) for about $800 or thereabout. The 750's usually run close to $1,100 to $1,200 for a set. A caveat with the J3 series is that the cables are stupid expensive   . as in . . up to $100 for each cable and they have special unobtainable connectors so anybody shopping for J3 Mistu, make sure you address the cables as they can be a significant part of the cost. 

434

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Success! Mini Machining Center under Mach3 control - Video link

« on: January 24, 2013, 06:46:00 AM »

Just a tid bit here and a few answers.

The machine has two very different speed ranges. The belt swap is to move from 'back gear' which is now 12:1 ratio for 'direct drive' which can be a variety of ratios from about 2:1 to 4:1 for high speed turning. The spindle and all rotating parts are balanced to 4K so for example with a 6k motor and 2:1 'direct drive' (one belt from motor to spindle) you can run 3K spindle with collets or a small chuck. In 'back gear', the same motor would run the spindle at only 500RPM for use with a large (6" or 8") chuck or large (12") faceplate of the trunnion table to do low speed high torque operations.

I am now working on a BT30 high speed spindle and Automatic tool changer. The first prototype is good for maybe 7k to 10k. To go faster, in my opinion, a stronger spindle is called for and to that end I have made a prototype spindle completely from A6 tool steel, hardened, properly tempered and ground. I made it for the InTurn™  4th axis not because I intend to run the 4th axis at 15k, but because the 4th axis is capable of providing a brutal torture test in strength of the spindle.

The new spindle is ready to install in my own InTurn™. the final grind on the 5C internal and D1 external tapers are done with the spindle installed. The spindle from my machine will get a new improved D1-4Flange and be put in one of the two extra frames that have from making the last batch of machines, so I will have one additional InTurn™ available if anyone wants it.

Here is the new spindle:

435

Brains Development / Re: How are variables used in Brains - variable as Brain input locks up MACH

« on: January 18, 2013, 04:45:02 PM »

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll be better off making up the 'phantom' DROs. Then the proceedure will be visible a year from now or whenever MACH4 is released. If I use undocumented stuff, I'll have a hell of a time figuring out what I did after some time passes.

Incidentally, shoudl I assumen TCP modbus does not work with Win7 64 bit? I get zero reaction from the net card while testing the TCP. On 32 bit systems you can see MACH pinging the port.

436

Brains Development / Re: How are variables used in Brains - variable as Brain input locks up MACH

« on: January 18, 2013, 06:52:07 AM »

If they are the special 'Brain Only' vars, then probably useless. What vars and how many?

I'm reading some buzz about MACH4. Would I be painting myself into a corner by using this feature of MACH3 or will it remain in MACH4?

437

Brains Development / Re: How are variables used in Brains - variable as Brain input locks up MACH

« on: January 17, 2013, 04:16:16 PM »

If I use any 'V' variable as input into a rung, Mach freezes solid and I have to sick the Task Manger on it. Not a particularly valuable feature.

Global variables accessable from anywhere would certainly be a benefit. Maybe in MACH4.

I've been messing with adding a bunch of 'phantom' DROs and that seems to be doing the trick. The DRO's function as variable for my purposes at the moment.

I want to move to TCP Modbus and I figure to get me feet wet using the Plug-in Serial and get rid of all of the SET/GET to modbus. Then the changeover to TCP should be fairly simple (famous last words)

So, I have a direction now. Thanks very much for the help. 

 

438

Brains Development / Re: How are variables used in Brains - variable as Brain input locks up MACH

« on: January 17, 2013, 02:32:26 PM »

The variables in Brains are unique to only brains. They are NOT the same thing as Gcode #Vars.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

Thanks for the response.

What is the purpose of Vars that can't reach outside of the brain?

Is there any documentation at all on how these work. I have not found anything and I've looked everywhere I can think of.

For MACH, I am thinking I can set up a bunch of USER DROs or something like that and feed the data to the brain that way.

At one time I was told that to set and get data with VB when using TCP modbus, Use SetMasterOutput in place of SetModOutput and use GetMasterInput in place of GetInput, but I was not able to get that to work.



 

439

Brains Development / How are variables used in Brains - variable as Brain input locks up MACH

« on: January 17, 2013, 07:20:01 AM »

I have watched the videos and read a few threads and read Poppa Bears excellent docs . . and just now dis a series of searches  . . . but I can't find what is probably a Brain 101 task so hoefully someone can shed light on this for me.

In case there is a better solution than variables, my goal is to use the plug-in enabled modbus, but I have a lot of data passed to modbus with the SET/GET which I understand does not work with the plug-in enabled version.

Therefor I need an alternate way to pass the data and using variables seems ideal except that any attempt to use a variable as input to a Brain 'rung' results in MACH locking up. 

Variables is a valid choice on the Brain editor dialogue box so I assume that I am just doing something wrong.

Any guidance will be much appreciated.

440

General Mach Discussion / Re: BT30 spindle from scratch - with power drawbar and ATC of course

« on: January 04, 2013, 06:18:33 AM »

And one last comment on the TB30 spindle;

The spindle is reassembled with the new die spring and initial testing shows it to work perfectly. There is considerably more travel and also more options as far as setting the forces. Currently it is set to a calculated force of approx 1,400lbs and there is an additional .050" travel after release of the tool.

This compares with . .  if I remeber right . . about 1,000lbs with the bellevilles and a scant few thousanths of travel after release.

I did not rebalance the spindle, so I can't comment on that aspect, but I don't forsee a problem there. If anything, at a few pennies under 20 bucks, I would be inclided to buy another spring and just balance the spring itself and call it a day. This spindle will run at max 7,500 and I will bench test it at that speed once I get the drive system built for it.