Messages

781

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homann DC04? Threading with pics

« on: December 15, 2009, 09:34:42 PM »

Rich, Actually I want to thank you for the effort to explain the threading concept and Peter Homann's DC-04 for making it work for a very reasonable price. I have a very limited math background (high school) and I didnt see the associations at the time. You know the saying "if I knew then what I know now"? Well the girls would have still been irresistable! It is good for the mind to keep learning. I cant imagine the frustration before forums like this and having to use the Dewey Decimal System to find a book that might have some info or not. This place is a god send. Even though I still get frustrated in the middle of the night when no one responds it actually makes me read the directions over and over and over. Eventually I get it. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU! Dont think for a minute this means I have acheived anything. Tomorrow I will babbling about something else, probably a bigger lathe and mill! I threaded a bolt at 500 rpm this afternoon. 1/4-20 that had a feedrate of 25 ipm pretty funny to watch on a Sherline. Another amazing thing was how much the carriage, toolpost and gibs were moving (mostly because I quickly threw the spindle from the mill to the lathe and didnt fix any previous issues yet) and they still cut an excellent thread. Cant wait to tighten it up and test again.

782

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homann DC04? Threading with pics

« on: December 15, 2009, 05:48:27 PM »

Rich the article was well written just very technical and a few concepts I am not grasping (not that I can think of any one thing right now). This must be a relatively difficult procedure for most of us laymen judging from the responses to the related threads. It wasnt as bad as I built it up to be. I am having fun playing with it now. I did get a 1/4-20 nut and threaded it onto a thread I cut today and it fit better than the bolt I copied.

783

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homann DC04? Threading with pics

« on: December 15, 2009, 08:35:08 AM »

Rich
Do you see something blatantly obvious that is incorrect? I did read that write up more than 2 times. Some of the literature regarding this topic is difficult to read. I always doubted the A.D.D. or hyperactive label  but I am starting to have my concerns. At the time I cut those threads impatience had gotten the best of me and I just had to hit "cycle start".  You can only hope you are understanding it for so long then its time for action. I actually cut that set of threads many times at many different speeds with various features I didnt fully (or partially) understand and I  wasnt really getting the helpful responses to progress. I do find the results in aluminum were much better at 400 rpm than they were for 175 rpm. Also cutting fluid produced the best results. Even though the lathe is a Sherline it is so much more rigid that trying to thread via the mill.

784

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homann DC04? Threading with pics

« on: December 15, 2009, 01:17:49 AM »

By tomorrow that will all change. I will either measure a bolt or look up the specs and make 1. Thanks for the new found possibilities. Of course I am still trying to find out why I am doing this. I think it is the challenge to say the least.

785

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homann DC04?

« on: December 15, 2009, 12:11:16 AM »

Here is a pic of it. Of course the diameters are not relevant to anything. Just testing repeatability of the cutting tip to follow the previous path. Incredible, to me anyway. Obviously I need help in photography too!

786

General Mach Discussion / Re: Homann DC04?

« on: December 14, 2009, 11:40:38 PM »

Peter
Thanks for the response. I have talked to my ISP but I guess asking questions here puts me on some kind of watch list! Email activations have been ignored also. Anyway I got it running pretty well today. I cut a thread at 20 tpi at 400 rpm on an old sherline with some backlash in x not compensated for and they turned out real well. Maybe not perfect but hell it was my first try and I using a piece of electrical tape across my pulley. I am thinking of using a thinner piece of tape but the indexing was spot on at 400 rpm indicated. I did try it with and without spindle feedback or averaging at different times. Seemed like it did work better without the feedback. Yesterday seemed like the opposite. Anyway it has been fun and I have an insatiable appetite for info when I am in the middle of something so patience might not be my forte. The delay caused me to read a lot of info on wikipedia and here. Nothing I didnt need to do. Do look into my email, it was thru your support on your website.

787

General Mach Discussion / Homann DC04? Threading with pics

« on: December 14, 2009, 08:42:56 AM »

I have just installed a DC-04 and got it working pretty well. I am not getting any response from Peter. Could be that I sent the mail on the weekend or could be computer problems as I have been experiencing all kinds of strange email problems. Almost no email for a week or more including no junk mails then a flood. Anyway, I can use the tach and in manual mode I can attain a 1450 rpm, however under automatic I can only get 1096-1100? I have tried changing the PID values and it did help me to understand what those settings were for, they didnt help. I had read about a trimpot adjustment but the way it was worded made me think it was for the manual setting. Anyone have an idea? I did get to do some threading and it is very close to correct and cool to watch without having to worry if you are going to engage into the correct location manually. Speed control matches the S command perfect until 1100 rpms.

788

General Mach Discussion / Re: A Simple But Useful Probing Trick

« on: December 14, 2009, 08:33:27 AM »

I tested mine off of the mill first just to make sure Mach was seeing the signal. After that was resolved there have been no problems. I did have some configuration issues at first but I have those with every change LOL.

789

General Mach Discussion / Re: Spindle speed calibration?

« on: December 13, 2009, 11:12:02 PM »

Restarted this morning and the rpms followed the requested speed for some reason. I had restarted many times yesterday after making settings changes. Cant seem to go over 1100 rpm in the auto mode but I can hit 1450 in manual. Pulley is set to 1480 max. I have excellent speed control til then. Might be a trimpot? Played with the PID settings to see what they did. Lots to read there. I threaded on my sherline mill using the z and putting a toolpost with a sideways mounted tool. It worked well after alot of errors on my part, well might be stretching it. I can see where I am going to put the motor onto the lathe for the rigidity (that is a relative term)

790

General Mach Discussion / Re: A Simple But Useful Probing Trick

« on: December 13, 2009, 10:58:38 PM »

Ray,
just get the probing working like a charm. I have a probe that has been collecting dust for a long time
and one of these days would like to try it out without breaking it !
RICH
Rich is it Zarzuls model? If so insert it and run a g31 it will stop on contact and retract. John[[/quote]