Topics

1

General Mach Discussion / help required on stepper motor drives, controller, BOB etc. Mill conversion

« on: August 14, 2016, 04:17:48 PM »

Hi all,
Quick question(s)
I'm gonna convert a smallish vertical mill I have (AEW Viceroy Horizon) to Mach 3 control. I am NOT an electrician, so help would be gratefully received  ! first off, I have converted an Orac to Mach 3 which I am very pleased with, now I want to convert the manual mill to Mach3.
I have the ball screws 32mm diameter, these need machining to suit and I have some steppers to control the axis, the steppers are MAE HY200-4266-34 A8, 200 steps/rev, 4 steps, 3.4a/phase. I believe these are still available, there is a catalogue listing these online,  I have drives, but cant find anything on them except Harting 09 04 032/692/1 which I think are just the multi pin connectors for the drives.
So, if I cant understand the drives, what drives shall I use? the motors are hybrid steppers with 8 wires and can be wired uni-polar, bi-polar parallel or bi-polar series.
The Orac has 2 printer ports to the PC, shall I use the same set up, or would anyone recommend an alternative?
thank you for taking the time to read my post, any help of course would be gratefully received!
Best Regards,
Wayne

2

General Mach Discussion / M99

« on: June 11, 2016, 02:12:38 PM »

Hi,
M99 (return from sub routine) does not work on my machine anymore, any ideas?
am I gonna have to do a reinstall? if so, which xml file do I save and where do I put it? !!!!
best regards,
Wayne
P.S. the version is R3.043.066 and its licenced
Neither does M1 or M30  work

3

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 lathe tool offset

« on: May 28, 2016, 02:27:55 PM »

Hi all, and a happy bank holiday to us in the UK.
quick question, my installation on my lathe does not display the tool number in the screen, I can call up the offset in MDI and it becomes active as the change in distance as the offset is loaded is visible in the axis DRO but it doesn't show the tool number. also during a program run, the tool offset isn't called up, neither is the tool number, ive no idea whats going on, has anyone else experienced this issue and how can I rectify it? BTW, it used to work.
ah well, back to a FANUC equipped Doosan with a Y axis and 2 spindles.........and way too much complexity ..

4

General Mach Discussion / Mach 3 utter bollox

« on: October 18, 2015, 10:23:47 AM »

a couple of questions.
1, why cant I use MDI after running a program? I have to shut Mach 3 down and restart it.
2, why when I use single block on a program (1st run, checking moves are correct) the poxy system doubles up a value and shoots of in whatever direction of the addition
3, there must be better alternatives out there, anyone got a recommendation? ive had enough of this product!

5

General Mach Discussion / A axis DRO on standard Lathe screen

« on: September 20, 2015, 12:14:01 PM »

Hi,
is it possible to display a DRO for an A axis on the standard Lathe screen set? I want to do this while I try to get a tool turret working on my Denford Orac, using a stepper motor. Any other help etc gratefully received too!

6

General Mach Discussion / Benchman VMC 4000

« on: July 12, 2013, 12:56:45 PM »

Hi to all on this extremely hot summers day here in South Wales. anyroad up, Ive just bought a Benchman VMC 4000 with a 4 position tool changer for £200 and althought it came with shed loads of bits (cutters, toolholders e.t.c.) there is only a programing manual and to get it out of the factory where it was being used to mill and drill plastic components, they stripped out the z axis encoder and tool change air cylinder so what I am looking for is a parts/maintenance manual. does anyone have one they could scan or sell to me? BTW it looks a well made little machine with DC servos and it is windows pc driven. I am not sure if the company that made these is still in existence, does anyone know? I may convert to Mach 3 or by the time I get around to fixing it, Mach 4!
Stay safe every one & have a great weekend.
Wayne

7

General Mach Discussion / Now the Orac is 90% done, mill next!

« on: December 13, 2012, 12:44:15 PM »

Hi everyone,
Like the title says the Orac is 90% done, just waiting a response from Homann designs on what spindle speed control board to use. Next up is the conversion of an AEW Viceroy vertical mill to Mach 3. The mill can be seen on Tony Griffiths website, www.lathes.co.uk, mine is the plain vertical with no quill feed, Z axis feed is by elevating the knee. I am, starting to "acquire" componentry as in ball screws and next, steppers. I cant afford or find servos and I guess fitting those would be above my meagre budget and skills!! I used Nema 34 motors on the Orac but I am wondering if I should use bigger motors such as Nema 42 motors and while I will fit ball screws to X & Y what about Z? would a ball screw be okay to use as it would be elevating the knee? or should I stick with the current ACME lead screw? also I am gonna try & figure a way to retain manual table elevation as well as CNC so shall have to devise a toothed belt driven coupling to the screw direct instead of the bevel gear drive that the hand wheel uses. Has anyone else done a retro fit such as this, will I be able to use all of Mach 3s functionality while relying on table elevation as my Z axis? I feel a bit more confident in another conversion as I feel that the Orac went quite well, with big thanks to Hood for his help! Any ways, see what you think as I am open to all ideas!
On another note, an ex-colleague of mine bought new in 2007 a CNC masters Supramill, this has been the biggest pain in the backside ever, its just about useless, very unstable and prone to just doing its own thing like taking a bite out of a hardened milling vice or fresh air for no apparent reason, very, very dangerous to man and machine. anyone converted one to run Mach?
That's all for now!
Croz

8

General Mach Discussion / Cycle start switch on Mach turn

« on: December 10, 2012, 03:51:17 PM »

Hi to all,
I have a question, Ive been looking at the control panels some have posted on here and of course I am green with envy! Ive got an Advantech touch screen on my little Orac and 2 MPGs controlling X and Z and of course an Estop but what I would like to do is to fit cycle start button, feed hold etc. How do I do this? bear with me as I am a swarf maker, not a sparky! Also I run the spindle via a Jaguar Cub VFD, manually controlled, need to get Mach to run this as well, I haven't got a clue about PWM etc any one offer advice please? Can the VFD be controlled with M03/M04 and is CSS available on Mach? I have built this machine over the last year or so, none of the original Denford hardware is in use, I even replace the steppers!
Cheers to all and seasons greetings to you!
Wayne

9

General Mach Discussion / Feed rate overide pot

« on: September 28, 2012, 05:02:17 PM »

Hi All,
My Orac Mach 3 conversion is doing fine and been up and running for a good few months now, thanks to Hood for his advice on spindle position sensor, threading is superb (do need a bit more power on spindle motor though) what I would like to do is fit a manual feedrate and rapid override pot (like on FANUC systems) rather than try to use the icon on my screen. Anyone else fitted one and what was your course of action? I need this as on 1st off or cut, I feel its necessary as a form of safety, rather than potentially crash tool on rapid or feed rate into the workpiece in the chuck.
Regards,
Wayne

10

General Mach Discussion / Turn wizards?

« on: April 18, 2012, 09:11:36 AM »

Hi,
Was messing around with the view tab and load screens on my Mach 3 turn installation and my turn wizards have gone, replaced with the mill wizards, Eek! can I get them back and if so, how, or do i have to reinstall Mach 3 turn?
Help!
Best regards,
Wayne