Messages

21

General Mach Discussion / can i duplicate pendant buttons on my custom console?

« on: January 02, 2013, 05:06:07 PM »

I am looking to purchase a vista cnc pendant and want to run it along side a custom control.

What I am not sure on is can I have double ups of the buttons.  The pendant has buttons like cycle start, pause, stop, rewind, jog and mpg and so on.  So if I have those buttons on the pendant can I also have a duplicate of those buttons on my console (minus mpg)?
I am using an ipac keyboard encoder so the buttons on the console will just emulate a keyboard keystroke.

Anyone done something similar to what I am proposing?

22

General Mach Discussion / Re: what pendant?

« on: January 01, 2013, 02:07:59 AM »

very intresting comments.

what vista pendant would be best.  i am thinking something like a p4 or p3a-e

anyone using these?

23

General Mach Discussion / what pendant?

« on: December 30, 2012, 11:48:02 PM »

i need to buy myself a pendant but due the the many available i am a little confused as to what on the get.

i don't have an issue with spending good money on good product.

i think i want something with a MPG. 

i am building a custom controller so need to know whatg buttons i can leave off the controller as they may be present on the pendant so there is no point doubling up on things like a mpg etc.

what as you guys recommending ?

have looked at the vista cnc gear.  looks the goods but is it good?

24

General Mach Discussion / Re: Time to show off my ATC

« on: December 29, 2012, 04:46:34 AM »

Looks like 14.2mm then opens up to 17.5mm to accept the shank of the nt30 (17.00mm)

Are you guys running those sort of revs with the vari speed heads or pullies?  I have turned up my inverter 10hertz above standard and to be honest thd vari head doesn't sound like it enjoys it to much so turned if back down.

25

General Mach Discussion / Re: Time to show off my ATC

« on: December 28, 2012, 05:28:11 PM »

The reason I ask is I have a bp clone with a nt30 and would love a tool changer but didn't think I had enough room for a gripper without modding the spindle.

Also how did you get your mill to 6000rpm. Did you use an inverter and turn up the hertz?

26

General Mach Discussion / Re: Time to show off my ATC

« on: December 28, 2012, 09:06:18 AM »

Looks looks a great thing.  Did you have to regrind the spindle to fit the bt30 gripper in?

27

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 on VMC or production lathe

« on: December 18, 2012, 08:14:05 AM »

yes i agree once it has bee done for the first time any more retrofits will be a lot easier.

i will keep my eyes and ears open for something and see what i can do with it.

i guess i am best keeping in the back of my mind that i may just have to replace all the drive and servos and completely rewire to interface mach3 as a worst case.

how do you guys go moving these suckers.  nearly 4-5 ton of iron must call for some specialist equipment.

28

General Mach Discussion / Re: spindle load feedback to mach3

« on: December 17, 2012, 07:28:41 PM »

wow thanks.  that would have been a great help when i was trying to sort these out when i got them.

cheers.

29

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 on VMC or production lathe

« on: December 17, 2012, 06:07:10 PM »

i started out with a manual mill and built the conversion for it.  had to work out the wiring and circuits from scratch.  aswell as getting the yaskawa servos running, make mounts for motors, get ground ball screws made etc.

I agree wiring diagrams would help alot.  i have no idea about vb script or plc but how hard can it be?

i guess it just comes down to what i can get for what price and what it  has fitted to it.  like you said if i got something that was all working i may just be able to interface mach3 with the current motors and drives and I/O's.
but if i have little to no info on the drives then wiring them up could be a nightmare. 
from whati  have seen good running condition 80's vintage iron (lathe) runs around the $5000 mark so i would want to pay alot less that that if i was the retro.

then i could have a great setup for less that 10K

i like the user friendlyness of mach 3 so that is an advantage straight up.

30

General Mach Discussion / Re: mach3 on VMC or production lathe

« on: December 17, 2012, 03:52:58 PM »

the retrofit of my bp clone has been a big learning curve and i am not against doing it again.  however something turnkey does look attractive but the $$ dont.

does a larger vmc work differently than my bp clone?  the electrical cab was a challange for me but if the same basic principles apply to a vmc compared to my knee mill then that makes me feel a bit better about tackling a vmc to retrofit as i would just more or less just copy what i know works and add tool changer detail etc.

have the knowledge to fix it myself would be a big bonus for sure.

so what would i be looking for in an old lathe to retrofit.

i have seen a mori SL3a for sale that seems in pretty good nick. is cuttently still running bout 84mod

also a nakamura  with everything i would pretty much want also still going strong (around 86mod) that has a fanuc contol on at the moment.  chip conveyor, 12 tool turret etc.

are the servos on these older machines a +/-10v set up or can they take step/dir aswell.  or would i just junk them and get something much newer.