Topics

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General Mach Discussion / Need info on Denford Starturn 4 CNC lathe

« on: April 19, 2008, 09:51:36 PM »

Hello

I went to an auction at the Community College today and came home with a Denford Starturn 4 CNC lathe. It's a 1988 machine made in England and I assume I will end up gutting this machine of it's electronics and running it on a PC with Mach3 as I have done with a Dynamatronics CNC mill. If anyone has information or has worked on this lathe I would like to hear from you as I have no manuals on this machine.

It is a 240 volt 50Hz machine so I don't know how much of the controls I would want to use. The spindle motor is a rather large DC brush type so that I should be able to control without any problem, it's the rest I have to figure out.

Fred

12

General Mach Discussion / Turning in a mill

« on: February 15, 2008, 09:09:10 AM »

I have a DYNA 2800 mill and I am thinking I would like to use the machine as a lathe to make some new pull studs for my tool holders.  I could use my engine lathe to put the threads on the stud blanks, then thread them into a tapped plug in CNC mill spindle. The mill would then turn the profile. I'm just not sure if the "Z" axis on a CNC lathe is the spindle as it is in the mill etc. Has anyone done this? What issues would I have?

Fred

13

General Mach Discussion / I really need some help!!!!!

« on: December 23, 2007, 03:08:49 PM »

Again this is a plea for help! I posted before, but I need someone with a good understanding of computers and drivers for help. I have a Dyna 2800 running Mach3 with original motors and driver boards. I have tried all the motor tuning and pulse setting changes I can think of. Whenever the machine tries to round a circular cut right before and after the X and Y change over areas the motors growl and chatter, the machine jumps and I can actually see the X movement table jump back. It sounds like a grinding bearing, but I know it is not. I have increased the pulse time to 10 and turned off the tool path but little is gained if anything.  Mechanically this machine is great so I feel that maybe my computer is not up to the job and I am in the process of securing a faster one for it, but I may also need to change the driver boards and maybe even the motors. They are half step. Please does anyone have some suggestions for what will correct the problem, is it just the computer or do I need to order a new set of driver boards?

The second issue is; if I stop the circular cutting program before it is finished and tell it to “go to Zero” it runs off to a different spot and resets “0” maybe as much as an inch or more away from where Zero should be.

I have a second slightly lighter machine with different driver boards and motors running Mach3 in the lab at work and it works great. So I know how it performs when everything is correct.

Please help!!!!!!

Fred Fulmer

14

General Mach Discussion / Losing zero by alot and can't cut a circle

« on: December 21, 2007, 10:10:26 PM »

I have a Dyna 2800 with steppers and I have two problems. First I have spent all day playing with the motor tuning trying to get it to cut a circle with out jumping around when it rounds on either end of the X movement. At a point on either side of the maximum X travel the motors growl and vibrate. I have read every post and made every adjustment I can think of. Do I need to replace the stepper boards and/or the motors???

The second problem started today; it now loses it "0" setting. If I try to cut a circle it will first run off and start cutting it off to the side and I mean almost an inch off of center. I also noticed when I zero the X setting it always has a - (negative) in front of it and not a + like the others.

I have burned out with this, anyone have any ideas? Help!!!!

15

General Mach Discussion / I give up!

« on: October 06, 2007, 05:16:39 PM »

About a month back I installed a second printer board in my computer, the test says it is there and working fine. I installed a second breakout board from CNC in Florida. I then wired my Manual Pulse Generator into the board as per the diagram from CNC. I got nothing!  I moved the MPG “A and B” wires to my first breakout board and it worked perfectly. I checked the RS-232 pins and got nothing!

It appeared that I was not getting the signal through the breakout board so I contacted CNC and he was kind enough to replace it with a new one. After replacing this board with a new one I still got nothing!!! Why is it not working? Oh yeah, I also changed the address for the second printer board to 400 in the “Ports and Pins” settings in Mach3. Although I must admit I don’t fully understand if that is correct or not but it comes from the LPT2 manager. Any computer people out there have any ideas what I missed or how I can test to locate the problem.

Fred

16

General Mach Discussion / I need help from someone who has installed a Manual Pulse generator

« on: September 11, 2007, 08:49:54 PM »

I installed a second printer port and a second breakout board so I could wire in a FANUC pulse generator. I pulled 5 volts DC power and ground from the machine power supply to the the breakout board. I then connected the "A" channel wired in to pin 11 and "B" channel wired in to pin 10 on the second breakout board. The pulse generator and breakout board share the same power and ground.
But when I power up the machine I have no "X", "Y" or "Z" movement, the Dro's move but noting else happens. If I disconnet the power going to the breakout board everythings goes back to working just fine.

Do I need to find another power supply for my MPG or can I tie these into a 5 volt pin from the breakout board? Any help would be appriciated.

Fred

17

General Mach Discussion / Lost my ability to select jog, step or MPG

« on: September 04, 2007, 08:39:26 PM »

I have lost my ability to use my keyboard for jogging, in fact I can’t switch between step and continues or MPG. I can not toggle between Jog and step nor do any of the indictors light up. It worked fine when I calibrated the machine, but since then it stopped working.  I had added the spindle and coolant start/stop function so I backed up and remove it and the pin outs but nothing changed. At this time I only have use of the job buttons on the screen in continues mode, which is impossible to move with any precision. Could I have turned something off?

Fred

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General Mach Discussion / Lazy Cam

« on: September 01, 2007, 08:20:10 PM »

I have the Beta of Lazy Cam, but would like to know if it will grow to do 3D models?

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General Mach Discussion / SolidCam Post

« on: August 31, 2007, 05:11:21 PM »

Has anyone used SolidCam with Mach3, if so I would like to know which post worked best if any. I ordered a small CNC machine to do prototypes for our engineering lab.  I use SolidWorks for design and our mold shop uses SolidCam. I called our SolidWorks/SolidCam re-seller and he acted like Mach3 was for kids and didn't want to bother.

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General Mach Discussion / SCSI port

« on: August 13, 2007, 08:33:16 PM »

Can I use a 25 pin SCSI port for a second port?

Fred