Messages

91

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: May 22, 2009, 04:11:52 PM »

no power management for the usb in device manager.

mach will just freeze mid run , hour glass pops up, motion stops and spindle cuts to 78 rpm . Cannot exit unless I open the cabinet and unplug the usb plug from the smooth stepper. I can then close mach and an error message pops up. I then have to reboot and everything will work OK for a little while. It was happening about every 10 minutes. I reloaded the usb driver for SS and its now just doing it 90 minutes or so. Has done it twice since reloading the driver earlier in the day .


I can minimize Mach when it freezes and go to device manager and SS is not present

 Hopefully its something simple. I am so close.

I dont have anything set to sleep or hibernate, no screen savers and all unneccesary stuff is off

92

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: May 22, 2009, 11:47:45 AM »

I keep loosing communication with SS now and MACH locks up , have to unplug the USB to close MACH . I also seem to have to choose the spindle sync check box everytime I open Mach

93

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: May 22, 2009, 09:19:25 AM »

No Thank You , I have hung in since Master5 and never expected the software would become so full featured

94

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: May 22, 2009, 08:45:51 AM »

That was it, I checked use spindle feedback and the threads look great.... so many settings , buttons and things to configure I just cant keep up. I am glad for this group and all the help.

 I have run half a dozen test cuts at 20 tpi , all look great at 40x on the microscope, and more importantly they mesh properly with tubes threaded on the other lathe running mach and the tubes threaded on the Haas . I am going to work with course threads next . Thanks

95

General Mach Discussion / Re: Problems threading on the lathe

« on: May 21, 2009, 09:43:12 PM »

Wow I am glad to see this thread has taken hold and there has been positive progress on lathe threading .
I am still having problems threaading with the lathe from page one.
I dont think spindle HP is an issue , motor is 30hp , Rpm never varies more than 1 rpm no matter how heavy the cut. machine is equiped with ballscrews and has almost zero backlash . Was new one year ago when this project started and has less than 200 hours on it t date. Motors are 2kw ac servos. In my original configuration I was alternating between a single slotted disk and the factory encoders index pulse. The results with both were the same , threads would overlap and starts were random.

After talking with Hood about his threading success I decided the smooth stepper might be the key . I have it up and running nicely , but I am still having problems with threading. The problem now each time a new pass starts, it starts just a few degrees later . On a 3-4 pass thread 40 tpi or so you can only see the problem under a microscope. With course threads like 10 tpi that require 12 or so passes it quite obvious. The valley ends up flat bottom as if the tool has started slightly later or at aprox z-.001 deeper on pass one, z-.002 deeper on pass two and so on.

My rpms appear very stable, all the motors are strong enough there is no mechanical loss. No backlash . I am not getting the variable pitch problems as some folks earlier in the thread, doesnt matter if i thread .5" or 8 inches in length.

What really has me confused is I have a crappy 13x40 enco lathe I purchased in the 80's , very well worn, with dc servos , 2 hp spindle motor and cheap ball screws that turns perfect threads. This one drops 10-15 rpms everytime it makes a new pass but still cuts perffect threads . I have threaded both ends of hundreds of suppressor tubes and thousands of end caps and barrels and it turns perfect threads everytime. The only things I can think of that might be an issue is i am using version 2.54 on this machine, I dont know that the computer has made a difference , I was using a 2.2ghz p4 for most of a year and a few months ago started using an older p3 , and its cut perfect threads with both.

All the above rambling aside , are we getting pretty close to having a workable plugin for threading?

 Anyone have any thoughts on what I might try with my big lathe , I have more help in the shop now and plenty of time to get this lathe threading properly and i am willing to try /experiment with just about anything to get the threading ironed out. As far as HP , accuracy and rigidity this thing is a perfect test bed so feel free to throw out suggestions.

96

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lost communication with PLC after SS instal

« on: May 21, 2009, 03:40:53 PM »

just cut the first half a dozen test threads and they look just perfect

97

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lost communication with PLC after SS instal

« on: May 21, 2009, 01:58:19 PM »

much thanks , seems to be working like a champ

98

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lost communication with PLC after SS instal

« on: May 21, 2009, 01:50:49 PM »

hooking it up now , fingers crossed

99

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lost communication with PLC after SS instal

« on: May 21, 2009, 11:47:33 AM »

I have looked it up on the renco sight and its a std qaud encoder with index , I actualy had the index hooked to my breakout board last year and it seemed to work fine . I have gone back to the slotted disk  since as there was some concern the pulse might not be long enough for the current combination to read accuratley.

On the subject of my current slotted disk and index pulse , how do i go about attaching it to the smooth stepper board?

I am using the c3 index pulse board from cnc4pc

100

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lost communication with PLC after SS instal

« on: May 21, 2009, 10:14:30 AM »

well I seem to be all dialed in , I followed Gregs spindle setup in this thread http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,9523.10.html  and then I ran the spindle calibration routine and its running within 2% accross the board .

I currently have my index pulse attached to my BOB , one leg to gnd the other to pin 14 . I would like to attach to the SS board , which term do I attach to ?

I am not going to bother you for how to attach my qaud spindle encoder with index (yet)  but if its pretty simple could you give a basic rundown so I can save it for future refrence. My encoder wiring is listed as follows

lead sig A = A + N
Refrence sig = B + P
Lag Signal B = C + R

N P and R are all listed as GND and I assume  B is signal