hi there
it took alot of time to get back
i'm very happy to join the masters again
here is the new subject
i'm working on a lathe machine and dream to make it with dual spindle
and here is the problems to discuss :
1- auto close chuck
2- the second spindle picking from the first one
3- the cad cam process to achieve that
i have some ideas to talk about bur let's begin from the beginning
by experiences

hope the great masters to join and enrich this discussion

 

some thing else :
i reed about the g14 code which make mirroring to the g-code automatically do any body know about that and how to activate it in mach3
hope these links help:
https://diy.haascnc.com/g14g15-spindle-swap
http://www.cimindustry.com/article/metalworking/understanding-two-spindle-turning-technology

I'm certainly not the best to talk about this, but I'd say it's not going to work well with Mach3. Mach 3 only supports one spindle, so without some form of logic external to mach, be that a more mechanical/electronic or processor form, along with various macros to control things, it won't work.

I'm sure Mach 4 could manage it, although probably not the Hobby version, however it would be best to post over on the Mach Yahoo Group, as Brian is more likely to respond over there than on here.

Regardless, I'd say you're going to have to do a reasonably amount of custom configuration/programming to implement all the typical dual spindle functions.

thank you mc for your contribution

I'm sure Mach 4 could manage it,

:-D When it's fully baked :-P

The first thing you need is multi-spindle CAM, then you can look at how that might work with the various control packages, LinuxCNC is likely to be a better fit than Mach4 but unless some developer is actually cutting parts on a dual spindle machine support might be sketchy at least.

thank you very much
it is a good help
but there is a member whom has made it
and here is his vedio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyirJ8cPgQo

If you look at that posters other videos, and some of the titles/comments, I'd guess he's using some form of external controller to slave the secondary spindle to the first, and the secondary spindle linear movement is treated as a B-axis.

Using that technique it is doable using any lathe controller, however you're not getting independent spindle control. You always have to have the primary spindle running when you have the secondary spindle running. It will work for most things, although it will use more energy having the primary spindle always running.
And you'd need added complexity if you want to offset the spindle alignment, like in that Hass manual with the example so jaw chucks can interlock/overlap.

but there is a member whom has made it

He is using a PLC, essentially a PLC is an industrial automation computer and you would need to know what functions the PLC deals with, what software was written to do this and how the automation is handled from within Mach3, he's using Modbus to communicate with the PLC but his G-Code will have to include stuff to initiate this.
None of this is standard CAM output, you would be able to write your own Post Processor for a CAM system to support the hardware.
I think there are more learning curves in there than you might thnk ;-)

 - Nick