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Author Topic: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe  (Read 3917 times)

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Offline jeep534

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Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« on: January 10, 2019, 08:00:30 AM »
  I have a cnc lathe with a Fagor control the computer and access boards were damaged somehow  (prior to my purchase) the lathe as far as i can tell has not ran in quite some time. it would boot but not run.   After sending the (box) back to Fagor it was determined that repair or replacement / upgrade would be out of my price range.  On the order of 13,000  USD.   My plan is to integrate it with Mach4 and a Galill DMC 4133  motion controller.   This is a full on flat bed cnc lathe built about 15 years ago. It has 3 servo drives  (X Z and spindle) with loop closed at the computer. it also has  2 hand-wheels .  My goat is to get the machine back up and running with the hand-wheels and  existing buttons integrated with mach4. This is the direction  i am planning to take. The lathe has been taking up space in my shop for 3 years so it is time to get on with it. 

I know there are  many pieces to this puzzle and i am reaching out to the old hands for guidance.    I would guess the first question would be has anyone else done this  like i know Hood did a Hardinge 16C chucker with tool changer some years ago with mach3.

any comments- help would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Hunting
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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2019, 01:56:44 PM »
We have 3 lathes running Mach4; 2 of which are flat bed lathes.  I chose the HiCON Integra from Vital Systems as my motion controller.  I'm using that on several machines in the shop with excellent results.

One of the lathes we have is an old LeBlond that was a manual lathe, we stripped the old drive stuff off of it and added ball screws to the X and Z axis.  I added handwheels on the carriage because it is over 60" long.  All works very well. 

I don't have a tool changer on this lathe, but I have one on another lathe that is working great with Mach4 and the HiCON Integra.
Chad Byrd

Offline smurph

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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2019, 02:27:20 PM »
What kind of drives/servos?  Analog or positions controlled?

The Galil 4133 will run either type.  But lathe threading hasn't been implemented in the Galil plugin yet. 

Steve

Offline jeep534

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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2019, 08:28:29 PM »
steve   $#(#$)()    No threading that is a deal breaker for me any idea when it might be implemented.      i think the drives have analog inputs 


Thank You
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Offline jeep534

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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2019, 08:31:00 PM »
Chad 235 miles away maybe I can arrange a field trip....
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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2019, 09:07:32 PM »
Come on down sometime.
Chad Byrd

Offline smurph

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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2019, 10:37:07 PM »
steve   $#(#$)()    No threading that is a deal breaker for me any idea when it might be implemented.      i think the drives have analog inputs 

Well...  I pretty much need a lathe that has a Galil on it to implement and test the threading.  I had started the conversion of my manual lathe years ago just for this purpose.  But it is not finished and probably won't be for a while because I really just don't have the time to get it done!  :(

Kenny Crouch, the other programmer on the Galil plugin, has moved to St. Thomas Island in the Caribbean and could not bring his lathe with him.  So...  we just really don't have any machine to test with at the moment.

Steve

Offline jeep534

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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2019, 11:07:14 PM »
We have 3 lathes running Mach4; 2 of which are flat bed lathes.  I chose the HiCON Integra from Vital Systems as my motion controller.  I'm using that on several machines in the shop with excellent results.

One of the lathes we have is an old LeBlond that was a manual lathe, we stripped the old drive stuff off of it and added ball screws to the X and Z axis.  I added handwheels on the carriage because it is over 60" long.  All works very well. 

I don't have a tool changer on this lathe, but I have one on another lathe that is working great with Mach4 and the HiCON Integra.
Long story but I have 2 lathes and a mill  the two lathes have the fagor controls on them. they have Fagor servo amplifiers loop is closed at the control not at the servo amplifiers. after looking at the Hicon documentatuon there are extra units and software options that have to be paid for anyway what are you driving with the hicon boards.
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Offline jeep534

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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2019, 11:10:45 PM »
steve   $#(#$)()    No threading that is a deal breaker for me any idea when it might be implemented.      i think the drives have analog inputs 

Well...  I pretty much need a lathe that has a Galil on it to implement and test the threading.  I had started the conversion of my manual lathe years ago just for this purpose.  But it is not finished and probably won't be for a while because I really just don't have the time to get it done!  :(

Kenny Crouch, the other programmer on the Galil plugin, has moved to St. Thomas Island in the Caribbean and could not bring his lathe with him.  So...  we just really don't have any machine to test with at the moment.

Steve


Steve,    how much of a process is it to get the plug in to work do you just need a guinea pig  8)

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Re: Mach4 and Galill DMC 4133 on lathe
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2019, 11:15:58 PM »
One lathe has Servos and Drives from Automation Direct, one lathe has GSK Servos and Drives, and another is just running steppers.  All with the HiCON Integra.
We have an SL3 that me and my brother want to get the closed loop feature added on to just to see what kind of difference it makes, but we have really had great success with all 3 lathes without the closed loop feature.

Most of our I/O is being controlled through a PLC.  Much more stable signal and if I have any random ideas for the machine, I can run them through the PLC and not have to worry about Mach taking care of trivial things, like the lube pump or chip conveyor.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2019, 11:17:33 PM by Cbyrdtopper »
Chad Byrd