Knee Automation - Iggy

I was thinking about your comments on knee automation and had this thought. Do you really need to CNC control the knee in order to get the positioning you wanted except maybe for an extremely few parts? Why not just put a DRO of some type on that knee. Maybe not a fancy made for application one. Just a simple digital caliper (over sized for your ap of course) like used by a lot of the mini lathe guys on their tail stock. Or you could shop for deals until you find a fancy DRO at an auction somewhere.

I'm dealing with a lot of these same ideas on the Hurco retrofit, and I started with the concept of using an independent control just for raising and lower the knee, but then I thought, "Gee. Its not that hard to crank, and even if I do need to move it its only going to be once or twice during a fairly complex part." If it were hard to crank I could throw any old DC servo on it that's strong enough and power it from a variable voltage power supply for speed to move and slow speed to position with a DPDT spring loaded toggle switch. Maybe some diodes for protection of the switch.

Reply to
Bob La Londe
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You don't even need a DRO on the knee if you're doing tool touchoff to set the tool length offset. Indeed a single touchoff of a previously measured tool after a knee reposition will give you the offset to apply to the rest of the previously measured tools. There really isn't any reason to power the knee unless you plan to lock off the quill and use the knee as your Z.

Reply to
Pete C.

Bob, I am still stuck working on my 4th axis and I do not want to get into too much detail in the knee.

But I already have a nice servo ready DC gearmotor with a shaft for the encoder. All I will need to do to automate the knee is

1) Put encoder on the DC motor 2) Make a bracket to mount DC gearmotor 3) Add limit switches to the knee 4) Configure EMC

and I think that what I will get amounts to a huge value for not too much cost. The motor cost me $40 and the limit/home switch $40 IIRC.

There are very many parts where tool length differs by more than 4.5 inches, and without CNC knee, I would have to split programs into pieces to get done with what I want, plus I have to re-zero positions etc.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5053

How accurate is the table level as a function of knee height? Are there any options for implementing the knee lock, then re-zeroing the work position?

Reply to
whit3rd

"Pete C." fired this volley in news:4d35d419$0 $27311$ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.usenetmonster.com:

Well, Pete, actually there is a good reason.

I don't know what Iggy does, but I do a LOT of work where I have to find the center of existing old parts to machine new features in them. Many are plastic, which means I have to use a centering indicator instead of an edge finder.

Being that my centering indicator is more than 4" taller than my longest cutting tool, that puts me in the mode of _continually_ cranking the knee up and down to make headroom for it, then going back to my usual machine Z for the cutters. It gets wearisome. I will eventually power my knee, but I see no reason for DROs and the like. I just go (as was said) for a touch-off of a known tool, and done.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

whit3rd fired this volley in news:807bb7b6-2f38-4804- snipped-for-privacy@e20g2000vbn.googlegroups.com:

GOOD question! The one thing you don't want to do is work a critical piece without locking the knee, and the OTHER thing you don't want to do is start slewing that knee under CNC control while it's locked!

I definitely don't think you can count on the bed being dead-level until the knee is locked.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Why can't you use an edge finder on plastic? I do it all the time

Mike

Reply to
mdavenport

FWIW, depending on the characteristics of the knee joint, my bike has a lever that holds the front axle to the fork - the axle has the two nuts, but the one nut has a locking lever which is just an eccentric; I can release the lever, and get the wheel off by hand.

Just an idea, thinking about the knee lock.

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

....probably has one of those electrical edge finders.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

snipped-for-privacy@iname.com fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I'm in the fireworks business; my hearing ain't that great when there ISN'T a BP spindle running.

(yes, I have both "clickers" and electrical edge finders...) I can still hear the mechanical ones on steel, but have trouble hearing the edge on PVC or polyethylene.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Yes, as soon as the difference between tool lengths is too great, it means constantly going up and down and touching off. Gets tiring very quickly.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5053

got it

Reply to
mdavenport

No problem, just sell me your Interact with it's inadequate Z travel for a decent price, and then go find yourself something like a Mycenter 1 with longer travels, more horsepower, ATC and a footprint that isn't a lot larger :) I'll help you with the rigging and moving...

Reply to
Pete C.

Considering that these are "knee" mills and in their manual form are intended to use the knee as the primary precision Z axis, I think you are way off base thinking that the knee needs to be locked.

Reply to
Pete C.

How generous of you ;-)

I like my Interact VERY much.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5053

"Pete C." fired this volley in news:4d365f7a$0$14607 $ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.usenetmonster.com:

Pete, the little training I have had taught that the knee shall _always_ be locked during machining. I'm not sure why the locks would be there at all, unless they serve a functional purpose.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

That's bad or misinterpreted training. The knee is your Z in normal manual machining, not the quill and you have to have it unlocked to do any machining with a Z move. What you may be misinterpreting is the recommendation that you lock and axis you aren't moving for a particular machining operation, which applies to X and Y as well. Locking any axis you aren't moving will increase rigidity by locking out the backlash in the axis, as well as protecting it from you accidentally bump the handle when reaching for something.

Reply to
Pete C.

"Pete C." fired this volley in news:4d36e6a5$0 $16000$ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.usenetmonster.com:

And your point? I do not move the knee except to get to a position. Once in that position, I lock it. Manual or CNC -- lost motion is your enemy.

And normally, one would not (say) drill with the knee crank, one would lock knee-Z at the clearance point, and peck with the spindle feed. Knee feed is for "getting there", even if the holes are deeper than the spindle extension length.

I believe _any_ axis not being moved during a cut should be locked. It would normally be quite inconvenient on a manual mill to lock X or Y unless you were only doing straight lines, but the opportunities to lock the knee gibs are often and many. FWIW, I do not guess, but know, that the table is not level and true on my old Cincy #2 until the knee locks are tight enough that you _cannot_ easily move it with the crank. Can't tell you that for sure on the R2E4, though, because I've never checked the whole table end-for-end and side-to-side for planarity.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

It's a mill, not a drill press. On a manual knee mill the quill is there for quick drill type operations, while the knee is intended for use as the precision Z axis for milling operations (with the quill locked). My point is that if the knee needs to be locked to make the table level, your gibs on the knee need to be adjusted, that is not a normal condition. Since your CNC mill is based on a manual knee mill design, the same applies there as well.

Reply to
Pete C.

Interesting discussion. I don't think I've "ever" locked the knee.

On both my mills, I trammed in the head by using a dial indicator several inches out from the quill and adjusted till perfect in both X and Y. I always watch when using a large face mill to verify that the head in still in perfect tram. There's nothing that shows out of tram quicker than a skim cut with a large face mill.

I can see where locking the knee might change this. If you're getting good results with out locking the knee I think it would be best to never do so.

However, I bet many machines out there have more wear at the center of travel and using a face mill with the knee all the way down would produce different results than at the center of travel. In this case, always locking the knee would improve things.

My two cents

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

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