Metalworking

Sure. What do you have on your mind?

Boy, I had hoped after the election we would be able to get back to it, but it doesn't seem so.

Jon

Not so much anymore.

I find myself drifting away. Tis a shame, I need to find a place to hang out like the RCM of old.

Karl

There will be metalworking talk here in the very near future. After visiting Iggy a couple weeks ago and hauling home a rather heavy Lagunmatic 320, I will be getting it running and checked out and then rapidly getting into retrofitting it to PC/LinuxCNC control.

On the retrofit end, I'm looking at your PPMC line trying to determine what I will need. It looks like it should be a relatively straightforward retrofit since this is a 1992 vintage machine and thus avoids some of the oddities of older machines like resolvers.

Overall machine specs:

Three axis with Baldor servos and Baldor servo amps +/- 10V input Quadrature encoders w/ differential output with index (not sure CPR yet, presume 2000 or better given the age of machine) Saftronics/Yaskawa spindle VFD, 0-10V/F/R control (no Modbus) Usual home/limit switches (9 inputs)

I will want 4th axis support, so am I looking at one of your 4 axis D/A for the servos, and a second one for the spindle control? Same for rigid tapping, do I need an encoder card for the 4 axes and a second for a spindle encoder? MPG input via encoder card or DIO card? Package discount?

Thoughts on using a touchscreen with LinuxCNC? Is it worth spending the $500 or so on a TS monitor? Where are the best forums to review for info on your PPMC and LinuxCNC? I looked at some of the referenced forums and don't see recent posts in many of them.

If you want to PM me: a u x 3 4 (at) w p n e t (dot) u s

Pete, this mill should be easy to convert, it is very straightforward in operation. Not sure how easy it would be to mount an encoder on the spindle, mechanically, this may be an issue.

i

Yep, no easy place for an encoder, but given the large size it would seem there should be room to sneak something in. I loaded up LinuxCNC last night and was surprised at the continued lack of UI refinement, I would have thought in the last half dozen years it would have improved. I've got some run caps on order to build up a 14HP RPC with a motor I have on hand, I may see what I can powerup for testing with the 3HP RPC I use on my lathe this weekend.

I may have some spindle encoder pulleys as used on OmniTurns that can be adapted to your machine. I may even have an encoder (and the pin outs), Ill have to dig around in my Stuff.

Gunner

The methodology of the left has always been:

1. Lie
2. Repeat the lie as many times as possible
3. Have as many people repeat the lie as often as possible
4. Eventually, the uninformed believe the lie
5. The lie will then be made into some form oflaw
6. Then everyone must conform to the lie

With adequate filters, this group is still very much on topic...

Jon

You can run your mill from the small RPC you have, if you have good voltage balance, just do not load the spindle.

i

My filters are catching about 80% of the posts here. There's still a whole lot of good, interesting info here, both on metalworking and other subjects.

I gave up on the Wreck yesterday when my filters went over 90%. It just isn't worth it.

Actually, it should be able to do modest cuts as well, the only 3ph things in the machine are the spindle VFD and the coolant pump, the drives and controls are all single phase.

This. I still don't understand why so many folks seem to whine about stuff that is easy to filter. It took me a day or two to build my (NEWSPROXY) filters and they haven't changed much in years.

It's pretty simple...

--if you don't want to hear MY political opinion, then shut the f*ck up about YOURS.

Hey Pete,

Be afraid...be very afraid !!! I cooked up a pretty nice RPC, and the standing/idling voltages got adjusted to some thing I think is quite reasonable. It runs the Bridgeport,OK, and the surface grinder, but when I hooked it to the 5HP CNC lathe...POP !!! Keeps blowing a "control" fuse. On looking at the wiring, I note that the ONLY thing that REQUIRES three phase is the spindle motor and the coolant pump. Everything else is essentially single phase 220. These single phase loads are connected to two legs, so the loads are "distributed" across the supply to create a "balanced load". I think I should have just hooked everything across the "hot" legs.

So, be afraid...be very afraid !! of hooking any part of the CNC that is "electronic" to the RPC, no matter how good the balance looks.

Take care.

Good Luck.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

Yes, I will ensure that all the single phase loads are on the two "real" supply legs and the manufactured leg only goes to the VFD and coolant pump.

But do all drives run from L1-L2?

I believe they do, or certainly the will if needed with a little rewiring.

See

for how I did it on a Bridgeport 1J head. There is a heavy casting that completely surrounds the bull gear on the spindle, just about the only thing that always turns at spindle speed whether in high- or low-range.

Some of us really LIKE the UI, and don't want anything changed! We have added the mocca GUI from Germany, and Touchy, for touch screens.

Really, there shouldn't be any need for a rotary converter on a CNC machine. Use the VFD directly off the single-phase mains, and power the servo amps and everything else from single-phase, too.

Jon

This machine follows the same basic design as a 2J, but given it's

5/7.5HP size it's scaled up a bit. There should be room in there, and I have manual mills to do any fitting.

Which one? I looked at various screen shots from the LinuxCNC site as well as samples from the install and none of them seemed to resemble the UI of a "real" commercial CNC control which is what I consider the standard for how the UI should look.

I'm not sure if the spindle VFD will take a single phase input, certainly I didn't find mention of it in my quick review of its manual. The coolant pump is also three phase, but perhaps I can set it up with a static converter type setup.