emco pc mill 50 & similar

[mactec54]

Hi Randy Forbes

Yes that is the one but I see his price has got quite high he will have them on special
price sometimes the last one I got from him was under $80

[Randy Forbes]

Hi Randy Forbes

Yes that is the one but I see his price has got quite high he will have them on special
price sometimes the last one I got from him was under $80

Okay, thanks. I'll just keep an eye on his website, and not make any impulsive decisions.

[lanb]

I just measured one of my original Emco holders and the pull stud portion is around 0.075 shorter on the Emco than a standard BT30 pull stud although I am not sure this is a valid measurement since it would reallly need to be measured from a fixed point on the taper or from teh back of the grooved front part. I have a couple of BT30 holders coming that I got on Ebay and I will get a better idea if they are going to work. I will fit one of them with a standard BT30 pull stud and dee how it compares with the original Emco holders.

Maritool has holders for ER35 collets for $75 and pull studs for $17.50.

I am waiting to hear from dandrmfg (the ebay folks) to see if their pull stud is compatible with a standard BT30 holder and what they cost. That could be teh way to go. I will let you know what I find out in the next couple of days.

BR,
Lan

[Randy Forbes]

Series 55 Holders (works on older Series 50) quoted from Emco/Zak Lyons yesterday:
F1Z 010 @ $146.00 each (collet type)
F1Z 020 @ $126.00 each (arbor for shell type cutters)

And in further developments...

In part, by copying portions of the program that were written with the help of my teacher, last night I wrote a program myself! This program should actually be a subroutine, but as a total newb, it was less complicated to just compile the code using the previous program as a guide.

I still need to write another (subroutine) program to get the bottom side of the blocks machined.

Once I get the cooling lined up (more questions on that...) I'll be ready to run a small batch in aluminum

Catching up on pictures, here's the PC Mill 50 set up next to my RF Mill/Drill:



Preparing raw material, cut with Porta-Band and squared up w/manual mill:







Testing with wax; first operation done, ready for second op:



After second operation; need to cut ledge another .0530" deeper:





All in all, it has taken less time to get up to speed (albeit, a very leisurely walking pace) than I had expected. Making some comical mistakes along the way, like rapidly reaching the coordinate to drill a hole, and have it assume the feed rate as the bit rises away from the part. That one still makes me laugh!

[lanb]

Looks great. Much better than my first attempt last night. I had a stock squaring problem.

I just got a reply from dandrmfg (ebay) and the pull studs are $9.99 each plus $12 S&H
I will be ordering 4 in 12x1.75 thread annealed. These shoudl work well with standard BT30 tool holders of which I have a couple on the way that I bought on EBay. The Maritool holders with dandrmfg studs are a better price than the emco ones and offer an unlimited supply chain. Biggest difference is the use of wrenches instead of tommy bars as Emco uses.

Have fun!
Lan

[lanb]

dandrmfg has created a listing for the Emco pull studs at:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=190334478488

I ordered four so there should be six still up for sale.
This is the best price I have seen for pull studs for BT30 holders and they are Emco specific. Regular BT30 pull studs are $17.95 @ maritol which is the second best price I could find.

BR,
Lan

[Randy Forbes]

dandrmfg has created a listing for the Emco pull studs at:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=190334478488

I ordered four so there should be six still up for sale.
This is the best price I have seen for pull studs for BT30 holders and they are Emco specific. Regular BT30 pull studs are $17.95 @ maritol which is the second best price I could find.

BR,
Lan

Okay, two (2) Emco studs from Ebay, and two (2) BT30 tool holders from Maritool are on the way. I also ordered the collet wrench from Maritool.

Tommy bars? Have you been reading British sportscar workshop manuals? That's the only place I've ever heard them referred to as "tommy bars" LOL!

[lanb]

I got the "Tommy Bar" terminology from using a Sherline mill and lathe. They use them for everything. Although I like the image of me working away in a British garage on classic cars!

Lan

[Randy Forbes]

I got the "Tommy Bar" terminology from using a Sherline mill and lathe. They use them for everything. Although I like the image of me working away in a British garage on classic cars!

Lan

I've had this one nearly thirty-two (2) years. I'm probably close to getting an Honorary Limey status...

1957 Austin-Healey 100/6 w/rare two-seater body.



High resolution image: http://www.rfdm.com/albums/album107/IMG_5445.jpg



High resolution image: http://www.rfdm.com/albums/album107/IMG_5455.jpg

[Randy Forbes]

The milling machine content of my last post can be seen in the high resolution picture of the rear of the car; I bought my RF mill/drill, sized specifically to do the demascening (engine-turned) finish on the instrument panel.

[Randy Forbes]

dandrmfg has created a listing for the Emco pull studs at:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=190334478488

I ordered four so there should be six still up for sale.
This is the best price I have seen for pull studs for BT30 holders and they are Emco specific. Regular BT30 pull studs are $17.95 @ maritol which is the second best price I could find.

BR,
Lan

Still waiting on the studs, but here's an idea on how long the Maritool holders are, compared to the Emco ones.

[Randy Forbes]

Looks great. Much better than my first attempt last night. I had a stock squaring problem.

I just got a reply from dandrmfg (ebay) and the pull studs are $9.99 each plus $12 S&H
I will be ordering 4 in 12x1.75 thread annealed. These shoudl work well with standard BT30 tool holders of which I have a couple on the way that I bought on EBay. The Maritool holders with dandrmfg studs are a better price than the emco ones and offer an unlimited supply chain. Biggest difference is the use of wrenches instead of tommy bars as Emco uses.

Have fun!
Lan

Stock squaring, yes, these (my first attempt at "batch-work") might not be so perfect either; the operation of drilling the hole(s) on the end of the block are off about .0035", like as a result of them not sitting perfectly flat (or the vise-tilting when being cinched down).

But, the progam has been written, tested and debugged, and I've run off a few pieces.

I decided to go with mist-cooling, based on the cost and air requiremnets of a vortex cold-air gun. A bit messier, but that's life! Also added a magnectic based machine light.

Visual aids...

[Amedeo Muscelli]

A help please,
I have the possibility of aquire a EMCO Pc Mill 50, seem as new but the RS485 card, software and computer is missing. I would retrofit it as I have done with a EMCO F1, with new stepper motors and a Gecko 540 driver. My question is, the Pc Mill 50 originally use stepper motors? Can I conect a computer directly to this machine using Mach3 software?
Best regards,
Amedeo Muscelli

[lanb]

Amedeo,

I have a full system with RS485 card so I am running with the original Emco WinCAM, however I looked at the possibility of a conversion. The servo drive cards have a step adn direction input from the controller card that I suspect you should be able to connect to the parallel port of a PC which is running EMC software and Linux. Just my two cents worth on a conversion that would be low cost and easy to implement.

[lanb]

Has anyone else out there set up their mill to work as a horizontal mill running under Emco's WinCAM? I would like to be able to drill some holes where the existing Z axis clearance is not adequate. The manual does not provide any guidance on how to do this.

[lanb]

One more question for tonight. Has anyone done any thread milling on the Mill 50 using WinCAM? I know I will have to write gcode for this but I do not have a decent g-code reference for this software/controller. I am wondering if this code have to be written oen quadrant at a time as I understand must be done with an F1 or if the PC Mill 50 can be programmed with circular pockets? If anyone has any code they would like to share I would appreciate it.

[Amedeo Muscelli]

Thanks for your answer Lanb,
Only a extra question, the axis use stepper motors? Or use the same motors of the EMCO F1 with the old technology. I am using a EMCO F1 for to make camera parts, I have replaced the old motors for stepper motors and new drives and work very well.
Regards,
Amedeo.

[lanb]

Amedeo,
First let me say my suggestions are based on looking over the electrical diagrams and not an actual conversion. The motors on the PC Mill 50 and the F1 are steppers. On the PC Mill 50 they have a feedback encoder to detect missed steps.

Lan

[kaktus-martin]

Hi,all!
I´m searching for two EMCO-Fanuc controller keyboards for my PC mill 50 and the turn 50.
May,one of you guys has one or two for sale (may,from a retrofitted machine).
Please offer all you have!
Also,I need the information,if there is an alternative for the original EMCO donge board of if I had to buy the expensive original stuff.
Thanks for your help!
Best regards,Martin

[Randy Forbes]

Still waiting on the studs, but here's an idea on how long the Maritool holders are, compared to the Emco ones.

Pull studs arrived today.







Please note: the servers for my website gallery are being moved 10/1/09, so the pictures will be offline until this weekend (I hope that's all...).