Getting started on Lathemaster conversion

[pete from TN]

Just wanted to let you guys know that thanks to your help and wealth of information I am starting my cnc retrofit of my Lathemaster old style milling machine. I am very thankful to Bill south for a huge amount of help and ideas and I cannot thank him enough for being so generous. I just got three new Ametek dc servo motors and I cannot beleive how heavy these little guys are. I tried each of them quickly by touching them to my 19.2v cordless drill batteries and MAN these things are torquey!! They almost jumped outta my hands. They are also much larger than I had imagined they would be. These should have absolutely no problem moving my machine around especially with the 2-1 belt drive I am plannning. I also talked to Arturo at cnc4pc and he has some recommendations for a breakout board among other things so I should be placing some orders with him very soon. I cleaned up my mill last night and Got my other milling machine setup to take it's place while the Lathemaster undergoes surgery. This should be FUN, that is all.....


Peace...

Pete Matos
Matospeter@charter.net
865-363-9218

[pete from TN]

I got three ametek servo motors for my conversion and I was wondering if anyone here is using the same ones and might have some information on them. They appear to be just like the ones balsaman used in his mill drill conversion and visually they are identical but they are 30 vdc nominal on the motor sticker instead of the 50vdc ones balsaman used. They are very heavy and feel stout but I have no idea what kinda amps they should be getting. I tried to search them on the net but so far no dice. Any help would be appreciated. Parts are on order for the controller now so it is only a matter of time. Still looking for the power supply since I am unsure of the motor specs. Peace guys...

Pete Matos
865-363-9218

[pete from TN]

Met a local fellow that has a small precision die making company on his property and he had an cnc edm machine that broke and was for whatever reason unrepairable and he told me that if I wanted anything out of it for my conversion that I could strip it out of it. I timidly asked about wether or not it had ballscrews and he said it sure does. I could almost not contain my excitement as I agreed to come back today and get what I could use out of it. I think that because this was a high precision edm cnc machine made by mitsubishi it should have some very accurate ground ballscrews. I was right and tonight me and my wife went over there with a bunch of tools and removed the x and y screws and nuts as well as the angular contact bearings and several decent looking limit switches. I just got them home and they look to have NO wear on them and turn almost effortlessly. The screws apear to have zero backlash nuts and are made in one piece with a flat bottom bracket with four mounting holes. This should make it very easy to mount underneath the table and I will only have to machine a spacer block to get the height where I need it. Only bummer to the whole thing is that the screws are not very long. I think I can use them in my Y configuration but not the x or the z. I may try to sell the other screw, it is around 14" of thread length with the end machined to fit the bearings and of course their very accurately made gear drive. They have a flat area for the gear that has a keyway so I am sure it will accept a certain size pulley. I also found out some more information on these motors I got from Ametek. They are certainly 30vdc nominal motors and they said that they should run at around 1000rpm per 20v of input power and run at about 10 amps. The fellow on the phone said that it should have no problems pushing my little mill table around especially if I use a reduction belt assembly which I was going to do anyway. I am thinking 2.5 or 3-1 after talking to him about it. The motors do not have an encoder and Gecko said that they would recommend the us digital both for cost and compatability with mach. I am going to go with a 500 line encoder and put it on the ballscrew on all axes if possible. I will try to post some pictures of all this stuff if anyone out there is interested in my babblings. Peace all....

Pete
865-363-9218

[acondit]

Pete,

It sounds like you got mighty lucky.

Alan

[pete from TN]

I am really excited about the screws, they look real good and should help my machine be more accurate in the end. Again I just wish that they were longer so I could use on in the x and one in the y. Oh well, Beggars cannot be choosers as they say. He also has some other cnc stuff he said he would sell me for cheap. I am gonna try to see what I can afford and what I can't I may try to pass along to you guys... It's really amazing that the 3/4 inch screws look huge next to the 5/8 inch short you sent me, it is only an eight but it sure does not look like it. I also found a power supply kit that will provide the power I am needing for a decent price so I can order that one now. With any luck I should be getting parts here at least soon. I am sure this will take a while to sort thru but after talking to coutry bubba for a long time on the phone, the control unit which I was most apprehensive about seems to be much more understandable now. With any luck I hope to have a running machine in a few months. Wish me luck!!! Peace...


Pete
865-363-9218

[jalessi]

Pete,

Are these the motors you have?


http://tinyurl.com/6n2cqf

[pete from TN]

My motors are identical in appearance but only have a shaft in front and are probably six or seven inches long and 4 inches wide. The shaft is 5/8" and they say 30vdc which ametek verified. They are quite heavy for their size and have four tapped holes in front and two in back far apart. The fellow told me they were used in many machines in the late eighties so they are pretty old but they look real good. I plan as I said to put the encoder on the shaft so the belt slack will not affect my accuracy so I am not really concerned with the lack of a rear shaft at this time. The people at Ametek were very helpful, I talked to a fellow named Paul who is an engineer over there apparently and he had to pull out some old files to find the information for me. Peace man...

Pete

[jalessi]

Pete,

Wow, Ametek sounds like a great company. Supporting 20 year old products is really awesome.

Make sure you take lots of pictures of the conversion.

Jeff...

[bones]

Hi Pete,
I have fitted those motors to a Jig borer.
I got them from Dan Mauch. Are they the same ones you got?
Personally I think they are too slow and not enough grunt.
But you don't want high speed on one of these machines anyway.
Too much weight to move around.
The specs I found on a motor around that was 600rpm tops.
But it does look like it is running a bit faster than that.

I'd love to get a copy of the data sheet if you have it.

Cheers
Rodney

[pete from TN]

I got these from my good friend Bill south. I spoke to Ametek directly and they told me the rpm for these motors is around 1000rpm per 20volts input. They are desgined to run at about 10 amps so I am going with a 30vdc 10 amp toroidal power supply. The fellow said he thought they would be pretty strong at that rating especially if they were geared down so I am gonna go probably 2.3 or 3 to 1 reduction. If you have the part numbers on them give Ametek a call and I am sure they will be happy to help you as they did me. I spoke to a fellow named Paul, he was apparently an engineer there. Most of these motors are kinda old so he may have to look up the specs and call you back with them as he did me. Ametek made many of these motors in many different configurations but they all seem to look very similar with the green paint and aluminum endcaps. Yours appears to have a rear shaft as mine does not for instance.

I am trying to decide if I should use these ballscrews I got or sell them and purchase what I need from Roton. Of course these are probably better quality but I kinda wanted to get all three screws from the same source so if I have any problems I can give em a call. However the y axis would be pretty easy to do with these screws. I am gonna try to decide tonight and order my remaining screw material. If anyone on here can use one or all of these ground ballscrews gimme a call at 865-363-9218 and we can talk about it. THanks guys....

Pete
865-363-9218

[pete from TN]

Just curious... peace man..

Pete

[pete from TN]

My package from Roton came today with my ballscrews and ballnuts for the X and Z. I am going to use the Ground ballscrew I got off that EDM machine for the Y. I should be receiving the Gecko drives soon too. Things are starting to come together now!!