Need help from a Series I CNC owner.

[chrispy]

Ok, flame me if you will, I went and did it.

In testing / tuning my new retrofit, I jammed the Z axis up into the head.

Searching Google I am not alone. Some suggest I use a pair of channel locks around the stepper pulley and "assist" the motor. I am thinking of using a bar clamp.

Either way I have a problem. I have no idea which way to turn it. Obviously I have take the cover off and tried to see which way when I step the jammed motor, no luck at all.

Anyone know or care to look at which way I need to go. Sounds like a simple stupid question, but I have no other resource other than taking the entire head apart.

Thanks,
Chris

[Karl_T]

Been there done that. The ball screw threads are right hand. Turn the shaft CCW just a bit and you're ready to go.

Karl

[chrispy]

Karl,
You are a life saver. I owe you a virtual beer.

Just to check, CCW looking up at the pulley on the stepper?

Thanks again,
Chris

[machintek]

Standing in front of the machine, using right hand, motion is from left shoulder to right shoulder. I have had to do this many times.

George

[machintek]

Better check the switches on the quill as well. You should have .200 inches of decel, and then the stop switch.

George

[chrispy]

Thanks all,

I got it free yesterday afternoon. It is CW as you are looking up at the pulley. Screwed myself though. Could not grab onto the pulley correctly, so I clamped onto the little round block underneath. Long short of it is that I need to tap the two bolts that held that round block on. Went CCW looking up at the motor.

Will double check the switches again.

Has any one else gone through and reset the counters on these machines? I had both the X and Y axe off, so the axe are off as well. It is not a high priority on my list, but I wondered what they were zeroed to originally. Manual does not really help all that much. Are they zeroed to their respective home position?

Thanks again,
Chris

[mc_n_g]

Our machine has 0,0 about 1" below the first T slot and maybe 10-12" left of the center vertical T slot in the table. The table has a hole drilled where the 0,0 mark is. There is a lot of overhang of the table you cna not get to. You will not be able to utilize a good 1/3 of the table.
This is on a BOSS 5
mc_n_g

[chrispy]

mc,
Thanks for the tip. At least now I know where to zero them to. Plenty of time on my hands now, as I change from the Gecko drivers to something that will not catch on fire.

Thanks agian,
Chris

[mc_n_g]

One more thing. You should also be able to see your limit switches underneath the table. You should be able to go near you limit switches and set your 0,0 there.
Everytime I cut a new part I create a new 0,0 for the part about 1-2" away from the actual table 0,0. This allows me to use me space wisely. Make sure if you do not finish cutting your part all at once to set the machine back to part 0,0 (not the machine 0,0). When you start up next time the machine will be at part 0,0 and just load your program.
I am never able to get everything cut at once so I have to do it in segments broken up over several days. Such is the life of a 'home/hobby machinist'.

mc_n_g

[chrispy]

MC,

Thanks for the tip. I did assume that the counters were homed as well. Just wanted to double check. That is were I set it with the BOSS controls when they were in use. .. I never did look at the manual counters on the machine at all, just the BOSS controls as they seemed pretty accurate. Should be nice to have as a double check with the newer controls on it especially with a closed-loop system. I am sure that once I see the new controls are accurate, I will probably never use the counters again. 0,0 or home on the machine seems like common sense.

Spindle is all machined and fixed for a while now. Have Mach 3 setup properly and tested using Georges info, so that it will never happen again. Even tried to do it. No luck. Just cross my fingers that windows does not crash and send it up there again.

Thanks again,
Chris

[machintek]

The purpose of the mechanical counters was that you could quickly and easily move the table back to the mechanical zero point that you had established and written down on a piece of paper. Then you could 'zero" the display establishing the part program zero. On these stepping motor machines, what the mechanical counters displayed was irrelevant to anything else. It saved time to use them instead of putting in an edge finder or a dial indicator in the spindle to re-establish a zero.
Per the BPT engineering write up on this design, it was conceived as a CNC machine. They did not want the table to travel far and wanted the main mass of table, vise, and part to stay above the saddle for accuracy. This design lasted through the BOSS 9, the Interacts, and the Explorer machines. Note that the "cheaper" V2XTs, and EZTRAKs are converted S1STD machines and are not true CNC iron per BPT thinking.

George