Electronic Lead Screw (ELS) Introduction.

[jcdammeyer]

Originally Posted by peterb33 I would also like to make the back fence on my paper guillotine automated. At present it is hand operated and one turn of the handle moves it 10mm. Thanks Peter

Hi Peter

I have a pile of castings, the polished rod, bronze bushings and #35 chain and sprockets all ready to be assembled once I finish machining the castings. The goal was to put the ELS onto my 30" 3:1 roller/brake/shear automating the back fence for the shear.

I was also going to add things like K factor and bend radius etc. as parameters to the ELS so that the back fence could be set up to the brake for simple folds. Now granted there are so many variables for bending metal that ultimately one would have to test bend anyway but even just for 3" outside tab on 22g aluminium to have the fence go to pretty close for that initial trial bend would be so nice

But then in December 08 the 2010 Olympics came along and for the next year I was busy doing LED lighting projects (like the rings) and the machine shop took a back seat. Only today, for the first time in over two years have I cast something.

So the short answer is yes. The ELS can even do it now although there's no distinct home switch to automate things. On power up you'd have to move the fence to the zero position and zero the scale. After that you can key in a BEGIN position and press START. With the X axis disabled, the ELS will always stop and ask you to move the tool into the workpiece. At that point you'd shear what you wanted. Press the BEGIN button again and enter a new position, press OK. Press TURN and START and the fence moves to the next position.

It's kludgy but it would work. My initial tests with the ELS and my 3:1 tool will be done that way. Then I'll add support for a home switch which can have an offset attached to it so that when it's been found the axis is set to the correct distance from the fence. I'll have a Shear or Bend button pair instead of a Turn or Screw pair so the correct fence offset is used.

Sorry to be so wordy. I've been planning this for quite some time and really want to get it done. But I've been sidetracked into building a JGRO CNC router for pattern making and automating the drilling and milling all the holes in a box for the ELS.

John Dammeyer

[peterb33]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply and explanation of why there was a break, I wondered what happened and the olympics looked really great!

The guillotine works really well so it would make sense to add electronics rather than change it and I need to do a lot of repetive cutting which involves changing the settings manually. We all know how easy it is to misread dials under these conditions so what I was looking for was to step to the various sizes once these had been programmed.

It looks like your els will do this now from your explanation but adding the other features would be a bonus.

I plan to do the alterations soon so no desperate panic really, how many of the kits have been produced?

Peter

[jcdammeyer]

I currently have 12 kits available and 4 assembled units. However, I"m off to Greece for a holiday this week and won't be back until the 18th.

Since much of the brake/shear type operations include repetitive operations where a number of bends or cuts are made, it would make sense to add a list of say 8 or 10 XY positions that you could cycle through.

John

[peterb33]

John,

Final question. Is it possible to add this list of that I could cycle through to the els as it stands now?

Think what I need is to get a unit and play with it or at least become familiar with the instructions.

Hope you enjoy your hols---sounds like you have earned it!


Thanks Peter

[jcdammeyer]

I've not given much thought on how I'd add that to the Lathe ELS. It would fundamentally change how it behaves. I'll ponder on it over holidays.

Thanks for the suggestion.

John