another beginner, maybe!

[shootingarts]

I know absolutely nothing about CNC other than I need current NC software and probably a complete kit with lots of instructions!

I need to cut compound tapers on a conventional lathe, reading position over about 36". What I think I need to do is either move the saddle in and out through about two inches of travel or mount an all new unit to the carriage to read where the carriage is at in the lead screw travel and position the cutter.

I have a small machine shop at my disposal and some modest abilities with a milling machine and lathe. I was also a competent 2D ACAD operator back in the ice ages, retired in early 1994. I knew a little basic theory of NC, namely that stops and tool returns and such had to be added in, but never did any NC programming.

I want to cut compound tapers with only moderate curves. Nothing real elaborate and I could use pattern bars to accomplish the same thing. However I would be building a lot of pattern bars over time and it might be more practical to set up to read travel in one direction and control travel in the other. The standard lathe lead screw feed rate is fine for what I am cutting and it is only a single pass operation.

I guess the first real question is should I start on this project or am I miles over my head? Looking at buying a complete light duty 4 axis CNC machine for other work so it looks like doing some CAD drawing and converting to NC is in my future regardless.

Sorry to ramble so much in my first post. I did read on here for an hour or so before posting. Like most beginners, I don't know which way to jump or even if I should jump! I need the machine cutting in a matter of a few weeks, I can't make a long project out of getting it running.

Thanks for any advice.

Hu

[Ken_Shea]

HU,
It appears to me, at least from a distance, that what you need is some breathing room, two weeks is not giving yourself much time to go from a need to learning what is necessary in order to produce a useable part, but it is plenty of time to get really frustrated and freaked out over things not coming together.

Advice here is to slow down and look for other alternatives until you get up to speed.

Ken

[shootingarts]

Pretty much my feeling. I actually have a little more time but I also have three concurrent projects. Available time for this one might be two weeks at best out of the next six. Short term I think I can build the tracing mechanism without more than a few days of locating components and design work. Another week for machining, assembly and debugging and I could have a few days left over for the unexpected "gotchas"! One of the board sponsors here has a very similar machine to the one I was looking at for light duty work. I think I'll talk to them on the phone in the morning to move a little further in that direction while starting on the dinosaur theory of tracing a shape.

hu

[ynneb]

I guess the first real question is should I start on this project or am I miles over my head?

Hmm, well if you know the learning curve b4 you get started, you might not start. However if you start, then you are committed and will probably finish. I tell my friends to just go out and buy the components. That way, they have spent the money and really need to finish the project to then be able to explain thier purchase to their wife.

But as Ken says, two weeks is a very short time. Some here make amazing progress from 1 month to others taking years.

[shootingarts]

Hmm, well if you know the learning curve b4 you get started,

I will spend some more time monitoring and reading here and try to get around to working with NC later. One of my major concerns is just getting started in the right direction. From the little I have seen of CNC it is easy to buy something with obsolete software that isn't supported or vastly overbuy for what I am actually trying to do. Looks like there is far better conversion software available at a reasonable price than what a friend was using back in the early nineties too. I want to learn enough to go with the most common software and set-up so that when I need help other people have walked the path also. I have worked for a company that made me the not so proud owner of copy number 49 of some software. Buggy, no support, and nobody else knew diddly about it either!

I didn't know where CNC conversion technology was at and didn't want to try to reinvent the wheel or put as much time and effort into building my manual tracer with limited patterns as it would take to build a CNC set-up limited to only what I could draw with a CAD program.

I'll get some chips flying and take care of some other business and come back a little more knowledgeable when I get some breathing room. I did visit a man's shop a few weeks back that was seriously into NC. Pretty much everything there was shopmade NC including a dedicated NC machine to drill two small holes. Once I know enough to converse with him I might talk him into spending a little time showing me exactly how one of his set-ups works.

Hu

[ynneb]

No No dont go.

Here is the most of setup youll need.

A computer. ( You already have one)
Mach3 ( driving software) 150 bucks
If for a lathe 2 steppers. $50-100 each
Power supply ( Real cheap)
Two stepper drives $250 max or cheaper if you shop around.
Some ball screws. $100-300 ( Guessing) ( Secondhand)

Just a few other inexpensive bits.

$1000 should well and truely cover you.

You can do this. We will help. Promise.

[shootingarts]

Managed to back burner this for awhile. However I will be hanging out here and asking the occasional question.

Speaking of questions, if I just want to get my feet wet with NC, what would be a good beginner project? Also, do I understand correctly that I can program some simple cuts like bolt patterns with Mach III without using a CAD program first?

Thanks,
Hu

[ynneb]

Download Mach3 , have a play with this . You can play with this for free. This would be the cheapest way to at least start your learning curve. You should be then able to learn how to use it and see some virtual cutting done at least.
http://www.artofcnc.ca

[shootingarts]

I have downloaded Mach three and all of the documentation. I did download what appeared to be the latest beta, shouldn't cause too big of a wreck in the virtual world, or at least no personal injuries!

Thanks again, I will keep wetting my feet in the NC area.

Hu

[ger21]

When you install Mach3, at the end of the install, there is a check box that says install driver. UNCHECK this box. This will let Mach3 run in simulation mode.

[ger21]

After you install Mach3, play with the wizards. They will let you do a lot of different things with no CAD needed. There is also an additional wizard set available ($50 I think) from http://www.newfangledsolutions.com that adds a lot of power to Mach3.

[shootingarts]

When you install Mach3, at the end of the install, there is a check box that says install driver. UNCHECK this box. This will let Mach3 run in simulation mode.

Good idea, unfortunately I read that in the documentation and your message after installation. I always load and check how user friendly software is before reading the detailed instructions. I believe the Word document said to have them both checked without explaining why. I am on page 55 of the turning pdf at the moment, fairly slow going.

What is the easiest way to uninstall the driver or should I just do a reload?

Thanks,
Hu