New to CNC......Please Help Me.

[Rustyf7]

Ok here is the situation. My company purchased an older CNC machine in an auction and now they are trying to get it up and running. I am the company's IT guy so since this CNC has an older computer attached to it they have asked me to work along with our machinist to get this thing running.

The CNC is a Toshiba Shibaura L50. The machinist is able to get it to work by using the Tosnuc that is attached to it but they want to be able to feed it instructions from a computer. The computer works but is older and doesn't appear to be in very good shape and it runs Windows NT. So I would like to get a newer computer with Windows XP to attach to the CNC. The machinist suggested we might be able to use a program like MACH as the DNC along with G-Simple. Is this possible? I would appreciate any help because I am really in the dark on this kinda of stuff.

Thanks

[svenakela]

Of course it's possible. You don't mention the machine hardware and you may have to replace the drivers (which is a minor cost with cards such as Rutex or Gecko). I think it's possible to have it running as is though.
I'll stick my nose out and say: Get EMC, it's free and extremely powerful. You have to run Linux, but the distro is so simple to install and configure my wife could do it (and she is not an IT expert).

[Rustyf7]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will start studying up on EMC.

[Rustyf7]

Ok I got a computer that I installed Ubuntu on and EMC2. Now when I start EMC2 it asks me to select a configuration for our machine. I am not sure which to select. This is a 3 axis Toshiba Shibaura L50. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Rustyf7]

Ok I think I am going about this the wrong way. I guess what I have to do first is setup the stepper drive settings in EMC2 first.

So here's a question......Would anyone know what type of stepper drives a Shibaura L50 would have? If the machinist opened the machine up would there be any type of model numbers on the drives?

[Sunmixed]

Hi Rustyf7,

Here's my overview that might help you out:
EMC or Mach3 "hijacks" the PC's Printer Port and turn it into a Connection that is capable of controlling the CNC. I suppose it's a CNC Milling Machine, so there should be a milling tool(Because you chose G-SIMPLE)

Regardless of any CNC brand, they all have the same thing in common:

1). Stepper drivers' connection - Step/Pulse or Direction.
Find out where is the stepper driver located, then note at 3 things:
a) Step/Pulse Pin
b) Dir aka Direction Pin
c) Common or Step/Pulse & Dir Ground Pin.
There should be 3 stepper drivers. X, Y, and Z.

2).There must be a method to control the milling device.
EMC and Mach3 can assign certain printer port's pin to send a 5volt signal to whatever you want it to control. You can hook up a 5V relay and use it to control on/off of milling device. Similar to coolants, there should be a flood and mist coolant, as these are considered as output functions

3) There must be input buttons, for example - E-Stop aka Emergency Stop.
Emergency stop serves to terminate any CNC operation, such as off-ing all milling devices, all coolants, disabling movement of all steppers. Softwares like Mach3 or EMC can allow you to assign what input buttons you want to have.

I'm using Mach3, so here's a guideline of how most of the people assign their printer ports:

Pin 1: Output 1
Pin 2: X Step
Pin 3: X Direction
Pin 4: Y Step
Pin 5: Y Direction
Pin 6: Z Step
Pin 7: Z Direction
Pin 8: A Step or Output
Pin 9: A Direction or Output
Pin 10: Input 1
Pin 11: Input 2
Pin 12: Input 3
Pin 13: Input 4
Pin 14: Output 2
Pin 15: Input 5
Pin 16: Output 3
Pin 17: Output 4
Pin 18 to Pin 25: Common or Ground

Output Pins allow you to control any external devices, like I've listed above, such as: milling device, flood coolant, mist coolant, etc.

Input Pins allow you to use it as a Button, such as: Emergency Stop, Run Program, Stop Program, etc.

Motor Driver Pins, like X Step, X Dir, Y Step Y Dir, .etc, commands the stepper motor to move to any commanded position.

I hope I've given you a clear view of a CNC Milling Machine. I might not be really good at explaining everything, or I might left out something important, but my intention is to help!

There are also many experienced members who can help you out too! Enjoy!

[Rustyf7]

Thank you for the information. Ok like I said I am new to this cnc stuff so I wanted to update the information I had given. This cnc is a Toshiba Tosnuc VMC-45.....maybe this will help identify what type of stepper drives this cnc has.

[Sunmixed]

Thanks for the info, but sadly Google didn't turn up much relevant info regarding Tosnuc VMC-45. I suppose you can peek around the stepper driver to see if there are any labels. Also, try to provide the stepper driver dimensions by using ruler.

[TerraWombat]

Originally Posted by Rustyf7 Thank you for the information. Ok like I said I am new to this cnc stuff so I wanted to update the information I had given. This cnc is a Toshiba Tosnuc VMC-45.....maybe this will help identify what type of stepper drives this cnc has.

If you have a digital camera handy, might not be a bad idea to get some clear pictures of any labels on the machine so we can start breaking down what kind of hardware you have. Knowing that information will really get the ball rolling...

[eshreve]

Are you talking about controling the machine with the external computer, or drip feeding programs into the existing control?

[Rustyf7]

I spoke with the machinist and he said we need the external computer to drip feed instructions to the cnc because I guess it doesn't have much memory. Here are some pictures that were requested.

[jalessi]

Contact Toshiba Machine the Tosnuc 888 is still being supported, it may be possible for them to email you a manual for the 600.

The Tosnuc 600 will work with g-code.

http://www.toshiba-machine.co.jp/eng...p/888/888.html

Jeff...