Kabaalstra is back, CNC-ing a Small Slantbed lathe

[arie kabaalstra]

Folks, Hi again... it has been quite a while since you last heard from me, but i've recently started a new CNC project..

Introducing!..



the "HBM C1 Lathe", i believe this is one of the many Proxxon Lathe Copies made in China, but.. this is a quite decent machine..

So!.. for starters, i dismantled the entire machine, and carried all the parts upstairs to my "office"



where i started taking measurements, and drawing all the parts in Alibre Design

I started out designing, aiming at a "standard Lathe, with 2 steppers attached, running on Ballscrews, and USBCNC for the control..

But then!.. things started to go haywire, in a pleasant manner..
I managed to get hold of a 15" Touchscreen which had originally been mounted in a cigarette vending machine..and when i saw the casings of those machines, i started picturing my lathe inside one of those casings.. hmmm

so. i bought a Touchscreen, and got 2 casings free to go with it..



so i took some measurements, with the help of my father, deciding how to mount the lathe inside those steel cabinets..

and then... i was talking to a friend on MSN, dicussing CNC machines, since he also has a CNC mill, and he wants to CNC a Lathe also..
and he mentioned he had a 1.8 Kilowatt motor lying around, with a VFD already dialed in and ready to run.
So after some negotiations i got myself a 1.8 kw motor to put on my lathe instead of the 0.15 Kw DC motor it originally has..

So, i had to change the design slightly, but that was done in a jiffy.

Ok.. On to Work.. To the BatCave!.. erhmm.. the garden shed that is..



Welding the brackets to "slant-mount" the lathe..



So i got 4 of these.. and i also cut the cabinets to pieces.. in order to fit around the lathe..



while drinking Coffee, my father and i further discussed some details



The next day i went to the local Construction company, only to find out they were not very willing to cut some steel for me, and even receive a fair amount of dosh for it.. well .. have it your way.. dumb-ass-numbnuts..
so, on i went to another company, i never before thougt of, just two blocks away from my home, but they didn't have the required steel in stock, so, i hopped in my car once more, to another company, in another village, just 5 minutes by car.. ( this is the netherlands after all ), and they were able to supply me with the desired steel, some 20x20 Square tube, and 2 pieces of flat bar..



which, off course i welded into a frame the very next day.



and i think something went wrong here..

[awemawson]

A bit of photoshop in that last picture I think!!

[ger21]

What's the story on the Canadian flag welding hat?

[arie kabaalstra]

Yeah.. i admit.. i did "Gimp" the image of the welded frame.. i don't use Photoshop.. i use Gimp..

the story of the canadian Welding Cap?.. well to be honest, i was given the choice, the salesrep of our welding equipment had two caps with him, one in blue with all kinds of flashy colours on it, and one with canadian flags..just thougt it looked nicer..

did some more welding..


and after welding that lot, i put the slant-brackets on top..




and i drilled the mountingplate for the lathe bed, and the motorsupport plate, and welded them also..



and i did another "dry-fit"



screwing all kinds of parts together..





and this is what it should become in the near future.

[ger21]

very cool!

[arie kabaalstra]

Thanks!..

the empty space under the screen will be used for a control panel with X, and Z, Jog buttons, 2 handwheels, Spindlespeed override and Feed Override knobs, as well as a Start and stop button, and an Emergency stop.

as mentioned before, i'm gonna use USBCNC to Control the machine, with the new CPU 5 Board.
and i will use a Pokeys 55 IO board to connect the different switches..
i recently discovered that one can use a rotary encoder on a Pokeys 55 to control 2 keyboard shortcuts, so Feed+ and Feed- will be programmed on the pokeys on the A and B channel of a Rotary Encoder, and the same will be done for the Spindle override..

Furthermore i will be writing some macro's in USBCNC for inside and outside turning, Facing, and threading, as wel as taper-turing and rounding, to enable "shopfloor programming" of most parts..

I also will be writing an IDE to write Visual G++ Code programs to enable Dialog-programming of parts with multiple cycles.. (part-programs) like on a Fagor 8055 Control..

I already did so for my CNC VMC, wich i can program like its a Heidenhain control..

Since i've learnt a lot of VB.Net programming i'm also planning on building an IDE for making dialog programs, like the wizzards in Mach, but then enabling the programmer to put multiple cycles in a program, i will have to build an "intermediate machine language" for that, but it will enable programmers to "shopfloorprogram" all kinds of machines from one IDE, no matter what control you are running.. just build your program in the intermediate language, and compile it for your machine.. it will then generate the code suitable for your machine..

(since most Hobby CNC controls have the NIST G_Code interpreter, i will be able to generate G-Code ready for Mach, EMC Planet CNC-USB and USBCNC.)

But!.. Since USBCNC has a library file to store frequently used subroutines in, i will be able to run the intermediate language directly on my machine..since the intermediate language will be built upon the Visual G++ language i already have developped for my machine..

[GM1G]

Folks, Hi again... it has been quite a while since you last heard from me, but i've recently started a new CNC project..

Introducing!..

which, off course i welded into a frame the very next day.



and i think something went wrong here..

This was awesome!!!

i had just finished my first guinness and thought i was already losing my mind!11@11!

well played sir!

please keep up the awesome work

[Geof]

....the story of the canadian Welding Cap?.. well to be honest, i was given the choice, the salesrep of our welding equipment had two caps with him, one in blue with all kinds of flashy colours on it, and one with canadian flags..just thougt it looked nicer...

You have good taste.

And you are a pretty good do it yourselfer.

The frame picture was Escher-ish was that deliberate?

[arie kabaalstra]

Yep.. that "escherish picture was just to play a trick on you guys..

a Do-it-yourselfer?.. well i think that's about the understatement of the year if you've seen my other project..
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/vertic...wn_design.html

Enjoy reading...

'bout taste.. well.. i've seen some documentaries about Canada.. think it's a nice place to live.. i do have 3 Uncles living in Canada, one is a cattlefarmer, and two are AppleFarmers, so whenever you eat an apple, or drink applejuice, it might just be...

Today i will spend time on final design of the ball screws, and couplers for the steppermotors.. and maybe i'll find time to design a toolchanger as well

[rot]

Hello Arie,

nice design of a small Budget cnc Lathe.

Greetings Rene

[FrankM]

Great work Arie ,
Can't wait for more updates .



Frank

[arie kabaalstra]

Well.. Progress is kinda slow at the moment.. i'm going through the hassle of designing the last features of the X-axis drive.. and also the posibillity of a toolchanger of some kind... turret, revolver, or Gang tool.. dunno yet..

i did rip most of the plastic casing from the screen i bought.. a 15" Touchscreen, to build into the casing of the machine..

I also have to build some basic turning macro's

i will be using USBCNC for the control of this machine. a lot of people are still not familiar with USBCNC, but i'll give it a try, and bring you up to speed..