Blight's CNC lathe

[Guldberg]

You are talking about a mill also, do you have pictures of it also?

[The Blight]

It's just an X2, so nothing special. It has ball screws on all axis and it has 0 backlash as far as I can measure. I have spent a lot of time cleaning and adjusting it to make it perfect, so there is no slop either. I also have an ATC for it on the drawingboard. It's a 6 station tool turret mounted on the head of the mill. Will post a picture of the drawing at some point.

Will take a picture of it too at some point. It's sitting right next to our couch in our living room. (bor på kollegie). I'm also working on a PCB mill made from aluminium extrusions. I'm thinking of a way to make it more rigid, so I have to go to the hardware store tomorrow.

[The Blight]

Okey the Lathe is just about done. Missing a few things in the controller box (relay control and the ATC controller along with a "missing step checker"), and I have a couple problems that I have to figure out. I added a steel bar to the top of the back sheet which hold the Z axis linear rails to make it more rigid. I measured deflection at the rails to about 0.2mm which is too much. So after adding the steel bar to the back, I measured deflection to 0.01mm, and 0.06mm at the tool tip with about 40kg pressure on it. Tried to use the parting tool (2mm) on brass, and there are no vibrations.

One problem that I just can't figure out is the spindle index pulse. In TurboCNC you only need one pulse per rotation, and so I have a optical sensor hooked up to the breakout board. The problem is that I get an error (when running the spindle at 600rpm or less) saying that the spindle is moving faster then 5000rpm, or you can hear the Z axis stepping motor changing speed while thread cutting. This indicates that the index pulse needs a bit cleaning. The thing is that I'm running the index pulse through my digispeed XL card, which squares the pulse up. I put a scope (digital) on the thing today, and the pulses look nice and clean both before and after cleaning. Still TCNC turn up these weird problems. I'm starting to think that it might be a problem with the parallel port on my computer (not a laptop). I have 2 ports on it. One is on the mobo, and the other is a PCI card. Right now the index pulse runs through the PCI card, so I will try the other one tomorrow. If that doesn't work, then I don't know what to do. I wonder how short spikes there can be on the index line before it has any effect on the software.

Other then that, there is not much room left in the controller box now. Should have made it larger (wider), but I got to live with what I have. Will have to take some more pictures soon. I have started on the table for the lathe, and I have added carrying handles. I can lift it by myself, but it's hard to move it around.

One other thing that's worth mentioning is that I have started working on a bar feeder for the lathe. I have been drawing several types of collet closers for the lathe, and I might just end up making my own collet system. My problems it to find enough steel for it. I might be so lucky as to get some old collets ranging from 0.5 to 20mm.

I also found out that drill chucks take up too much of the Z axis to be any good, so I will have to make my own drill bit holders. Might be some brass inserts that I drill a hole into (drill bit in the spinlde, to get perfect alignment), or some other system. Might switch out the sheet way cover with one that takes up less space to get closer to the spindle, so that I can use MT3 collets for the bar feeder. This would give me 65mm more travel to work with. Still wont use drill chucks though..

Might take some pictures next week.

[Guldberg]

Pictures and videos please:-)

[Khalid]

Really amazing...What a neatness..what a proffessional look..What a design...Wow..Keep up posting and can you post pics of drawing (2D/3D)... a CNC lathe is in my list...and I will follow ur design...

[ZipSnipe]

Dude! What are you doing? Now you have set the bar so high, I don't think anyone else can top it!! Awesome work, keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Blight]

Thanks guys!

Didn't really do anything on the lathe today. Just some documentation on wiring. Figured out where I want to put the ATC controller and some other control circuits. I hope that I get the time to take some pictures and maybe a video next week.

Also found out which collet system I'm going to use. Cant remember what it's called, but it's one that schaublin made.

[The Blight]

Got to 2nd parallel port to work yesterday. Just had to set it up right, and it seems to be working now, but I would like a couple more inputs for some of the other features I want to add.

I have stared working on a controller for the toolchanger and MPG too.

I also found out that I can't use the collet system I had settled on, so now I'm set on making my own set. I would like a maximum through diameter of 15mm, so that's what I'm aiming at. The collet closer should be fairly easy to build. Getting the material on the other hand is harder. I need enough steel for 20 collets that are 50mm long. 1100mm should do. Might get some of this at my school.

Next week I will take some pictures of the lathe. Maybe even a video of it. Who knows how lazy I will be.

[The Blight]

A bit of an unlucky day for me today. Managed to break one of the outputs on the breakout board. I think I shorted it to the 12V line. Was messing around with the relay control board, that still is not working, but I found the error in it, so I will fix it tomorrow. Won't really miss the ouput, but I still have to rewire the thing. I have 2 unused outputs left, so there is plently to take from, but if someone know how to fix it (PMDX-122), I will gladly take advice.

I brought my camera to work today, but the battery was dead, so I had to charge it when I got home. Tomorrow is the magic day! Oh reminds me I have to bring with me some wooden screws. Better put them in the bag right away. Was supposed to take them with me a couple days ago to fasten the back plate to the table. Looks a lot nicer then clamps.

I was supposed to use an external keyboard for the calibration of the ATC controller, but now I have chosen to use the outputs from the 2nd breakout board to jog the two stepping motors in the ATC when in calibration mode. Should work quite well. Tested the toolchanger yesterday to check how fast it was, and it takes a maximum of 2.3s to change tools. Not that it mattes a lot, but thats still quite fast.

One other project that has been at the back of my head for quite some time now is live tooling. I have enough outputs and connectors to add this as a separate tool, but I would still have to add a better way of controlling the spindle (servo), and that costs a bit more then I can afford at the moment. If I'm going to be making this at any point, I would put both the slide, stepping motor and 2nd spindle motor on a tool holder (which will be mounted on the turret once it has been stopped, so it wont rotate with it when changing tool. It would end up being way to big.). It would just be for small endmills (2mm), but it could be of some use.. Got to get the machine finnished first.

I'm also looking forward to getting my mill back up and running. Got to test the 4th axis and make a new tooling plate for it. Will also have to make a better bracing system for the collumn and a lubrication system. I will also make a lubrication system for the lathe too, but I don't really know where I want the lubrication lines to go. My other concern is that it makes quite a mess, but I guess I will just have to live with that. Most of the oil would end up in the chip pan anyway, but some could also end up on my nice wood/aluminum table. I guess I should add lubrication point on the ball nuts, the ball screw bearings and the slide carriages. The spindle bearings are quite well sealed, so I will just let those be. The same goes for the bearings in the ATC. Don't think I will ever have to change those.

I also had to shorten down the way conver as it was blocking about 30mm of Z movment. This didn't really matter when I was using a chuck, but now that I want to use collets, I could need some of that lost Z axis.

I also got my hands on a beautiful XYZ table with drivers, stepping motors, power supply (actually there is 2. I think one was for the controller board, and one was for the motors) and limit switches (optical) all built into it. All I need now is a breakout board (something simple), and a high speed spindle (I have a proxxon spindle which I'm going to use at the moment, but I'm going to build a high speed spindle with automatic tool change when I have the time) and I will end up having 400x200mm work area (about 70mm Z). Going to use it for routing PCBs. So many projects taking my attention away from the lathe!

[The Blight]

Took some pictures today.

Ran out of space, so I could only upload 3 pictures. Might just pay the $20 to get the rest up.


The white tape around the window is for sealing. I will cover this up on the outside with some nice aluminum profiles. I will also cover up the back edge with some profiles too. You can see the controller at the bottom of the table.


This was just a nice photo of the whole machine. I will add sides to the table later when I'm done with all the electronics.


Added a light and an e-stop switch. You can also see the steel rail in the picture.

Wish I could have uploaded a picture of the controller box.

[ckirchen]

wow...very, very nice.

[Guldberg]

Truely amazing. Definitely one of the most well made and beautifull projects in here. i have to see it in real life someday

You can just uploade the pictures elsewhere and link directly to them, thats what i do.