Alan's G0704 Conversion Planning

[AlanB243]

Background

I've been using a Grizzly G0516 lathe/mill (Sieg X2/C6) combo for several years to make parts for various projects. It has been very useful, but I would like to have more capacity and automation to handle a wider range of projects. I was planning to get an X3 at some point, or something slightly larger, but this G0704 mill appears to be a good choice in this range.

Use Cases

plastic parts processing (milling, drilling, chamfering, turning, rigid tapping)
aluminum parts (same list)
steel parts (same list less turning)

Features Needed

three axis mill plus spindle control/encoder
rigid tapping
small automatic tool changer, 6-8 tools

My Choices (subject to change)

Grizzly G0704 Mill
arrange for depot pickup, they load it onto my trailer, much easier for me to handle that way (I did this with the lathe/mill)
start with existing acme screws (or go straight to ballscrews?)
use Hoss plans (or a variation) for xyz drive mounts and adapters (or get a kit?)
xy motors 570 oz-in nema 23 steppers
keling KL23H2100-50-4B Nema 23 570 oz-in motors x3 5.0A 50V, $55
z motor either 570 oz-in nema 23 stepper (or 920 oz-in nema 34?)
keling kl-6050 motor controllers, $49 (or keling kl-6050D digitals, $89?)
48 volt supply, probably use existing 700w supply though it is oversized

linuxCNC 2.5+
mesa 5I25 pci bus FPGA supports two breakout bds $89
mesa 7I76 5 axis step/dir bkout bd, spindle encoder & v out, 48 booleans, rs422 $119
pkg containing above two items and cable is 199

e-stop switch
shaft couplers
motor cable shielded oil resistant CNC cable McMaster #8082K81

pc, intel Atom board
memory
solid state hard disk

Tormach tooling

CAD software: perhaps Solid Edge?

CAM software: ???

Later phases, not in any particular order

full enclosure
ball screws
spindle motor upgrade?
spindle motor belt
spindle speed control
spindle direction control
spindle current (load) monitor
spindle torque sensing/trip e-stop
power drawbar - pneumatic - air control solenoid valve
tool changer
fourth axis capability for rotary table (convert existing?)
jog dial
pendant - make something with Arduino
upgraded spindle bearings
7007B Bearing 35x62x14 Angular Contact - lower bearing - $12.95
7005B Bearing 25x47x12 Angular Contact - upper bearing- $9.95
make spacers
quality spindle grease
coolant pump
coolant pump control relay
compressed air cooling? - solenoid valve
mist lubrication? - solenoid valve


Status

The project is in the planning stages at this point. Still reading and researching the internet and Hoss' DVDs. Space has to be cleared before purchasing the mill.

Schedule

There is no firm schedule, but it would be good to have it available to work on during the Christmas break work shutdown. That would give me a couple of weeks to make progress on it.

Feedback

This is my first experience with CNC. I have a background in software and electronics. Feedback, questions and suggestions are welcome. Things I left out, should consider, etc.

Thanks for your help!

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[hoss2006]

Sounds like a plan, should keep you busy for the better part of a year or so.
Check out my links page for a bunch of cad, cam and useful utilities many which are free.
Links
Might not be too useful though if you're strictly a linux guy.
Maybe give this page a read for links to some very helpful books and videos.
Attention Newbies! - CNC - The Hossmachine Forum
Hoss

[AlanB243]

Thanks for the links and tips Hoss.

A year

Probably about right. Took me about six months to build my most recent electric bike. Amazing how many parts are in an electric bike. Most were procured from all over the world, a few were self made. Like the mill will be, it is running but not completed.

Not limited to Linux at all. This is going to be a mixed system. I use Windoze and MacOS every day (and Linux, Solaris and VxWorks some days). More Windoze than anything else. Planning to use Linux for just the real time machine control and Windoze for the CAD and CAM. Maybe toss in an AVR running raw C or Arduino or two for the dedicated small tasks. Different systems are good at different tasks.

Lots to learn!

I ordered a starter kit of Tormach tooling and the adapter for my X2 mill that has MT3 tooling. Unfortunately I haven't been able to try it out since I can't seem to find my metric drawbar. I hate it when that happens. Spent an hour looking for it, should just buy a new one.

[AlanB243]

DM860A Drivers

Anyone use these? Didn't see much mention on here in a search.

80V 7.8A peak, as low as $55. A bit more than is needed, but that may increase reliability. Is that an issue?

[AlanB243]

Hi Folks;

I was distracted from this project for awhile, but I'm still anxious to move forward on it. A few changes and some progress to report:

First, I decided to do the project backwards for a variety of reasons. So I'm working on the computer and electronics first. I reviewed the LinuxCNC list of motherboards and latency performance and selected a board:

• Motherboard: AsRock E350M1 from Amazon, $86
• (includes dualcore AMD CPU, no parallel port, but 1 PCIe slot and good latency jitter performance, even with onboard graphics)
• Memory: 2x2G
• Disk: 64G Samsung SSD SATA 3
• Cabinet: Existing Antec P150
• Power Supply: Corsair CX430
• Keyboard: existing Logitech K400R USB Wireless with integrated trackpad, $25
• Monitor: existing LCD Philips 170B
• No optical drive, using USB sticks for OS install and file transfers

Assembled the computer and made a bootable USB with "Lili" software on win7 from the LinuxCNC 2.5 ISO. I the installation with 2G of memory (one stick), and then added the second stick later to avoid confusing the installer. Having 4G or more encourages the installer to use a 64 bit kernel which does not have the real time extensions that LinuxCNC uses. Adding the memory later avoids this conflict, however some of the memory is unused in this configuration. Memory is cheap enough that I don't mind, and memory performance is better with 2 sticks. LinuxCNC doesn't need this much memory, but it is getting hard to find good 1G sticks, and the price is low enough that unused memory is not worth worrying about.

There is LOTS of room in this case for the rest of the electronics, which is my present plan. The motherboard is under 7x7 inches.

Loaded LinuxCNC/EMC2 and disabled the power saving features (as recommended to improve latency jitter).

Ran LinuxCNC's latency timing test for a weekend, worst case latency jitter was 13uS, generally runs around 7uS. This is well within requirements.

A Wifi USB was also tested on this system and found to raise the average latency jitter slightly, but the worst case was still under 13 microseconds.

I'm planning to use Mesa FPGA boards anyway so the latency jitter is not critical at this level.

It turns out that Mesa Electronics is literally a few miles from my house, and they have a pick-up option on their website. I'll go into that in another posting soon.

[AlanB243]

I bought a Tormach starter kit from Little Machine Shop some time ago, but could not find my 3/16 drawbar to test on the X2 that mounts on my G0516 lathe-mill combo.. So recently I ordered another one. I received the right package, but inside was the wrong thread. LMS quickly sent the right one. Great service!

Then I went to try it out, and the tool holders would not seat on the spindle. I'd had this set for a long time, but never tried it out due to the missing drawbar. Now that I try it out, there is a problem. A couple of emails to LMS and they shipped a new MT3 to Tormach collet adapter. EXCELLENT SERVICE again from Little Machine Shop.

This collet adapter is different, shorter, and it fits properly, allowing the tool holder to touch the spindle and determine the Z consistently. So now we are up and running with Tormach tooling on my X2!

One thing I need to be able to do is tap 1/4 NPT holes in a commercially made plastic part as part of a modification process. Awhile back they changed the plastic and the new material is TOUGH. I had problems with the X2 motor stalling during tapping with carbon steel taps. When I changed to HSS taps I occasionally had problems with the threads getting ripped out of the plastic. So I resorted to a hand tapping setup.

Tormach makes a compression-tension tapping tool that looked like it might solve the problem the damaged threads and allow power tapping again. The problem is the collets are ER20 and the 1/4 NPT taps require 9/16 which is just over the largest collet. A web search turned up ONE manufacturer who makes a 9/16 collet for ER20. A quick order to MeriTool and we can now power tap 1/4 NPT with the Tormach compression-tension tapper. It works great!!

Recently I realized that this plastic is dulling my HSS and Cobalt tooling when milling and drilling it, and the holes and surface finish are suffering. I'm thinking that new plastic probably has glass fibers in it. I changed to an end-cutting carbide endmill for both the hole and the milling operations, and that problem seems to be solved.

So many little details, but these are all in preparation to be able to use the new mill and CNC to make these parts. Eventually I would like to be able to have automatic tool changing when making these.

[Kevinj308]

Great thread, thanks.
I've been using my G0704 manually for a year or so and am just now getting ready to choose electronics. I'm particularly following your Linux stuff. I've got Ubuntu 10.04 on a dual boot PC and in the demo mode seems to be working well. Passes the latency tests no problem. But your $90 mobo looks like it might be a way to go for a dedicated control. This is my first experience with Linux, but the reviews of Linux/Mesa machines seem to be outstanding, and Mach3 seems to be a little frustrating.
Once again thanks for the write up, I'll be paying attention.
Kevin

[Fastest1]

Can you thread mill the 1/4" NPT?

[AlanB243]

I don't think threadmilling would apply to a tapered pipe thread, though perhaps some tricky software and a special tapered threadmill could pull it off.

I know this reply is a few years late, but I'm just getting back to this project. The last couple of years on the job and the first couple of years of retirement distracted me...

I'm actually considering applying my LinuxCNC machine to the G0516 rather than buying another mill at this time. It would be very useful to automate some of my frequent turning jobs.

[AlanB243]

Since it is a tapered thread, I don't think that would work.

I know this reply is a few years late, but I'm just getting back to this project. The last couple of years on the job and the first couple of years of retirement distracted me...

I'm actually considering applying my LinuxCNC machine to the G0516 rather than buying another mill at this time. It would be very useful to automate some of my frequent turning jobs.