Emco Compact 5 PC and F1 with Welturn/Welmill

[RCaffin]

That lack of tracking looks to me as though their index pulse was simply not working properly or their spindle driver was inadequate. Or maybe they simply had not calibrated the Z axis properly. That does not look like a Mach error to me. It very seriously looks like a user fault (so blame the gear, not the user).

Cheers
Roger

[samco]

That is a picture from john Stevenson.. He at the time was working with Art to improve threading. He gave up on it.

sam

[RCaffin]

Well, all I can say is that I do production threading with Mach3 quite happily.
Perhaps Art got it sorted out later on?

Cheers

[SharpShooterSer]

I ve been having great results for threading on my PC5. I mostly do 1/2-20 UNF threads, on plain steel, brass and aluminium. On 550 rpm it works great. I havent tried Mach for it.

[SharpShooterSer]

Just one question Sam - your speed readout, does it read steady RPM, or do you have fluctuations? Like, when set up on 550 rpm, mine reads from 540 up to 570 rpm? Also, when running it at highest speed, readings go from 2400-2550 rpm, and sometimes the number just looks like frozen - can it be its moving too fast for interrupter to read actual RPM?

And something weird happened to me today, at start, belt was set on 550 rpm and was giving usual readout (540-570) and after a while it started reading 450 rpm and around it.
No clue why. My countershaft pulley had a little play in it, can it be the source of the problem, or the interrupter isnt reading something like it should (on 220 it reads fine, and threads fine).

[SharpShooterSer]

Ah, playing with hal helped out with speed readout.

[SharpShooterSer]

Time to upgrade it a bit more I just cant help myself lol.
I purchased a VFD, and now, I understood that the 5 axis bob that I was using doesnt have the 0-10v analog output. Also, here its hard to find a single phase VFD, so I purchased a single phase input three phase output VFD for cheap (tested it and its working, the Siemens Sinamics G110). Also, a friend of mine will rewind my stock single phase motor to a three phase one for free. So more torque
But, I m still concerned about the wiring with another 5 axis bob that I got - also China (like this one here: 5 Axis CNC Breakout Board Interface For Stepper Motor Driver ST-V2 - US$).
This might be a stupid question, but do I still need the interrupter, or not, for reading spindle speed? I believe I do, but a confirmation would be helpful.

And can some one point me out where to look for some ideas on limit and homing switches, used on this kind of machine?

[SharpShooterSer]

Like I said, the first problem I ran into, is the fact that HY-JK02-M doesnt have a 0-10 analog output. OK, nothing could of been done there, so I got another 5 axis china BOB, the ST-V2. It seems a bit more complicated to connect, due to sharing GND pins, and a lack of proper manual with pins explanation, but that will be solved eventually (hints appreciated). First, I wanted to test will it work with my VFD and some random 3 phase motor attaches. Luckily it did. First, I tried it with Mach3 (that I dont even use, but I have it installed on my PC) because the available manual covers only Mach3 for setup, and its barely understandable. Somehow I got it wired up, and I managed to get a response from motor.
I disconnected the motor, and I wanted to measure the voltage on the 0-10 V cables that will be connected to VFD.
After a bit of searching, I believe I got the config right, and when issuing a different M3 command, depending on speed required, I get readings from 0.22 V up to 9.84 V (M3 S50 - 0.22V, M3 S2550 - 9.84V). Great! I wanted to try that with LinuxCNC as well.
Just to add, when booting to WinXP, and after starting Mach3, I get 0 V on cables.
Rebooted, and went into LinuxCNC. Ran the stepconf. Immediately I got the 9.75 V reading. Started it, homed, issued M3 commands, M5, no change on voltage reading. Ran stepconf again, changed values several times, inverted it, no change. It just displays 9.75 V (some small alterations show when starting EMC2, but goes back to 9.75 in seconds).
Now, I am scratching my head. What could I be doing wrong?

In Mach 3, on ports and pins setup, motor outputs, spindle is set to step 1, dir 17, both active low. Output signals, Output 1 port 1 pin 14, active low.

Also, I am still confused how am I going to attach the wires for drivers, e-stop and interrupter to this board. It seems like all driver spots share the same GND connector, and inputs also - just one.

Relay pins (I presume those are the ones for it, chinese writing on the back) are not connected, should they be?

[SharpShooterSer]

Modifying some more. I left my PC5 unchainged for a while, but the work requires more upgrades. I am having my spindle remade, so it has threads on the back - I am swapping the standard bearings with angular contact ball bearings - I found some el cheapo sealed ones, I hope they will do the trick - and I need a way to have them preloaded, and thats why I need the threads. That should give me more rigidity for parting operations mainly. Other mod I did in the meantime (I didnt take the pictures) is a tapered gibs mod (inspired by the same mod I did on my manual mini lathe years ago) - I even have some tech drawings somewhere (I ll attach them later) - problem was there is so little space available down there, I had to make the tapers on both sides of the gibs to make it work - now my cross slide doesnt rock anymore. I also had a bit of an accident, and ran the cutter into the chuck, and that resulted in broken plastic that holds the leadscrew, but I fixed that and reinforced it with some 3 mm aluminium plate (limit switches are one of to-do's).
Now, I wanted to replace the 5 axis bob with another so I can attach the VFD I bought (and I bought another main motor that will work with it), but I think I have a better (and easier) solution now - which doesnt require me to remove the old bob and replace it with new. Looking online I found this

https://mesaus.com/index.php?route=p...&search=spinx1

From what I understand, it should be rather easy to connect it to 5 axis bob - HY-JK02-M, and with spinx1 connected to one of the outputs (I have 3 not used) and power source, I could control the VFD with main motor? If I am not right, please tell me, so I dont purchase something that I dont need
If I can connect it, the tricky part will be the configuration, and I hope you folks can help me.

[SharpShooterSer]

As promised, a drawings for tapered gib mod

[SharpShooterSer]

Modifying some more. I left my PC5 unchainged for a while, but the work requires more upgrades. I am having my spindle remade, so it has threads on the back - I am swapping the standard bearings with angular contact ball bearings - I found some el cheapo sealed ones, I hope they will do the trick - and I need a way to have them preloaded, and thats why I need the threads. That should give me more rigidity for parting operations mainly. Other mod I did in the meantime (I didnt take the pictures) is a tapered gibs mod (inspired by the same mod I did on my manual mini lathe years ago) - I even have some tech drawings somewhere (I ll attach them later) - problem was there is so little space available down there, I had to make the tapers on both sides of the gibs to make it work - now my cross slide doesnt rock anymore. I also had a bit of an accident, and ran the cutter into the chuck, and that resulted in broken plastic that holds the leadscrew, but I fixed that and reinforced it with some 3 mm aluminium plate (limit switches are one of to-do's).
Now, I wanted to replace the 5 axis bob with another so I can attach the VFD I bought (and I bought another main motor that will work with it), but I think I have a better (and easier) solution now - which doesnt require me to remove the old bob and replace it with new. Looking online I found this

https://mesaus.com/index.php?route=p...&search=spinx1

From what I understand, it should be rather easy to connect it to 5 axis bob - HY-JK02-M, and with spinx1 connected to one of the outputs (I have 3 not used) and power source, I could control the VFD with main motor? If I am not right, please tell me, so I dont purchase something that I dont need
If I can connect it, the tricky part will be the configuration, and I hope you folks can help me.

Went ahead and replaced the spindle and bearings - old one is looking bad (and stock bearings are literally fried...)

Now, I will wire up the VFD, SPINx1 card and new motor to the BOB. Question remains, how to alter configuration files in order for EMC2 to send proper signals? I will continue using the indexing plate in order to measure spindle speed?

[hfjbuis]

That should give me more rigidity for parting operations mainly

If you have trouble parting, turn the parting tool upside down and rotate the chuck the other way. That works great on my mini lathe.

Check the parting tool for relief on all three sides, nut just the tip. If the is no relief, parted chips could get between the workpiece and the cutting tool, leading to high friction and a lot of chatter and broken tools. If you have a straight tool, use a pencil grinder and a small diamond disk to grind the tool in a T form. That will work all most as well as a relief angle but is easier to grind by hand.

The use of a few drops of cooling fluid during parting works very well for me. I use a 1:25 mixture of drilling oil and water for parting on the mini lathe.