FEMCO Durga 25-E

[chich2]

Back to the Lathe now, can some one help me out with how to upload and down load to and from the machine. The control is a FANUC OT. It has these plugs on the side of the console but none of the manuals that came with the machine say anything about them. The manuals only have reference to a "tape reader" which this machine does not have. I see one of the plugs is a US power point. 110Volt I would assume. Is this where they plug the power supply in for a tape reader?

In a nutshell, what I am asking is:

Which plug do I use? Top one or bottom one?
How Do I use them?
What type of lead do I need? A pin out diagram would help?
Does one of these plugs simply plug into a computer with some software?
Once I'm set up, how do I test the data transfer is even working?

AND..... A friend told me that you can now get a USB converter for this interface now?

Any info on any of the questions above would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Chich

[DMBGO]

Hi Chic,
That looks like a db25 serial port. Have you tried connecting a null modem cable from that to a pc to see what happens? Experiment with various comms parameters, but it's probably 9600, 8, n, 1

Cheers
Dave

[chich2]

Thanks Dave. I will try that. Is this smaller plug also called RS232?

Chich

[DMBGO]

No, I'm not familiar with the smaller 20pin? plug. Let me know how you go when you hook up your laptop to the serial port, did I mention that you will need to use a terminal emulator, such as hyperterminal.

Cheers
Dave

[chich2]

I placed 2 hydraulic jacks under the machine and raised it up off the trolley. Once elevated, I slipped 2 x 2 Meter lengths of 150 X 50 Box pipe under the lathe and chocked the machine up off the floor with enough height to get the new frame underneath. Once the lathe was securely in place, I rolled the trolley out along the track and removed it. I then removed the track and chocked the lathe up in the center for safety.

The next step is to install the frame.

Chich

[chich2]

I have now pretty much finished the lathe base frame. I have drilled and tapped holes in the frame for a few different things. There are 6 holes to bolt the frame down to the concrete floor. There are another 6 drilled and tapped holes in the top of the frame to bolt the leveling screws of lathe to. I have also drilled and tapped 4 holes on the bottom flange of the frame so I can remove the 2 foot pedals for the chuck and tail stock, and fit them to the frame down on the floor.

It was then time to slip the frame in under the lathe and mark out the bolt holes onto the concrete floor.

Chich

[chich2]

I removed the finished frame and surface treated the metal with "Xtroll Rust Conqueror" then a coat of "Galmet metal industrial primer" and then a top coat with a 2 pack high solids black by "Jotun" (not photographed).

Chich

[DMBGO]

Looks really good now Chic, how far are we from ignition?

[chich2]

DMBGO,
I've been playing around with the lathe a fair bit on and off. I haven't turned anything yet but I am SLOWLY learning how to use the FANUC control. I have been removing more and more covers and cleaning up the internals over the last few weeks. Now I am putting it all back together. I have made all new nitrile rubber way seals and wipers and fitted them to the lathe as I put it back together.
I encountered a problem with the machine the other day with the FANUC OT-C control. I'd select mode ZRN to home reference the axis's. X axis referenced properly but the Z axis would trip and alarm saying Alarm 520 Z+ Over travel. I Googled the alarm code and what do you know, found a thread here on cnczone with the solution. After reading the thread, I powered down the machine, Powered back on holding on "P" and "CAN" then I tried to reference again and It worked perfectly.

Hooray CNCZone to the rescue!!!!!
Here are some photo's of the finished lathe stand bolted to the floor and the lathe in it's final position bolted to the stand.

Chich

[DMBGO]

Hi Chic,
That certainly is a big beastie for a home workshop, you get a better idea of its size now that it is all nicely mounted. Its certainly not going anywhere!
I see a bit of swarf in one of those photos - have you had it making chips?
I have been busy working on my cheap CQ6230 Lathe, I've just made a new toolpost for it and got the spindle nicely under the control of Mach3. Now I need to get some steppers and lead screws installed.

Cheers
Dave

[chich2]

Dave,
Very nice work on the toolpost mate. No the Swarf and chips are from the previous owner. ALL OF THEM!!!!! So many but I'm steadily cleaning it all up.
Do you have a thread here on the Zone for your lathe and toolpost?

Chich

[DMBGO]

Must have been a lot of work done on the lathe! No, I don't have a thread for the toolpost, its a bit late now that its finished The lathe refit is an option, but I never finished the thread on fitting the DROs to the HM 52, there didn't seem to be much interest.

Are you thinking of moving your mill into the shed with the lathe? Perhaps you could extend that railway you built!

Cheers
Dave

[.RC.]

Nice... Looks like customs were not interested in the oil and swarf on the machine...

What freight forwarding company did you go through to get it here?

[chich2]

Dave,
Yes the machine has seen a lot of work in it's time but is still in excellent condition. Yes I will put the Mill and manual lathe into this shed as well. I will shortly be insulating and lining the inside of the shed then installing a large air conditioner I have. Should be a nice little shop.

RC,
I am amazed how customs didn't fine me for the filth that was on the machine. Even though I asked the vendor in the USA to drain all the fluids from the lathe, the Hydraulic tank was still full of oil. There was a large amount of oil and coolant still in the sump. The chip conveyor was on the skid beside the lathe with a lot of oil and chips on it as well. Didn't hear a peep from customs.
I used a freight broker here in Australia "World Wide Customs & Forwarding Agents" www.wwcf.com.au/ They were very accurate in their quote and itemized every cost within the total. YOU MUST be very precise in the information you give them because if your freight is different from what you stated, then you'll be paying extra. I would definitely use them again If I import something else.


Chich

[chich2]

I have a question about a problem I have with the lathe. I cannot get it to do any interpolated moves!!!! It will happily G00 BUT no G01, G02 or G03. There are some programs in the memory from the previous owner and when I run them, the machine stops moving when the program gets to a G01. The block looks fine to me.
G01 X40.0 Z-20.0 F50.0 ; Nothing happens! I cant get the machine to feed move in MDI mode either. Only G00 Rapids work. There IS a G32 in one program that works though.
G32 Z-40.0 F10.0 M5 ;
G32 Z0.0 F10.0 M4 ;
I've altered the G32 block to a different feed rate and the machine responds correctly?????

Is there a Canned cycle still active or a parameter missing??????
Control is a FANUC OT-C Can any of you FANUC experts help?

Thanks,
Chich

[Al_The_Man]

can some one help me out with how to upload and down load to and from the machine. The control is a FANUC OT. It has these plugs on the side of the console but none of the manuals that came with the machine say anything about them.

Which plug do I use? Top one or bottom one?
How Do I use them?
What type of lead do I need? A pin out diagram would help?
Does one of these plugs simply plug into a computer with some software?

The 25pin D is the RS232, you need a null modem cable from machine to PC, I use the 3 wire version, see pdf.

I have a question about a problem I have with the lathe. I cannot get it to do any interpolated moves!!!! It will happily G00 BUT no G01, G02 or G03. There are some programs in the memory from the previous owner and when I run them, the machine stops moving when the program gets to a G01. The block looks fine to me.

I've altered the G32 block to a different feed rate and the machine responds correctly?????

Chich

There are parameters that set the max Rapid and Feed rates, I have sent some info in the PM.
Al.

[chich2]

Thank you Al.
Yes you are right..................................AGAIN!!!!!
Turns out my machine was in G99 "Feed per revolution" and the feed rate in the block of code was too high for the given spindle speed. I changed the block to go to G01 X0.0 Y0.0 F0.5 ; with a spindle speed of 500RPM and away it went!!!!

So simple, but a lesson well learned!

Thanks again,
Chich

[chich2]

To get started machining I had to load up some tools. The turret is made to hold Imperial tooling, but all of my tooling is Metric! A while ago I got some small ER collet chucks. They have a 25mm shank so I decided to machine some 1 1/4" OD with a 20mm ID so the collet chucks stay on centre.

The photo's show how I made some sleeves on my manual lathe for 2 boring bars to go into the CNC turret.

Chich

[chich2]

Now I can hold some ID turning tools I need to also fit some OD tools. As stated above, the turret holds Imperial tooling but all my tools are Metric. What I did was measure the tool tip height with my Digital height gauge. I then alligned the tool up to the machine with a dial indicator and milled the excess off the bottom of the holders. (This was done using my horizontal spindle on my mill). This ensured my tool height was 3/4" or 19.05mm. On some tools I had to also mill some off the top of the holder to make it fit into the slot in the turret. The last photo shows a putting a small relief chamfer on the edge.

Chich

[chich2]

Here is my first part!!!! It is a spherical suspension bush for a racing cart. I wrote the program by hand and used as many canned cycles as possible and a G50 max spindle speed of 2000RPM (machine does 4000RPM)

Hope you all enjoy,
Chich

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrqeI6ISozA"]YouTube - Femco Durga 25-E Turning Suspension Bush[/nomedia]


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