Light Machine 1000 retrofit - Page 3


Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 41 to 60 of 108

Thread: Light Machine 1000 retrofit

  1. #41
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Have any of you ever broken a Prolight down for maintenance or upgrade as far as the ballscrews, linear rails, pulleys, etc.? I have taken the table off to get at the saddle and while I was doing that, was going to see how practical it would be to change the timing belt pulley size on the ball screw. Long story short- I used a pulley puller to get the thing off and now see that it does not use a key or a flat with set screw to keep it in place- basically a friction fit with the set screws on the round shaft only. I am concerned about damaging the ball screw/ball nut when trying to get the pulley back on by tapping it gently with a rubber mallet.

    Also, if anyone wants pics of the balls screws, ball nuts, and all that from under the table, let me know and I will post some. I was always curious about the design and setup but didn't want to take the time to look. We have some time to do some more in depth maintenance and tweaking at the moment and curiosity got the best of me. By the way we have two machines and they both have different ball nut, bearing set up, and coloring of the polymer granite base. One was purchased from a medical company though and may have been modified.

    Any advice on getting that pulley back on would be appreciated and let me know if you want any pics of the mills while I have them broken down.

    Best,
    Ryan



  2. #42
    Registered ghynes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    MANITOBA CANADA
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Ryan,

    I think the early LIGHT MACHINES TMC1000 is a little different than the newer Prolight. I have an older machine and I believe it is cast Al but I could be wrong. Anyway the older machines have less travel by a small amount and as well according to the specs weigh considerably less. My machine spec says it was approx 190lbs and the newer spec says over 300. I think the newer machines had more composites in the base and column for vibration damping.

    The manual exists online for this unit and has exploded views and part numbers for all the bits. Can't really help you otherwise. But I have learned that if it ain't broke......................don't take it apart to fix it better!! But hey I am not sure if that makes me smart or just LAZY

    I wonder if you still run the original control boxes on these mills or have they been converted to something else? What version of software are you running? DOS or Windows?


    Good luck

    Gerald



  3. #43
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Hi Gerald,

    Thanks for the reply. Actually I believe we have a Prolight 2000 and a Prolight of unknown numerical origin. The 2000 is servo and we are just getting aquainted- will be running the original DOS program. The other is the machine we aquired in a modified form and we use Flashcut with that one. Also, the flashcut machine has an NSK 50k spindle rather than the original spindle head. We wanted more oomph on the cutting for some applications and that is why we got the second machine. Both were purchased used and are in great shape- I love these machines after working on a tiny lightweight mill with 5" travel in all axes!

    I guess I am just puzzled as to why the area of the ballscrew where the pulley rests doesn't employ a flat for the setscrew- making it unnecessary for the super tight fit of the pulley on the ballscrew. I wanted to change the ratio on the stepper machine to take advantage of the larger stepper motors we have, rather than the original 50oz or 150oz. the machine came with. We use 250oz steppers and I have heard that steppers offer more torque at the lower end so my thinking was change ratio to 1 to 1 and allow lower rpm for the same feedrates.

    What I should have done was left well enough alone- holiday breaks are dangerous around here since I get bored and decide to "improve" things.



  4. #44
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    And the answer is...

    I had posted the same question in the linear components forum here and the tip that did the trick- heat the pulley up. Slid on no problem.



  5. #45
    Registered
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    usa
    Posts
    24
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Hi Ryan,



  6. #46
    Registered
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    usa
    Posts
    24
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Hi Ryan,
    Can we see any of the if anyone wants pics of the balls screws, ball nuts, and all that from under the table. Thanks

    Calvin



  7. #47
    Registered ghynes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    MANITOBA CANADA
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Wplm_1000 Software???

    I wonder if anyone on the list with a PROLIGHT 1000 or Light Machines TMC1000 desktop mill is running the Windows WPLM 1000 software. I would appreciate an email from anyone running or with access to a copy of this older software.

    Thanks

    Gerald



  8. #48
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Better late than never? Here are two pics from under the hood of a Prolight- just removed the gortex bellows in these. The pics were taken for a machine we recently auctioned. I also have included for your viewing pleasure some pictures of another Prolight that we're restoring back to good health- it was better off before I mucked it up yesterday, that is for sure- I ended up in one of those scenarios where you're trying to do a good thing- but keep making it worse- and then keep trying to fix it- and making it worse still- etc. etc. So yeah, I have included those for some giggles- since I was not giggling at the time. And yes, I know I am an idiot for messing with the ballscew in the first place.

    By the way- does anyone know what kind of tool will get the dang thing OFF? It is stuck on there but GOOD. That is how it was destroyed- trying to get it off. I have tried everything from pin spanner to screw driver in the holes in the top- it just eats whatever I try to use. It's embarrassing enough calling Intelitek with the need for a replacement screw but if I have to send the whole thing in to get fixed...man that will just bite.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Light Machine 1000 retrofit-5-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-6-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-end-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-top-jpg  

    Light Machine 1000 retrofit-good-one-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-good-2-jpg  


  9. #49
    Registered ghynes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    MANITOBA CANADA
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Well that can't be good!

    Well judging from the photo's "That can't be good!" Man I sure am glad I am lazy and always leave well enough alone!!

    I wonder what INTELITEK quoted for the new ballscrew? Was it complete nut and screw or just the nut? Not that I plan to take mine apart

    good luck



  10. #50
    Gold Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    582
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    These machines seem to come in R8 or ISO 20.

    But I've never seen a draw bar or pull stud lever. How do you change the tools on these?

    Thanks!

    -Jeff



  11. #51
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    The manual change machines use a large SHCS for pulling the collet up into the taper- at least the R8 machines do. I think the threading on an R8 is 7/16-20? The newer machines apear to come in ISO 20 only- and look to have some sort of lever atop the spindle for changing tools.

    It's interesting that none of our Prolight spindles have the pin inside the spindle for aligning the collet- I am assuming this was done to assist with the auto tool change option. I am not familiar with the auto tool change though. We use collets or the Royal Quick Change adapter.

    Gerald-

    You are not lazy- you're just SMART for leaving well enough alone. Although I really do prefer to tear things down to the nuts and bolts and reassemble in order to learn the ins and outs of the machine- I am certainly learning on this one! On the older machines there is a double nut configuration and those are really easy to work on. The newer machines (Our 92 machine has double nuts) have the single nut with the internal ball return and I just don't understand why it is screwed into the saddle so TIGHT. I mean, it's like it's glued in there or something. I've not yet heard back from Intelitek- but imagine it will have to go back to get fixed- I don't want to mess up the saddle by continuing to try and remove the destroyed nut. I have read that single nut setups like this are matched to the specific screw- so I may end up buying the whole thing, I don't know. I'll post when I find out though. I sent you a PM a few weeks back I think regarding another of your posts, by the way- just a heads up if you haven't seen it.



  12. #52
    Gold Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    582
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Thanks Snapman!

    Also, does anyone know the pin-out of the DB25 connector into the light machines control box? Can you configure Mach3 to use it, or do you need a whole new driver system if you don't want to pay for the light machines software?

    Thanks!

    -Jeff



  13. #53
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    No problem, Jeff.

    I am not sure of the pinout for the control box. Which machine do you have? Intelitek support is really cool about helping folks with older machines out- I'm sure if you contacted them they could email or fax over the schematic.

    I haven't heard of anyone running Mach 3 with the light machines control box but I have heard of people who have a Prolight 2000 (older DOS based servo machines) using aftermarket CAM or CNC (don't know which) software that outputs directly to the machine somehow. I have no idea how it would be done though or who offers the software- they use an animatics control. I am looking into that now to see how I can upgrade our PL2000 at a later date to a Windows based setup.

    I do know that in most cases, even the older control boxes for the Prolight mills and lathes- that are supposedly not able to run the Windows based software-can be adjusted to do so. I have done this in the past- it's just a matter of moving three little jumpers.

    Peace,
    Ryan



  14. #54
    Registered ghynes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    MANITOBA CANADA
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    Jeff,

    Software is readily available at no cost for 1000's as long as you have a complete set-up with the PCB for the PC. INTELITEK emailled me an older Windows version to try and it works great. The 25pin connector on the control box is not likely to be a standard parallel connection that would be addressable with MACH thru the standard PC parallel port. If you could get a service manual and or schematics for the box this could be determined more accurately.


    Ryan,

    Thanks for heads up on PM. I have replied! thanks

    Gerald



  15. #55
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    $1236.00 for new ballscrew and nut- they are sold as a set. That makes this lesson damn near as expensive as a college course!

    The good news is that they told me it was normal for those nuts to be tightl and hard to unscrew from the saddle, being the dissimilar metals- and gave me the secret procedure to remove the nut:

    Apply screw driver tip carefully to side of one notch- and whack with a hammer a few times to break the nut loose.

    Worked like a charm and the nut is actually unscathed save for a a few small chips out of the outer surface. And the fact that it needs to be reloaded. I was really happy considering how bad things were looking with the balls falling out all over the place. I'm going to see if I can reload it myself or more than likely send it out- it's an internal return nut with 3 circuits and I have no clue how to get all those balls back in there!



  16. #56
    Registered ghynes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    MANITOBA CANADA
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    $1236 ouch! Definately no plans to make my machine work better............



  17. #57
    Registered
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    75
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    HAHA, no kidding! It's funny because this entire debacle (starting with the pulley, finally ending with removal of the ball nut) started because- and this is no joke- I hit underneath the table with compressed air and blew a bunch of aluminum chips all up and underneath the table- and into the felt pads for oiling the linear rods. I was going nuts thinking that everytime I moved the table all that really fine aluminum swarf was sanding away at the linear components. Guess I woud have been better off leaving well enough alone. Since the ball nut and ballscrew are fine- the only penalty has been down time and late nights learning new stuff. Overall it was nerve wracking, but much better than it could have been. And I got that damn aluminum out of the felt pads!



  18. #58
    Registered Norsksea's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    US
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default

    I have not been working on my TMC 1000 since my last post. I am keeping the 2 connector and wiring that came on the mill. I bought the matching 15-pin and 9-pin connectors for the back of my control panel from Mouser.com.
    571-2052033 - 9P SOCKET TIN
    571-2052052 - 15P SOCKET TIN
    571-665693 - SOLDER SKT CNT 18
    I ordered connectors that came with separate solder pins that could be used on 18-gauge wire from the geckos and power supply to the connectors.
    I have been reading up and have configured a IBM Thinkpad with Windows XP for Mach3. The setup for Mach 3 requires XP to be trimmed down to run Mach 3 with minimal left over for anything else. I will be working in the control panel because I want to get it running soon.
    Frank



  19. #59
    Registered Norsksea's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    US
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default TMC 1000 and Mach 3 Running

    TMC 1000 + Mach 3

    Here is my finished up TMC 1000 and running and am glad it works. Doing something for the first time is the hardest because the outcome is unknown. I am using a T30 ThinkPad with XP (optimized) which is very stable in Mach 3.
    I had to keep updating my wiring diagrams every time something changed when doing the actual wiring. I needed to have a correct schematic to finish the wiring. The control panel running with Campbell breakout board and 202 Gecko drives connected to my TMC 1000 though the original 9 pin (Z harness) and 15 pin X+Y harness) connectors. I couple of the limit switches where common used the same pin assignments in the original wiring. In Mach and on the breakout board LED’s I had a X- limit switch grounding with the Z limits which I thought was separate. I retraced the wiring and found that the X- limit switch was common with the Z+ limit and that pin assignment was with the Z harness so I revised the wiring again.
    I did have a sporadic problem with a frequency spike every 3 seconds. I had no problem with the laptop the first day I used it. I cut the roadrunner on 3 or for plates with no problem. I even ran a modified smaller roadrunner code twice in the same aluminum plate to see if it would be repeatable. The next day I was cutting the roadrunner on some new scrap pieces of ½ Plexiglas to see how fine a line I could get. I cut around 4 them and then the motors sounded weird and the endmill went deep into the Plexiglas. When jogging the motors every resolution there was a knocking sound in each stepper motor and not understanding steppers I thought I had bad steppers.
    At this point I need to stop and thank Bob Campbell for his help with a problem I had with the X motor step and direction which was resolved by using the A motor pin assignments to Mach. I had also asked Bob if he sold stepper motors because I thought mine were bad. I then told him about the knock I had in my motors but after I said that even at a faster jog speed, the knock remained the constant at around 3 seconds. Bob told me it was a frequency spike that was causing the knocking sound.
    I didn’t know what I did to change the computer to cause the spike until I saw the green battery light blinking every 3-seconds. I remembered I had disconnected the AC charger from the T30 to use a spotlight on the back of the mill when reinstalling the screws for the back panel. After I was done with that I repluged in the AC cord and then is when the milling changed.
    There are three staged charging for the ThinkPad. 1st is a constant yellow light for most of the battery recharge. 2nd is a green blinking light to indicate a trickle charge to top off the battery. 3rd is fully charged and the charging system is off. The trickle charging system was my 3-second spike. I ran the roadrunner code 7 times on the same piece of Plexiglas with no deviation to the cut lines AFTER the battery was fully charged.
    Below are pictures of the Mach 3 running on my T30, control box, mill and Roadrunners.
    Here is a movie on YouTube too
    Frank


    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Light Machine 1000 retrofit-t30-mach-3-sm-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-contro-l-panel-front-sm-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-contro-l-panel-back-sm-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-tmc-1000-cutting-sm-jpg  

    Light Machine 1000 retrofit-roadrunner-aluminum-sm-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-tmc-1000-back-sm-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-pulse-frequency-sm-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-plexi-roadrunner-sm-jpg  

    Light Machine 1000 retrofit-plexi-roadrunner-cl-sm-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-plexi-roadrunner-cl-rev-sm-jpg  
    Last edited by Norsksea; 08-07-2007 at 12:22 PM.


  20. #60
    Registered ghynes's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    MANITOBA CANADA
    Posts
    41
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0

    Default Tmc1000

    Frank,

    The machine looks great and very nice job on the control box. Please tell me more about the digital readout on the spindle and also are you controlling the spindle speed under software control or manually? Love to see your final wiring diagrams if you done them in electronic form! I haven't started on my new control box for my TMC1000 due to time constraints and many projects but sooner or later I will want that 4th axis so it will happen. I actually have all the parts here and just need to get around to assembling and wiring them up. I did however just win an auction for a small 5 by 12 CNC lathe on ebay and since it will require a new controller in order to work I suspect that one will happen first!! Here's a few pics of the new toy:


    cheerio

    Gerald

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Light Machine 1000 retrofit-cee6_1-jpg   Light Machine 1000 retrofit-cfca_1-jpg  


Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


About CNCzone.com

    We are the largest and most active discussion forum for manufacturing industry. The site is 100% free to join and use, so join today!

Follow us on


Our Brands

Light Machine 1000 retrofit

Light Machine 1000 retrofit