Heh - this has been a fun read! My first experience on a retrofit was on the little sister to the Blue Cinci I put LinuxCNC on. Around 1998/99 I put OpenCNC on the Cinci's I had. When I had the first one up and running we had a Fanuc tech in the shop working on one of the machines. In conversation he wanted to see the OpenCNC control. Of course I was more than happy to show him. As he watched the screens booting up his jaw dropped. He said the screens looked just like a Fanuc control booting up (prior to what the user sees when starting a machine). The underlying operating system was QNX. Then OpenCNC transitioned to a Windows based Venturecom RTOS. No matter the preferred OS everyone is just manipulating 1's and 0's to reach a personal goal. Unix, QNX, MSDOS, BSD, ... There happens to be a few more than a couple flavors of Linux to provide paths to a goal. Don't forget Android! It sounds like the exact goal of many people and it happens to be! Buy it, turn it on, use it. Almost like a printer no? And Windows for a machine to surf the internet and check email. My point is this whole thread talks about various goals and the paths to achieve said goals. When someone asks for help reaching a goal and their answer to the suggestion to use the command line is "What is a command line?" you know their skill level to delve into the bowels of software is limited. Someone put a lot of effort and money into Android to create the ultimate turn on and play Linux platform and I thank them for doing that. Virtually every software solution is almost closed if not completely closed. Linux is open and you can do with it whatever you have the personal capability to make it do. I originally thought OpenCNC was open. Heh, not on your life. The software was completely closed. They had a VERY SHORT list of computer hardware to choose from and a short list of connecting components to choose from. You were not tied to a certain brand but they had closed drivers for a few brands. Not very open. Then I found EMC/EMC2/LinuxCNC! Now that is OPEN!!!!! Just as with anything, the more capability inside the longer the learning curve. This is the only stumbling block of LinuxCNC. It will do anything but it is not automatic. NCL by NCCS is the CAM software I choose to use. A NCL guru friend of mine says he has an IFM button on the bottom of his keyboard. When someone using any other CAM systems asks how he programs a particularly difficult part his response is the IFM button. What is IFM you ask? It's F-in Magic. NCL is not open source but the writer gives the operator access to all math functions and macros/do loop et al and C language capabilities that allows you manipulate the outcome in any fashion "you are able to". The full capability of NCL is by using the command line. It is possible to use point and click in NCL (like many other CAM software packages) to program parts. This method is limited by what functions are available in icons. When the icon limitation is reached the programmer is done or needs to enter the command line mode. NCL gives you that option but it comes at the cost of the learning curve. LinuxCNC is like that. Unlimited but not free and easy. LinuxCNC is not Staples. There is no Big Red easy button. A lot of words to say this. The LinuxCNC developers (past and present) give their time and effort to this project. I offer a hearty THANK YOU and appreciate the base I have with which to help achieve my goals. Since I retired I have been busier than a one armed paper hanger. I thought this was going to ease up a couple months ago. I was wrong. I am busier than ever. Hopefully, this will ease in a couple more months as I have a number of projects to work on including a couple in LinuxCNC. thanks for reading this wall of text Stuart
On Mon, Dec 27, 2021 at 5:55 AM Gregg Eshelman via Emc-users < emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > I used to want a Denford ORAC but I found a forum thread where someone > took one apart to refurbish it and it's just a modified clone of the EMCO > 8x20, which has also been widely cloned as the common 9x20 with a 1/2" > increase in center height. For the ORAC the back end of the cross slide is > cut off so the back of the enclosure doesn't have to be back so far, but > that limits how far back the slide can be moved. > > What would be nifty in an ORAC is to replace the car stereo with one of > those DIN1 sized MP3 players and fit it with a waterproof shield made for > use in a boat. Yes, the Denford ORAC is the only metal lathe to be equipped > with a car stereo and speakers. The reason for it was to play the > instructional cassette tapes that came with the lathe. No reason one > couldn't play their favorite tunes while the lathe is running. > > The EMCO Compact 5 is limited by it's 75 step per rotation stepper motors. > Many owners toss them and all the electronics then retrofit with 180 step > motors. There was a company that made an add-on circuit board called the > WELTURN (and WELMILL for EMCO's CNC milling machines). I assume one would > be nice if you wanted to retain the original hardware and improve it, but > try finding a WELTURN or WELMILL board. Even if you can, how likely is it > to work with LCNC or other modern CNC software? > If you're intending to work with the original electronics, the EMCO > Compact 5 came in a standalone version that went through several revisions, > with the last being the best. Then there was the Compact 5 PC which > connected to a PC for controlling it. In any case the Compact 5 is a *very > light* lathe though much "beefier" than the tiny aluminum ones, the name of > which currently eludes me. The bed is made from an aluminum extrusion and > the parts and pieces have been used by many companies to make tiny > "instructional" CNC machines after companies like ProLight, Intellitek, > Denford, Emco etc bowed out of that market, went out of business, or > discontinued their quite capable benctop CNC machines to build wee ones > from that company's parts bin. > > On Sunday, December 26, 2021, 08:24:15 AM MST, Andy Pugh < > bodge...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On 26 Dec 2021, at 13:44, Mark <wendt.m...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> stallation or do a number of standard operations. > > > > Sure. As long as you can guarantee that every single machine > manufactured, designed, built in someones garage or basement will be > identical to each and every other machine out there. > > To get back to the original subject if this thread: > > I think that could be done for some hardware. > Emco Compact 5 > Denford Orac > Maho MH500? > Any other suggestions? > > ie, reasonably common machines with reasonably fixed hardware. > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > -- Addressee is the intended audience. If you are not the addressee then my consent is not given for you to read this email furthermore it is my wish you would close this without saving or reading, and cease and desist from saving or opening my private correspondence. Thank you for honoring my wish. _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
