Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Pete Matos]

That would be a sweet machine man, MONARCH CNC!!   A real nice 10EE is a
thing of beauty for sure.  Once I get this Cincinnati Arrow 500 retrofit
completed and hopefully making me some cash I would like to find a nice
older Cincinnati slant bed or maybe a CHNC Harding's lathe to retrofit to
complement my mill.  I have  decent 12x36 manual lathe here but would
really like to have a nice CNC lathe.  Gotta be a nice capacity and still
be small enough to run on single phase power like the Arrow. Maybe 7.5-10

On Thursday, April 4, 2013, jeremy youngs  wrote:
> "For the little lathe... it works just fine so I'll leave it alone and
> start working on adding x and Z motors on my newly acquired Monarch 10ee.
>
> Before I start getting rotten tomatoes thrown at me for doing such a
> travesty I must note that this machine is what is called a "base"
> model. it left the factory with no lead screw, no change gears and no
> way to add them back even in the unlikely event that I could find
> them.  There is also no taper attachment.  So why would I ever buy
> such a machine??? I didn't.  It was a gift.   I've sunk about $200
> into a rotary converter with idler(no need for variable speed) and I
> think I can add a ball screw and servo to
> the Z and a servo to the x for less than $400.  Must look into Mesa
> servo drives."
>
> Cecil
>
>
> no the tomatoes are for scoring this retrofitable king of machines :)
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 10:52 PM, Cecil Thomas wrote:
>
>> I have recently converted a jet 9x20 to CNC using gearhead servos on
>> the x and z and a treadmill motor on the spindle.  I made my spindle
>> encoder out of a CD with 20 notches with one deeper than the rest.  I
>> read the counts with active electronic optical interrupters so the
>> output is clean and full voltage.  I have A, B and Z encoders so I
>> get 80 counts per rev which I think is plenty good enough and doesn't
>> cause crazy high count rates at high spindle speeds.
>>   I control the spindle speed with PWM through another optical
>> interrupter for isolation.  I actually do my threading with g33
>> because it was so easy to rewrite my threading programs from servo
>> spindle to indexed spindle.  I am very comfortable with my threading
>> program because it works referenced to the outer diameter of the
>> stock or the inner diameter of an internal thread which is the way I
>> think.  Also since it's my code I can modify it any time for any reason.
>>
>> For the little lathe... it works just fine so I'll leave it alone and
>> start working on adding x and Z motors on my newly acquired Monarch 10ee.
>>
>> Before I start getting rotten tomatoes thrown at me for doing such a
>> travesty I must note that this machine is what is called a "base"
>> model. it left the factory with no lead screw, no change gears and no
>> way to add them back even in the unlikely event that I could find
>> them.  There is also no taper attachment.  So why would I ever buy
>> such a machine??? I didn't.  It was a gift.   I've sunk about $200
>> into a rotary converter with idler(no need for variable speed) and I
>> think I can add a ball screw and servo to
>> the Z and a servo to the x for less than $400.  Must look into Mesa
>> servo drives.
>>
>> Cecil
>>
>>  >You can probably add an index to the spindle and set up for G76 etc.
>>  >The motor encoder and belt ratio will give an unusual number of counts
>>  >per rev, but it's just a number and computers don't care.
>>  >However, you do need one index per _spindle_ rev to do G76 threading.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[jeremy youngs]

"For the little lathe... it works just fine so I'll leave it alone and
start working on adding x and Z motors on my newly acquired Monarch 10ee.

Before I start getting rotten tomatoes thrown at me for doing such a
travesty I must note that this machine is what is called a "base"
model. it left the factory with no lead screw, no change gears and no
way to add them back even in the unlikely event that I could find
them.  There is also no taper attachment.  So why would I ever buy
such a machine??? I didn't.  It was a gift.   I've sunk about $200
into a rotary converter with idler(no need for variable speed) and I
think I can add a ball screw and servo to
the Z and a servo to the x for less than $400.  Must look into Mesa
servo drives."

Cecil


no the tomatoes are for scoring this retrofitable king of machines :)


On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 10:52 PM, Cecil Thomas wrote:

> I have recently converted a jet 9x20 to CNC using gearhead servos on
> the x and z and a treadmill motor on the spindle.  I made my spindle
> encoder out of a CD with 20 notches with one deeper than the rest.  I
> read the counts with active electronic optical interrupters so the
> output is clean and full voltage.  I have A, B and Z encoders so I
> get 80 counts per rev which I think is plenty good enough and doesn't
> cause crazy high count rates at high spindle speeds.
>   I control the spindle speed with PWM through another optical
> interrupter for isolation.  I actually do my threading with g33
> because it was so easy to rewrite my threading programs from servo
> spindle to indexed spindle.  I am very comfortable with my threading
> program because it works referenced to the outer diameter of the
> stock or the inner diameter of an internal thread which is the way I
> think.  Also since it's my code I can modify it any time for any reason.
>
> For the little lathe... it works just fine so I'll leave it alone and
> start working on adding x and Z motors on my newly acquired Monarch 10ee.
>
> Before I start getting rotten tomatoes thrown at me for doing such a
> travesty I must note that this machine is what is called a "base"
> model. it left the factory with no lead screw, no change gears and no
> way to add them back even in the unlikely event that I could find
> them.  There is also no taper attachment.  So why would I ever buy
> such a machine??? I didn't.  It was a gift.   I've sunk about $200
> into a rotary converter with idler(no need for variable speed) and I
> think I can add a ball screw and servo to
> the Z and a servo to the x for less than $400.  Must look into Mesa
> servo drives.
>
> Cecil
>
>  >You can probably add an index to the spindle and set up for G76 etc.
>  >The motor encoder and belt ratio will give an unusual number of counts
>  >per rev, but it's just a number and computers don't care.
>  >However, you do need one index per _spindle_ rev to do G76 threading.
>
>
>
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> the most talented Cisco Certified professionals. Visit the
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>



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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Cecil Thomas]

I have recently converted a jet 9x20 to CNC using gearhead servos on 
the x and z and a treadmill motor on the spindle.  I made my spindle 
encoder out of a CD with 20 notches with one deeper than the rest.  I 
read the counts with active electronic optical interrupters so the 
output is clean and full voltage.  I have A, B and Z encoders so I 
get 80 counts per rev which I think is plenty good enough and doesn't 
cause crazy high count rates at high spindle speeds.
  I control the spindle speed with PWM through another optical 
interrupter for isolation.  I actually do my threading with g33 
because it was so easy to rewrite my threading programs from servo 
spindle to indexed spindle.  I am very comfortable with my threading 
program because it works referenced to the outer diameter of the 
stock or the inner diameter of an internal thread which is the way I 
think.  Also since it's my code I can modify it any time for any reason.

For the little lathe... it works just fine so I'll leave it alone and 
start working on adding x and Z motors on my newly acquired Monarch 10ee.

Before I start getting rotten tomatoes thrown at me for doing such a 
travesty I must note that this machine is what is called a "base" 
model. it left the factory with no lead screw, no change gears and no 
way to add them back even in the unlikely event that I could find 
them.  There is also no taper attachment.  So why would I ever buy 
such a machine??? I didn't.  It was a gift.   I've sunk about $200 
into a rotary converter with idler(no need for variable speed) and I 
think I can add a ball screw and servo to
the Z and a servo to the x for less than $400.  Must look into Mesa 
servo drives.

Cecil

 >You can probably add an index to the spindle and set up for G76 etc.
 >The motor encoder and belt ratio will give an unusual number of counts
 >per rev, but it's just a number and computers don't care.
 >However, you do need one index per _spindle_ rev to do G76 threading.


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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[andy pugh]

On 4 April 2013 23:06, Cecil Thomas  wrote:

> The spindle is driven with a timing belt and a
> larger servo.  I run all my threading programs on the little lathe as
> if the spindle were an A axis.  I used this setup because I had the
> servo, I had written X,Y,Z,A programs to thread on my Millrite, and
> the g33, g76 threading with an indexed spindle was not that clear in
> my mind and I didn't have an index on the spindle motor.

You can probably add an index to the spindle and set up for G76 etc.
The motor encoder and belt ratio will give an unusual number of counts
per rev, but it's just a number and computers don't care.
However, you do need one index per _spindle_ rev to do G76 threading.


-- 
atp
If you can't fix it, you don't own it.
http://www.ifixit.com/Manifesto

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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Cecil Thomas]

I used Gecko 320's with no breakout board to drive the X, Z and 
spindle.  I had converted my millrite to CNC after I found some large 
(4" diameter x 6") 30  volt motors that had an encoder shaft but no 
encoder.  With the big motors on hand and the encoders given to me by 
a friend the step and direction servo setup was the most economical 
at the time.
  The watchmakers lathe X and Z are some tiny little servos that a 
friend gave me (originally so I could cannibalize the encoders but 
that's another story)  The spindle is driven with a timing belt and a 
larger servo.  I run all my threading programs on the little lathe as 
if the spindle were an A axis.  I used this setup because I had the 
servo, I had written X,Y,Z,A programs to thread on my Millrite, and 
the g33, g76 threading with an indexed spindle was not that clear in 
my mind and I didn't have an index on the spindle motor.  The only 
real problem in using x,z,a with a axis spindle is the need to 
"unwind" the spindle after every pass.  That's not a large problem 
when you are cutting a 00-90 thread .1 inches long.
I'd be happy to upload some pictures of my little lathe but I am not 
familiar with the uploading sites.  Could someone recommend a good 
"no hassle" site?

Cecil


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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Cogoman]

Getting that alu tape drum off the shaft so you can fit something else is a 
problem, they are pressed on, interference fitted.

I think I'd try a nutcracker.
Sent from my Kyocera Rise

Gene Heskett  wrote:

>On Thursday 04 April 2013 09:23:01 Gregg Eshelman did opine:
>
>> --- On Thu, 4/4/13, John Stewart  wrote:
>> > I'm looking for ideas here.
>> > 
>> > A Unimat SL1000, MK1 landed on my desk last Saturday. It's
>> > mine if I want it. Have been thinking of taking some of my
>> > CNC parts kicking around home and using them, but I don't
>> > think using a 5i25 + 7i76 + Nema 34 steppers is great.
>> > 
>> > So, with a little lathe like this, if I go with NEMA 17 "3D
>> > Printer" steppers (think Reprap or one of the Thingverse
>> > machines), what would be the best, least expensive way of
>> > driving these steppers from a LinuxCNC setup?
>> 
>> Even 17's would dwarf that Unimat. I'd try some motors from printers or
>> old 5.25" full height floppy drives. I just happen to have a pair of
>> Tandon single sided 5.25" drives I've been trying to give away for a
>> while. ;) Had them on a TI-99/4A years ago before upgrading to double
>> sided drives.
>> 
>> The drive motors for spinning the disks might also be useful for micro
>> CNC with encoders added. I think they have tachometers built in.
>> 
>They would probably be pretty puny for x-z drives even on that small a 
>lathe.  They were normally belted to the spindle, and belt slippage on the 
>lathe would destroy any accuracy unless you also put scales on it.  The 17 
>class steppers might be overkill. but at least you can microstep them.
>
>> Even cooler would be using the motor control boards from the drives.
>> They do step and direction for the head steppers and on/off for the
>> drive motors. 'Course they have rather poor resolution with only 40
>> normally accessible steps, though that's not a hard limit, there was
>> software for increasing the number of tracks on disks for some
>> computers.
>
>Steps available are virtually unlimited.  The driver SW in the computer 
>usually steps them outward, either until it hits a mechanical limit & sits 
>there hammering the stop till enough steps have been issued that the 
>computer knows it has to be at track zero ( racket you hear at bios bootup 
>from any pc with a floppy in it, or if fancy driver, the track zero switch 
>closes to indicate its at track zero.  Stepping the other way is limited in 
>the drive by the head carriage hitting the spindle mechanics but if that 
>limit is removed, there is not any other limit.
>
>The biggest problem will be the low voltage it runs on.  The disk drives 
>board will fail at the voltages we commonly use for steppers, even the toy 
>stuff we generally use is 24 volts, and that is enough to cook the floppy 
>board because they do not chop for current control, they power up, do the 
>step and shut the current off 40 milliseconds or so later if no more steps 
>come in since there is not any torque pushing on them, the normal steppers 
>cogging is sufficient holding power.
>
>The next problem is the speed they can step.  At the voltages they do run 
>at, and at no more mass than they have to move, the maximum step rate is 
>nominally 6 ms per step.  Mechanically geared down for accuracy, that is 
>not going to be very fast at all.
>
>Synopsis: Look for a small chinese stepper board that can microstep with 
>chopper controlled current, and hit the surplus places looking for 4 wire, 
>not more than 12 volt, probably $12 or so, steppers.  I have a few, rated 
>at 24 volts, which means they'd be pretty slow on 24 volts, but I didn't 
>buy them for motors, but as generators, turned by hand they output a nice 
>pulse for a jog pendent.  But my round tuit came up missing.  :)
>
>Those head steppers out of the old tandon's that drive the head carriage 
>via the thin steel tape, can be made to put out considerably more torque, 
>and faster by 5x or so, if driven by a xylotex board and a 24 volt supply.  
>But the xylotex board doesn't do idle current reduction, just on & off via 
>the enable pins, so the motor temps need to be watched.  Getting that alu 
>tape drum off the shaft so you can fit something else is a problem, they 
>are pressed on, interference fitted.
>
>Interesting what if problem. :)
>
>> I wonder if it'd be possible to hack the control board (which is
>> separate from and much smaller than the data read/write board) to work
>> as a more general purpose one? Microstepping might be a bit much to
>> add.
>
>Not practical at all. 
>
>> There was a site that showed using the boards and motors from a pair of
>> floppy drives to build a robot, but it vanished.
>
>No wheels there that we can't reinvent if needed. :)
>
>Cheers, Gene
>-- 
>"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
> soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
>-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
>My web page:  is up!
>My views 
>

Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Stan]

http://www.circuitspecialists.com/stepper-motor

they have small steppers, down to NEMA 11, if you look around you can 
find NEMA 8 as well, remember that torque drops fast the smaller you go 
so you may want to watch that your motor is not under powered, you may 
have to gear it down.

sound like a fun project

On 4/4/2013 7:40 AM, John Stewart wrote:
> Hmm - lots of very good thoughts and suggestions so far, obviously lots of 
> "out of the box" thinkers here as expected.
>
> I do have two colleagues who are unabashed hoarders of stuff, so maybe I'll 
> ask them about stepper motors.
>
> Ralph:
>
>


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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[John Stewart]

Hmm - lots of very good thoughts and suggestions so far, obviously lots of "out 
of the box" thinkers here as expected.

I do have two colleagues who are unabashed hoarders of stuff, so maybe I'll ask 
them about stepper motors. 

Ralph:

> You could use a Gecko G510 for a tidy little package.  You could
> use a NEMA17 to drive the spindle as well as X and Z, then you
> could have a C axis and amaze people with tricks like machining
> offset lobes on a cam, or use a flex-shaft Dremel-type tool for
> live tooling.

If you mean the G540 - I use one on my Sieg KX1-NU mill, and it works really 
well with the Mesa 5i25.

Hmmm - replace the motor with a stepper - there is the "stepper head" build 
going on in Model Engineers Workshop, so this is an interesting idea.

The little Unimats are not very solid, IIRC (I had one as a teenager in the 
'70s), but this one is a shorter bed, so maybe might be stronger? (less flex in 
the bed "rods", I'd assume)

I can see this little "weekend warrior" project turning into something rather 
larger!

;-) JohnS.


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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday 04 April 2013 09:23:01 Gregg Eshelman did opine:

> --- On Thu, 4/4/13, John Stewart  wrote:
> > I'm looking for ideas here.
> > 
> > A Unimat SL1000, MK1 landed on my desk last Saturday. It's
> > mine if I want it. Have been thinking of taking some of my
> > CNC parts kicking around home and using them, but I don't
> > think using a 5i25 + 7i76 + Nema 34 steppers is great.
> > 
> > So, with a little lathe like this, if I go with NEMA 17 "3D
> > Printer" steppers (think Reprap or one of the Thingverse
> > machines), what would be the best, least expensive way of
> > driving these steppers from a LinuxCNC setup?
> 
> Even 17's would dwarf that Unimat. I'd try some motors from printers or
> old 5.25" full height floppy drives. I just happen to have a pair of
> Tandon single sided 5.25" drives I've been trying to give away for a
> while. ;) Had them on a TI-99/4A years ago before upgrading to double
> sided drives.
> 
> The drive motors for spinning the disks might also be useful for micro
> CNC with encoders added. I think they have tachometers built in.
> 
They would probably be pretty puny for x-z drives even on that small a 
lathe.  They were normally belted to the spindle, and belt slippage on the 
lathe would destroy any accuracy unless you also put scales on it.  The 17 
class steppers might be overkill. but at least you can microstep them.

> Even cooler would be using the motor control boards from the drives.
> They do step and direction for the head steppers and on/off for the
> drive motors. 'Course they have rather poor resolution with only 40
> normally accessible steps, though that's not a hard limit, there was
> software for increasing the number of tracks on disks for some
> computers.

Steps available are virtually unlimited.  The driver SW in the computer 
usually steps them outward, either until it hits a mechanical limit & sits 
there hammering the stop till enough steps have been issued that the 
computer knows it has to be at track zero ( racket you hear at bios bootup 
from any pc with a floppy in it, or if fancy driver, the track zero switch 
closes to indicate its at track zero.  Stepping the other way is limited in 
the drive by the head carriage hitting the spindle mechanics but if that 
limit is removed, there is not any other limit.

The biggest problem will be the low voltage it runs on.  The disk drives 
board will fail at the voltages we commonly use for steppers, even the toy 
stuff we generally use is 24 volts, and that is enough to cook the floppy 
board because they do not chop for current control, they power up, do the 
step and shut the current off 40 milliseconds or so later if no more steps 
come in since there is not any torque pushing on them, the normal steppers 
cogging is sufficient holding power.

The next problem is the speed they can step.  At the voltages they do run 
at, and at no more mass than they have to move, the maximum step rate is 
nominally 6 ms per step.  Mechanically geared down for accuracy, that is 
not going to be very fast at all.

Synopsis: Look for a small chinese stepper board that can microstep with 
chopper controlled current, and hit the surplus places looking for 4 wire, 
not more than 12 volt, probably $12 or so, steppers.  I have a few, rated 
at 24 volts, which means they'd be pretty slow on 24 volts, but I didn't 
buy them for motors, but as generators, turned by hand they output a nice 
pulse for a jog pendent.  But my round tuit came up missing.  :)

Those head steppers out of the old tandon's that drive the head carriage 
via the thin steel tape, can be made to put out considerably more torque, 
and faster by 5x or so, if driven by a xylotex board and a 24 volt supply.  
But the xylotex board doesn't do idle current reduction, just on & off via 
the enable pins, so the motor temps need to be watched.  Getting that alu 
tape drum off the shaft so you can fit something else is a problem, they 
are pressed on, interference fitted.

Interesting what if problem. :)

> I wonder if it'd be possible to hack the control board (which is
> separate from and much smaller than the data read/write board) to work
> as a more general purpose one? Microstepping might be a bit much to
> add.

Not practical at all. 

> There was a site that showed using the boards and motors from a pair of
> floppy drives to build a robot, but it vanished.

No wheels there that we can't reinvent if needed. :)

Cheers, Gene
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page:  is up!
My views 

... My pants just went on a wild rampage through a Long Island Bowling 
Alley!!
A pen in the hand of this president is far more
dangerous than a gun in the hands of 200 million
  law-abiding citizens.

---

Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Stan]

least expensive is a Ebay driver with built in BOB like
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Axis-TB6560-CNC-Stepper-Motor-Driver-Controller-Board-/130532311197?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6455009d

that was just a quick grab, shop around ebay and find the best fit for 
price location and shipping cost. if you need a power supply you can 
also get if from ebay, some times even from the guy your getting the 
driver from. look  at the what else the supplier of the drive has for 
sale, most times you can save on shipping that way.


On 4/4/2013 4:55 AM, John Stewart wrote:
> Cecil Thomas mentioned in another thread that he'd cnc'd a watchmakers lathe.
>
> I'm looking for ideas here.
>
> A Unimat SL1000, MK1 landed on my desk last Saturday. It's mine if I want it. 
> Have been thinking of taking some of my CNC parts kicking around home and 
> using them, but I don't think using a 5i25 + 7i76 + Nema 34 steppers is great.
>
> So, with a little lathe like this, if I go with NEMA 17 "3D Printer" steppers 
> (think Reprap or one of the Thingverse machines), what would be the best, 
> least expensive way of driving these steppers from a LinuxCNC setup?
>
> Do the "C10" boards, as shown in www.automationtechnologies.com's stepper 
> motor kits work with LinuxCNC?
>
> I expect this little lathe to be a "toy" or "demo" lathe; take it along to 
> shows, etc, and have it run making little brass swarf piles.
>
> I do have a computer put together with 5I25 and an Intel D525MW motherboard 
> waiting to sit beside my larger CNC lathe build, so I could use that for 
> computer horsepower.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Thank you;
>
>
>
> --
> Minimize network downtime and maximize team effectiveness.
> Reduce network management and security costs.Learn how to hire
> the most talented Cisco Certified professionals. Visit the
> Employer Resources Portal
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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Kent A. Reed]

On 4/4/2013 9:02 AM, Gregg Eshelman wrote:
> There was a site that showed using the boards and motors from a pair of 
> floppy drives to build a robot, but it vanished.

Google returns plenty of hits on the search phrase "floppy stepper robot".

If you remember the URL of the vanished site (and you don't see 
something substantially similar  in the Google list), you could look for 
it on the Wayback Machine at archive.org. Over the years this site has 
become indispensable to me as technical folks abandon their websites for 
whatever reason. Not everything gets archived but the Wayback Machine is 
always my first stop after looking for cached pages on Google.

Regards,
Kent


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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Ralph Stirling]

You could use a Gecko G510 for a tidy little package.  You could
use a NEMA17 to drive the spindle as well as X and Z, then you
could have a C axis and amaze people with tricks like machining
offset lobes on a cam, or use a flex-shaft Dremel-type tool for
live tooling.

-- Ralph

From: John Stewart [alex.stew...@crc.ca]
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 4:55 AM
To: Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)
Subject: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

Cecil Thomas mentioned in another thread that he'd cnc'd a watchmakers lathe.

I'm looking for ideas here.

A Unimat SL1000, MK1 landed on my desk last Saturday. It's mine if I want it. 
Have been thinking of taking some of my CNC parts kicking around home and using 
them, but I don't think using a 5i25 + 7i76 + Nema 34 steppers is great.

So, with a little lathe like this, if I go with NEMA 17 "3D Printer" steppers 
(think Reprap or one of the Thingverse machines), what would be the best, least 
expensive way of driving these steppers from a LinuxCNC setup?

Do the "C10" boards, as shown in www.automationtechnologies.com's stepper motor 
kits work with LinuxCNC?

I expect this little lathe to be a "toy" or "demo" lathe; take it along to 
shows, etc, and have it run making little brass swarf piles.

I do have a computer put together with 5I25 and an Intel D525MW motherboard 
waiting to sit beside my larger CNC lathe build, so I could use that for 
computer horsepower.

Thoughts?

Thank you;

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Re: [Emc-users] Cecil Thomas - CNC'd Watchmakers Lathe

[Gregg Eshelman]

--- On Thu, 4/4/13, John Stewart  wrote:

> I'm looking for ideas here.
> 
> A Unimat SL1000, MK1 landed on my desk last Saturday. It's
> mine if I want it. Have been thinking of taking some of my
> CNC parts kicking around home and using them, but I don't
> think using a 5i25 + 7i76 + Nema 34 steppers is great.
> 
> So, with a little lathe like this, if I go with NEMA 17 "3D
> Printer" steppers (think Reprap or one of the Thingverse
> machines), what would be the best, least expensive way of
> driving these steppers from a LinuxCNC setup?

Even 17's would dwarf that Unimat. I'd try some motors from printers or old 
5.25" full height floppy drives. I just happen to have a pair of Tandon single 
sided 5.25" drives I've been trying to give away for a while. ;) Had them on a 
TI-99/4A years ago before upgrading to double sided drives.

The drive motors for spinning the disks might also be useful for micro CNC with 
encoders added. I think they have tachometers built in.

Even cooler would be using the motor control boards from the drives. They do 
step and direction for the head steppers and on/off for the drive motors. 
'Course they have rather poor resolution with only 40 normally accessible 
steps, though that's not a hard limit, there was software for increasing the 
number of tracks on disks for some computers.

I wonder if it'd be possible to hack the control board (which is separate from 
and much smaller than the data read/write board) to work as a more general 
purpose one? Microstepping might be a bit much to add.

There was a site that showed using the boards and motors from a pair of floppy 
drives to build a robot, but it vanished.

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