Parallel ports problems

[Cnc many]

What motion controller have you gone for?

Iv got a uc100 from cnc4you. £102 It's just a dongle, But need to get a working copy of xp or win 7 it won't work with my current vista (crap op system) but I knew that already!

[Cnc many]

Well it's all ok now
Got a motion controller, as many PCI cards for the parallel pore are just jumped up usb cards and as such won't work. I used a uc100 cost a lot, but then I could have had to get several parallel port cards before I found one which worked. Note this will only work with win 7,8. 2000and xp. I went for win 7 (8 is awful) and xp is good but history. The installation puts mach 3 in first then it's own drivers and it has a smart little screen in the plugins section of Mach 3 which enables you to view the port conditions without using the complex diagnostics tab
The e stop and limits worked almost straight away, but at 2am it was time to put out a few zzzz's so today it's all about sorting the motors and spindle drive...then just the splash guards, lamp, coolant pump
This is a windscreen washer pump controlled for speed with a very cheap speed controller from ebay-£6.50 for two! -it works well in test and the flow is very controllable drawing 1-3.5 amps


Final task is just how do I use the thing!


Ps if you want a decent free cad/cam package. Get Fusion 360 from Autodesk. It's a bit of a pain to find the correct website to get the permanent free usage and the tutorials are great. This is upto date full on industrial standard package
Happy milling

pps thanks for all the help and advice guys

[JAZZCNC]

This is a windscreen washer pump controlled for speed with a very cheap speed controller from ebay-£6.50 for two! -it works well in test and the flow is very controllable drawing 1-3.5 amps

If this coolant pump for Water cooled spindle then watch out because the Duty cycle of Car washer pump will be low so large chance the motor will burn out when in constant use.!!

[cropwell]

If this coolant pump for Water cooled spindle then watch out because the Duty cycle of Car washer pump will be low so large chance the motor will burn out when in constant use.!!

I am echoing Jazz's comment. You can get a submersible pond pump for a few quid and it will run all day and everyday till it wears out.

For instance :-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Submersibl...oAAOSw-jhT-EOI

Another comment about car washer pumps is that they are high pressure (ish) low volume pumps and the way they are constructed means that any swarf will likely destroy them. Also if you run them dry the rubber vanes inside will fail very quickly. Pond pumps have the advantage that you just chuck 'em in the tank. Anything else needs plumbing.


I have just scrounged a 120mm PC cooling radiator, and that is going in the circuit.

[Clive S]

+ one a simple fish tank pump is more than enough

[Cnc many]

Washer pump seems ok with the speed controller, so low flow rate, had it on test for a few hours and no problems. It was still cold, but that was with water, next test is with oil.
Im going to put an intermediate tank with a number of baffles to act as a settlement and swarf trap which then drains into the washer bottle.
time will tell, but it's a cheap option at the moment and I already had all the elements......

thangs guys

[Clive S]

Washer pump seems ok with the speed controller, so low flow rate, had it on test for a few hours and no problems. It was still cold, but that was with water, next test is with oil.
Im going to put an intermediate tank with a number of baffles to act as a settlement and swarf trap which then drains into the washer bottle.
time will tell, but it's a cheap option at the moment and I already had all the elements......

thangs guys

Ah are you talking about the flood cooling or the spindle cooling as I and I think the others were on about the spindle cooling.

[Cnc many]

Tool cooling. I use a straight cutting oil, soluble is poor unless u use it all the time. My new lathe was badly stained after first use when it was looked at the next day.
that was the motivation for straight oil. Fortunatly it was easily removed. The lathe is now 30 years old and is still shiny and looking over most of the machine like new
always applied with a brush or drip feed from a gallon can, but cnc will be working on its own so washer pump will do

Graham

[cropwell]

It makes more sense, now we realise you are talking about tool cooling. I think you will find a windscreen washer pump a problem, as I said swarf will destroy it in seconds. Why not try putting a settlement chamber in front of the pump, with a couple of neodymium magnets in it to pull out fine ferrous particles. You could combine that with a filter, like an airline type filter. The pumps are usually a little neoprene rotor and not really suited to pumping oil, which is generally too viscous anyway.

On my lathe I use a domestic heating pump, which pumps up to a reservoir with a float switch. The soluble oil mix that I use doesn't seem to stain, but the bloody stuff gets sprayed about the workshop. I have to make some acrylic shields which will stop this and also guide the sudsoil back to the swarf tray which drains into the reservoir.

In general, I like the idea of repurposing, especially if you already have the bits or can get them for nowt. I must admit that a number of times my bodging has turned round and bit me.

Cheers,

Rob