Bridgeport Manual to CNC conversion...

[Davek0974]

Yes my thoughts were that when idle the Cycle start and Spindle Toggle would be active and when active the Feed-Hold and stop would be active. The logic is that the lights indicate rapidly what a possible action would be.

I could go one step further and use the lamp supply as the switch source so only the lit buttons would do anything but i think Mach has that pretty much covered anyway.

Yes, I have a small bit of code in Macropump.m1s and an output feeding a relay, the lamps run from the N/c and N/o contacts on that relay.

The macropump code checks two omelette's for run or feed-hold.

Edit..
Frigging autocorrect - that last line should read....
The macropump code checks two oemled's for run or feed-hold.

[JAZZCNC]

I do similair thing with the control panles on my routers but it just checks Mach led's and turns on/off outputs accordingly to whats active. I use 24V led's which the Outputs turn on/off directly.

[Davek0974]

Nice,

I'm only using the relay as the two lamp patterns are directly opposite each other so i just use both N/o and N/c on the relay. LEDs are 24v but this seemed easier and only used one output;)

[Davek0974]

The Z-axis is doing my head in

My idea of welding it together is doomed to failure I think - the original bridgeport quill stop is porous and soaked in oil, any attempt to weld it simply creates a pool of oil and crap welds. I managed to tack it up but that only got me to my next headache....

Alignment is being a bitch - I can't seem to find a position where all the parts just play nicely, there is a fair amount of stress and strain between the screw and the quill, it can be moved up and down by hand but I'm not happy with it from an engineering point of view.

Not sure how to sort this at the moment, a right PITA.

I might just bolt the two parts together and see how it goes, that will allow me to shim things here and there for alignment, seeing the one from Komatias above being held by an M8 screw makes me think this might work.

[Davek0974]

Ok, sorted it i think

Couldn't rest without a fix so a couple of hours fiddling and a few thin shims later we have smooth motion from top to bottom, its pretty easy to reverse-drive it by moving the quill lever

The bracket that holds the nut was slightly twisted and the nut hole was too tight, fixing both of those cured the problem.

Now i need to fix up some limit switches and get the motor hooked up.

[Davek0974]

Got the switches fitted and have finally achieved 3-axis motion :)



A short video showing basic path with two tool-changes...

[Davek0974]

Scary stuff - she has cut her first steel

Spent the morning putting stuff back - trammed the head, fitted the vise and trammed that in, fitted a floating Z touch-plate and modified the touch-off macro so it did what i wanted.

Threw a small lump of 20mm scrap in, a duff 1/2" four-flute cutter and programmed a facing cut in Aspire of 0.5mm, seemed way slower than i would have moved if doing it manually - may not be a bad thing. It gave me a speed of 140mm/min at 650rpm

Picture below - looks worse than it is, pretty good finish as it goes considering the state of the tool etc. and dry cutting plus unknown grade of steel.



Next I tried spot-drilling four places and followed up with through-drilling with a 6mm drill, all went perfectly.

I really need to sort the speed control out though - it tells me when to put it in back-gear or high/low speed so the VFD can give me the final speed BUT it only does this when it gets the S command from the code - it shows the message on screen but the carries on cutting at the wrong speed. What i need is for it to stop the spindle and show the message, wait for me to set the right conditions and the restart the spindle and get to work.