Re: CNC Lathe Retro-Fit

Subject: Re: CNC Lathe Retro-Fit


After doing some extensive research on this subject I came to the
conclusion that if you didn't want to do threading then any mill controller
with a bit of juggling would work.
If you want to do threading then only Microkinetics and Ahha have the
ability to use a spindle encoder to enable this.

If Doug Yeager could add this in to CNC Pro then it makes another option.

Another thing to take into account with a lathe program is that the cross
slide which is now the Z axis will work in double the resolution due to
turning off both sides of the part.
What this means is that if you have a mill with a resolution of 0.001" then
transposed to a lathe this will be 0.002" which may be a bit excessive for
some applications.

> Has anyone had any experience with Microkinetics? I am thinking
> about a retro on a 10" Atlas lathe. I would like some feedback from
> a user before I spend $$$$$$.
> Dave
>
>I bought a Driverack system last year and have had much trouble with it.
>Burned up wires, one bad driver amp, case damaged in shipment (sent it back
>three times). All three motors were bad and had to be replaced.
>The control software has a nice interface but does not use ramping in jog
>mode, making it virtually useless with NEMA 42 motors. Their software must
>be used with their controller card and they are $350 each. Also, the
>profiler is prone to cause vibration problems in large motors due to poor
>pulse timing.
>
>Most of the problems I experienced were singular to high power
>configurations. However, you can get CNCPro software for half the price of
>MK Millmaster software and you won't need a special card to run it. I
>switched to CNCPro and performance improved substantially.
>
>In all fairness, Microkinetics has good customer service. However, you
>would get more for your money with Gecko drivers and CNCPro. Power supplies
>can be purchased from Mouser or Digikey. I'm looking for a more cost
>effective source for them now. Jon Elson is working on an interface board
>that will tie it all together and I plan to document/video the assembly of
>the complete system for public domain.
>
>CNCPro is intended for milling applications, though I don't see why it can't
>be used for a lathe. We might even con Doug Yeager into adding lathe
>features if a market exists.

--

Regards,
John Stevenson
Nottingham, England