Handwheels again?!? was Re: true closed loop vs. hobby closed loop

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "ballendo" <ballendo@y...>
wrote:

> Kevin,
>
> You have CNC. Why on earth would you need handles?!?
>
> And just think, the Bridgeport engineers left them off of hundreds

of

> machines... (Were they dummies to do so?) Bacause they
> certainly "could have" left them on if they thought there was a
> reason... (It's not like they didn't have them "available" in the
> Bridgeport factory!)
>
> I'll never understand this idea that handwheels are somehow a good
> thing to have on a cnc machine. I've laid out the reasons I feel

this

> way many times before; so I won't repeat them here...
>
> Suffice to say that being able to move in any given increment, at a
> speed faster than I can turn any handwheel, and stop on the EXACT
> spot I desire repeatedly, for me at least renders handwheels
> unnecessary... (and a safety hazard)
>
> Ballendo

Let's just say that I've been turning the handles myself now for
about 12 years, so I'd miss 'em if they were gone! All kidding
aside, the flexiblity to be able to swtich from manual to CNC by
simply pushing the enable/disable is too easy to pass up. On my BOSS
machine the Y and Z are simple to put handles on by putting
extensions on the motor shafts (the Z already has one, actually).
The X is more difficult, as Jon mentioned, because the nut is
buried. This can be accomplished with a double shafted motor, which
is what I'll look into.

Kevin