Re: Electronic Lead Screw & Power Cross Feed | Poor CNC ?

Aye Juan, you are right, but only sort of.

The trouble is that the word processor is the e-leadscrew, the
pencil and paper is a pure manual lathe, and your fancy CNC system
is what used to be heard of as a "desktop publishing system." The
analogy is very good. Publishing makes sense when it has to be just
so and I want a lot of copies. Word processing is quick and easy,
but a bit more polished than pencil and paper. I sure don't turn to
fire up a PC and run a WP when I want to jot down a quick
measurement in my workshop, however! I type 70 wpm very well and
don't care for WP's to take notes in meetings either. There is
no "comfort zone" here at all. I make my living with computers
writing software.

CNC today is much more like desktop publishing or even more closely
like editing raw HTML than it is like firing up the word processor.
Maybe someday it won't be, but it is today. Until that later day,
other solutions will continue to be attractive. And it isn't just
that people "don't understand or aren't comfortable." They are not
the same solution! The e-leadscrew actually will save work for some
scenarios regardless of comfort zone. I hear the latter from rabid
CNC'ers all the time who love it to make many copies or really
intricate stuff, but want manual tools to do quick one offs.

What's specious is to ignore that there can be two perspectives and
insist there's only one answer to everything. There never is, and
that's the nature of tools in particular.

Sincerely,

BW

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, juan gelt <juangelt@y...>
wrote:

>
> perspectives on specialty machinery and general
> automation...
>
> 'what is the benefit of a specialty lathe that ONLY
> has spindle and lead screw synched'?
>
> i think that's what this now resolves to....
>
> and, as always, any question of value presupposes an
> answer to 2 other questions: of value to whom and for
> what?
>
> many specialty machines exist that only do a small
> part of what *could* be done on a cnc rig. a gear
> hobber springs to mind...
>
> electronic synch of lead screw and spindle, if it
> serves some pupose for someone, is completely
> justifiable.
>
> for a cncer to scorn that as 'the height of one's
> ambitions' is also only natural.
>
> despite all the confusing fruit metaphors that may
> have r&d watermelons mixed in with the apples, it is
> my own view that creating a circuit to accomplish
> everything you can do with a 2$ optodetector on a cnc
> rig makes about as much sense as building a plane with
> no wings 'cuz of the added complexity' (well, it will
> get me down the road and tha's all i need. who needs
> to actually fly?!!)
>
> quote: replace the
> > leadscrews, learn how to programm fight with
> > software control and
> > have a big controller box and find a place to put
> > it. endquote
>
> um...i regularly send stuff to the printer instead of
> scrawling it out with a burnt stick on pressed
> vegetable matter. the device is so much bulkier than a
> pencil, too! i've somehow gotten used to typesetting
> on an expensive complicated pc instead...lol. i know
> it's indirect...i'm shielded from all the
> complexity...it gets the job done much faster and
> better, tho.
> this analogy is to show how we do get used to
> programming- even to our spoken words. this very
> message was done thru layers and layers of excessive
> complexity when i *could* have used a cup and a
> string!!!!
>
> comfort zone matters a whole lot, for i've seen ppl do
> ten times the work in order to avoid a tiny bit of
> what they are unfamiliar with...lol.
>
> comfort with one's resources and talents IS a valid
> concern in the production of anything. morbid phear of
> having to learn an extra 50 vocabulary words in order
> to master the complexities of a line and an
> arc...well...that's spretty specious.
> (simplified to the point of distortion for the sake of
> brevity)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________
> Yahoo! DSL – Something to write home about.
> Just $16.99/mo. or less.
> dsl.yahoo.com
>