LinuxCNC Lathe Build.

[canadianhorsepower]

No, I don't have one. I had a short look at it. And I won't have one.
If you think it is well suited to control a lathe, I wish you all the best. You will have to report here.

For me, LinuxCNC on a Raspberry is like CAD/CAM on an iPad.


Nick

I agree with you on this but to say it's useless no. :hDe:

 

[goldstar31]

Looking at all this- as a very hard nosed business man, the price of a Raspbery Pi is only the price of a fill of fuel in the car.
The fuel in my car makes the wheels turn-- and that was what I would have liked to have seen here.

thank you

Norman Atkinson

 

[canadianhorsepower]

Hello All,

Since I have to start from scratch with LINUXCNC to run my lathe (believe it or not...I lost an entire computer in my move) I was wondering if anyone would like me to do a from the beginning walkthru of setting LINUXCNC up to run a minilathe.

Regards,

Will Riddle , Everett WA. USA

This was the original post, let's not deviate from it by trying to show how much knowledge we have in electronic.:rant:

My answer is still yes I would like to see this LINUX CNC running
Now I hope someone aint going to throw APPLE in this:wall:

 

[dman]

This was the original post, let's not deviate from it by trying to show how much knowledge we have in electronic.:rant:

My answer is still yes I would like to see this LINUX CNC running
Now I hope someone aint going to throw APPLE in this:wall:

well rt-stepper runs on apple....


jk. sorry if things got derailed. you should see how things get on the guitar forums. derailed threads are something i'm used to, musicians are like that.

 

[canadianhorsepower]

well rt-stepper runs on apple....


jk. sorry if things got derailed. you should see how things get on the guitar forums. derailed threads are something i'm used to, musicians are like that.

but I was under the impression that on this forum we are machinist???

 

[dman]

but I was under the impression that on this forum we are machinist???

lets not make it worse. but i am a machinist by trade and it was my military specialty but guitar is my hobby and those forums get messy.... i've also been a mechanic, engine builder, electrician, roady/tech, landscaper, fix-it guy, stereo installer, and now i am starting to learn about micro controllers.


anyway back on topic. an atom d-510 or similar with opto isolated breakout board (perhaps with a mesa 6i25 and compatable breakout board) is the way to go, other options depend on the power and accuracy requirements and driver boards used.

 

[cnc-for-model-engineers]

Will;

Keep going. Assume we have LinuxCNC running on a computer - assume an intel box, as those wanting a Pi or other computer can then take the LinuxCNC config files and simply use them.

Tell us how you did the lathe. What size steppers. Ball screws or the screws on the machine? Limit switches. Tool posts/changes.

I have an 8x20 lathe here with VFD, have a spare computer with linuxCNC on it, just deciding on screws and limit switches.

Another JohnS.

 

[willburrrr2003]

Hello All, sorry I have been absent Had a lot of things hit at once that has kept me occupied. I will continue with my postings tonight, including what I have done to my lathe, how to get the LinuxCNC software, testing and installing it, and then I will start on setting up as well. I will also post links to my lathe postings on here as well, there are two or three videos showing first automated cuts, and homing to limit switch on the z-axis.

Regards,

Will


p.s. I will have to read through the three pages of this thread too as it has grown much since my last time on.

 

[willburrrr2003]

Pictures of my lathe are attached. The mini-lathe is a harbor freight 7x12. I added two 305oz stepper motors, each with a helical coupling because of slop in alignments. I have mounted limit switches as well. On the headstock you can see the encoder disk I used the lathe to make for itself, before I lost the computer that ran it lol. For the controls side, I have a custom control cabinet. Inside I have a 32vdc power supply (large transformer, large capacitor, and full wave bridge rectifier) , a HobbyCNC Pro controller board, a c6 speed control board, and an Idec PLC with accompanying IDEC 24vdc power supply. I will be powering up replacement computer tonight, then will begin with setup instructions for LinuxCNC. I will use lots of screenshots so everyone can see what I see.

Regards,

Will

 

[willburrrr2003]

Outputs from LinuxCNC from Parallel Port to HobbyCNC Pro Controller

Pin1: Spindle Frequency Reference
Pin2: X Direction
Pin3: X Step
Pin6: Z Direction
Pin7: Z Step
Pin14: Spindle On/Off

Inputs to LinuxCNC from Parallel Port From HobbyCNC Pro Controller

Pin10: Min Z Limit Switch
Pin11: Max Z/ Home Z Limit
Pin12: Max X/ Home X Limit

More soon!

Regards,

Will

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

More soon!

Regards,

Will

Hi Will. I'm looking forward to your continuing this. I hope you will post screenshots of the LinuxCNC screens as you go forward. I've been using Mach3 on my lathe for several years and it works fine for me. However, I am interested in LinuxCNC for possibly getting into Path Pilot. It looks very good indeed!

 

[willburrrr2003]

Yes I will be posing lots of screenshots , I wasn't able to make any progress lastnight as my desktop crashed and I spent evening working on it instead of my LinuxCNC box... Hopefully a better night tonight!

Regards,

Will

 

[willburrrr2003]

OkFolks, Sorry it took me so long to get a PC up and running again for my lathe, it's been 25deg in my garage lately once I get home from work lol. I toughed it out last night and Got LinuxCNC installed. I ran through Stepconf quickly once installed, though I didn't move any motors once done. I just wanted to get the config files created. I have attached pics, and can't figure out why they are sideways...tried rotating several times, and they still show sideways on here....
Pics Explained

*CNC Menu Items.jpg : Shows all the items available

-Latency test: Shows how much the system boggs down with programs running. Run this, work the CPU by running all you
can think of at one time, then record the results. you Will put these values in when you run the Stepconf utility.

-LinuxCNC: base LinuxCNC version to run if you have not created your system yet (lets you try out several sample configs)

-Several Docs, references, and manuals ( I did lots of reading through these when I first started out)

-StepConf: configuration wizard for parallel port control

next pic is stepconf1.jpg : Once you select Stepconf from the menu you will see the screen shown in this picture, press forward
button to continue.


next pic is stepconf2.jpg : This window lets you select an existing config to modify of start a new one. I chose to create
a new configuration. Make your selection, and again press forward to proceed to next step.

I will continue screenshot explanations once I get home, next one to cover has a lot on it to go over...that will be basic machine information.

Regards,

Will