First Project | proLIGHT | Acorn Conversion

[DICKEYBIRD]

You're making great progress Chris, fun stuff! I picked up a Siemens electrical panel from Home Depot to house the KBCC & put it on the back of my lathe. It was cheap & fit pretty well. I think mounting it outside of the main control box with the Acorn inside may help with potential electrical noise problems and gave me more room in the main box for other stuff. Page 2, 7th post: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1594&p=10186&hilit ... pot#p10186

[citterly]

Thanks Guys, as always, excellent guidance, which is much appreciated.

I'm going to get all the wiring labeled, then layout the components and see how things will fit.
Adding an enclosure or two should be easy, simply bolt to the sides of the existing box.

I'll have updates to all the other items soon, but the more I think about it, I'd really like to be able to rigid tap out of the gate.
And it seems like now is the time to just bite the bullet and get it done.

I'll share some pictures of the spindle configuration with power draw bar.
I'm struggling to seeing how to add the encoder, so you guys may have ideas...
Best,
Chris

[martyscncgarage]

No problem, we like pushing our ideas and spending someone else's money to be the Guinea pig
Just kidding...

You have to be able to get a timing pulley on your spindle and belt it at 1:1 to the encoder. Machine needs to be mechanically tight.
Your spindle fwd/rev speed needs to be predictable and you will have to fiddle with some settings. You'll also have to be realistic as to what materials and sizes of tapped holes your machine is capable of. So keep those in mind.

Marty

[citterly]

You have to be able to get a timing pulley on your spindle and belt it at 1:1 to the encoder. Machine needs to be mechanically tight.
Your spindle fwd/rev speed needs to be predictable and you will have to fiddle with some settings. You'll also have to be realistic as to what materials and sizes of tapped holes your machine is capable of. So keep those in mind.

Marty

Right, I was thinking of needing to rigid tap for the small size threads and thread mill for the larger size threads. Although I looked into thread milling more and it looks like very small thread sizes accommodated with this method.... The tools aren't cheap but it seems one tool can work for many size threads and since you have control over depth of cut, a small machine can take on tougher materials in larger sizes. I'm thinking the spindle encoder is less important.

Can the encoder be used on a 4th axis? Maybe that's the way to go for me? I have some ideas where the additional axis could be put to use....

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking for a component layout for the enclosure(s).
Since it all won't fit in the factory box, it seems logical to keep all the motion control in that enclosure.
Then have separate enclosures, one each for power and spindle control.

What do you think?

[martyscncgarage]

Acorn only supports a spindle encoder.

[citterly]

Update:
3D printing component mounts to fit in factory case, pic below.
I'm going to hang a box off each side, 1 will be for power and the other for the spindle drive.

Questions:
Power drawbar - Pneumatic valve solenoids are new to me, so some guidance would be great.
The factory valves for the ATC setup look to be pretty expensive on Grainger, ~$125 each.
I was going to try and sell the unit, but now I'm thinking maybe keep it or sell them off individually?

Also, I found these on amazon, which look to have potential:
http://a.co/cWgZ4di
http://a.co/1tiPcPB

Keeping it simple is the goal.

What's the best way to go? I'd prefer a switch that doesn't require electrical power.
Apologies if I'm being silly with that statement, but everytime I read the word "solenoid", I think electrical, but they look to only need air ????

I feel like it only needs air pressure in 1 direction, as the belleville washer stack on the drawbar should take care of the return once pressure is relieved...
Thanks
Chris

[martyscncgarage]

Don't understand your question or concern. I would not sell the power drawbar unit if you ever want to have a functional ATC.
You can buy decent new solenoids on ebay. What's wrong with your solenoids?

Marty

[citterly]

Don't understand your question or concern. I would not sell the power drawbar unit if you ever want to have a functional ATC.
You can buy decent new solenoids on ebay. What's wrong with your solenoids?

Marty

Sorry for not being clear, I may be over complicating this....
I'm not interested in the ATC, but do want to retain the power drawbar.

There's nothing wrong with these solenoids, although they are all electrically operated.
I'm looking for a simple manual switch, to operate by hand.
Do you have an example link of something like that?

I'll probably just sell these.
Thanks

[martyscncgarage]

Don't understand your question or concern. I would not sell the power drawbar unit if you ever want to have a functional ATC.
You can buy decent new solenoids on ebay. What's wrong with your solenoids?

Marty

Sorry for not being clear, I may be over complicating this....
I'm not interested in the ATC, but do want to retain the power drawbar.

There's nothing wrong with these solenoids, although they are all electrically operated.
I'm looking for a simple manual switch, to operate by hand.
Do you have an example link of something like that?

I'll probably just sell these.
Thanks

What is the voltage of the solenoids you have? 24VDC? 110VAC? Post a picture of the solenoid lable.
All you need is a momentary push button wired in series with a proper power supply and the solenoid.

You might want to reconsider ditching the ATC...or don't throw any of those parts away OR sell them. Put them in a box, keep them.
Marty

[citterly]

I guess I can hold onto them for a while, it's all very high quality american made pieces....
You may be right, I could eventually get adventurous and figure out how to add it back to the machine without taking up table space...

Looks like they are 120v solenoids, 3 blade connectors.

You're saying, I could separate one from the cluster?