Hi from a new member in the UK!

[Chester]

Hello World and greetings from Birmingham UK,
Bought Acorn to learn CNC machine building and with view to upgrade some old CNC woodturning lathes to use std G codes.
Would like to talk to any body in UK who has Acorn and perhaps help each other.
I have gone with Centroid because it has a good members Forum where help is available
email hbswoodturnings@btconnect.com
Regards
Chester

[hebs]

Hello all, I am also in the UK (Wiltshire). I successfully converted a Sieg SX4 mill. I use it for milling and turning so I have both Centroid mill and lathe software setup.

Happy to share help and ideas.

[martyscncgarage]

Hello World and greetings from Birmingham UK,
Bought Acorn to learn CNC machine building and with view to upgrade some old CNC woodturning lathes to use std G codes.
Would like to talk to any body in UK who has Acorn and perhaps help each other.
I have gone with Centroid because it has a good members Forum where help is available
email hbswoodturnings@btconnect.com
Regards
Chester

Start a build thread here! We're happy to give you an opinion
Seriously, just follow this thread when asking for help: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=383

Do most of that up front in your build thread, and then just post a new report each time you ask for help.
Welcome!
Marty

[Chester]

Thank you Marty thank you for your welcome and I thank you for the your wonderful You Tube tutorials.
Has anybody used ACME tread leadscrew instead of ballscrew. I have a English Butler 3m long lathe which I want to convert, I assume there will be
backlash problems to solve amongst other things ??
Regards
Chester

[Chaz]

Thank you Marty thank you for your welcome and I thank you for the your wonderful You Tube tutorials.
Has anybody used ACME tread leadscrew instead of ballscrew. I have a English Butler 3m long lathe which I want to convert, I assume there will be
backlash problems to solve amongst other things ??
Regards
Chester

Depends on what you are trying to do but I cant see how that can give any accuracy.

[martyscncgarage]

Thank you Marty thank you for your welcome and I thank you for the your wonderful You Tube tutorials.
Has anybody used ACME tread leadscrew instead of ballscrew. I have a English Butler 3m long lathe which I want to convert, I assume there will be
backlash problems to solve amongst other things ??
Regards
Chester

Please post pictures of the application.
They do make precision ACME screws, but no thoughts or recommendations can be made without fully understanding the application. We can't "See" what you see.
Marty

[Chester]

Hi Marty
What are the limitations of the acorn, are 8 I/O enough to build a CNC wood lathe.
The open loop with acorn will that cause any problems
I have Red Cover Fanuc servo motors would you recommend to reuse
How best to send pictures to forum.

Chester

[martyscncgarage]

When you create a message click on the FULL EDITOR & PREVIEW button below the box you type your text in.
Clck on the Attachments tab, point to your .jpg images and upload them.

Need to see the application. Turret? no Turret? Gang Tool? Manual Tool post?
You say red cover Fanuc, that's not a small lathe, and probably not conducive to Acorn.
Marty

[Chester]

Hi Marty
This is my plan I want to keep the post short without boring readers

The pictures attached show Butler lathe which we use for machining simple posts, but some designs require more detail, hence I want to make it into simple basic CNC lathe, eg CNC the X & Z axis.
I will select spindle speeds through the gear box manually, later add spindle drive VFD and encoder for doing barley twist work as sown in picture, and later add probing to re-machine aluminium wheels, so it will be a so it will be in the end a multi purpose lathe.
I will have two fixed cutting tools fitted to the cross slide, at later stage tool changer after I have learned to crawl and walk.

My back ground is mechanical engineering so I seek guidance and help the electrical / electronic side of the machine building.

As seen in the pictures the lathe is big and heavy.
Some issues are selecting the correct size servo motors for X and Z, wiring the machine with safety in mind like braking the spindle, emergency stopping, etc.

Is there a wiring diagram circuit on the forum to use as a example to build on.

I have bought Acorn to carry out bench testing and learn the control, it is is connected to my laptop
So how would the experience hands tackle this conversion and see it through.

Thank you for reading
Chester

[Gary Campbell]

Nice Machine! I wish someone would drop one of those off at my house!

You should have no issues doing what you wish, but there will be a few decisions to make. I have done similar lathe conversions using Acorn on a smaller scale. Here are a couple videos:





Not Acorn, but same can be done with Acorn, and then some: