Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

All things related to the Centroid Acorn CNC Controller

Moderator: cnckeith

Post Reply
BillB
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2021 1:43 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No

Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by BillB »

Im researching the Acorn CNC 12 kit for use with a Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill with rotary axis and 4500 Sherline lathe. I want to get confirmation the Acorn will meet my needs before I commit to getting into it. Im not thrilled about a DYI electronics project but the cost is a big factor as Im a start up.

I'm a CAD designer, 3D modeler, prototype and model maker, fabricator, sculptor, inventor, and very capable builder of things I can build you anything you need but im NOT an electronics guy. Electronics scare me, LOL BUT tell me to this wire here, put that one there, connect this connector, mount this board in this box NO problem. Just don't tell me to get my voltmeter out, cuz then you've lost me. LOL BUT if you tell me exactly what to do I can do it even with a voltmeter. just don't tell me to measure the voltage in the XYX. Im looking through the install manual and its scaring me, LOL! I know Im gonna get stuck at some point ; (


Have many questions hope you all can help.

Im running CAM in Fusion 360 is there a 100% verified and fully working post from Fusion 360 to Acorn & Sherline Chucker lathe, 5400 Sheerline mill, and 4500 Sherline lathe. Running windows 10 on a workstation laptop. My priority is the chucker lathe and 5400 mill with rotary axis.

Im planning on running the control from my laptop. It's a Lenovo Thinkpad 530W workstation, don't have the specs on it right now. But will this be capable of running the controller without issues?

Ive see the intel Nuc suggested by Centroid. Down the line, if I go with a dedicated computer for the control, what is the cheapest option I can go with as far as specs for one other Nuc computes?

Do you absolutely need touch screen control or can you use mouse?

Need threading on the chucker lathe.

Can it do rigid tapping on the Sherline mill? How bout ID tapping on the lathe?

What encoder setup do I need to control spindle speed? and do you guys offer those components for the Sherline chucker lathe?

Indexed rotary moves on my Sherline 5400 mill, can it use and control Sherline 4th axis (rotary table)?

Dose it do conversational programming for both mill and lathe?

What optical encoder for the Sherline chucker lathe do I need?

Will it work on all 3 machines? 5400 mill, 4500 Lathe, & chucker lathe?

Does Acorn have the ability to switch machines on the fly? ( just unplug and plug?)

How are files posted on a thumb drive? can you post directly to the machine from software without a thumb drive?


Aside from the CNC 12 kit is there anything else I need? IF I'm running from my laptop do I need a drive board/box like a Gecko drive?

Is it ok to mount the power supply and controller card in the same box Or should I do a separate box for the power supply? How big should boxes be?
IF I need the Acorn Pro license for both mill and lathe does that mean I need to buy both mill and lathe versions for 159.00 each?

What is 4th axis paring?
Richards
Posts: 692
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:01 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No
Location: South Jordan, UT

Re: Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by Richards »

The Acorn will do what you want to do. Building a Acorn based controller is not that difficult. Watch some videos on YouTube and carefully read the centroid_acorn_Install_manual.pdf that it listed on the Forum. ("*** released 7-13-21 Acorn Installation Manual for comment ***.

Check Franco's video on YouTube about the Sherline Chucker Lathe driven by an Acorn ("Making Parts On The Sherline CNC Industrial Chucker Lathe").

On my Taig mill, I use a NUC and a standard (non-touch) monitor. It works great. Laptops may shut down unexpectedly or suspend critical functions due to their power conservation features. I've used a laptop only for bench testing.

The Acorn can control four axes. Rotary axis control is built in; however, I believe you'll need to get the pro license to unlock all of the features for rotary axis and for threading and rigid tapping.

The pro license gives you unlimited conversational programming.

Marty has many YouTube videos, some explain how to use an encoder with the Acorn. (Martycncgarage).

You will need a driver for each stepper motor, i.e. DM542 or similar depending on the size and requirements of your stepper motors. Teknics ClearPath servos have their drivers built in. Other servos require a servo driver per motor.
-Mike Richards
vw_chuck
Posts: 194
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 7:34 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: 0035FF8FEB5F-0708203490
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No

Re: Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by vw_chuck »

The Acorn is pretty much idiot proof. I am an idiot and I have had no problems getting it running on my lathe.
BillB
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2021 1:43 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No

Re: Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by BillB »

thanks for the info guys and confidence I did start looking through stuff last night, yes seems very step by step and well documented. I've watched Franko's vids and are very helpful. Thanks for tip on Marty's vids I have not seen any of his on the Acorn good to know.

At some point, I do want a dedicated PC for the control. I was also looking at the Nuc's, does anyone know what the least expensive one that would work and most importantly be reliable and with decent speed?

Another Q on the Nuc computer, when running can the computer be used for standard computing tasks OR is it only for the controller? We have a Tormach mill here at my gig and it's kinda lame you cant use the computer for standard stuff.
Richards
Posts: 692
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:01 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No
Location: South Jordan, UT

Re: Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by Richards »

I use an i3 NUC from NewEgg.com. Plenty of power. Reasonable price. I learned after I bought it that the i3 used in that particular NUC only has 2-cores instead of 4-cores like other i3s that I commonly use. No problem. It handles all Acorn related tasks. The NUC can be used just like any other Windows-10 computer. When I'm running the Taig nill, I turn off WiFi on the NUC so that the NUC's only ethernet connection is to the Acorn.
-Mike Richards
BillB
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2021 1:43 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No

Re: Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by BillB »

Richards wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 7:57 pm I use an i3 NUC from NewEgg.com. Plenty of power. Reasonable price. I learned after I bought it that the i3 used in that particular NUC only has 2-cores instead of 4-cores like other i3s that I commonly use. No problem. It handles all Acorn-related tasks. The NUC can be used just like any other Windows-10 computer. When I'm running the Taig nill, I turn off WiFi on the NUC so that the NUC's only ethernet connection is to the Acorn.

Mike could you direct me to the exact one you have so I can get a perspective on cost there are many versions of the i3. ya need 4 cores right?
Richards
Posts: 692
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2018 9:01 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: No
Oak CNC controller: No
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: No
CNC12: Yes
CNC11: No
CPU10 or CPU7: No
Location: South Jordan, UT

Re: Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by Richards »

No, you won't need 4-cores. Mine has two cores and works fine. Centroid sells a NUK that is competitively priced. I bought my NUC for another project. The customer changed his mind, so I moved the NUC to be used with the Acorn. I haven't kept up with the latest version, so I can't recommend specific components.
-Mike Richards
cnckeith
Posts: 7164
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:23 pm
Acorn CNC Controller: Yes
Allin1DC CNC Controller: Yes
Oak CNC controller: Yes
CNC Control System Serial Number: none
DC3IOB: Yes
CNC11: Yes
CPU10 or CPU7: Yes
Contact:

Re: Acorn With Sherline chucker lathe, 5400 mill, and 4500 lathe.

Post by cnckeith »

single core performance is the requirement, info is here on how to check the CPU you want to use.
https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... guide.html
Need support? READ THIS POST first. http://centroidcncforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1043
All Acorn Documentation is located here: viewtopic.php?f=60&t=3397
Answers to common questions: viewforum.php?f=63
and here viewforum.php?f=61
Gear we use but don't sell. https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... _gear.html
Post Reply