RongFu Conversion using the Acorn
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 12:52 am
I guess I need to join the group on extolling the virtues of this new controller....
A little about me, I got dragged kicking and fighting into the CNC hobby in November of '15 when I purchased a MicroKinetics CNC conversion of the ubiquitous RongFu/Grizzly/Jet/whoever bench mill.
The conversion left a number of wants and desires, the biggest being the clumsy software controls and the lack of a true three axis move which prevented doing a helical plunge. As I got more proficient with the concept of the CNC process (a huge story in and of itself) I started looking in the direction of another type of controller. Most options were either very expensive or very complicated.
The Acorn is neither!
Marty asked me if I would be willing to help beta test the system and I readily agreed as I had pretty much decided this was the answer to my problems and was waiting for it to release. I had been watching him work with it for a few days at that time and was greatly impressed. Even without my involvement in the testing of the device I would have laid my wallet on the counter as soon as it was released. Can't beat the functionality or the price...
Setup is fairly straight forward and with some help from Marty we had the system up in about 3-4 hours. There were issues to overcome that prolonged the process a bit more, notable the MK (MicroKinetics) use of NO limit switches instead of NC. Not sure why they went this way as a NC setup will also trip if the wiring is broken, kind of a fail safe.
Testing commenced and aside from the typical hiccups that occur when writing software to run on a PC powered b the boyz in Redmond things (from this vantage pint) went fairly smoothly.
As part of the conversion I replaced the half stepping motor drivers with new Micro stepping models to get the resolution down to where I wanted it. The software setup in the CNC12 software that the Acorn is driven with is easy and straight forward. The initial installation occurred before the Setup Wizard was launched, but even the manual configuration is not to hard to use.
Tooling is pretty cool as well. The system will support and input from a tool set device (I made mine) and you can auto set the tool lengths. here is a short clip when I first tested this feature:
https://youtu.be/fQJFqWEAOl0
All the fumbling around I dealt with using the previous controller and software ended the day the CNC12/Acorn got switched on. The on screen Virtual Control panel is a thing to behold. Ya gotta have a 22" touch screen monitor!! Several of us banded together and did a group buy on some nice monitors (I got 4) that were on ebay. You don't want to run this without touch, though the software will allow you to mouse it.
CNC12 also has inputs to use the Xkeys programmable keypad and this is a very good way to have a hand held controller to have right at the machine when doing little nudges like when you are setting tooling and parts edges. http://www.beevo.org/MetalWorking/Acorn ... g_3041.htm
Here are a few YouTube videos I uploaded along the way:
https://youtu.be/Q39HjQeoHtE
Really conservative cuts as I was still testing out the system early on. This bracket allows one to mount a short digital scale on the tailstock of a lathe.
https://youtu.be/6nGY01hRn9E
I am building one of the Miser Sterling engines and this is the CNC12 making a pass cutting the bolt head reliefs for some 0-80 Allen bolts in a 3/16" piece of aluminum.
https://youtu.be/eaCMDlg0fkE
I made a fixture plate to clamp in the vice of the machine to use when making small parts that are best clamped down instead of being held in a vice. (Seen in the video above)
https://youtu.be/lqSIpN6-RLk
The company I work for had me cut some enclosure plates for some protocol analyzers we made for in house use on our electronic devices.
I made a small blog about the conversion process here: http://www.beevo.org/MetalWorking/Acorn ... Index.html
This system rocks (and I HATE that cliché')
Beevo (aka Bill VanOrden)
A little about me, I got dragged kicking and fighting into the CNC hobby in November of '15 when I purchased a MicroKinetics CNC conversion of the ubiquitous RongFu/Grizzly/Jet/whoever bench mill.
The conversion left a number of wants and desires, the biggest being the clumsy software controls and the lack of a true three axis move which prevented doing a helical plunge. As I got more proficient with the concept of the CNC process (a huge story in and of itself) I started looking in the direction of another type of controller. Most options were either very expensive or very complicated.
The Acorn is neither!
Marty asked me if I would be willing to help beta test the system and I readily agreed as I had pretty much decided this was the answer to my problems and was waiting for it to release. I had been watching him work with it for a few days at that time and was greatly impressed. Even without my involvement in the testing of the device I would have laid my wallet on the counter as soon as it was released. Can't beat the functionality or the price...
Setup is fairly straight forward and with some help from Marty we had the system up in about 3-4 hours. There were issues to overcome that prolonged the process a bit more, notable the MK (MicroKinetics) use of NO limit switches instead of NC. Not sure why they went this way as a NC setup will also trip if the wiring is broken, kind of a fail safe.
Testing commenced and aside from the typical hiccups that occur when writing software to run on a PC powered b the boyz in Redmond things (from this vantage pint) went fairly smoothly.
As part of the conversion I replaced the half stepping motor drivers with new Micro stepping models to get the resolution down to where I wanted it. The software setup in the CNC12 software that the Acorn is driven with is easy and straight forward. The initial installation occurred before the Setup Wizard was launched, but even the manual configuration is not to hard to use.
Tooling is pretty cool as well. The system will support and input from a tool set device (I made mine) and you can auto set the tool lengths. here is a short clip when I first tested this feature:
https://youtu.be/fQJFqWEAOl0
All the fumbling around I dealt with using the previous controller and software ended the day the CNC12/Acorn got switched on. The on screen Virtual Control panel is a thing to behold. Ya gotta have a 22" touch screen monitor!! Several of us banded together and did a group buy on some nice monitors (I got 4) that were on ebay. You don't want to run this without touch, though the software will allow you to mouse it.
CNC12 also has inputs to use the Xkeys programmable keypad and this is a very good way to have a hand held controller to have right at the machine when doing little nudges like when you are setting tooling and parts edges. http://www.beevo.org/MetalWorking/Acorn ... g_3041.htm
Here are a few YouTube videos I uploaded along the way:
https://youtu.be/Q39HjQeoHtE
Really conservative cuts as I was still testing out the system early on. This bracket allows one to mount a short digital scale on the tailstock of a lathe.
https://youtu.be/6nGY01hRn9E
I am building one of the Miser Sterling engines and this is the CNC12 making a pass cutting the bolt head reliefs for some 0-80 Allen bolts in a 3/16" piece of aluminum.
https://youtu.be/eaCMDlg0fkE
I made a fixture plate to clamp in the vice of the machine to use when making small parts that are best clamped down instead of being held in a vice. (Seen in the video above)
https://youtu.be/lqSIpN6-RLk
The company I work for had me cut some enclosure plates for some protocol analyzers we made for in house use on our electronic devices.
I made a small blog about the conversion process here: http://www.beevo.org/MetalWorking/Acorn ... Index.html
This system rocks (and I HATE that cliché')
Beevo (aka Bill VanOrden)