Advice re upgrading to Acorn from Mach3 and Ess

[Gary Campbell]

Is my existing MPG an elephant in the room that is being studiously ignored, or yet to be discussed?

Your pendant will not work. You will need the Centroid Wireless Pendant

[dmbgo]

Thanks for that Gary. Is there something behind what you say?

[Fredsan]

Is my existing MPG an elephant in the room that is being studiously ignored, or yet to be discussed?

Your existing MPG will not work with the Acorn.

[martyscncgarage]

I guess I'm confused these days. I'll stop trying to help and let the alpha dogs have at it.

Have a great day,

Dave C.

Edit:

So you are telling me that when I run a part in Bob-Cad-Cam and I set the feed per rev at .005" and the surface speed to 175 that it can do that without an encoder?

Dave, I thought the same thing. CSS does need the PRO license. We aren't perfect, your help (and everyone else's!) is appreciated. Please continue to do so. Our "suggestions" help others get along and WE too learn from each other and the responses on the forums.
Marty

[martyscncgarage]

Hi, I have done a bit of looking on the internet recently, and have landed here. I am not an experienced user of lathes and mills, but I do have both, and have been using Mach3 on my lathe (CQ6230) since version 3 of Mach3. It seems like a long time now The mill is a KR-V3000 knee mill. I also have a self built small cnc router.

My use of CNC equipment is intermittent, but I have been playing around with these types of machines since I first built a "Hobby CNC" router back in 2001.

I have realised that Mach3 is, and for a long time has been, near the end of its life, and I think it's time to move on. I bought a Mach4 license, but I'm looking for a "setup and use" type of controller, rather than the hefty learning curve that Mach4 seems to involve.

I am aware that I will have to spend a bit of money to change from my M3 system to Acorn, but I was hoping that I can get some advice about things that I can reuse / adapt, and things that will need to be replaced.

I know that I will need to buy an Acorn controller, which I think uses an ethernet interface. I think that Acorn supports step and direction, which my AC servos already use with M3.

The spindle on my lathe currently uses a Huayang VFD, which will accept a 0-10v input signal, so that should work. The encoder for the spindle only gives a single pulse per rev, so I might need to replace that to enable accurate threading?

I have an XHC WB04B-4 mpg that I currently use with M3, it looks the same as the Acorn MPG, except for the labels on the buttons. Do I need to replace that, or can I use the MPG I already have, if I live with the various button changes?

lathe.jpgRouter.jpgMill.jpg

Dmbgo,
You made a good choice, (Yes we are a little biased). What you will like most is you have software and hardware from the same manufacturer. No plug ins. One stop here will generally help you with suggestions to point you in Centroid has been around for over 30 years and they have concentrated on CNC motion contol.

Acorn is a step and direction motion controller. It has a TRUE Line Driver/Differential encoder port for accurate threading/tapping. You will have to upgrade to Pro license when you are ready. The feature list can be found on this page if you haven't found it already:
https://www.centroidcnc.com/centroid_di ... oller.html

The DB25 on Acorn is similar to the parallel port. Use it to control your drives. Yes you can use your VFD, but as others have said no to your MPG. Centroid makes a great wireless MPG. Between it and the required wide screen monitor you will be set with an operator's interface.
You will have to purchase a Windows 10 PC meeting the following minimum requirements (but they aren't too bad):
https://www.centroidcnc.com/cnc_pc_perf ... ments.html
Many use Intel NUC PC's and other micro PC's made by various other manufacturers.

Lots of YouTube videos to watch too. Search Centroid CNC Acorn.

Another good resource for new comers to CNC is WWW.CNCCOOKBOOK.COM. He does sell a good feeds and speeds calculator and he likes to remind you of it when you are trying to visit the site, just close the windows. He does have a lot of good information for new users.

Marty

[Dave_C]

Dave, I thought the same thing. CSS does need the PRO license. We aren't perfect, your help (and everyone else's!) is appreciated. Please continue to do so. Our "suggestions" help others get along and WE too learn from each other and the responses on the forums.
Marty

Marty,

For me this was a carry over from Mach 3 days! I had to work with Bob-Cad reworking their Post Processor for Mach 3 so that CSS was called when the tool was at the proper location (part diameter) and not at the retract location. The way it was set, Mach 3 called the CSS routine too early and the CSS started before the tool was actually cutting.

I think I tried to run CSS in Mach 3 before I got the index plate to read RPM's and it would not work but hey, that was years ago and I can't remember for sure these days and yes, that was Mach 3.

The point I was trying to make for the OP was that he would need a proper encoder for the spindle if he wants to do some of these task while trying to point out that a lot of his parts will work with Acorn.

Just trying to be encouraging!

Dave C.

[martyscncgarage]

Dave, I thought the same thing. CSS does need the PRO license. We aren't perfect, your help (and everyone else's!) is appreciated. Please continue to do so. Our "suggestions" help others get along and WE too learn from each other and the responses on the forums.
Marty

Marty,

For me this was a carry over from Mach 3 days! I had to work with Bob-Cad reworking their Post Processor for Mach 3 so that CSS was called when the tool was at the proper location (part diameter) and not at the retract location. The way it was set, Mach 3 called the CSS routine too early and the CSS started before the tool was actually cutting.

I think I tried to run CSS in Mach 3 before I got the index plate to read RPM's and it would not work but hey, that was years ago and I can't remember for sure these days and yes, that was Mach 3.

The point I was trying to make for the OP was that he would need a proper encoder for the spindle if he wants to do some of these task while trying to point out that a lot of his parts will work with Acorn.

Just trying to be encouraging!

Dave C.

Agree on all counts Dave!
I do note you had grief with the Automation Direct Encoders. I'm not good enough with a scope to see what I'm looking at, but I have one...its one of those sit at the bench things and learn!

Marty

[dmbgo]

About spindle encoders now, is there a recommended one, or will any rotary ecoder that meets the specs be ok?

[martyscncgarage]

About spindle encoders now, is there a recommended one, or will any rotary ecoder that meets the specs be ok?

1000 line 5VDC Line Driver differential

[tblough]

...is there a recommended one...

Marty's given you the electrical specs you need to meet, but as far as a "recommended" one goes, there is not one because it varies with every installation. How much room is there? Big bore encoder over the lathe spindle, or off to the side and belted? Optical or magnetic? What's the rpm range it needs to handle?

If you choose to go the belted route, you can get either light duty encoders or industrial encoders. They vary on the amount of load the encoder shaft can handle. Light duty encoders will need you to provide support bearings to handle the load; more expensive industrial ones have internal bearings rated for the side loads of the belt.