Emco compact 5 cnc lathe with Welturn

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Stefan, have a look at the Pokeys range from Polabs, I think that is a good starting point for the motion controller. The steppers and drives need to be compatible with the motion controller so should be chosen after that.

**LINK**

They will probably advise you regarding what motion controller is good for your needs and what drives and motors to use with their boards.

Martin

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

Thanks for that Martin. Polabs gave me quick reply, and that is something to be considered, although its 30% more from the budget I prepared.

From Longs motor china i got an offer for

5 pcs Nema 23 stepper motor 425 oz.in

5 pcs Stepper motor driver DM542A (cant find it on their website)

2 pcs Power supply 350W-36V

1 pc parallal cable + 1 pc breakout board ( 6-axis)

that falls into the budget, but then again I am not sure what to expect for that, and from them?

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Check the dimensions very carefully if you are hoping these will just bolt right on. The NEMA "standard" seems to be interpreted very loosely, so you may find some of the key dimensions aren't the same. In particular, check things like shaft diameter and length, key width and height, register diameter (the cylindrical feature on the mounting face), fixing hole diameters and positions and possibly the overall length. And make sure the motor has the correct number of phases for the driver etc – good to buy the motors and drivers from the same manufacturer.

Driver DM542A seems to be here?

The specs for steppers quote stall torques, yet the torque drops off rapidly with speed. To check if you have the correct ratings, the simplest thing may be to refer to previous (successful) conversions and go off the back of them. Have you found anyone who has done this conversion before?

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

yes, that seems to be the DM542A. I couldnt open the drivers page on my browser before.

Thanks for the tip for the motor mounts and dimensions, I will check on that for sure.

I am looking to get everything at one place (same manufacturer I suppose).

I havent found any conversion with these same elements, but these stall torques are OK from what I remember reading all over the net.

Someone with more experience might chip in

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

Well they finally arrived. Lathe and mill i mean. They were at some UK school. They seem OK, but got stains from age etc. from what I see, all of the equipment was electrically tested last year, so I hope they are in working order. And I got two pc with wellmill/wellturn software – they were retrofited with them. There are almost no thtorials how to work with these. And now I am wondering do I even have to do the conversion I wanted to do – due to need for threading operations etc.

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Stefan, if the Welmill and Welturn are working fully there is very little to be gained by retrofitting. If you search the Yahoo Emco forums you may find operating manuals for the software.

If you are a member there just ask for some info on running the software and I'm sure someone will help.

Emgee

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

Thanks! I ve checked the lathe right now, it is working. I ll check the mill in a few days. Lathe has the optical encoder for the spindle, I am not sure is this the standard option. Motors seems a bit slow for my liking, but maybe they wouldnt be much faster with stronger ones fitted? Anyway, I ll look at yahoo group

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Stefan

New steppers and control will mean faster rates of travel, but the standard motors will traverse faster than needed when cutting so the only time faster travel is useful, and saves time, is on non cutting moves.

New steppers with 200 steps per rev would be theoretically more accurate than the existing, although the std set up may prove to give consistently accurate results within your allowable tolerances.

Emgee

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

OK, in these few days I have managed to understand more, and to see in what way I want to go on.

Both of the machines are working properly, and I have found a way to get gcode generated elsewhere to work.

This will do for now, but I really want and need more out of these two little machines.

I ve made 10 tool holders for the lathe (base is there, but no holders) so I can finally mount the cutters and get some chips flying.

The main spindle optical encoder isnt working. Signal is there on the back of the panel, but no reading what so ever. I ve also realized that I cant control speed with it lol. I cant get the reading too 😀

If and when I get it to read speed, I am not sure how will Welturn work with it (the readout) regarding threading operation. I believe that cant be achieved, so that is why I will move on with getting new electrical stuff to use in the future.

I have ordered M542 drivers, 2Nm motors and a simple 5 axis BOB.

I wanted to get a suggested Digispeed controller, but they are out of stock. Can you suggest some (cheaper) alternative?

And an spindle encoder that will work with Mach3(I ve read that the one mounted is too fine to get a proper reading for it)?

I will use the existing power supply, and other bits needed from the old housing. And do I need anything else at this moment to get Compact 5 to make threads also?

Thanks

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

Done some hardware tinkering with help from Sam and derstrap on cnczone, removed the welturn "card" placed the 4th dip switch in lower position, and used Sam's config files for EMC2 and it works like a charm!

[MICHAEL Moore 1Participant @michaelmoore1]

Hi all,

Michael Moore from Ireland here.

I have an x school Emco Compact 5 that I am looking to upgrade to a cnc jobby.

I just started following an American site who have done this

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/emco-cnc-machines/108826-cnc-machinist-posts.html

https://en.industryarena.com/forum/build-thread-upgrading-emco-compact-5-cnc-current-technology–108826-2.html

Has anyone attempted this sucessfully and can you give me any advice please.

Thanks in advance

Michael

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Posted by Stefan Kovačević on 07/06/2016 10:39:35:

Done some hardware tinkering with help from Sam and derstrap on cnczone, removed the welturn "card" placed the 4th dip switch in lower position, and used Sam's config files for EMC2 and it works like a charm!

Michael

Read earlier posts frpm Stefan, seems he has had a good result, the link to cnc zone you posted is very old and some better units are now available.

Emgee

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

Hi Michael, you might want to check the thread

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop-machines/308372-software.html#post1886794

My Emco was running just fine with stock parts, but with EMC2 as a operational software, instead of WellTurn.

It wasnt so hard, especially if you are familiar with Linux (I wasnt, and I m still not familiar lol).

Just have to install it as an OS, EMC2 is incorporated there, and you copy the folder Sam made and you will be able to run it (with a tweak or two).

In the meantime, I replaced all the hardware on my machine with modern electronics, but I m still running it on EMC2.

If you need help, shoot!

[MICHAEL Moore 1Participant @michaelmoore1]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately due to a lot of damage and missing parts for the Emco I need a lot of new bits so I want to do it as a cnc. Any help sourcing the parts is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Stefan KovačevićParticipant @stefankovaevi19988]

what are you missing?

[MICHAEL Moore 1Participant @michaelmoore1]

All the electrics at the back are torn out and damaged and the front buttons panel is in a bad way.

I was hoping to fit new steppers through an appropriate motherboard and power supply through a suitable pc / laptop

I hope this is possible

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Hi Raglan, your Emco 5 must have been an early lathe as from Mk3 onward although it was required to do a full circle using 4 commands (4x90deg), or part arcs for the desired angle, arcs of any radius can be made up to the built in limits, but it does need a full understanding of the G code programming using G02/G03/M99 and even then it is easy to make errors in the code.

Cheap controller test running steppers on Emco 5 cnc lathe https://youtu.be/lMFHZ7pLusM

Emgee

 

Edited By Emgee on 26/02/2017 23:57:10

[Raglan LittlejohnParticipant @raglanlittlejohn]

Hi Emgee, Thanks for your that. I'd forgotten that mine was a Mk2, and the Mk3 could do arcs of any radius. It was still a very nice little machine, and all the electronics still worked despite being about twentyfive years old. I did manage to connect an old TV to it to moniter the g code, but I entered it all on the machines key pad.

John.

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Hi John, yes it's really a big bonus to use the TV output or video output when programming so you can see 10 lines of code, just viewing the line you are entering can easily lead to wrong moves that end in tears.

Emgee

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Mike T, can you check your message box !!!!!!!

Emgee

[mike TParticipant @miket56243]

Emgee,

You have a reply waiting in your message box

Mike

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