sherline, cnc, and masso

[kvom]

There are plenty of youtube videos

[Mike R]

Note: My 3D printer requires designs to be laid out in the XY Plane in metric dimensions. I drew a 2D half-sketch of the bowling pin in the ZX Plane so when rotated about the Z axis the 3D bowling pin would be sitting on the XY Plane. The sketch was a 15 point spline, 2 circles and 2 lines. There’s a hole in the bottom of the pin.

Exported and saved as STL file (in imperial). This is for CNC.
Modified CubifyDesign Properties to metric.
Exported and saved as STL file (in metric). This is for the 3D printer.
3D printed (just to see). 58+ minute print time.

For CNC you can tell the machine controller what the units are in the program at the beginning using a G20(inches) or G21(metric) command.
So if your program is in metric you would put G21 at the start somewhere and then when its processing the G code commands it will understand for example that G0 X45 means go to 45mm (with a few other assumptions thrown in that will become clear as time goes on).
G20 sets to inches so the above command would go to 45 inches.   
You do need to know what playground you are playing in if you start typing your own MDI commands - I've done the dumb mistake of driving a tool into a part when I thought I was in mm and tried to sneak up a half a mm (0.5).  Half an inch into the part minus about the half mm was a bit startling and a good lesson for knowing what your active units are.   


Not sure about your 3D printer but I thought Cura let you reorient the part and select the units too, but I stopped playing with my printer a while ago.

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks Kvom. Oh yes. I'm looking at videos and reading a lot of documentation. I'm not discouraged, just saying it's a decent learning curve.

Thanks Mike. I had thought that too about Cura but I can't find any controls. It may be possible but may not be worth it.

[gerritv]

Zee, just to help simplify your life a wee bit, "STL files contain no scale information, and the units are arbitrary.[7]" (from Wikipedia).

This in fact is one of the useful things about STL files, you can scale them in your slicer. I did that for the flex hose, it was originally printing at 2", I re-scaled it to something like .75" without having the original model to work with (I don't like it when ppl post their creations to Thingiverse without the model, means you can't realistically modify the original).

When you import an object into Cura on the LH side are some icons that activate when you click on your object. Third one down is orientation, it lets you rotate the part so that you can e.g. print without supports for overhangs. Also lets you orient the layers for strength in a specific direction. That Rotate also lets you select a face to align to the bed etc. Many models coming out of 3d CAD programs are not oriented the best way for printing, hence that Rotate feature in the slicer.

Second icon down is Scaling.

Gerrit

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks Gerrit. I see that now. 

[zeeprogrammer]

Some bits and pieces have come in. Still waiting on the machines and the CNC retro-fit components.

Upper right is the 48V power supply for the motors (Gecko).
Lower right is the 5V power supply for the motion controller (Smoothstepper) and sundry other logic.
In the center is the Gecko G540 motor driver. It came with 4 DB9s and cases for the connectors. I'll need to get 2 more connectors.
Lower middle is the Smoothstepper.
To the left are 6 NEMA23 stepper motors.

Also got the QCTP and a couple of indexable cutters (both from LMS).

I haven't developed a plan yet. Most likely will play with the machines in manual mode before modifying them for the CNC retro-fit components.
I'll also mount the motors on a board and play with CamBam and Mach3 before attaching everything to the machines.
One of the motors shows an attached 3D printed pointer. I'll do the same for the others.

Once the machines are here I'll start a new thread to document my adventure.
I also intend to maintain a BOM. I need to get power cables, wire, etc.

Nothing came with documentation or specifications but I should be able to get all that through downloads.

[Flyboy Jim]

Progress!   

Jim

[Dave Otto]

So what breakout board did you decide to go with? Or can you run the 540 directly from the smooth stepper?

Dave

[zeeprogrammer]

So what breakout board did you decide to go with? Or can you run the 540 directly from the smooth stepper?

I'm not sure I understand. The computer connects to the SmoothStepper via Ethernet cable. The SmoothStepper connects to the Gecko G540 via (parallel) cable). The Gecko then connects to the motors via DB9 connectors. No other board that I'm aware of.
Essentially, the SmoothStepper provides a parallel port (much like the DB25 parallel port on a computer) but provides a lot of features for controlling the pins.

I don't understand the various ports/pins etc on the boards yet. I need to download their documentation and specs.
For example, the SmoothStepper has 4 parallel connectors but only one (I think) is used in this configuration.
I've read somewhere that the SmoothStepper can emulate a 2nd parallel port which makes me wonder if two Geckos can be attached.
That would be handy rather than having to disconnect the lathe to connect the mill and vice-versa.

[Dave Otto]

Hi Zee

I had never looked at the 540, but it appears that it also serves as a breakout board. Without the interface of the break out board I don't think that you could wire motors, limit switches, etc directly to your SS board. My system uses separate Gecko drives so I needed an interface (PMDX125) between the SS and motor drives, your 540 accomplishes this. The PMDX board also gives me spindle control through a small daughter board.
Attached is a photo of my servo amp box you can see the PMDX board with the SS mounted on it in the upper right hand corner of the box, the blue Gecko 320X servo amps are on the far right.

Dave

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks Dave.

I've been doing some reading after your query. You are correct, the 540 is the BOB. And no, you should not connect motors directly to the ESS board.

I don't know why some people refer to this as a plug-n-play system. There's a lot of configuration to do in Mach3 and it looks like I need some software for the ESS.
Plus, while the cabling between the two boards and the ESS and computer is simple enough, I'll have to figure out how to wire the stepper motor wires to the DB9.

The 5V supply I got may not have been a good idea for this setup. It's a switcher and the ESS may not provide enough load for the PS to turn on.
If that's the case, I may just get a wall wart for it.

[zeeprogrammer]

Looking for confirmation...

I'm having trouble finding a cable that goes between the G540 and the ESS.
The G540 has a female DB25 and the ESS has a male 2x13.
So I need a male DB25 to female 2x13.

All I can find is a female DB25 with female 2x13. Looks like I need a DB25 gender bender as well?

[Hugh Currin]

Dave & Zee:

The G540 does have some I/O, breakout board functions. I see four inputs, two outputs and one 0-10v output for VFD control. I hooked up an encoder to the inputs and LinuxCNC was able to us those. I see the G540 needs a 5v supply to use the input pins. I don't remember if I added a separate 5v supply for the encoder or pulled it from the computer. I'd have to take the cover off to see, it's been too long. I do remember it was easier than I thought going in.

There are 12 I/O terminals on the side of the G540. I brought those 12 pins to a DB25 connector and put this on the front of the control box. You can see the separate plug in the pic below.

I did it because I was packing and moving the machine often. But it would also be good if using the same controller for two machines. You could bring the machine's encoder, VFD, limit switches, etc to a DB25 plug and then use separate machine configuration files for each machine.

My G540 is connected to a parallel port. I'll likely try moving to a Mesa card this spring or next fall.

Parts look good Zee. How exciting.

P.S. My larger machine is using a PMDX-131, real old but still working.

Hi Zee

I had never looked at the 540, but it appears that it also serves as a breakout board. Without the interface of the break out board I don't think that you could wire motors, limit switches, etc directly to your SS board. My system uses separate Gecko drives so I needed an interface (PMDX125) between the SS and motor drives, your 540 accomplishes this. The PMDX board also gives me spindle control through a small daughter board.
Attached is a photo of my servo amp box you can see the PMDX board with the SS mounted on it in the upper right hand corner of the box, the blue Gecko 320X servo amps are on the far right.

Dave

[zeeprogrammer]

It begins.

That's right. You don't get to see what's in the boxes until after I do.   

Two more small packages coming by regular mail.

BTW That picture of a dog, doghouse, and little boy...
After kindergarten in Hawaii, I spent 1st grade in Little Rock, Arkansas living with my grandmother, along with Mom, Sis. Dad was at a military music school.
Omi (my grandmother) had that picture in one of her rooms.
Two more countries after that before we returned stateside.
I got that picture years later. No value other than memories (which are priceless).

Now to open some boxes. 

[Kim]

That's pretty exciting, Zee!

Good thing you took pictures of the unopened boxes.  I always hate it when they arrive banged up - it makes me worry about what absorbed the shock inside the box...  Hopefully all is OK.  It usually is!  But at least you have documented (and publicized) proof if you need it 

Can't wait till we you can open the boxes! 

Kim