sherline, cnc, and masso

[Flyboy Jim]

At some point (soon!) I'll place orders to Sherline et.al.

My question is...should I stay on this thread or start one in "Tooling & Machines" or in "My Workshop"?
My goal would be to show the goodies, play with the machines manually, then log my trials, tribulations, successes, and melt-downs (oh there'll be at least one) as I add CNC.

We don't have (although it would be nice) have a forum for "CNC Machining" like we do  for "Additive Machining", so I would think "Tooling & Machines" would be the appropriate spot. Wherever you put it, I'll be looking forward to following along on your journey. I'm impressed with how much CNC machining expertise there is here on MEM.

Jim

[Hugh Currin]

Zee:

I suspect it's either "Tooling and Machines" or "My Workshop". I'd think My Workshop since you're building up a whole shop not just one machine. But it doesn't matter much, we'll stalk you no mater where you go.

I now have part of a 10'x14' shed winters (shared with my wife's lapidary equipment). Right now I'm leaning towards getting a Sherline CNC ready mill and converting my "combo" Traveling Sherline Show lathe/mill to solely a lathe. It may be awhile, maybe even into next fall. Not sure yet as my thinking keeps drifting. But right now leaning this way. Would like a ball screw mill, but for an added $1500 ???

So your not along.

Thanks.

[zeeprogrammer]

...speed the spindle is going... and would suggest you not worry about it till later.

 

If your fear is that your model could be pilfered by the Fusion people (or others)

Getting pilfered would be an honor in my case. 

Dont confuse parallel port with DB25 connector.

That was my point. Most microprocessors use registers to control a bank of I/O but that's not what people are referring to. How it connects to the outside world is what people are referring to when they talk about a computer's 'parallel port' and that's the bit that's outdated. I haven't used a DB25 in years. (I have used DB9 many times for serial port connections.)

We don't have (although it would be nice) have a forum for "CNC Machining" like we do  for "Additive Machining", so I would think "Tooling & Machines" would be the appropriate spot.

I'd be in favor of a "CNC Machining" topic or something that is perhaps more specific towards choosing, setting up, and learning.
I'm leaning towards "Tooling & Machines" as well. Seems a little more clear. "My Workshop" can work but seems more broad.

we'll stalk you no matter where you go.

 

I very much appreciate all the help and comments and I'm glad you all find this useful.

[zeeprogrammer]

Orders placed. 

Had trouble placing orders with some manufacturer sites but found the same stuff on Amazon.
The only thing I couldn't get was the compound slide for the lathe. Not sure why. Only the metric was available.

Right or wrong, for better or for worse, I went with the following:

Sherline Manual Workshop (lathe and mill) plus various accessories
Gecko G540
Ethernet SmoothStepper
NEMA23 (282oz)

I'll stick with Windows for now and I'll start with Mach3 and CamBam. The CNC components aren't that expensive and I can swap out as needed/desired.

Once everything is here (and I'm past my shoulder surgery recovery), I'll start a thread in "Tooling & Machines" and give step-by-step descriptions of my adventure (good or bad).

Shoulder surgery should be minor. Arthroscopic to shave a bone spur and remove some calcium. Will be home same day.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. 

[Jasonb]

You should not really need the compound as the CNC will move the carrage and cross slide at the same time to do any angle you want.

[Flyboy Jim]

Orders placed. 

Had trouble placing orders with some manufacturer sites but found the same stuff on Amazon.
The only thing I couldn't get was the compound slide for the lathe. Not sure why. Only the metric was available.

Right or wrong, for better or for worse, I went with the following:

Sherline Manual Workshop (lathe and mill) plus various accessories
Gecko G540
Ethernet SmoothStepper
NEMA23 (282oz)

I'll stick with Windows for now and I'll start with Mach3 and CamBam. The CNC components aren't that expensive and I can swap out as needed/desired.

Once everything is here (and I'm past my shoulder surgery recovery), I'll start a thread in "Tooling & Machines" and give step-by-step descriptions of my adventure (good or bad).

Shoulder surgery should be minor. Arthroscopic to shave a bone spur and remove some calcium. Will be home same day.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. 

Great to hear Zee!  Let the adventure begin. 

Good luck with your surgery.

Jim

[zeeprogrammer]

You should not really need the compound as the CNC will move the carrage and cross slide at the same time to do any angle you want.

True. Guess I'm still stuck in manual mode. 

Thanks Jim. It'll be fun.

[crueby]

Orders placed. 

Had trouble placing orders with some manufacturer sites but found the same stuff on Amazon.
The only thing I couldn't get was the compound slide for the lathe. Not sure why. Only the metric was available.

...

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. 

Exciting! Good to know, so I can send my shop elves down in their 'Zee' costume (stack of them all on each others shoulders, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, holding a Stinking Hoppy mug) to receive the packages....   

On the compound slide, I dont think I have ever looked at the scale on the handwheel, its always been 'turn till the taper is done' rather than 1.234" along...  Huh. Never noticed that before.


Best wishes on the shoulder!!

[Flyboy Jim]

On the compound slide, I dont think I have ever looked at the scale on the handwheel, its always been 'turn till the taper is done' rather than 1.234" along...  Huh. Never noticed that before.

Now that you mention it Chris...........I haven't either. 

Jim

[Hugh Currin]

Zee:

Congratulations. Always good to have an adventure.

When I bought my Sherline shop it had a compound for the lathe. With CNC I didn't use it so sold it.

Is that the "Deluxe Ultimate Machine Shop" from Sherline? This looks pretty complete. The only thing I didn't see right off is a 4-jaw chuck. But a great start.

Best of luck with the shoulder. All the pieces should be in place when you get back. Oh boy!

The only thing I couldn't get was the compound slide for the lathe. Not sure why. Only the metric was available.

I went with the following:

Sherline Manual Workshop (lathe and mill) plus various accessories
Gecko G540
Ethernet SmoothStepper
NEMA23 (282oz)

Shoulder surgery should be minor. Arthroscopic to shave a bone spur and remove some calcium. Will be home same day.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. 

[Kim]

Congratulations on all the new toys!  Can't wait to see how you set them all up.  What a fun new adventure!

Hopefully the anticipation of new shop toys will to make it easier to get through the not-so-fun new adventure of shoulder surgery!

Best of luck, Zee,
KIm

[Jo]

Orders placed. 

Money is for spending Zee, where's the fun in leaving it in the bank to rot  You're retired: you need toys to play with 

Looking forward to seeing the new toys make some swarf   

Jo

[DICKEYBIRD]

I looked at the acorn at Cabin Fever and found the screen very cluttered. One of the most brilliant features of Mach3 and 4 is a screen editor that allows fully customized screens. In many case thats why Mach3 is still selling way beyond its end of development- people have grown attached to certain screen designs.

Yep, Mach screens are like a well broken-in pair of boots to me, but only because that's what I started with & spent many hours getting familiar  with.  Acorn was a no-brainer for me since most of my CNC work is on a lathe.  Threading is a must for me and despite spending untold amounts of time & money, all I could thread over 1/2" dia. with in Mach was acetal & maybe aluminum on a good day.  The single pulse per rev with Mach just doesn't thread in steel without a spindle encoder and high-end controller hardware.  Acorn gives you encoder threading, rigid tapping, true CSS and robust software for less cash than the hardware needed to get those functions working with Mach3 and 4

Yes the screens were puzzling at 1st but are logical & easily learned.  I still use Mach on my mill though and love it (until the new mill with an Acorn is finished.) 

ps: Screen button editing is already available & customizable screens are coming with the next software release.

[zeeprogrammer]

Thanks everyone!

Is that the "Deluxe Ultimate Machine Shop" from Sherline? This looks pretty complete. The only thing I didn't see right off is a 4-jaw chuck. But a great start.

Yes, it's the Deluxe Ultimate Machine Shop. Aside from the CNC retrofit stuff, I added the 4-jaw, some adaptors and holders, and I got a QCTP from LMS.

Sprained my left thumb last week and tomorrow the right arm gets immobilized. I'll be wingless for a little while.
Upside is no changing diapers on grandson for a little while. (We care for grandson during the week.) 

Just saw your post Dickeybird. Good to know.
I think I've threaded only once and that was when I began this hobby. We'll see what the future brings.
I looked at the Acorn site. Looks very interesting.

[Alex]

Zee - with the G540 and spindle control;

On my KX1 CNC mill, I used the G540 VFD opto-isolated connections. If you know how a potentiometer works, it's pretty easy to connect up, as long as the voltage to the potentiometer is less than 10v.

On LinuxCNC, I added a table that, if I requested say 3,000 rpm, it gave me pretty close to 3,000 rpm, unloaded. (it's been working for likely 10+ years with no changes, so I don't remember details right now) It just works!
 
On my larger MESA-7i76 equipped mill, I have a spindle encoder, and some code that determines what gear the mill is in; ask for (say) 3,000 rpm and it gets to it, and keeps it there.

I HAVE NOT bothered with spindle speed yet on my little Sherline lathe, as I sometimes take steppers off and put handles on for portability. I don't know what the voltage is on the Sherline motor driver board is.

Whatever you do, just have fun and enjoy it.