Little Machine Shop CNC lathe

[kvom]

Some here may remember a group project to convert a LMS 5100 Hi Torque lathe to CNC.  This happened in 2016 (if I remember correctly) as that's the year of my Mach4 license.  Members of the group met after the NAMES show in Detroit to actually do the modification to the lathe.  There is a control box that uses PoKeys57 along with Mach4 on a connected PC.

I used mine a few times back then, but it has sat unused for at least the last 5 years.  I'm now reorganizing my shop with the intention of getting back into machining.  I fire up the old HP laptop today, and it still works after such a long period of idleness.  I've yet to reconnect the control unit to the lathe and laptop as I need to clear the work area.

I'm posting this to ask if any members here have the lathe running, either as an original group member or via purchase.  I probably should update both Mach4 and the Pokeys software, but before attempting anything I'm interested to see what others are doing.

[uuu]

I've not got a CNC lathe.  But I have a mill and it's running Mach3 on an ancient PC.  I'm not going to update any software - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Wilf

Edit - My friend John's mill is several years older than mine - he too is happily running Mach3 on an even older PC - running Windows XP.  We have a contingency plan for when the PC breaks.  But we're not going to change anything until that happens.

[kvom]

My sadly departed CNC mill ran on Mach3 for several years, but did have some glitches.  I converted to PathPilot.  I sold it to a friend who needed it for his business intending to buy a better one, but then Covid intervened.

[nj111]

Getting on for 20 years ago I converted a Denford Orac lathe to run on Mach 3.  It had been gathering dust at my kid's school for many years, so I saved it before they disposed of it.
Electrically I started from scratch with upgraded stepper drives etc. The Denford lathe already had recirculating ball leadscrews, and it's an accurate little machine.  I still have it , currently not used much but one day (in anticipation of some spare time) I hope it will be!
It has always worked fine,  including screw cutting which I had been told would not work reliably on Mach3?  Be interested to see more of your machine in action!

[kvom]

I connected the lathe, Control, and laptop today.  While i can see that the three are communicating to some degree I can't move the axes or start the spindle.  What I can see is that the eStop is recognized and the control locks the motors.  When Mach4 is terminate I can turn the ball screws by hand.  I suspect the PoKeys57 configuration is faulty as I may have deleted the original by mistake.