coopertje

Just discovered another Emco here. Nice work Greg

Have dun regards Jeroen

slowtwitch

Hello, I have an Emco 120p, which is a twin to your lathe..just the colors are different I have converted it to all new modern electronics and installed new stepper motors and an AC 4hp motor for the spindle.

Being a complete newbie at cnc, I never really found out what type of ball screws are in the machine. To find the tpi, I just turned the gear and counted how many turns it took to move 1 inch.

What are the specs on the ball screws Turns per?? How many starts

I'm also kind of undecided on what my microstepping should be with this machine. Someone once told me that these machines do not like ipm's over 20. I don't know if that true or not. Hence, I currently set at 1/2. It runs, but , I don't think it's optimum for this lathe...maybe I'm wrong.

pete

Penprophet

I got one today- Do you have any advice on converting to modern electronics as mine does not have the controller. Any suggestions who might have a copy of the manual??

Thanks.,

Mark

dieselpilot

I found these two new posts here today. The ball screws are 5mm pitch reduced 2/1 from the motor. The specs claimed 1 micron resolution but this simply isn't true. 1/2 stepping with the original 5 phase steppers produces 2.5 micron resolution. If you install 2 phase steppers you'd have to run 5 microsteps to get 2.5 micron resolution and 280Ncm torque steppers to get similar axis thrust. The manuals spec the machines at 1200mm/minute (47ipm) rapids and that's probably fast enough for such a small machine. This thread gets into some info on microstepping. http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f38/my-cnc-questions-thread-keep-eye-one-18074/

There is a yahoo usergroup for these machines both in their original form and conversions. My project has been lagging, but finally I have some need to get this machine running very soon. I did source the lever action manual 5C chuck that some of these machines were equipped with, but still have no jaw chuck. I should have bid on a couple 4" air chucks on Ebay that I let slide. The TOS chuck is still planned for a chuck with machinable jaws. If I run into a good deal on decent regular 3 jaw I might start with that. Most of my parts will probably use the collet chuck.

As far as converting, basically there is Mach or EMC2. Both have some options for getting the turret working. I think the best way to go with some sort of multi function breakout board as some of these amchines can support a variety of automated features, lube, air chucks, air tailstocks, etc.

Greg

LatheMaster

Havent seen one of those machines in a long time . Had one in college back around 1989 . Small duty work but fun to learn on . Im thinking of converting a Grizzly lathe sometime in the future . I did a LMS mill a couple years ago . Look forward to your build . I have mach 3 for my mill . It works pretty good . I was told EMC2 had to be run on linux . Is this true . Heard its much better software .

__________________
I'm a legend in my own mind .

RonGinger

Yes, EMC, now called LinuxCNC will only run on linux.

As to better than Mach that is a topic of great discussion, about as useful as what I call a 'blonde vs redhead' question, one you are never likely to get an absolute answer for. In fact, both are highly capable systems, and I have never found a case where one will work and the other will not.

I happen to use Mach and think its much simpler to use and setup than LinuxCNC, but thats probably because I have used Mach on several machines and have for several years. I found EMC way more trouble to setup than I was willing to deal with.

slowtwitch

Great info, Greg...thanks

OldRon

Hello,

I have an EMCO Compact 6P-CNC that has the pneumatic chuck. I purchased the machine to use for preparing the ends of ball screws. The pneumatic chuck does not have a through bore plus the 'through spindle' actuator draw bar is solid. That does not allow for long stock to be machined. The OEM pneumatic collet chuck has the same limitations.

When time permits I will be removing the pneumatic chuck and actuator. Would you be interested in purchasing the components?

OldRon

dieselpilot

Yes, I'm interested. What make is that chuck?

I just finished making room in my shop for this machine. I started a sketch for a base to put it on as I have none. Hopefully soon this process will continue.

Greg

OldRon

All of the components are original EMCO equpment. I tried to PM you first but you are not accepting mail so I made a public offering. Another person has expressed interest in purchasing the pneumatic chucking system so at this time you are #2.

OldRon