Lathe Electronic Lead screw

Hello guys,
Im sure many of you heard about ELS on a lathe. Here is a link of what it is and what its capable of
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-QyjAuhhGL8


Now the question arises; how can i make one if i dont have any programming skills? I ve been researching for a while now and havent been able to find either a ready to install kit or diy instructions on how to make one... i wonder of the ELS shown in the video can be adapted to my 36 in lathe...?

Im familiar with electronics circuits (most of them analog) and i understand the principle of operation of such device. but i dont have the slightest idea of how to program the ratios nor what type of programming skills would you need to do such thing.
Anybody that can point me in the right direction? Im even willing to take programming classes if needed...
Thanks in advance

Steelcut said:

Now the question arises; how can i make one if i dont have any programming skills? I ve been researching for a while now and havent been able to find either a ready to install kit or diy instructions on how to make one... i wonder of the ELS shown in the video can be adapted to my 36 in lathe...?

Im familiar with electronics circuits (most of them analog) and i understand the principle of operation of such device. but i dont have the slightest idea of how to program the ratios nor what type of programming skills would you need to do such thing.
Anybody that can point me in the right direction? Im even willing to take programming classes if needed...

Click to expand...

There are plenty available; they're called CNC controls.

Companies such as Galil, supply all manner of hardware to enable you to build a control system. With regards to the ratios you speak of, this is all taken care of by the trajectory generator of the motion system. Galil, has its own programming language, very similar to Basic in its syntax, and uses fairly intuitive command words to invoke Linear and Circular motion. You will be able to control simple moves with this system quite easily. Its when you get into wanting the system to work like a full blown CNC control where it becomes more difficult. Not from the hardware side but the interpreter you would have to write to translate your NC commands into commands the Galil System, for example, can understand. And do so in a timely manner so that the motion from block to block is smooth. If you didn't want to write your own interpreter, I think CamSoft is an OEM front end for Galil that gives full control for CNC applications, but I believe its expensive.

I've used a Galil Motion system to control a fourth axis on a Mill that wasn't forth axis ready. The Motion System had a function called Electronic Gearing where, when engaged, one axis controls another. "M" codes from the machine were used as Inputs to the Galil control to control certain functions, but overall, the Machine's control was oblivious of the existence of the 4th axis. The following picture is of a CAM slot machined using this system.



Regards,

Bill

Very nice cam. Thank you very much for the info. Im gonna check out their website.. Thanks again

The ParkerMotion SX or S series manuals have a lot of information on using them for ratio drives.

"FOL Following Percent
Type Motion Valid Software Version B
Syntax <a>FOL<n> Units n = following %
Range 0.0 - 5000.0 Default 100.0
Attributes Buffered, Savable in Sequence See Also FIN,FOR, FSI, TF
Response *FOLLOWER=n_PERCENT
The FOL value establishes a percentage of the following ratio that the SX determines by the encoder frequency to produce its step
output frequency.
Command Description
> FOR6.25 Set motor to encoder pulse ratio to 6.25
> FOL100.0 Set following % to 100.0 (the SX produces a step output frequency equal to the encoder input frequency *6.25)
> FOL50.0 Set following % to 50.0 (the SX produces a step output frequency 50% or half of the encoder input frequency *6.25)"

Etc..... I'm not sure if only the SXF (apparently many X more expensive now) models can follow with that command or add features to that command...it's unclear. I've had S series on my (homemade conversion) CNC mill for ~ 15 years now w/ no trouble.... going to have to try it.

It does seem like the hold position command would work in all versions. An encoder on the spindle would appear as drift to the indexer which would respond by outputting to the traverse motor in the opposite direction. it's still unclear to me after a quick look if setting the encoder resolution to different values would give different thread counts.

Moved here to park this info

Awesome music on the video!

Friend of mine made a prototype using a Raspberry PI and touchscreen for the GUI and an Arduino controlling a servo drive and servo with encoder.

I never installed it because it isn't really useful and really fucks up all the features a good manual lathe has. It's basically adding a screen to make a couple things easier while cutting the machine off at the knees.

The point of the project wasn't really to make an electronic leadscrew, it was to prove out a GUI concept. We did that a different way and the concept snowballed and went a totally different direction.

If you can write Python and do 3rd grade math the cost of the project is about $100 plus the servo and drive. For a bullshit hobby machine this could be another $100. For a real manual lathe this is around $500 for the Chinese stuff.

Holy shit.

I can't believe people are computerizing lathing machines.

This is going to change the entire industrie!