retrofit on EMCO PC turn 55

I am in the middle of retrofitting an EMCO PC Turn 55 to runing EMC2. I am using a G540 for control and a VFD to run the spindle motor. Both axis move and EMC controls the spindle just fine with M3 and S commands.

I have questions in several areas.

1) I set the spindle control in stepgen to 0-2000 which is the middle speed. I need to know what options exist for the other 2 belt postions. Some reading indicates that I mighe be able to add buttons to the side of the display for the speed ranges. Is that the best way?

2) The spindle has an encoder. I connected the index pulse to the G540 input 1 and programmed that accordingly. How do I get the actual speed displayed on the computer screen? Which leads me to another question. Is there a way to link the actual speed to the programmed speed? For example, when I set S=1000 EMC just ouputs 5 volts to the VFD. THis would be 500 RPM on one belt postion but 1500 on a different belt position. With this type of configuration, EMC would automatically adapt to belt position.

3) RIght now I have the tool turret under manual control. Surely somebody out there has figured out how to control the EMCO turret using the stock interface and motor???

Thanks, Please point me in the right direction and push the start button!.

chuck

I would like to try the standard 2 speed version before attempted the custom multi speed.
I looked all through the docs but I cannot find it. How about a pointer ?
thanks
chuck

I think that the example in classic ladder might be a good fit for the Emco tool changer. Sadly many of the diagrams are dead.

wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ClassicLadderExamples

I can read the gear change man page, but I don't have a clue were to start..

I did manage to implement Big Johns "tool change" in Hal examples.

chuck

Which diagrams are you referring to ? I see the ladder diagrams.

yesterday the last half were blank. Now they are there. Must be something to do with Windows7!
Sorry for the non issue.
cs

I received some questions based on this topic and I would like to address them here because I'm sure people here will have valuable input.
Here is a copy of the email....

Hi-
I'm looking around for a CNC lathe, and considering a used PC Turn 55. (For
example
www.ebay.com/itm/2000-Maier-EMCO-PC-TURN...&hash=item3cc6e1ca64)
I have some experience with lathes (~300 hours) and excellent technology
skills (I helped design a computer at the chip level, for example), but I
have absolutely no experience with modern CNC machines.

2 questions
1) What do you get out of a retrofit vs the original software? (I have no
idea what the original software does.)

2) How is it going? If you feel like the project is converging, I'm pretty
sure I could follow in your footsteps.

I finished this project a long time ago so parts of it may be a bit hazy. I do have a fair number of pictures that might help.

I did a retrofit because I didn't have any of the original Emco software and frankly didn't care to learn about it or the antiquated PC associated with it. I would also bet the original software does not have the features of LInuxCNC. I was familiar with LinuxCNC and it works well for me. I also wanted to use the emoc tool turret and I could find examples of other turrets that I figured I could adapt. That is a topic covered in another thread.

My conversion consisted of gutting all the old electronics including the odd 5 wire stepper motors. I used some nice stepper motors from Keling that work very well. I used a Gecko G540 for the control even though it has two drives that I don't need (it was still the cheapest solution). I reused the existing 24V power supply because it was adequate and I needed 24VDC for the turret motor. I used a Teco VFD from dealers electric and interfaced it to the G540 for spindle speed control. I removed the big red box on the back and scrapped it (I did save the yellow plate and cut it to size to make a bottom for the grey part of the cabinet. I put all the new electronics in the back of the grey cabinet.

My system requires 2 parallel ports in order to have enough I/O for the spindle encoder and tool turret.

If you do decide to convert a PC Turn55 we can address the conversion in stages.

I noticed that the current version (the Concept Turn 55) lists 52mm as the maximum turning diameter in spite of a 65mm center height. Is the PCTurn 55 indeed limited to such a small size?

It looks like I will be doing the conversion. The one I bought is missing the PC and the card (though it has the software.)

What kind of motors did you get, and did the slot right in where the old ones were?

What did you do about the turret?

Roughly how much would it cost if you did it again (you don't have to be exact.)