Emco PC turn 55 upgrade..

The lathe works intermittently. Sometimes I can make 10 parts in a row without error, but threading I'm lucky if it makes 5 good passes in a row.

Top reasons I want to upgrade:
1. G28 is danger close to the spindle and I need to be able to set a different home position!
2. Capacitors fail when they get old. It's only a matter of time until they start going bad in the PC or control board.
3. I want to get rid of the ancient computer
4. I want a better GUI

I definitely have not gotten the software and programming part of the project figured out yet. I learn best by youtube and I'm having a hard time finding any comprehensive youtube tutorials on the subject. Youtube was the only reason I passed controls 1 &2.

Its no problem not knowing. With work/effort/luck/help you can find out. Its a problem Not knowing you dont know...

Ok, some help. The software that presently runs your machine is old. Linuxcnc is much more fun. If it is not working correctly it is worth changing to run it with lcnc.

Try to do as little changes as possible to keep your job as easy as possible. Later when yoou have more experience it is easier to do more.

Try to fix your driver card. Post a better picture so peole can see what is burnt out. This looks like someone has had a card out with power on and shorted the board. It might be easy to fix, it might not. More things might be damaged but you have to test everything so you know exactly. Try to minimise unknowns...

If you can fix the card the upgrade is really easy. Basically you simply plug the output from the mesa card into your drivers and you can now control your axes. You of course have to plug in the home and some other limit switches plus the vfd contoller ( there are a couple of variations depending on the model you have) and some other stuff but one step at a time.

Your intermittent fault may have been linked to the opto coupler on the spindle. The main board is quite clever and has much logic stuff going on. If it misses a signal it powers off the drives. Likewise if the set speed does not match what it thinks its doing it powers off.

Changing drives and drivers is of course perfectly possible. Finding something to fit exactly may be somewhat harder. Probably to fix the machine you will need a milling machine to make or modify drive mounts.

You should have bought vexta stepper drivers, to match your drives. Ebay for chinese ones, I have no idea if they are good. My drives work and i use the original motors.

Do you have a multimeter? You will need one.
Do you have a scope? You will need one - you use it to see what your drives are doing and your spindle motor and vfd...
You have to check everything and that is how. You will need an assortment of of electro technician stuff. I am not trying to put you off but expect to spend alot of time playing and learning. It is a learning curve to start with. Many people have this as their hobby.

Once you have that stuff going somewhere you have to learn to actually set it up ie get the mesa card talking with linuxcnc. There are a few peculiaritities, the relays in the emco are not designed to be driven by the mesa card. Resistors and diodes are needed.

Help yourself and others will help when you get stuck for sure but you have to be prepared to spend lots of your time and not mind banging your head against a wall whilst you get experience and learn what you are doing and trying to do...

As a consolation its a great little lathe and you can learn loads..

Cheers,
James

I have 3 phase steppers so I ordered the 3 phase Leadshine drivers.

I ordered a motherboard to fit the components that I've got, but I'm thinking I'll just get it working again and then sell it. The 3 or 4 hundred from that should cover a low end computer and Mesa cards.

Why do you say the 5I25 is all I need? You mean if I use the existing control board?

So I'm looking for at fanless mini-ITX boards. Any links I follow from the forum are outdated.

How do you know you have 3 phase stepper motors?
Do you know how the linuxcnc systems components fit together? ie what the mesa card actually does?
How are you going to test anything without all the components of the system in place?

You need to have a basic grounding on how all this stuff goes together and then it becomes much clearer.
You need to have a good problem solving methodology.

Just because you see a label that reads 'drei phasen' does not immediately follow you have 3 phase drives.

Think then test to prove your thinking....

Do you have a multimeter?
Do you have a scope?

I have the electrical schematic book that says they are 3 phase. I looked up the motor part numbers which says they are 3 phase, and the 2 connectors going to the motors have 3 black wires and one green/yellow.

I have multi-multimeters and am going to borrow my brothers scope tonight after he gets off work. It's one of those DSO Nanos. Anyway I can enlist the help of my brother for that stuff.

I ordered a computer last night. www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138429

No I haven't figured out the Mesa cards yet.

Well, if the existing drivers work, you will likely have to use them. 3-phase steppers are VERY rare, there were used in a few early 8" floppy drives, I haven't seen one in decades. Very unlikely you will be able to get modern drivers for those motors.

If the drivers won't work, then you may have to replace the motors.

Jon