Emcoturn 120 lathe retrofit

You can do basically the same things with Modbus and analog VFD control

Modbus has the advantage that you can read drive information like current draw so you can have a spindle load readout in LinuxCNC

Analog has the advantage of real time operation so you can close the spindle speed loop if desired

thanx, I want to have the rpm feedback loop if possible to prevent runaway, however remote that might be. I am going to replace the emco spindle encoder with a differential one with index since the Mesa card has provision for it. Or I may update the emco encoder with a incremental set, I dont know which will be easier yet.

put the way covers back on today. Its like a big jigsaw puzzle and my memory isn't what it used to be, but its coming together. I was worried the motor wouldn't fit but now I see the back bumps out so it looks like it fits by a mile.

I ended up deciding to replace the encoder with a more modern one, I got a BEI encoder with ABZ output for $25 shipped so I think trying bring the emco encoder up to date would have been less efficient than adapting the mount and pulley for this one. sorry for the picture quality, it is from the auction.

received my control cabinet yesterday. I put it together today and mounted it on the side of the lathe cabinet. At the last minute I bought the 4 inch taller one figuring the extra room would help reduce clutter, turns out I gorgot the bigger one doesnt fit under the lather table. So I put it on the side. Its a little better access there and I can mount my monitor arm and the e-stop and USB port there, so I think in the end its better anyway.

LutzTD wrote:

received my control cabinet yesterday. I put it together today and mounted it on the side of the lathe cabinet. At the last minute I bought the 4 inch taller one figuring the extra room would help reduce clutter, turns out I gorgot the bigger one doesnt fit under the lather table. So I put it on the side. Its a little better access there and I can mount my monitor arm and the e-stop and USB port there, so I think in the end its better anyway.

Looks like a nice cabinet, where did you get it? I looked around for cabinets but in the end bent/welded my own so I could get the exact size I wanted.
-Tom

I did a google image search on "steel wall cabinet" and they also come up in shopping by price so I found these Seville cabinets were pretty cheap. I went to Sams and looked it over but they didn't have one,they did have similar ones so I could see the construction. I ended up getting it through walmart with free shipping to my door, I think the total was around $80. The steel is fairly thin, and like everything else shipped the panels had some dents, but once together it is pretty stout, the screws are machine screws threaded into thread inserts. I will likely double the top panel where I mount the display arm (havent got that yet) but otherwise Im pretty happy with it.

link is here for Sams link

this weekend:
1. drilled the through hole for the cables, I think I will use this one for the high power cables only and drill another for the low power/signal cables. Im using cat6A shielded cable for all of the signal runs but I still think its wise to separate the high power from the signal runs.
2. bent a piece of .060 sheet metal for a back wall to mount components, for service I should be able to pull this entire sheet with all components mounted on it, dont know if its necessary but it also keeps the mount screws from going through the box and into the lathe leg. This is common for e-boxes and seems a good strategy.
3. I have a stack of parts from the Emco control, unfortunately they are sized for 400V so I cant use some of them because they are too small amp rating. The terminal blocks, the 6A 3 pole breaker, e-stop button, and the 25A fuses in the ceramic holders will be used. The motor contactor is too small but I found a 10HP contactor on ebay for $30 shipped, so that will be my safety cutoff.
4. mounted e-stop button
5. once its all figured out Ill pull this back sheet and paint it.
6. still need to figure out how to turn on the computer from the outside. I dont want to solder switch leads onto the computer PCBA so I want to find a mechanical solution to push the FX170 power button from the outside.