Retrofit on a brand new machine...Origifit?
09 Dec 2020 03:23 #191465
by BruceCharlesDesigns
Retrofit on a brand new machine...Origifit? was created by BruceCharlesDesigns
Looking for some advice and input. First the background: I have a few decades of programming experience on PCs, have always built things and have decent electrical and mechanical skills. Somehow I had done a ton of stuff without ever laying hands on a lathe or mill. I got the first lathe about 4 years ago and quickly realized that I had been missing out all these years. It was just a cheap-o Harbor Freight 7X12, but within 12 months I had it's brother the HF mini mill. Then 2 years ago I tackled learning Fusion 360 and 3d printers and before I knew it I was designing my own CNC conversion for the mini mill.
I made the mill conversion with 3d printed parts and ran GRBL on an arduino. I did the first with the original lead screws belt drive from nema 17 motors. Total cost about $200. The second conversion with ball screws, still 3d printed parts, and nema 23 steppers. It stil had some backlash and it was the lack of compensation ability in GRBL that drove me to LinuxCNC. It was that or Mach3...which looked ugly. So knowing nothing about Linux, I eventually had a decent setting running. The first project was to mill aluminum parts to replace the 3d printed parts and then it was decent. Then I started using TTS style toolholders and one glorious day I figured out why the tool table existed and I measured all my tools. That was about 18 months ago.
Next I bought and converted a PM25 with LinuxCNC of course. That was great, and a good step up. My adult son and I both had the bug bad by then and we found a used and disassembled Tormach 1100 series II that we picked up very very cheap. I figured if I could convert a mill I could find out how to get it back together, and we had it running in a couple of days. That was about 14 months ago. We used it for two months and realized that this was going to be a real thing for both of us, so we each ordered new 1100MX systems from Tormach and received them in January of this year. It was fun as a father/son thing...our serials numbers are sequential.
Now you know my basic CNC and machining history. The PathPilot control on the Tormach is a delight to use. It has everything I liked about LinuxCNC with a great deal of polish and ease of use. We have used both our mills a ton, so much so that my son recently purchased a more capable machine from a lesser known supplier, and it came with a Syntec controller. The mill itself runs circles around the Tormach and I absolutely love it mechanically. So does my son. But the software...wow.
I discussed with my son many times that the older style industrial controls are somewhat archaic and hard to use compared to what he had seen on my LinuxCNC setups and especially on our 1100MXs. But both of us were shocked at just what a step backwards it was.
Which brings me to this post. I would LOVE a machine like he has, but I have zero desire to deal with the old style controls. We have considered getting an older Fadal and doing a conversion. But I also wonder how crazy it would be to just go to China (I've been a few times, I have a couple of businesses that I own and use manufacturers in China) and meeting with the company he got the mill from and trying to go down the path of a LinuxCNC setup on that machine from the start.
So, anyone have experience trying to do something like that? Any advice you'd offer? My LinuxCNC experience has been limited to parallel port and steppers, but I have a Mesa 7i76e that I have purchased to start gaining experience there. The machine I am looking at uses AC servos, but I have no experience with that whatsoever.
This company makes a very capable machine and everything I have seen on my son's machine is fantastic as far as the mechanics. It is just an awful interface to work with and one I would not be willing to use. He and I both do a lot of one-offs as well as small production runs for our own products on our Tormachs and the ability to rapidly setup and probe a one-off is not something I'd want to give up.
Anyone with a conversion in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area that would let me come pick their brain a bit? Or within about 800 miles of DFW?
Hopefully this was the right section of the forum for the post. Thanks for consideration!
I made the mill conversion with 3d printed parts and ran GRBL on an arduino. I did the first with the original lead screws belt drive from nema 17 motors. Total cost about $200. The second conversion with ball screws, still 3d printed parts, and nema 23 steppers. It stil had some backlash and it was the lack of compensation ability in GRBL that drove me to LinuxCNC. It was that or Mach3...which looked ugly. So knowing nothing about Linux, I eventually had a decent setting running. The first project was to mill aluminum parts to replace the 3d printed parts and then it was decent. Then I started using TTS style toolholders and one glorious day I figured out why the tool table existed and I measured all my tools. That was about 18 months ago.
Next I bought and converted a PM25 with LinuxCNC of course. That was great, and a good step up. My adult son and I both had the bug bad by then and we found a used and disassembled Tormach 1100 series II that we picked up very very cheap. I figured if I could convert a mill I could find out how to get it back together, and we had it running in a couple of days. That was about 14 months ago. We used it for two months and realized that this was going to be a real thing for both of us, so we each ordered new 1100MX systems from Tormach and received them in January of this year. It was fun as a father/son thing...our serials numbers are sequential.
Now you know my basic CNC and machining history. The PathPilot control on the Tormach is a delight to use. It has everything I liked about LinuxCNC with a great deal of polish and ease of use. We have used both our mills a ton, so much so that my son recently purchased a more capable machine from a lesser known supplier, and it came with a Syntec controller. The mill itself runs circles around the Tormach and I absolutely love it mechanically. So does my son. But the software...wow.
I discussed with my son many times that the older style industrial controls are somewhat archaic and hard to use compared to what he had seen on my LinuxCNC setups and especially on our 1100MXs. But both of us were shocked at just what a step backwards it was.
Which brings me to this post. I would LOVE a machine like he has, but I have zero desire to deal with the old style controls. We have considered getting an older Fadal and doing a conversion. But I also wonder how crazy it would be to just go to China (I've been a few times, I have a couple of businesses that I own and use manufacturers in China) and meeting with the company he got the mill from and trying to go down the path of a LinuxCNC setup on that machine from the start.
So, anyone have experience trying to do something like that? Any advice you'd offer? My LinuxCNC experience has been limited to parallel port and steppers, but I have a Mesa 7i76e that I have purchased to start gaining experience there. The machine I am looking at uses AC servos, but I have no experience with that whatsoever.
This company makes a very capable machine and everything I have seen on my son's machine is fantastic as far as the mechanics. It is just an awful interface to work with and one I would not be willing to use. He and I both do a lot of one-offs as well as small production runs for our own products on our Tormachs and the ability to rapidly setup and probe a one-off is not something I'd want to give up.
Anyone with a conversion in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area that would let me come pick their brain a bit? Or within about 800 miles of DFW?
Hopefully this was the right section of the forum for the post. Thanks for consideration!
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