Setting up Lathe and Mill Axis Pins

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07 Nov 2011 13:38 #14632 by Harry_Y
I just purchased a Sherline lathe and I'm planning out the rebuild of the driver box.

Is it possible to have EMC output the Mill Axis (X,Y,Z,A) on
one set of pins, and the Lathe Axis (X,Z)on another set.
(This would make that I do not need to install a switch)

Something like (I realize the pins are not right)

Mill

2 - X direction
3 - X step
4 - Y direction
5 - Y step
6 - Z direction
7 - Z step
8 - A direction
9 - A step

Lathe
10 - X direction
11 - X step
12 - Z direction
13 - Z step

I realize I cannot run the Mill and Lathe at the same time.

This is mostly so I do not need to install a switch (forthe X & Z axis)
and to avoid having the input to the driver boards left floating.

Thank you

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07 Nov 2011 13:58 #14634 by andypugh
Harry_Y wrote:

Is it possible to have EMC output the Mill Axis (X,Y,Z,A) on
one set of pins, and the Lathe Axis (X,Z)on another set.


Yes, no problem at all.

My machine does this, it can be a mill or a lathe depending on which configuration file I load. In my case the stepper drives are shared, but X becomes Z and Y becomes X when I start the other combination, so the situation is equivalent to yours.

PCs are cheap, though. You might want to consider having two so that you can use both machines at the same time.

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07 Nov 2011 14:17 #14635 by BigJohnT
Is this two separate machines or a combo like Andy's lathe/mill?

John

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07 Nov 2011 15:06 #14641 by Harry_Y
I have a Separate Mill (4 axis) and a Separate Lathe (2 axis)

I also have 2 separate driver boards one for the Lathe and one for the Mill.

My thoughts were to run 1 cable from the computer to the "driver Box"

The driver box would have two power switches: 1 for the Mill and 1 for the Lathe.

The thought was that by having the pins on both always connected.

I would never have a case of a driver being switched on and nothing
on the input since I have found when you do that the Axis tend to grind.

I can put in a switch to switch the X and Z lines if it is needed,
but it would be cleaner if it was not.

I'd rather not run two PC's either since I highly doubt I would
be doing two jobs at once enough to make it worth it.

Basically it is a way to save me from myself

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07 Nov 2011 16:05 #14648 by andypugh
Harry_Y wrote:

I have a Separate Mill (4 axis) and a Separate Lathe (2 axis)

As long as you have enough IO for 5 axes, it is no problem. You can even set up both machines to share one pin for all the home switches if you want.
If you can find a spare output pin, you can use a relay to power/enable the correct machine for the loaded config.

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07 Nov 2011 17:32 #14654 by Harry_Y
Thank you

I may need to add a I/O card to get enough lines

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