Emcoturn 120 lathe retrofit

There seems to be a fairly low size limitation on files posted here in the forum. So at the link below are various EMCOTurn 120P documents I have accumulated from various places. My Linuxcnc configuration files are also posted there (in the file EMCOTurn120P-ConfigFiles.zip) as well as a user manual for the Vexta UDX5128NA stepper drives and some Rohm collet closer info.

There is some good information on the 120P in the Yahoo Group emco_turn_120 ( groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/emco_turn_120/info ) and some of this info came from the files people have posted there. There is also helpful info at: emcocncretrofits.wikia.com/wiki/Emco_CNC_Retrofits_Wiki , as well as www.cnczone.com/forums/emco-lathe/ Photos of my retrofit machine can be seen here: flic.kr/s/aHsk92oxWz

-Tom

bgp.nu/~tom/pub/EMCOTurn120P/

andypugh wrote:

LutzTD wrote: Im liking the Mesa 7i76e ethernet i/o board. If I were to go that route I could keep the dell fx170 thinclient, would I need any other boards with this as it is also cheaper than the pci io and 2 daughter cards from mesa.

You might need a USB Network dongle of some sort, the 7i76 will occupy the only ethernet port. However, you should have more than enough stepgens and GPIO for the lathe on the 7i76, and I would expect that the spindle interface can operate the spindle.

The 7i76e does indeed look like a nice solution! Looks like it may have everything you need. As Andy says, you can get your networking off a USB dongle, connect the other usb port to a hub or the Toolerator directly.

I use a serial port off my Atom board to talk Modbus to my VFD. I don't see a serial port on the Dell...Andy: How would he drive the VFD?

PS: Has anyone tested the Dell he's using for latency? With the Mesa card it becomes less important since he only needs a relatively slow thread, but still...

-Tom

tome wrote: I use a serial port off my Atom board to talk Modbus to my VFD. I don't see a serial port on the Dell...Andy: How would he drive the VFD?

Analogue voltage works well, the 7i76 has a digital potentiometer and fwd/ev/enable outputs.

Alternatively a USB modbus dongle will work.

the FX170 has 4 usb 2.0 ports so I should be ok there. Im not really too worried about WAN, so I could leave that out. Just about as easy to load gcode with a usb dongle. If it becomes tiring I could use a usb network card. Or could I put an old router and then drive the 7i76e through the router? seems like it would slow it down but I dont know.

I was thinking the variable voltage output for the spindle would be all that was required for the vfd.

looking at the FX170 last night it looks like the previous owner changed the admin password, so I am locked out. I can send it back, but I may also be able to install a fresh copy of windows as dell still has the images on their website.

I guess the question is this. I could also install linux SUSE. which is the linux image they also provide. If I get this box working in linux, am I still polishing a turd? Would it be better to get a motherboard with a more mainstream processor for linux? Then I would get the serial and could add a second network card as well as use the pci bus Mesa card, whaddya think? I only have $36 dollars in this box, but I do like the compact size and the fanless design.

Might be interesting to load up the latest Linuxcnc Live image on the machine and run the latency test.
-Tom

Im trying to image windows. If I get that to work Ill save the USB and image the SUSE. How do I run a latency test?

LutzTD wrote: Im trying to image windows. If I get that to work Ill save the USB and image the SUSE. How do I run a latency test?

Just go here ( linuxcnc.org/docs/2.7/html/getting-start...etting-linuxcnc.html ), make a USB stick with the Linuxcnc release which is built on Debian Wheezy, plug it in and try it. You don't even need to install it. The latency test can be run from there I believe.
-Tom

I got the windows image loaded and learned windows embedded does not work and play well with others so thats trash. I could load regular windows but I think I have to bump up the hard drive. I have a ssd sitting around that was too small for my maiin machines so Im going to see if that can be used in the chassis, If it can it also opens up more space for a more traditional linux load too so its not time lost.

LutzTD wrote: I could load regular windows but I think I have to bump up the hard drive. I have a ssd sitting around that was too small for my maiin machines so Im going to see if that can be used in the chassis.

I have run LinuxCNC from a 4GB SSD, but 8GB is more comfortable.