• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.

Tsugami nm3 ( micro 5 ) CNC lathe C$800 - Chilliwack BC

Just messaged him and heard back that it doesn't come with any tooling or phase converter. it is a 3 phase machine.
 
Perfect size for home shop. But I feel original owner knew a bit about things and this is not a simple fix.

Maybe a candidate for total rebuild and conversion to say Linux CNC? I mean this should be easier to work on the non CNC lathe conversion?
 
Degen said:
Go with Acorn CNC
Click to expand...
Can you post a screen show on how you would set up to do surfacing like this? Use the dimensions and parameters from the MACH3 screen.
I'm curious if Acorn can even do this with a graphical display or is hand coded G-Code needed?
I've included the generated G-Code which would normally be a .tap extension.

MachSurfacing.jpg
 

Attachments

To be fair here we were talking about a lathe so how does Acorn set up turning a sphere at the end of a shaft? Is it this easy?
TurningSphere-Setup.webp


TurningSphere.webp
 
jcdammeyer said:
Can you post a screen show on how you would set up to do surfacing like this? Use the dimensions and parameters from the MACH3 screen.
I'm curious if Acorn can even do this with a graphical display or is hand coded G-Code needed?
I've included the generated G-Code which would normally be a .tap extension.

View attachment 26283
Click to expand...
You have several different options with Acorn. Lets list them.

Fusion, drawing to code.
Mastercam.
Solidworks to code.
Or Centriods (Acorn) Intercom software included with Acorn.

The last is what I use currently. Nice thing for you simple application about 6 to 10 lines of entry, press post and it generates the g-code.

As an example I did a part that had about 13 lines entry and it generated about 1500 lines of code.

Now is the g-code most optimized, no, its conservative and functional. I also use a softeare package call GWizardE (there are free online versions that do the same) lets me see what each line does and tweak accordingly, generally I can shorten my run time 10-15%.

BTW you can download the demo version from Centroid (Acorn Parent), and Intercon is included. You could write it yourself.
 
Degen said:
BTW you can download the demo version from Centroid (Acorn Parent), and Intercon is included. You could write it yourself.
Click to expand...
I've also been told that I can run the Tormach Simulator or for $25 order the USB stick that installs Tormach Path Pilot on the hard drive. You do need the correct MESA board but a long time CNC guy in Australia installed Path Pilot with the same 7i92H I have as an option to have LinuxCNC with the features of the MACH wizards.

I started a thread on the LinuxCNC group on the Acorn to get some input as to why Acorn instead of LinuxCNC. Turns out Linux CNC is cheaper than doing an Acorn installation. The 7i96S has pretty well the same I/O as the Acorn but costs less.

7I96S picture

store.mesanet.com store.mesanet.com
And way more extensible.

But standard LinuxCNC doesn't have the easy wizard type method of setting things up so hand coded G-Code or CAD/CAM software of some sort.

I'm not trying to sway anyone in any direction. A friend is happy with MACH3 on WIN-XP. I use MACH3 on my CNC router but I really like LinuxCNC on my mill mostly because of the extensibility. But if someone were to ask me what sort of CNC system should I install on my mill I'd like to be able to advise him based on the proper overview.

John
 
I struggled mightily with LCNC on my router. Coupled with zero availability of the Mesa boards at the time had me looking hard at alternatives. Acorn and Mach 4 were alternatives but I settled on UCCNC with their AXBB-E board. The software has some quirks but once wired I had my machine moving in an afternoon.
Edit: @jcdammeyer what UCCNC really needs is a well written manual. After I got my machine up and running I seriously considered re-writing the documentation.
 
Last edited:
I have a USB SmoothStepper on my CNC router.
I started with dual boot PC with WIN-XP and LinuxCNC for the mill. Parallel port to start with. (Actually a beaglebone black with xylotex cape first)..

Once I realized that I needed the faster step rates for the DC servos I tested the USB smooth-stepper on the mill without any real issues. But then it came down to price. The MESA 7i92H could do two parallel port simulations and I could customize the FPGA since the source code is provided and it was cheaper than the Ethernet smooth-stepper and MACH4.

Eventually I stopped running the systems in parallel and the LinuxCNC system and associated hardware moved to the point where now it won't work with MACH3 anymore.

But, contrary to what the Linux fans will tell you, IMHO, the learning curve is really steep. Once I made it over the hump, partly because of a very supportive user group, it has become easier. I've even had LinuxCNC running on a Pi4 on my benchtop and do testing there running motors and looking at switches. Having a second MESA 7i92H means I can play.

But as already discussed, it's not a simple plug and play. It's not got the wizards that are available in MACH. (Although I'm working on that). But then programs like G-Wizard only run on Windows or Macs and cost lots. The Acorn is more expensive and limited without even more money.

And seriously. I am not a Linux fan but lately I like Windows less.
 
Oh and one other thing and it colours my opinions of course. My career was hardware and software design. So the next step for LinuxCNC adding modules on CAN bus was fun. Based on the date in the file I was working on this a year ago before I started on the power draw bar. And since I have the memory of a grape I try to document what I do. Here's a bit from a python program called serial-relays.
import hal import time, serial # *** Issue this command from the terminal #sudo apt-get install python-serial # The serial-relays.py needs to be in the config directory for your mill. # For example: '/home/jerrybaca/emc2/configs/harborfrieghtmill' # Don't forget to sudo chmod +x serial-relays.py # *** Next Place the following lines into one of the Post HAL files. # custom.hal is probably a good enough place. #loadusr -Wn serial-relays ./serial-relays.py #net coolant-mist <= iocontrol.0.coolant-mist #net coolant-flood <= iocontrol.0.coolant-flood #net coolant-mist => serial-relays.relay1C #net coolant-flood => serial-relays.relay1D # *** End of HAL file instructions.

Now when I click on the screen button to switch on coolant a CAN message is sent out and the little module like the one that runs my draw bar handles the relay on/off.

But to get to the point of writing HAL code or Python code to do custom things for your system can be difficult.
John
 
I went with Acorn for the simple reason didn't want to learn Linux. The second is the CNC software run on the computer is the same as that of their dedicated machines.


www.cnc4pc.com

Acorn CNC Control Kit

Centroid Acorn CNC controller kit
www.cnc4pc.com www.cnc4pc.com

Acorn is limited to 4 axis, Centriods high end board goes all the way up to 8 axis.

I'm using a Dell 2in1 purchased as a dedicated machine.

I would say total all in cost was about $5,000.00 (of which the laptop was about $1,000.00) and the cost has already been paid for by the machine itself in products run. 130 pcs of one product all done done by cnc, netted about $1300 savings and greatly freed up my time, not to mention increased tool life and better finish with faster run times.
 
Last edited:
PathPilot removes the need to know/learn about Linux. Unless you want to add OneDrive support instead of DropBox. Outside that I modfied 4 lines in one config file to get my shop made gantry router/mill running. It is updated multiple times per year, sometimes new features, sometimes bug fixes. Excellent manual. Great postprocess support in Fusion360 and an online simulator to test out your gcode. I added 3 knobs for Feed/Spindle and Velocity overrides (cloned Tormach's console interface). For US28.95 + 7i92 it is a bargain :-)

I want to add lathe to mine since I have steppers on X and Z for the ELS but will have to wait for the 7i92T to come out (the original IC is nla hence everything is out of stock at present)
 
Degen said:
I went with Acorn for the simple reason didn't want to learn Linux. The second is the CNC software run on the computer is the same as that of their dedicated machines.

Acorn is limited to 4 axis, Centriods high end board goes all the way up to 8 axis.

I'm using a Dell 2in1 purchased as a dedicated machine.

I would say total all in cost was about $5,000.00 (of which the laptop was about $1,000.00) and the cost has already been paid for by the machine itself in products run. 130 pcs of one product all done done by cnc, netted about $1300 savings and greatly freed up my time, not to mention increased tool life and better finish with faster run times.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. That is exactly what I said on the LinuxCNC group. The biggest impediment to LinuxCNC is Linux. For some reason the Linux fans think there's nothing wrong with using 1970's approach to working with their systems.

Under the covers the Apple Mac's run Unix. Microsoft is headed in that direction with Windows. But you never see that unless there is something seriously wrong.

I started with punch cards. Then specialized terminals running APL. Finally video terminals. By then PC's had moved way past mainframes with Wordmaster and Wordstar using the basics of screen positioning and what we have now for editing. After that Borland came out with Turbo Pascal while Microsoft was still using command line programs and Microsoft Basic. Boring.
 
gerritv said:
PathPilot removes the need to know/learn about Linux. Unless you want to add OneDrive support instead of DropBox. Outside that I modified 4 lines in one config file to get my shop made gantry router/mill running. It is updated multiple times per year, sometimes new features, sometimes bug fixes. Excellent manual. Great postprocess support in Fusion360 and an online simulator to test out your gcode. I added 3 knobs for Feed/Spindle and Velocity overrides (cloned Tormach's console interface). For US28.95 + 7i92 it is a bargain :)

I want to add lathe to mine since I have steppers on X and Z for the ELS but will have to wait for the 7i92T to come out (the original IC is nla hence everything is out of stock at present)
Click to expand...
Did you use the 7i92 for the Gantry/Mill? I thought that the PathPilot USB stick didn't support that card.
 
jcdammeyer said:
Thanks for the info. That is exactly what I said on the LinuxCNC group. The biggest impediment to LinuxCNC is Linux. For some reason the Linux fans think there's nothing wrong with using 1970's approach to working with their systems.

Under the covers the Apple Mac's run Unix. Microsoft is headed in that direction with Windows. But you never see that unless there is something seriously wrong.

I started with punch cards. Then specialized terminals running APL. Finally video terminals. By then PC's had moved way past mainframes with Wordmaster and Wordstar using the basics of screen positioning and what we have now for editing. After that Borland came out with Turbo Pascal while Microsoft was still using command line programs and Microsoft Basic. Boring.
Click to expand...
I started with Hexcode, Wang Basic (GIO coding), HP basic, RPN (programming HP calculators), Fortran, UCSD Pascal and a couple of others.....At the stage now, want and need it to work now, enough learning something new aside from the tool to get it to work, got enough other stuff on the plate.
 
David_R8 said:
That was/is exactly my thought.
Click to expand...
Given that rather annoying feature, I must admit, now that I'm into it, I'm glad I went that route. But I was also a bit off the wall with home made Servo Drives and a PMD-126.
https://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-126.
This BoB was really more meant for MACH3 than Linux and I'd expected to go with a VFD and 0-10V spindle speed control. I did have to make up a small interface board with a PIC processor to deal with slow rising power supply issues.
Now I have AC servos with commercial drives, except for the STMBL controlled 4th axis. Even the spindle is step/dir controlled. So that's 5 step/dir already and wouldn't have been possible with some of the smaller prefab CNC kits. I still intend to add a 5th axis at some point along with tool changer.
We won't talk about my power draw bar problems at the moment...

I'm going to move some questions about CNC etc. onto the CNC subject. I think we've drifted far enough from this one.
 
jcdammeyer said:
Did you use the 7i92 for the Gantry/Mill? I thought that the PathPilot USB stick didn't support that card.
Click to expand...
The usb stick supports all of Tormach's products, lathe, router, plasma, mills and robot. All interface types. I'm running it on a HP SFF, with a WiFi dongle for wifi (Linux can't be made to assign a specific eth # to a specific board :-( so you can't be sure which card is going to your 7i9x)
 
I started with paper tape on NCR315 in 1965, moved up to punch cards and metal tape on the Univac II at Ont Hydro. From there, onward until in 1982 I shifted from fixing mainframes to designing boards for BMC IF800's for amongst other Dominion Stores. For that we also used Digital Research PL/I as it was much better than MS Cobol. Spent a horrible 6 or 8 years with Unix at 2 different companies (Sun/SGI/HPUX), only to find in later life that Linux is an even biggier dumpster fire. Too many flavours and opinions, resulting in no desktop penetration.
As an example, Tormach has about 2k lines of python to get WiFi configured on Mint, because Mint couldn't do it predictably at the time.

the funniest/saddest threads on the LinuxCNC forum are ones labeled like quick and easy, which then run into 100+ posts with exceptions, hints and kludges. There are some heroic individuals who try to help, which makes a difference for many. Sadly it takes away from LinuxCNC, which by itself is good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top