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Machine I hate my change gears!

Machine

Darren

Ultra Member
Premium Member
@jcdammeyer , do you offer a complete kit ? I'd love to put an ELS on my emco v13. It has a clutch on the leadscrew that can be left disengaged, so the other feeds via the feedshaft would remain factory.
 

PaulL

Technologist at Large
Premium Member
Don't they just slip on after the bolt is tight?
No, unseen in that drawing is a small hub on the back that registers with the center of the bushing which keeps it from going on after tightening. Gah.
 

jcdammeyer

John
Premium Member
@jcdammeyer , do you offer a complete kit ? I'd love to put an ELS on my emco v13. It has a clutch on the leadscrew that can be left disengaged, so the other feeds via the feedshaft would remain factory.
Since this isn't meant to be a commercial group, nor am I on it to serve as a sales pitch, contact me off list for more information.

I just think in this day and age an ELS just makes using a lathe so much easier. And I don't care which way someone goes. For example a good friend of mine was going to buy an ELS from me. He installed the motors and drivers and 1 PPR spindle sensor. Then thought, "Hmmm. I have MACH3 on the mill. Why don't I try it on the lathe.". He's never looked back.

In fact, after TIG welding the bottom onto my pipe crucible he thought he'd just smooth it out on the lathe. Look how smooth the bottom is. And he's in his 70's. He's done some pretty nice stuff with MACH3.

My ELS on the Gingery can't do that but CNC can. All I have to do on the Gingery is move the parallel port cable from the back of the ELS onto the back of the WIN-XP system running MACH3 for my CNC router and run the Lathe version. You can't do that easily with the Arduino based Electronic Gearing.
PipeCrucible.jpg
 
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Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
No, unseen in that drawing is a small hub on the back that registers with the center of the bushing which keeps it from going on after tightening. Gah.

I see. That seems just weird.

Also quite intriguing. You have my curiosity at full on.

Why does it need gravity to keep it on if there is already a sleeve hub to keep it on?

Not that I don't like the hub. It actually sounds like a good idea. But at that point, I guess I'm lost on the need for a keyed washer or even a square drive system to keep the washer from turning. In fact, if there is a hub in there, then how does the washer fall off at all?
 
Paul, I can't comment too much on the newer lathe setups even though I have one now as I have not yet changed the gears to achieve a certain ratio beyond the adjustment available on the given the current set installed.

On the Logan I had to change gears to change feed rates.

All I can say it is a matter of getting used to the quirks of your own machine.
 

Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
I suspect the hub is too short. The two I have are inconsistent, so I expect it's poor manufacturing.

That would make perfect sense and might explain everything.

You have a mill and a lathe. Can you make a new one?
 

PaulL

Technologist at Large
Premium Member
That would make perfect sense and might explain everything.

You have a mill and a lathe. Can you make a new one?
Yes, I figure I can turn the basic shape and hub, mill the slots into the face, then remount in the lathe and part off. Likely do that the next time I'm at the machines now that it's thought through.
 
Aren't they all like that? On my QCGB Utilathe I have to change the GB selection to change the feed rate.
On my CX707 I have a selection of feeds for threading and a selection for cutting before I manually have to swap a gear to get me into a different range.
 

PaulL

Technologist at Large
Premium Member
On my CX707 I have a selection of feeds for threading and a selection for cutting before I manually have to swap a gear to get me into a different range.
Buying again with what I know now I'd get something similar.
 

mickeyf

Well-Known Member
Oops. I spoke hastily, without Zooming in on the diagram to see what was really going on. 3 locks only gears 5 & 6 together, and 3 should rotate freely on 1. I was thinking that that shaft was the original driving gear (which is not shown) rather than an intermediate gear. Sorry if I added to the confusion.
 

VicHobbyGuy

Ultra Member
You just need a demo which I can do here in Victoria, to see that a single axis ELS is pretty well just like a manual gears
Thanks, John.

I've looked around on the internet and there don't seem to be any "off the shelf" "plug and play" ELS setups for sale.
If I could buy something like Jon Bryan's "Atomic" ELS 'off the shelf' I'd probably do it.
I'm not interested in writing and debugging code, etching PCBs, or messing with SMD components. Even Linux gives me indigestion in a big way.
That said, it would be nice to have slower feeds for turning on my Logan 210. Having easy thread cutting would be a nice extra. :)
 

Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
That said, it would be nice to have slower feeds for turning on my Logan 210. Having easy thread cutting would be a nice extra.

I'm not taking anything away from ELS or any other method out there. But I echo your desire for slower feeds and speeds especially for threading. The older and slower I get, the more I need a slower machine to dance with. That's the MAIN REASON I want a VFD on my lathe. In fact, I want that EVEN MORE than I want a DRO. Both are in the capital plan. I just need to sleep with the CFO a few more times and I'm pretty sure it will get approved.....
 
I'm not taking anything away from ELS or any other method out there. But I echo your desire for slower feeds and speeds especially for threading. The older and slower I get, the more I need a slower machine to dance with. That's the MAIN REASON I want a VFD on my lathe. In fact, I want that EVEN MORE than I want a DRO. Both are in the capital plan. I just need to sleep with the CFO a few more times and I'm pretty sure it will get approved.....
..... sounds like we need to pitch in and get the big guy some little blue pills to make his machining dreams come true.....:rolleyes:;)

Possibly my cue to duck for cover for a while...:p
 

VicHobbyGuy

Ultra Member
But I echo your desire for slower feeds and speeds especially for threading.
The Logan has back gears so the low speeds (with power) are a big improvement over the 7x lathe. It's the longitudinal feed rate for turning- .0046"/rev is the slowest- that I don't like, for now. The 7x with aftermarket gears gets the feed rate down to .0026"/rev which is almost, but not quite, enough for decent surface finish. I haven't changed gears much on the Logan- just set it up for turning (not threading) after I got it- but changing gears on the 7x is definitely a lot quicker.
 

Susquatch

Ultra Member
Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
The Logan has back gears so the low speeds (with power) are a big improvement over the 7x lathe. It's the longitudinal feed rate for turning- .0046"/rev is the slowest- that I don't like, for now. The 7x with aftermarket gears gets the feed rate down to .0026"/rev which is almost, but not quite, enough for decent surface finish. I haven't changed gears much on the Logan- just set it up for turning (not threading) after I got it- but changing gears on the 7x is definitely a lot quicker.

We have opposite problems. My minimum feed rate is a half thou/rev, but my minimum speed is only 70rpm. I'd like to get the speed down to 45 or so. I don't even need a VFD rated motor to get there but I like the smoothness they provide so that's my plan.
 

jcdammeyer

John
Premium Member
Thanks, John.

I've looked around on the internet and there don't seem to be any "off the shelf" "plug and play" ELS setups for sale.
If I could buy something like Jon Bryan's "Atomic" ELS 'off the shelf' I'd probably do it.
I'm not interested in writing and debugging code, etching PCBs, or messing with SMD components. Even Linux gives me indigestion in a big way.
That said, it would be nice to have slower feeds for turning on my Logan 210. Having easy thread cutting would be a nice extra. :)
Actually other than creating a keypad template and boxing it up (there are 3D prints for that now too) there is no soldering required on my ELS kit anymore. But you do have to box it yourself. And you have to add a 1 PPR pulse generator to the spindle. Plus power supply etc. P4190011.JPG
And of course couple something to the lead screw.
Z-AxisMotorMount.jpg
Those are the basics for any controller based system. You can get fancier but it's not needed. And then you can cut 21 TPI threads; if you wanted something that oddball. The male threads look a bit chewed up on this example because I dropped it onto the concrete floor. By dragging by hand the carbide threading tool through and a bit of file work it threading back into the aluminum pretty easily.

Thread21TPI.jpg
 
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