Has anyone installed Clough42's electronic leadscrew on a PM machine?

[Pcmaker]

I have a PM1127 lathe and I HATE changing gears. I don't want to pay 7k for a lathe just to have access to a quick change gear box either.

I was thinking of buying one of Clough42's ELS kits from eBay. How hard are they to install? Does the kit have everything I'll need? Has anyone here installed the kit on a PM machine?

 

[jeffkash]

I have a PM1127 lathe and I HATE changing gears. I don't want to pay 7k for a lathe just to have access to a quick change gear box either.

I was thinking of buying one of Clough42's ELS kits from eBay. How hard are they to install? Does the kit have everything I'll need? Has anyone here installed the kit on a PM machine?

The Clough42 kit is just the display and interface board. You need a LAUNCHXL-280049C from TI as the brains. Next you need an Encoder to get the spindle RPM. Then you need a Stepper motor or Servo motor to drive the leadscrew instead of the gears. You need pulleys and a belt between the motor and leadscrew and all of the various bits to mount the encoder and stepper.

I have it all working on a LMS 8.5x20 lathe but it should be similar on the PM1127.

 

[ttabbal]

Electronic Lead Screw

I'm going to attempt to adapt clough42's ELS to my PM1127. I figure I might as well do it publicly in case it ends up being useful for someone else. I have most of the parts now, and have the electronics and servo running on the bench. The first thing I decided to mess with is the rotary...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[RJSakowski]

Add to the list a power supply for the stepper motor, a 12 volt supply, and a 5 volt supply. Also some sort of enclosure for the electronics. I installed my ELS on the same lathe that Clough42 has but did things a bit different than he did. I used a NEMA 27 hybrid stepper which fit between the ways under the headstock. It is connected to the lead screw gear box via 1:1 gearbelt pulleys, My encoder runs off a secondary gear running at 1.5x spindle speed. via a gear belt.

My electronics is housed in a repurposed breaker box mounted to the back side of my backsplash and my display is mounted above that. One good thing that I did was to put separate power switches for the electronics and the stepper driver. This allows me to use the display for lathe rpm while not running the lead screw.

 

[jeffkash]

Add to the list a power supply for the stepper motor, a 12 volt supply, and a 5 volt supply. Also some sort of enclosure for the electronics. I installed my ELS on the same lathe that Clough42 has but did things a bit different than he did. I used a NEMA 27 hybrid stepper which fit between the ways under the headstock. It is connected to the lead screw gear box via 1:1 gearbelt pulleys, My encoder runs off a secondary gear running at 1.5x spindle speed. via a gear belt.

My electronics is housed in a repurposed breaker box mounted to the back side of my backsplash and my display is mounted above that. One good thing that I did was to put separate power switches for the electronics and the stepper driver. This allows me to use the display for lathe rpm while not running the lead screw.

Yes, I forgot the power supplies!
What is the 12 volt supply for? I'm only using 2 (5 volt and 24 volts for stepper)

 

[xr650rRider]

I've done my PM-1340GT, used a Nema 24 servo that's good for 3000 RPM. Leave gearbox in D-6 which allows a 6:1 reduction. Can change back to stock in 10 minutes if need be. Works well, maybe $500 and able to do any thread, metric or imperial. Change feed rate on the fly. I used a 48 volt power supply for servo. 5 volt for Clough42 boards that mount on TI board and 12 volt for a case fan. Version 1.4 Clough42 and you can use the power button to disable the servo/stepper (if it has an enable line), so that it only displays RPM.

 

[davidpbest]

I've done my PM-1340GT, used a Nema 24 servo that's good for 3000 RPM. Leave gearbox in D-6 which allows a 6:1 reduction. Can change back to stock in 10 minutes if need be. Works well, maybe $500 and able to do any thread, metric or imperial. Change feed rate on the fly. I used a 48 volt power supply for servo. 5 volt for Clough42 boards that mount on TI board and 12 volt for a case fan. Version 1.4 Clough42 and you can use the power button to disable the servo/stepper (if it has an enable line), so that it only displays RPM.

Can you post photos or more details on mounting conditions please?

 

[paradox_pete]

I recently finished installing one on my PM1030v. I used the integrated servo James did a review on a couple of months ago, primarily because it eliminated the need for a separate stepper driver. Because the PM has a separate feed drive from the leadscrew I'm using a slightly different approach to the gear reduction between the servo and the leadscrew. Like James I'm using a 3:1 gear reduction belt drive from the servo to the gearbox on the lathe. When threading I use the 2:1 position on the lathe gearbox (same as James) for an overall reduction of 6:1. However the power feed in the PM1030 effectively provides an additional 10:3 gear reduction in the saddle, which I felt was too much gear reduction, so I have mine programmed to be used with the gearbox in the 1:2 position providing an overall gear reduction of 5:1 in feed mode. I integrated everything except the servo power supply in the lathe itself. The servo is mounted inside the lathe bed casting (this was a tight fit), and the electronics are mounted in the electric enclosure on the back of the lathe. The encoder and servo mounts are 3d printed parts. The power supply is mounted to the bottom of the bench top the lathe sits on.

-Pete

A couple of pictures....

 

[RJSakowski]

Yes, I forgot the power supplies!
What is the 12 volt supply for? I'm only using 2 (5 volt and 24 volts for stepper)

My mistake on the 12 volt. I was going from memory and the box I was thinking of is actually the driver for the stepper. Old age and a few beers will do that.

 

[kb58]

Quite a few have built one for various lathes. Try searching here for "ELS" (though three-letter searches may be blocked). What lathe it's added to is only a small part of the puzzle. I added it to my Takisawa TSL-300 because it didn't come with the change gear set, and I wanted to get familiar with stepper motors, which later led to building a 3D printer, but I digress.