Motors

vimes1984

vimes1984

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Aug 17, 2018
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Hey people,
I'm currently considering upgrading/modding my conquest mini lathe, to a CNC lathe I've found some great free resources:

That give me all the mechanical parts, the piece I'm missing it which motors to use Servo/Stepping / something else.

So My questions are as follows:
1) What motors should I use?
2) What electronic controler should I use?

I'm not against soldering or programming a controller ( I'm a programmer by trade anyway) arduino or Rasberry pi :D

Chris
 
Stepper motors would be fine on a small lathe. Drivers, a breakout board etc are fairly inexpensive and can be found on Amazon and Ebay.
Since you are a programmer, the software shouldn't be too bad, but if you haven't done much cad work, nor used programs such a s Mach or UCCNC, you might want to start on those and get proficient while you are planning/executing your mods. There are a couple of good CNC specific forums like CNC Zone for info on CNC Lathe builds/Mods that may offer some specific insight to your model/make machine. Have fun!
 
@coherent could list out the parts I might need?
for now I have:
Stepper motors ( what type?)
Drivers ( what is this?)
Breakout board ( What is this? )

do I need anything else?
 
You're going to need to fabricate some mounts for the motors obviously and use screws/nuts to drive the movement. The motors connect using couplers to acme screws or ball screws and nuts to actually move each axis. Depending of your lathe and the precision desired you may even be able to use some existing parts. How to mount the motors and/or different screws and ball nuts differ with different machines. There are some kits out there but best to do some research because I'm not familiar with your specific machine. As far as electronics you can buy complete kits like this one:

https://www.automationtechnologiesi...s/2-axis-nema23-cnc-kit-48v10a570oz-inkl6852/

I've used an number of their kits/products with success. They and other places (Ebay etc) sell the lathe screw kits also for at least one Grizzly and other lathe models, but I have no idea regarding yours. Since most of the small mills and lathes are made by the same manufacturer, you may find a kit listed under a similar make/brother model that will work.

Oh and the software of course, like Mach 3 or UCCNC. Best to just do some searching on the forums regarding CNC conversions for lathes and gaining some insight. It's not difficult for the hobbist to do but beyond the scope of trying to explain here. Some dedicated reading will answer most of your questions. Good luck and have fun.
 
Here's another source for steppers/servos/drivers/power supplies: Circuit Specialists. I bought a set of 3 steppers and drivers from them for a future CNC upgrade to my mini mill.

I know of at least one fellow who made mounting blocks with his 3D printer, and claimed they were adequate for his mini mill. I believe he has the designs on thingverse. If nothing else, they could be used to bootstrap you into making "real" mounting blocks.
 
Do you have the specs on the motors you bought?
I was looking at something like this which seemed really affordable, is there anything missing in this kit? Are these powerfull enough?
 
The steppers I got were type 578BYGH405A, NEMA23's with a specified holding torque of 21 kg-cm. Their current price (as of 11/12/18) is a bit more than $27 apiece. The drivers are CW250's, which can subdivide each physical step into 8 micro steps.

My online searching indicated this torque is good for the Z axis. X and Y should not require that much, but for simplicity's sake I just bought 3 of the same size. That was pre-retirement thinking. I might economize a bit more now.

There is no kit here, just individual items. For a complete conversion you're looking at ball screws/nuts, XYZ mounting blocks, limit switches, one or more power supplies, cabling, interface hardware, computer/monitor, CAD S/W and possibly a fairly steep learning curve (unless you're already familiar with CNC and G code). G code reminds me of the old-style assembly language programming I did way back when, but even less sophisticated. If you've done assembly language programming you may have a bit of a leg up when it comes to G code.
 
You can download Mach 3 right now free and check it out. machsupport.com

Here is a Youtube of someone using it. Mach 3/4 is well supported online and is not expensive.

 
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