Member postings for Paul White 3

Ian, The reasoning in my having produced the ELS for the EW is the fact that I found the ease of changing between Imperial and metric when threading, and the ease of selecting any particular thread so appealing on my Dalton” fitted with Joe Noci’s designed unit, It just seemed natural to spread the capability to the little EW machine.

Fitting the unit to the EW gave several other advantages - a variable speed feed, the ability to engage and disengage the threading function without having to fit a split Leadscrew nut.

With most of the uses the machine is put to being the production of single items this enhanced capacity has certainly eased the use of the EW and makes the lathe a more enjoyable tool to use.

Joe, that trip to the desert, did you see any Hares running?

Stewart, thanks for your response


Paul.

Stewart, thanks for your post with the u tube vid.

I have tried to copy the drawings but could not

get a clear readable reproduction. Could you please

send me a copy, PDF.

many thanks.

Paul.

Photos showing arrangement of structure in fitting an ELS to the EW lathe.

Leadscrew end turned for connection to stepper bevel by use of a sliding single tooth clutch.

Stepper (nemo 23) assembled to recovered angle grinder casting into which suitable bevel gears have been fitted.

Stepper drive mounted and encoder with toothed belt drive from mandrel.

.

Sliding collar clutch for engagement of leadscrew to stepper drive. This arrangement keeps the carriage drive function as existing before ELS .

Control panel

You mentioned in your posting the figment of an electronic leadscrew to the EW lathe.

I made and fitted an ELS to an old Dalton lathe. The result was all I could have wanted. The design was by Joe Noci , who was helpful in the extreme getting me through a whole, new to me , technology.

I have had the EW some 70 years since new. The cost of gears at the time of purchase was beyond me, lack of screw cutting capability had played on my mind over the years and with the success on the Dalton an ELS seemed the way to go.

I will send some photos.

Paul

Nigel, thanks for your response , the “following the sun” aspect is very interesting.

Again thanks.

Nigel, can you give any more info/comment on your brothers small panel installation.

Thanks.

Duncan & Ndiy,

thank you both for your comments. It is very interesting to me that the points you make

cover my reasons for the drive mods - the std machine when fitted with single phase motor

was loud from the cabinet vibrations and gearbox noise. The separate motor has produced a silent operation.

The mod allows change in available work envelope both back and forth and up and down.

Thank you, to all the respondents to this thread.

The original objective was to identify the poster mentioning

centec head gearing, this has been achieved by Duncan

fessing up.

Ndiy- to answer your question, I fitted a1/2 HP ,3phase 1400 motor,

I don't know the head model no. , a picture of the set up exists in my

album.

I had hoped to read the shaft or motor speed, put that output through a very simple electronic item and feed that tto

the cheap tachometer units we all know. As this

now seems unlikely , a variant on Johns proposal, is the likely outcome.

NDIY, thanks for your response to my post. The heading was incorrect and the question badly phrased.

I will try again- My centec mill has its own vertical head motor, this motor has a VFD . The net of this set

up is that cutter speed has no reference . In a thread recently the poster passed an aside that he had

made a gizmo to read the cutter speed, this I think was set by comparing the cutter speed as read on a

hand held counter then setting the gizmo.

.

.

Previous post should be headed - Centec mill

Hello all,

A arecent thread contained reference to the odd vertical head gearing ratios on these machines, the

poster had produced an electronic gizmo to drive the normal cheap Rev counter.

I have fitted a VFD to the vertical head drive on my Centec and now have great difficulty in estimating cutter speed.

Could the forum member concerned please contact me.

Paul.

I too built Joe's ELS and must agree it is a wonderous beast.

I have also built the, Hobber / divider, to Joe's design, however the problems of accelerating the stepper to sync. with the cutter arbor would only arise if the machining was stopped mid pass, this is an operational technique situation, best avoided.

The matter of, stepper size required, has been stated as relevant to cutter rotational rate, cut back the rpm of the cutter and the stepper size required goes down. When using the ELS I always select a start point ,in the setting procedure, that is pre the actual cutting start , this allows any time needed for speeding up and backlash.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Paul.

Hello all,

Not wishing to be argumentative but- my approach would be to consider the controller as a part of the project.

Other items- stepper, PSU, stepper controller, belts and gears, are by far the greatest part of the project spend thus

the comparative cost of the eelectronics is secondary.

Go for the most complete answer -Joe's all in one solution. I say.

Best wishes,

Paul

Thanks to all respondents , your comments were most helpful .

i had not wished to high jack the thread but

the OP question is pertinent to where I find myself.

Michael Briggs post takes us full circle- does the £50 unit have the set up spec. to allow the

use of small motors.

If Clive ever gets a "manual" I Would be pleased to hear.

Hello all,

can anyone comment on the use of a VFD rated at 1.5 kW on smaller motors, of 1/2 HP RATING.

TIA.

paul.

Bob.

Thanks for your helpful comment, I will try to

get a copy of your article .

John,

Thank You for your helpful input . More to source and read.

Paul

Hello Bob,

Thanks for your prompt response

I have an excellent ELS but it is fitted to a lathe. My hope is to make a small simple as possible item to use on the T&C grinder. As previously mentioned I have tried mechanical systems but the prospect of a variable pitch in the region of 1-2 TPI on up to 3" is still to be found.

was your Arduino program from a library, and was it simple.

thanks

paul

Hi Bob,

I would like to ask how you measure the helix of the cutters for sharpening.

I have tried all manner of devices (mechanical ) but have failed miserably . The area I am trying to address is that of

sharpening the sides of small end mills when the usual mechanical guide does not work.

your use of an electronic solution looks to the answer but the helix variation has me stumped.

thanks

paul