# Atlas CNC'd



## wjstape (Sep 2, 2011)

My Atlas that has been CNC'd. WJS[attachimg=1][attachimg=2][attachimg=3][attachimg=4][attachimg=5][attachimg=6]


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## 4R8 (Sep 3, 2011)

have more details on this? did you do it yourself? issues in doing so?
What's driving it? Mach 3? stepper torque, power?


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## wjstape (Sep 3, 2011)

Yes I built it myself. Uses Mach 3 with a smooth stepper so that I can use the tablet computer you see on the right hand side of the lathe, The electronics are housed in the PC case under the lathe. Contained in the case is a Varible Frequency Drive to power the 1 HP three phase spindle motor. There is a spindle speed board in the case along with a power supply and of course the motor drivers (Gecko's) along with a breakout board. 

I kept the original sadle but replaced the Atlas crossfeed with a CNC ready Sherline crossfeed. The longitudinal leadscrew is 1/2 -10 acme treaded rod using two back-to-back anti-backlash nuts and driven by a 475 inoz stepper.

Let me know if you want more detail. WJS


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## 4R8 (Sep 4, 2011)

Thanks for the info. How do you find the smoothstepper? Had any issues with it?

A very tidy conversion i must say. It's harder to keep them looking so tidy on the smaller machines. (not speaking through experience, just what I've witnessed)


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## wjstape (Sep 4, 2011)

Thanks for kind words. As I mentioned before the smoothstepper allowed me to use a Fujitsu Tablet computer as the host for Mach. Works great. I did have a noise problem initially but with a little bit more work on my grounding scheme the noise problem when away. 

I'm in the middle of CNCing a 10" Logan lathe and I'll use a smoothstepper on that setup as wll. WJS


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## brucer (Sep 4, 2011)

how well does it cut steel? also can you use it manually?


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## wjstape (Sep 4, 2011)

Remember when you CNC a lathe like an Atlas you don't change it's fundamental characteristics. a 6-18 Atlas is a small and relatively light weight machine. But yes it can cut steel very effectively. Below you will see a picture of an adapter I made to allow me to use my Atlas 4 jaw chuck on the 4th axis of my Tag CNC mill. The adapter is made from steel and the large thread is 1" 8tpi. Even with a 29.5 degree approach the last several cuts took a lot of ass - I had to use the back gears but if I were cutting it manually I still would have had to use the back gears.

[attachimg=1]

I use the lathe in three modes: Fully automatic, using Mach's conversational wizards, and manually. In order to run it manually I use a device called a ShuttleXpress WJS 

http://retail.contourdesign.com/?/products/22


[attachimg=2]


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## brucer (Sep 5, 2011)

nice job for sure... you just made me add another project to the list, its now behind building a cnc plasma... i cant believe more havent done this

 i was thinking more in the line of like a prototrak lathe where you can actually run it cnc or in jog with the controls, or control it completely manually with the hand wheels.

what kind of depth of cut can you take in cold rolled steel?

 is there a reason you didnt use the factory lead screw?


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## wjstape (Sep 5, 2011)

Hi. On a 6' Atlas I wouldn't take more than .010". On a CNC lathe you don't really care how many cuts you take because you fire it up and walk away, it does all the work.   

The trick with a conversion like this is to get as close to zero backlash as you can. In a CNC machine backlash will kill you.  As far as I know there are no anti-backlash nuts avaiable for the factory leadscrew so you have to make a new leadscrew with a thread that has anti-backlash nuts available. This setup has less than .001" backlash in both the x and z axis. WJS


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## brucer (Sep 5, 2011)

wjstape link=topic=3354.msg24506#msg24506 date=1315250294 said:
			
		

> Hi. On a 6' Atlas I wouldn't take more than .010". On a CNC lathe you don't really care how many cuts you take because you fire it up and walk away, it does all the work.
> 
> The trick with a conversion like this is to get as close to zero backlash as you can. In a CNC machine backlash will kill you. As far as I know there are no anti-backlash nuts avaiable for the factory leadscrew so you have to make a new leadscrew with a thread that has anti-backlash nuts available. This setup has less than .001" backlash in both the x and z axis. WJS



I guess that mori-seiki tl-5 i ran back in 1987 spoiled me  time is money..


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## Tony Wells (Sep 5, 2011)

Well, that TL-5 weighs about 14,000 lbs and has a 25 hp (IIRC) motor, so that's not a fair comparison. I've run a couple if them, not bad machines. I bet those I ran are worn slap out now, if they aren't junked out. It was late 80's early 90's when I ran them, and they were 78 models I believe. They would peel the iron, but nothing compared to the LL-7 we had in the next building. Seems it had a 50hp.


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## brucer (Sep 6, 2011)

Tony Wells link=topic=3354.msg24578#msg24578 date=1315279341 said:
			
		

> Well, that TL-5 weighs about 14,000 lbs and has a 25 hp (IIRC) motor, so that's not a fair comparison. I've run a couple if them, not bad machines. I bet those I ran are worn slap out now, if they aren't junked out. It was late 80's early 90's when I ran them, and they were 78 models I believe. They would peel the iron, but nothing compared to the LL-7 we had in the next building. Seems it had a 50hp.



yea it is an unfair comparison.. i liked running the mori's, good simple heavy duty machines. the tl5's we had were special built for an oil company, they had twice the webbing in the casting, a good low profile heavy machine for sure... the sl-8 we had would take 1/2" depth of cut and could take more but our inserts didnt have enough edge, it would roll chips off d-2 the size of silver dollars and sounded like rocks hitting the doors.. wish i had all the metal i turned off in those machines..

i would probably have a hard time running a lathe like wjstapes because i've always ran cnc machines, it would take me some time to get use to it for sure... i've been thinking about going and looking at an Atlas in the town over, hes asking $500, i'm still up in the air though.... i want to build a cnc plasma/router and that $500 would go a long way in that machine..


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## bloomingtonmike (Nov 24, 2013)

Bumping this up because I want to do this to my 618!!


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