So I've been poking around here for a while looking for information on the Turnmaster pro software for a Microkinetics 1236 lathe, thought I got a really good deal on the lathe and tooling but now think that may not be the case. Not much information on the internet, no youtube videos or anything for reference. Anyone have one of these and if so what did you do with it?
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[Newbie] 1236 CNC Lathe
- Thread starter Daligas
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- Jan 2, 2019
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Hi and welcome to the forum.
I can't help you with the Turnmaster software but there's a few folks on here that have converted older machines with new controllers and/or software. Check out @JimDawson he's one of the moderators here and has helped lots of folks.
My project will be using a Mesa Electronics controller with LinuxCNC but there's lots of great options out there if you can't get the original stuff working.
Cheers,
John
I can't help you with the Turnmaster software but there's a few folks on here that have converted older machines with new controllers and/or software. Check out @JimDawson he's one of the moderators here and has helped lots of folks.
My project will be using a Mesa Electronics controller with LinuxCNC but there's lots of great options out there if you can't get the original stuff working.
Cheers,
John
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2014
- Messages
- 11,176
Looks like you can get the Turnmaster Pro software here https://www.microkinetics.com/index.php?page=tmpfw/tmpfw. If you have their controller, it should just run on your machine.
I have never heard of them before, but it seems that the company is still in business. The lathe looks about the same as a Jet GH, good machines.
I have never heard of them before, but it seems that the company is still in business. The lathe looks about the same as a Jet GH, good machines.
Thanks for the responses, it is actually a newer machine and hasn't had any of the paint rubbed off yet. It is a complete setup with a DriveRack controller, I paid for the owner transfer fee and got the software at a discount so it is up and running but I'm really struggling with the software. Transferring ownership and buying the software came with unlimited email tech support but I get a lot of "its in the manual" type responses,. Usually I can go to youtube and find just about anything but that is not the case with this software. I really appreciate the feedback.
Other than what I have been doing with this lathe I have no cnc experience, I have a small manual knee milling machine that I use frequently but no manual lathe experience. I've done a lot of 2D autocad and getting pretty good with 3D autocad thanks largely to youtube but no CAM experience.
So in this software I'll make a drawing or profile convert it to gcode but when I run it in graphic mode it just follows the contour and does not make multiple cuts or passes? Another issue is that the machine or I never know where the tool ends up meaning I cannot ever get it to go back to the work zero. I followed the manual and setup the limit switches, faced off some aluminum round stock then took a small cut measured and divided in half and recorded for the work zero, then touched off all the tools and subtracted the values for the tool offsets, but I have to do this every time because I can't figure out how to get it to go back to the work zero for the next part. I know that I have to be missing something obvious.
attached is a .pdf of the manual. Thx
So in this software I'll make a drawing or profile convert it to gcode but when I run it in graphic mode it just follows the contour and does not make multiple cuts or passes? Another issue is that the machine or I never know where the tool ends up meaning I cannot ever get it to go back to the work zero. I followed the manual and setup the limit switches, faced off some aluminum round stock then took a small cut measured and divided in half and recorded for the work zero, then touched off all the tools and subtracted the values for the tool offsets, but I have to do this every time because I can't figure out how to get it to go back to the work zero for the next part. I know that I have to be missing something obvious.
attached is a .pdf of the manual. Thx
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Up until about 18 months ago I had no CNC lathe experience either so like you I had a pretty steep learning curve. But I had a few years CNC mill experience and about 50 years of general machining experience so I at least kinda knew what to expect from the machine and how to get there. I'll try to get you started.
So one thing I learned early on was to set the X zero for all of the tools to the spindle center line, that way it's the same for every part. Z zero can be set to the chuck face or maybe to the chuck jaw face. Then work in the +X and +Z quadrant. Material stick out from the jaws is always in the + direction for Z axis, as is the stock diameter (radius) + in the X axis. So rather than subtracting values for the tool offsets, you would be adding the values.
A brief read through of the manual indicates to me that it is really geared to manual code generation, but it looks like the Wizard functions allow multiple step downs. But it appears to be rather clunky. The good news is that they have a post processor for Fusion 360 https://www.microkinetics.com/index.php?page=post_processors
I would recommend starting here https://academy.titansofcnc.com/ This is a free online course that will take you from zero to making parts in a couple of days. You can also download Fusion 360 from their Resources tab, it's still free to hobbyists. This is what I did and it really helped. I still have problems drawing in Fusion 360, so many times what I do is make my drawing in 2D AutoCad then import the dwg or dxf file into Fusion 360, create the solid model from that, then do the CAM work in Fusion 360. You can pretty much make Fusion 360 do anything you want as far as tool paths go.
I'll spend a little more time with the manual to see if I can get a better understanding of your system.
I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction. I'm retired and pretty much around all the time when you have questions.
So one thing I learned early on was to set the X zero for all of the tools to the spindle center line, that way it's the same for every part. Z zero can be set to the chuck face or maybe to the chuck jaw face. Then work in the +X and +Z quadrant. Material stick out from the jaws is always in the + direction for Z axis, as is the stock diameter (radius) + in the X axis. So rather than subtracting values for the tool offsets, you would be adding the values.
A brief read through of the manual indicates to me that it is really geared to manual code generation, but it looks like the Wizard functions allow multiple step downs. But it appears to be rather clunky. The good news is that they have a post processor for Fusion 360 https://www.microkinetics.com/index.php?page=post_processors
I would recommend starting here https://academy.titansofcnc.com/ This is a free online course that will take you from zero to making parts in a couple of days. You can also download Fusion 360 from their Resources tab, it's still free to hobbyists. This is what I did and it really helped. I still have problems drawing in Fusion 360, so many times what I do is make my drawing in 2D AutoCad then import the dwg or dxf file into Fusion 360, create the solid model from that, then do the CAM work in Fusion 360. You can pretty much make Fusion 360 do anything you want as far as tool paths go.
I'll spend a little more time with the manual to see if I can get a better understanding of your system.
I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction. I'm retired and pretty much around all the time when you have questions.
Thanks Jim, I was really looking for a manual lathe to get my feet wet with when I found this one and for what I paid I just couldn't pass it up, at the same time I picked up a good deal on one of their four axis CNC Express XL milling machines too but it needs a little work, when they were putting it into the shipping crate they laid it on its back and must have dropped it a bit so the vfd got crushed and the x axis bottomed out so I think it may have broken the mount or ball screw, but that is a project for another day. Thx again.
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That Express XL is a nice looking little machine. I don't think it could have hurt the ball screw, most likely the mount broke. I really like the double nut ball screws, zero backlash is always an advantage. 