Anyone assembling the Clough42 Electronic Leadscrew system? I have questions...

[RJSakowski]

One point that I didn't make considering the force available to the carriage is that I can easily stop the stepper driven lead screw from rotating using the carriage crank, which is difficult to do when driving the the lead screw with the gear train. Assuming all of my 1 hp motor was available to the lead screw, at 890 rpm calculated above, there would be 1130 oz-in of torque or roughly four times what my stepper can put out at that speed. Now not all of the motor power would be used for that purpose and in real life the lathe motor would just stall so a better choice for me would have been something like a 1,000 oz-in. motor. But as I stated in the other thread, it is highly unlikely that I would ever want to drive the lathe that hard.

 

[luxige]

I finished mine about 6 months ago. Yeah the required torque is nearly impossible to calculate due to all the variables. Just guess, really. Pick one maybe twice as strong as what he chose, and you can further increase torque with the gear ratios. As far as where to buy the belts and gears from, I used the place he recommended, which as I recall was on Long Island, NY, can't remember the name though, sorry.

I just quickly checked out your build thread, looks cool!
Has the 440 in-oz of torque worked out okay in practice? (I had been thinking of going pretty big with something like 1200 in-oz, based on a package from Rocketronics).

 

[luxige]

One point that I didn't make considering the force available to the carriage is that I can easily stop the stepper driven lead screw from rotating using the carriage crank, which is difficult to do when driving the the lead screw with the gear train. Assuming all of my 1 hp motor was available to the lead screw, at 890 rpm calculated above, there would be 1130 oz-in of torque or roughly four times what my stepper can put out at that speed. Now not all of the motor power would be used for that purpose and in real life the lathe motor would just stall so a better choice for me would have been something like a 1,000 oz-in. motor. But as I stated in the other thread, it is highly unlikely that I would ever want to drive the lathe that hard.

Okay, thanks! I have asked my next question (with more to go) over on the big thread as you suggested. TIA

 

[BGHansen]

I’m sure I’ll have many, many questions, but first and foremost is figuring out how much servo motor I will need.

Here is the open-source project I’m talking about:

Lathe Electronic Leadscrew

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James is driving the combination feed/leadscrew of his Grizzly G0602 benchtop lathe (10x22”, 1hp, 432 lb. shipping weight) using a Nema23 hybrid servo of 282 oz/in, about 2 N-m.

My lathe is 70s vintage, unknown maker, 12x36”, 3hp, about 1500 lb. Obviously I need a bigger servo, but I really have no idea how to go about calculating the torque I need. For now, my only idea has been to search for a CNC conversion kit for a similar lathe and see what they spec.

Picture below shows the condition of the QCGB and the reason I’m planning this conversion:

Ouch

 

[Cletus]

Well, I'm embarking on this project to upgrade my Grizzly G4000 Lathe to ELS. Is there still any interest in this out there?

 

[ttabbal]

Well, I'm embarking on this project to upgrade my Grizzly G4000 Lathe to ELS. Is there still any interest in this out there?

I would think so. People seem to be asking about it once in a while. Documenting your build could be very helpful for others.

 

[Cletus]

Great. I bought all the boards on ebay and just sorting out the belts and pulleys that I will need before going any further.

 

[Diaric]

Well, I'm embarking on this project to upgrade my Grizzly G4000 Lathe to ELS. Is there still any interest in this out there?

Yes, there is.
I have the same lathe, from a Canadian reseller. As the reply suggested, a documented build would be fantastic.
I understood most things computer, back in the XP days, and am now lost in space. When James starts talking over my head, I am lost on what I should get and where I should start. A simple get this, build this, try that would be a fantastic resource. I’ve searched for a simplified how too and haven’t found much.
I am about to start the planning of a variable speed DC motor, and already see myself duplicating things from Clough42’s build and would hope to avoid this and have it all work together smoothly.

 

[Cletus]

I'm very happy with how mine turned out. Here's the link to my build log:

G4000 ELS Upgrade

Back around 2005, I purchased my Grizzly G4000 Lathe and did quite a few very useful mechanical mods to it, leading to the publication with the help of others, two FREE handbooks "Tricking out the Asian 9 x 20 Lathe" and "Rebuilding The Asian 9 x 20 Lathe". Well, this lathe has served me well...

www.hobby-machinist.com

Any questions I can answer, I'll gladly do so, good luck with it.

 

[Diaric]

Thank you very much. I will read intently and drool