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- Oct 7, 2020
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Maybe it's not a problem but the keyway on my lathe is 5 mm the ones in the listing are 6 mm.
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Has anyone installed Clough42's electronic leadscrew on a PM machine?
- Thread starter Pcmaker
- Start date
I'm looking at the Clough42 ELS for my PM 1236 lathe.
Question about operation: Do the up/down buttons for feed rate require repeated pressing, or can you keep them pressed to operate continuously?
Either way, I'm not a fan of fiddling with the tiny buttons; does anyone think it would be desirable to have potentiometer control instead?
If so, thoughts on how feasible such a modification might be?
I'm thinking that for turning it would be nicer for adjusting feed rate to get the chips to break.
Question about operation: Do the up/down buttons for feed rate require repeated pressing, or can you keep them pressed to operate continuously?
Either way, I'm not a fan of fiddling with the tiny buttons; does anyone think it would be desirable to have potentiometer control instead?
If so, thoughts on how feasible such a modification might be?
I'm thinking that for turning it would be nicer for adjusting feed rate to get the chips to break.
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If I were to change to something like that, it would be a rotary encoder. Pot would be ok for feed speed, but the other controls make more sense with an encoder. Either way, it wouldn't be too hard to add to the software. You would need to adapt the control panel to it as well.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2019
- Messages
- 353
You know that's completely silly, right? So your start turning and you want to just fly thru the feed rates until you stall your lathe or destroy your part? Clough is a software developer and could have added anything he desired. He kept it simple "KISS" as it should be. He has code looking for a stuck button, so that's one reason, you need to repeatably press the button. Hell, you could use your nose and cycle them in a few seconds. But increasing feed rate is one of those things you might do until you hit a sweet spot and then you quit. When your working in that material, you might not touch it again. If your always working in the same material and decide you'd like to always have the display start up at a different feed rate, you can do that in the code.
I thought about it for a while, but decided to stick to the setup Clough came up with. The steps for feed are configurable and you can cycle them pretty fast. I decided it wasn't worth the effort to me to do it. I do more turning than threading, and have never felt I was losing anything lacking infinite adjustability. It's pretty rare for me to use more than a couple of taps on the button. I would suggest using it stock first and deciding if you want to change things later. It's easy to get feature creep before actually using one.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2019
- Messages
- 353
Some materials you'll never get chips to break. Depends on tool type, tool geometry, material. Feedrate is 1 thing along with depth of cut and speed. The servo that James used is border line enough torque to get too crazy. After your use for a while, you'll realize, you might bump up feed a couple button pushes, then maybe bump a couple more. You'll find a good feed and leave it there. Until you change material or power down, it stays there. You don't have to continually run it up and down like a yo-yo.
So I was having a awesome day in the girl cave and my LS just stopped.
So I got a meter from the Lab and got to troubleshooting. Had 48vdc and had power going to the motor and I could feel some resistance on the motor but it was weak. I pulled the motor and found chips in the open connector causing it to short out..
I removed the chips and all was good. I covered the opening so I don't have to worry about this anymore but just a heads up to cover the open slot before you bury the motor in a place that chips can get into...
So I got a meter from the Lab and got to troubleshooting. Had 48vdc and had power going to the motor and I could feel some resistance on the motor but it was weak. I pulled the motor and found chips in the open connector causing it to short out..
I removed the chips and all was good. I covered the opening so I don't have to worry about this anymore but just a heads up to cover the open slot before you bury the motor in a place that chips can get into...