What a wonderful, if somewhat underplayed, description of your progression through the conversion and your reasons for doing it. Thank you very much for sharing this.
Over the past summer of 2020 I have built a custom CNC router using GRBL firmware and it was a challenging experience. Your retrofitted MAHO is a very impressive build and I am sure it brings inspiration to us all. I also appreciated the This Old Tony comment, he did put a lot of work into his MAHO too but he had a different vision of how to control his in mind. Once again, great video and very informational.
I got lucky there that my mate is a professional programmer, and worked with me to understand how it works, and then wrote the software. Of course I am now in for a lifetime of little milling jobs :)
Its Great that this machine broke down very early in its life, as it seems to be very close to mint. You have the skills to pull of the electrical refit, and really end up with a near new machine. Glad to see you did not start throwing things away, and heeded professional advice. Thanks for the channel. 🇨🇦
This “light touch” upgrade on an already capable, but woefully outdated industrial machine really is excellent! You’ve learnt bucket loads and got a rigid workhorse to show for your efforts, rather than over engineering an under capable alternative! A wise decision it would seem! I look forward to seeing more.
WOW! I have a lot of respect for you, and your project. I learned CNC milling on a MH400 and MH600 back in the mid-nineties. Seeing one of these retrofitted to LinuxCNC is just..wow! Great work man!
I used this machine and other Maho's for years loved them. Real work horses. Loved programming then especially the looping function. Program a shape and use it for multiple tools
@@RotarySMP I guess some commands though are far easier on Linux CNC. E.g. for "Nuten Fräsen" (like straight holes), you have to calculate the starting point using the tools radius, but on other features you can input the middle of the feature
@@johanness6545 LinuxCNC as I have it install has not conversational programming, so I need a CAM software. There is a LinuxCNC plug in called NativeCAM which provides conversational programming. The Phillips has a great reputation for it's conversational codes doesnt it. LinuxCNC does support standard G4x tool offset codes.
You totally improved this machine. You found the perfect hobby machine in perfect condition for the retrofit and thank you for putting linux on it nice job! I love everything about this machine. I respect the sentiment for keeping them original but I believe you've done that what you've removed aged poorly compared to everything else and the new stuff fits in the old spaces. Hard to match those huge servos and that lubrication system on a real machine. So jealous.
400 denotes the travel on the x-axis in millimeters. Nice machine. I very recently bought a perfectly maintained MH 400 P. Got mine from a school in Belgium. It is equiped with a Heidenhain TNC135 control. Fact is that the Maho and Deckel machines from that period belong to the best toolmaker milling machines that ever have been built. Those german engineers knew exactly what they where doing.
I´m going to keep it original because the machine is in great condition. Near mint, I dare to say. Besides, with the Heidenhain TNC 135, you can do some very cool stuff.
@@thatdutchtoolboy1994 Good choice. I would not have retrofitted if I had any good chance of awaking the 432. Unfortunately I had no manuals for it, couldn't find them (I believe Heidenhain bought the rights to it, so they are available on the Heidenhain website under a different name) and shot gun trouble shooting with old ebay graphics modules would quickly exceed the cost of a retrofit, without any guarantee that would fit the problem.
I retrofit a MH 600 C with linuxcnc. Selling the parts I didn't need from the 432 almost paid for the machine and the conversion. I'm surprised you still have the original unused parts. Great job and thank you for the help you gave on the Linuxcnc.org forum.
Totally awesome retrofit and repair of a vintage, industrial VMC. I was in the process of buying the bits and pieces to build a CNC milling machine myself when I stumbled onto a Denford Triton VMC for $750. The Triton was also built, primarily, as a student teaching machine or a small prototyping machine. In the case of mine, it was used by an engineering department for prototyping antennas for cell phones and tablets. I totally lucked out as my CNC was made in 2005 and has all modern controls with Omron Servos and drivers and the spindle is a Baldor motor and driver. It also has an 8 tool rotary auto tool changer. All of the ways are the square linear rail type and have heavy-duty ball screws with oil lines to all bearings. Not quite the 2 ton monster that you have but still very substantial. The only dodgy part is the main control board which, if I cant get to work with LinuxCNC, I will replace with the appropriate Mesa cards, all running in a computer very similar to the one in your panel. My control panel is laid out very similar to yours with everything well laid out and marked. Thanks for the great walkthrough and info. Your efforts are truly an inspiration for anyone contemplating building or retrofitting an older VMC.
Thanks for the kind feedback. I think the problem with buying a used VMC is that it is rather daunting, with a large physical presence and large uncertainty. Retrofitting is mentally easier, as it is a bunch of individual projects. The danger is that it can nickel and dime you to a huge sum of money, maybe without ever providing the performance built into the industrial machine. I look forward to your video on your Denford! Mesa Hardware is oustanding, as is the support on the LinuxCNC forum. Mesa engineers are active there.
Respect about the work you put successfully into this project. Now you have a beautiful, capable, working CNC machine in very good condition. Excellent! Stefan
Great video, and a great breakdown of all the gear. One day I'll do something similar but for now I need to get moved and my shop setup. Owning a mill that uses 30 international (s13), there is a big benefit to owning 40 or 50 int. That is that the cost of 2 30 int holders or tools, I've seen boxes of 20+ 50 int or 15+ 40 int tooling at the same price! That and if you want to run over 1" or 32mm end mills getting chucks for 30 int is almost impossible. That means that most porcupine milling cutters are out and adding through coolant is harder and much more expensive. When I CNC I'll be looking for either this or bigger.
@9:25 I had almost this exact conversation with my wife not long ago! I recently learned I would be the new steward of a Deckel FP4A thanks to a very generous friend, the machine is in excellent physical condition, but has issues with the controller, so likely going to be a LinuxCNC retrofit; I'm looking forward to what I will be learning in this playlist, thank you for putting it up!
Awesome retrofit! I wish I bought a mill which was already CNC capable and not only 1 axis at a time (like tonys). This looks so much nicer to get running. :D
When I started this, I had little clue about the MAHO model designation system. I did a fair bit of trawling through practial machinist etc to work out what I was looking. It sure made the retrofit easier to not touch any of the mechanical stuff. Thanks for watching.
I've been reading your thread on the LinuxCNC forum. Great work and really like the content on your RU-vid channel. For a short time I worked with the same machine, it's a high quality, rigid and precise machine.
@@RotarySMP yes, you got really lucky with this good lightly used example! The coincidence is that the machine I worked with was also a uni machine with little use. Too bad I couldn't buy it, it was traded in for a more modern cnc.
@@RotarySMP Nice, there are some good machine deals to be found there for sure! (bought a Swiss manual mill with accessories, ex-R&D facility there for a steal,, but now I'm left wanting a CNC as well)
@@neonalon CNC mills open up a lot more creative possiblitiies. I know you can can do nearly anything manually, but the required accessories get excessive.
There is an argument that people are ruining the stock of otherwise good machines but I think the reality is that those machines would probably have ended up in the scrap yard if someone hadn't bought them. At least someone is trying to save them when they buy them as a project.
I agree. It would have been a huge shame if this one were scrapped. It probably cost the same as a Mercedes in 1985, and has done very little work (won't ever wear out in my old folks home for industrial machines either). :)
great conversion. amazing. i at work uses a MIKRON wf31 with heidenhain 360 ( when i am not working on the Fehlmann picomax60) i am really pleased to use the mikron (practically a MAHO) but i always trew the correct oil in the central oiling machanism (vogel). but at one time my boss told me that he heard from some "experts" probable himself, that i could put Mobil Vactra no2 in the Vogel. instead of the correct esso Febis K68 due the fact he could not get this anymore. well since that moment the SH.T hits the fan. the sliderblocks of the z axis start to bulge where the oil passes true the block it's surrounded by carbon passtrue's they are growing resulting in so called "stick and slip" and makes the machine a heavy-runner resulting in allready two broken sets of tree bearings in the z-spindel bottom bracket and a new slip clutch. and now my boss also heard from some experts (this time some real ones i guess) that it is practically irreversible by now, duh! and since a few weeks the x axis is starting to stick also. i have to rotate the x ballscrew a few turns by hand myself before doeing the start-up reference, or it will run to heavy resulting in unlocking the slip-clutch. must say that my Mikron does not uses dovetalls like yours but a straight slider system. so please insert the correct oil.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On mine, I have a sticker on it for 68 weight way oil, but the manual says 220 weight. Since it sits unused fo much of the time, I went with the 220 weight oil. Figuring this wont fall off the ways as fast. Not problems with it so far.
Yay a MAHO video :) I like how you gave a new life to the little MH400! I love LinuxCNC too. I think the only thing left to do is to convert This Old Tony to Linux! ;) To be honest... i had to smile when i saw the brick of aluminum you call MPG. xD
@@surmetall5596 Yeah, you and Peter posted your awesome handwheel design just after I machined my brick. I have been tempted to just go with yours, but am too stubborn for my own good sometimes. :)
@@RotarySMP Why don't combine both options? You don't have to print the handwheel-case, just use the perfect PCB from Peter in your Brick :). You talked in your video about cables and stuff.... Peter's PCB only need a simple Cat6-Cable and you are done! It's designed for LinuxCNC its really easy to implement it.
@@surmetall5596 I am thinking about it. I already wired up the pendant for discrete wiring, but need to decide whether it is easier to finish wiring the Maho like that, or switch to Cat 6.
Thanks for running over your machine. That's a fine example of a great design! I did both the conversion of a manual machine (Bridgeport) and the retro fit of a grand old CNC machine (Shizuoka). I'd agree the latter is the way to go if you are lucky enough to find one. BTW, the singular of axes ("axe-ease") is axis (axe-iss). Of Latin origin.
Congrats for the nice conversion i would recommend against the 1 mm step on the jog pendant because there are 100 clicks per revolution on that wheel and that is a far distance to travel for just one revolution. in the shop i work at, all the machines have a max step per click of 0.1 mm ant that is fast enough even on the bigger machines
I'm in the progress of converting a Optimum MH50 manual mill and everything you said in your comparison is so true. Converting something like a MAHO would be easier, cheaper and result in a much better machine. Unfortunately, an industrial machine is simply not an option if your workshop is located in your basement and all equipment has to be carried down a flight of stairs or two... Thanks for the video
I have been following your retrofit on the Zerspannungsbude. This is the absoute best Chinese mill retrofit every. Respect. Then again, you just need to hire these two guys when you get your MAHO... :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WwCTDlwdDqc.html
Yo @RotarySMP Watching videos like yours and Tony's always inspires me to spend hours daydreaming about the things that could be made with these tools but my theoretical machining often rings up against one problem: how can a CNC machine do internal splines with sharp internal corners? like on a bicycle casette sprocket? can a fixed HSS tool be attached to mill and be used as a CNC sharper? I'm sure there must be an answer and if love to watch a video on that.....
I have a shaper head for the Maho. www.forum.linuxcnc.org/12-milling/33035-retrofitting-a-1986-maho-mh-700-c-in-nz?start=420#114567 I dont have a CNC rotary table (yet, will get to that sooner or later), but with my manual rotary table and the shaper head, splines are doable. You could do the shaping with the Z axis and a fixed tool in the spindle, but on a dovetail way machine like the Maho you'd wear the ways pretty fast. With a linear bearing machine I wouldn't hestitate. Did you see Blondihacks video last month on cutting key ways? I made up a simple hand lever shaping attachment for cutting keyways on the lathe, using the old mini lathe top slide. Something like this. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iZMlqXdCOLI.html
I red your topic on practical machinist some years back and nice to see you got it running, and with such "low" effort! I made a note of the pics where you are hauling the machine inside, and now laughed a bit about your wife's comments: they don't realize that bargain and lack of functionality usually are in the same package :D I still run my 600E2 with the original 432/10 control but am always wondering if such modernization would be in order. I've been looking for machining centers lately, but the openness (I have the same splash guards as you), horizontal spindle and versatility make it hard to let the MAHO go. Versatility in a machining center is sub par unless there is a 4th axis trunnion and/or 5 axis... Perhaps a DMU 50T with hand operated 4th and fifth, but decent ones start at 20k... Thank you for the video!
Thanks. It is a really nice machine. It took me a while to work uot what to do and implement the switch to LinixCNC, but an experience industrial electrician could have probably done it in about a week.
I had some weird feelings when i saw the machine hanging from a few pices of wood when you put it in your Garage... Then i remembered that my Anayak also went in the single car Garage with the help of some very skectchy setups ahahha great video, as always you explain everything very well
Hi Andres, I did the beam calculations on that crane and came up with a 7x factor of safety. THen again, I am shite at Mechanics, so I could have been out by a factor 100 in any direction :) Thanks for the feedback.
I think the problem with old used machines is the lack of support, spare parts in some cases and so on. At my work I drive 3 late 90's index lathes. They had 1 when i got there and bought 2 more used somewhere. It may take enormous amount of work to get them started and working reliably. One machine had a hard drive failure, another machine possibly had later. They got a retrofit for ssd for each machine. If you have time and interest in such things by all means do it. But a factory that is supposed to run parts I cant understand why they wont just scrap the old machines and buy new. Someone says they cost money but I ask how much does it cost to have to repair the old ones all the time. Especially when we make special stainless steels all the time. If I got the chance to do it I would start my own shop. Been looking at haas, mainly because they show the prices. 100k€ would buy me a nice mill to start with.
As this is just a hobby for me, if the MAHO wouldn't run, it would make no difference if it took weeks to fix. I can definitely see it is a difference calculation if it has to make you money. Then again, on my mill, there were four different gremlins. - One dead EXE channel -One unreliable EXE channel - A loose or oxidised edge connector on the relay board - The dead controller graphic. Since I addressed each of these, the machine has been dependable, even if I go a month without turning it on. The advantage of a retrofit, is you really understand the machine, and can easily trouble shoot it.
Hammer cooles Projekt. Ich habe diese und ähnliche oft im Web angesehen und nun in einem Praktikum die Möglichkeit, mit CNC Fräsen zu arbeiten. Die volle Bandbreite von alter Maho 400... bis zu DMG 5-Achsen. Interessant zu sehen, wie eine solche "Alte" upgegradet wird
Thanks for the inspiration! Nice work on your conversion, and I plan to review your build thread. I have a Dynapath mill that I plan to switch over to LinuxCNC for a number of reasons, all of which you mentioned, despite the fact that it has a functional control on it currently. I like their conversational programming language but I am held back by the slightly flavored G code that it runs, and of course the lack of program memory. I already have the exact same MESA setup that you have (sitting in a box of parts for about three years now), and I also have the same inhibitions that you mentioned - I have a functional machine, so the last thing I want to do is turn this into a dead ended project. I want to be able to go back to the existing control system until the conversion is completed, so I decided to make header boards to interface everything with the existing DBxx connectors that plug into the original controller. I think the only thing I will do differently is add on some additional MPG wheels, borrowing the genius multiple hand wheel setup idea that This Old Tony came up with. I appreciate your contributions to the community! Thank you for sharing!
I am glad you got something out of that. If you send me an Email (see my channel info page) I can sent your my collected notes. While not directly applicable to your Dynapath, there might be something in there of use to you.
Stil a nice video. I have a similair machine for a year now. A mikron wf 21c. Your conversion was a big inspiration for mij machine. You dit great work with the Linux . Realy nice to see how you dit it. My machine is running now one New delta servodrives and on eding software. . Next job is programing the gear box. But now it is running in high gear with a vfd. Keep on the good work. I like your schaupling lathe series. Nice machine to. Maybe a lathe wil be my Next project to🤩
@@RotarySMP yes a 5.5 kw yaskawa vfd. . It is a dahlander motor . 2 speed. We wirered it on the 3000rpm coil. Now we can do moore than 4500 rpm on the spindel at 60 herz.. orginal its a 4000 rpm spindel. I have on my youtupe a smal film of the machine. Later i wil make a beter one😁
They're good machines, except when they are fully enclosed, which my father will attest to. They have an MH 800C in a department where he works. I believe the C refers to an integrated C axis in the table which can be either program controlled or moved with a hand wheel. The reason my father doesn't like them is the fact that they put the chip conveyor right in the front of the enclosure, and it makes it so he has to climb on top of it to set up the table. The machine is right next to a wall so opening the side door to access the table from the left hand side is out of the question. These machines were available with extensive automation which could automatically switch the machine from horizontal to vertical with the press of a single button- and this would also automatically cap the spindle hole and switch the tool from the horizontal spindle to the vertical one and vice versa.
There is a thread on Practical Machinist of a guy restoring one of those high spec MH800 with tool changer chain, pallets, 5 axis etc. Way beyond what I did. Thanks for watching.
Probably means its enclosed. I have a 2 car garage, with a mill lathe, and a Haas pallet changing 4axis horizontal mill. I paid about 4000 bucks plus 1200x2 for moving it twice, then had to replace the tool changer board and reprogram it. the y axis and a axis were stuck, and I still need to see if the screws need to be replaced, and the spindle probably needs to be replaced as well. in order to get it in my garage I had to remove the tool changer off the top of the column, along with everything thing else over 8 ft tall. If I put everything away in the garage I can pull the landcruiser in, then pull it out so i can open the door.
Land cruisers get claustrophobic if locked in an enclosed sapce (like all cars). It is much safer to keep them in their natural habitat, and save shed space for more important things, like dicking around with machines :)
Feed hold is a a soft key along the bottom of the screen when in the mode to run a program. As I duplicated all those soft keys with physical buttons, I have one.
Did you have any issues tuning the servos with the scales? I did a pretty much identical swap with a Cincinnati mill. Scales, 7i77, touch screen. I love that you can retrofit them like that without cutting a wire. But after days of tuning, I haven't been able to take out overshoots at high speeds. Eventually I gave up and just ended up dropping my acceleration pretty low. Way lower than it can be. I'm debating about switching to encoders on the servos to see if that helps. You did a great clean conversion. Thanks for posting it. By the way, out of all the pendants, I like the simple Tormach Jog Shuttle Controller . You can find the non tormach rebranded one for a $20.
Part of the "problem" with tuning using the HALScope is you can zoom in further and further to ridiculus resolution. I initially tuned it to never exceed 1µm dynamically, which resulted in very low accel. Once I zoomed out a bit an accepted larger following errors, I was able to increase the accel about 10x. I use a contour shuttle pro for video editing, but just need to finishing wiring up the pendant for the Maho.
My overshoots are pretty bad. As in .1mm@1000mm/m. Do you happen to know what acceleration rate you ended up with in the .ini? Mine is 6 at the moment. Thanks.
Hey @RotarySMP. Love what you did here. Also read a lot of your work on the LinuxCNC forum as I am curently busy with my own 600E retrofit. Could you possibly send me your data pack I was reading about on the forum, with all the IPC and OPC pin layouts, etc. This would save me a lot of time and effort. The MH600E seems to be the same as the MH400E wiring.
Very inspirational vide you did incredible job. I have a 600e late 80s from an engineering university not many hours, was thinking of doing a conversion after seeing yours, but the thing is in working order but the parameters have dropped out (dead backup battery). I do have the Punch tape but never have found any reference to a compatible reader or that one was ever available which would make it palatable to load the parameters. Have you ever run across such a animal in your neck of the woods? Thanks in advance Zed
I believe those punch codes can be human decoded. I am sure it is a slow and somewhat painful business, but you should be able to get your parameters back off it. I have a print out of the constants for my 400E. Not sure how helpful they would be for you, but if you email me (check the "about" page of my channel), I can send you a scan. Since I also have the punch tape, I could scan the first couple of feet, which would give you tape and constants, so you could practice your decoding. Otherwise contact DMG. They are very helpful, and have schematics and constants of all the machines.
Thanks I have the parameters but the time it takes to up load it is very daunting. I was looking for a easy way around it. There has to be someone that has informations on the reader.. Thanks Zed
We had this model at work. great machine, but the 600 E2 was my favorite. Way stronger, faster and better handling... make sure the internal battery is always charged! programming the 1000 lines of parameters is not fun.
No internal battery issues on my one anymore. The HAL and Ini files of LinuxCNC are backed up both on another computor and the cloud. Thanks for watching.
I dont know the LS420. Mine had LS403, but most Heidenhain scales of output an Analog 11mA sine wave, so you need an EXE to convert the signal to TLL Square waves. I posted my wiring diagram of how I hooked up my EXE's to the 7i77. forum.linuxcnc.org/12-milling/33035-retrofitting-a-1986-maho-mh400e?start=220#101581 I later found two channel of my 3 channel EXE were dead, and using two used 601D Exe from Ebay .
Wow, I can't believe the condition it's in. Do you think there's many more of these floating around the NZ training centre's? That's cheap as for here in NZ.
Great job! I am also planning to make retrofit on my Deckel PF4A which is very similar to yours, if not almost the same, but it has also ATC :) Ddid you integrate glass scales in the end with LinuxCNC?
Yes I did. Mine had Heidenhain LS-403 scales, and the Analog-Digital conversion was with a three axis EXE board. It had two dead lanes, so I used two stand alone EXE's from Ebay to interface those two channels.
@@zaricmicaizknica I am using the Gmoccapy interface for LinuxCNC. It was written my a german guy called Norbert, who also supports it. I really like the modular way it works with soft keys.
@@RotarySMP I really like the interface. It is not to crowded and it resembles mostly on OEM CNC user interface. Similar is on newer Heidenhain and HAAS machines.
My first computer was a Phillips Adam. It had two cassette drives, 48k of ram and no floppy. I wanted the 64k upgrade so bad I could taste it. It came with MS DOS and the text based game Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galazy. The back page of the OS manual had a form you fill out to buy Microsoft stock. The farthest I got in the game was "You're alone in the dark.". But hey! I learned to code basic.
@@RotarySMP yup. Yours dident work? They are next to impossible to get parts too. I avoided them when i was looking to buying a cnc mill at first but People did not recommend them because of the part shortage. I bought a old mazak mill. It did work but I never liked the mazatrol m32. But I have machined alot of parts and made alot of money 😁
@@nikolaiownz Mine was missing an enclosure door, and one came up on Ebay.de. I think they are now old enough that many get parted out, so partsso up up used.
I wonder about throwing away leadscrew you mention showing maho's ballscrew - I guess maho doesn't have ballscrews at least on z axis? Since then being saddle machine - how doesn't it fall? If it have leadscrew on Z axis - does it makes into some problems, like sound or nut wear? Didn't you think to convert it to ballscrew?
The MAHO E series has ball screws on all three axis. 40mm on Z and X, 32 mm on Y. They are in excellent condition, without wear. The Z axis motor has an integral brake, which goes on automatically to restrain the axis if the driver is powered down.
Good stuff my friend. Surely you meant 'future A axis'? Instead of 'C axis'? Never really seen the need for a vector of the Z axis on a cnc mill before (unless 5 axis or turning functionality.) I'm intrigued... did you mean 'C' axis, or were you mistaken and thinking along the lines of a lathe, where the vector of the 'Z' axis is extremely useful?? Just interested to know... :)
Correct. I messed up on that. I always found it weird that Maho and Deckel both offered these style machines with a table replaced by a C axis, although as you say, that is the least useful 4th, as you can interpret arcs on the X-Y plane easily.
Great content! Wish I would've found your channel earlier. I run mach3 on my home built machine. Always been curious about linux but seems a bit programming heavy. Any issues post processing from solidworks?
Hi and Welcome. LinuxCNC is far more powerful and flexible than Mach, but therefore requires more effort to set it up. They community is excellent with fantastic support. I have never used solidworks, but doubt there are any issues, LinuxCNC has stayed very true to the original RS-274 definition of G-Code, so it is easy to tweak posts processors for it.
I remember a thread on practicalmachinist where someone said, so you think you're a real machinist? When it was the last time that you have hand scraped lathe ways? Well you did that before, just like Abom79 did, not comparing, he does his things and has his talents, you have your own as shown here, In the end I can only say, BRAVO!
if those motors are servo and their electronic characteristics are know u can drive them with 3rd part drive thus interface them with 3rd parts motion controller and interface
I'm sure I'm one of many just finding you out via ToT, looking forward to watching all your content.. I have been looking into building my own pendant. Do you like your wheel? Feel, quality, repeatability.. too many options. Had a multi button mouse with wheel, total crap. Make model of the wheel? Do you like it? I'd much rather build and wire my own vs gambling on the many chinesium variants. Also, again new to your channel, looking forward to Linux cnc tips tricks folleys..
Thanks for the feedback. The jog wheel is the ebay cheapy. They feel really nice, with distinct clicks an smooth bearings. Are you using LinuxCNC with Mesa cards? I would suggest building Peter and Toms pendant. Really well designed and implemented. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TjRXnesSZeM.html
There are already a few videos in this playlist of it turning metal to swarf. ru-vid.com/group/PLHRtJd1bD3ITTvf7ac3gtmojs1ExkWduW Also the last few Mini Lathe videos. ru-vid.com/group/PLHRtJd1bD3IQU-A-CPBwys-tTM3wKMOGW
Not so long time ago I updated a lathe with MESA 5i25 +7i76 for simple use with stepper motors, servo spindle and linear tool change. (short video in work on my channel)
Great video! Just curious how you would have hooked up the servos if you didnt have scales? Id like to try a linux retro on a mazak about the same vintage. Btw did you check the power supply before saying chuck it? But i totally agree with you that you made huge improvements over the factory 2.5d cnc.
You cant run this set up open loop, as the analog servo motors have no encoders or resolvers for position feedback, only tacho's to return speed to the driver. The glass scale encoders are necessary to close the position loop. You could do like TOT and replace the DC analogosservos with servos with encoders, and only close the loop back to the drivers, but then you loose the direct measurement of actually position, auotmatically comensating for belt stretch, thermal growth etc. Glass scales are not expensive, and you can input TTL signals directly into a Mesa 7i77.
Just a tip you should shoot with 25p or 50i it will eliminate the strobing under fluorescent lighting, shooting at 30p-60i conflicts with the 50hz frequency of your local electricity.
THanks for that advice. I had noticed it, but didn't think of this. My old Olympus only has 30P. The new Panasonic has a wider range of frame rates. If I set it to 24P, I won't be able to use the Olympus for B roll within the enclosure etc without loosing its audio.
@@RotarySMP I am assuming you are in somewhere with a 50 hz power supply? You will find it only really noticeable under fluorescent mostly. Some edit software will allow you to throw all different frame rates in the timeline and still output at whatever FPS you need so you can mix and match. If you shoot at 24fps you might get similar strobing but less noticeable so try 25. what is the Olympus you have?
@@RotarySMP Also look in the menu of the Olympus you might see a strobe reduction or synch scan type setting possibly underneath the shutter menu with 50 Hz and 60 Hz settings.
awesome machine , wish I could find a good cheap cnc like that, I got a Victoria u2 horizontal mill with rotary table and universal head. I am in the middle of adding cnc to it. have already got a MASSO controler nema34 stepper motors and drivers for the conversion.
Have a MH500C here in my little one car garage... 🙄 Unfortunately the hydraulics don’t latch on after I moved it from the old shop. Could be so many things. 😬 What you have achieved is really fantastic. The only negative is that you make it sound so easy...and that gives me ideas. Bad ones. 🙈 I have quite a few spare/upgrade controllers and cards but would like to know that everything is ok before changing to 4-axis simultaneous and...16(?) color screen. 😎😄 Really looking forward to any information about that hand wheel. Maybe I can use it for my machine as well? An MPG is really missing. Thanks for all the great content.
I googled HM500C, but seems a bunch of different manufacturers used that designation. Hope you can get that latching problem addressed. Do you have the schematics? I was pretty slow doing the retrofit, as this is just a hobby. Took me about a half a year, but someone who knows what they are doing could easily do this in a week. The screen I bought was an old used touchscreen. It has something wrong with it - it wont show yellow for some reason. Just after I made my hand wheel, Peter (Talla83) and Surmetal came out with theirs. That is a much better design than mine. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y1_VYIPNtuk.html
RotarySMP Have the hydraulic accumulator removed so I can check it to be sure. The lube is a good idea as well. 👍 A faulty contactor may also be a candidate. But probably a to easy thing to hope for. Haven’t really got to the point where the MAHO is prio one though.
@@andli461 I take it the Hyd pump runs but the latching circuit doesn't work. That to me doesn't sound like a hydraulic problem, at least I wouldn't start with the accumulator. Is an Axis on a limit switch? shoot the E-stop chain for continuity. Add oil. Check the latching relay (19K1 on mine). Check the Phillips ready swtich is closing.
Hi there! I recently did a conversion of a Deckel FP42 that appears to be built very similarly to your Maho. I'm wondering how you integrated the gear box in LinuxCNC... I wrote some python userspace code and made a PyVCP module for it which was a headache both times. Would you mind sharing the way you went about it? Cheers!
The FP42 is a solid beast isn't it. A friend who is a professional programmer wrote a linuxcnc component for me. It is all in the Github, including a flow chart of how it works, a simulator, and a full description in the wiki. github.com/jin-eld/mh400e-linuxcnc/wiki
@@RotarySMP I just stumbled across your video again and shamefully realized I never said thanks for the code. So thanks! 🙈 I've got my gear changer working on the Deckel but it's very cool to see how other people did it. Cheers!
I will be very interested to hear how you get on with the tool setter. I got one of those years ago for my linuxcnc powered desktop mill. I wired it up and got the inputs hooked up to the hal, but never really progressed beyond that, through lack of need rather than anything else. Since my spindle is an ER collet based system, all tool changes are effectively manual. I tend to break jobs up into one program per tool, giving me the opportunity to do the change. I hope to avoid this in future, having the software semi automatically set the offset using the tool setter, all from the one program. I did try and find out if this was possible, but never really got very far. What's your intended workflow? Great looking machine by the way. I hope to have the space for something like that one of these days...
I was doing the same till recently. Also havent been using the tool setter. But starting a couple of weeks ago, I started taking advantage of the 40 taper and hyd tool changing, and set up all the tools for a program in advance. I still did it with a 16mm cylinder, but am meaning to finally bring the toll setter into the work flow. Gmoccapy has an automated touch off at tool change function built in. Yeah, the Maho is a great mill. I got lucky their.
Ah sounds like I need to give Gmoccapy a look then. I have just been using axis, which at tool change locks the UI until you complete the tool change; obviously not very useful if you need to jog the machine and touch off! Thanks again...
Does the 1000E also have a 18 speed gearbox and a single speed 3 ph motor? A friend of mine is a professional programmer, and helped me to implement the gearbox control in LinuxCNC: github.com/jin-eld/mh400e-linuxcnc/wiki Read through this, and contact me with a PM on practical machinist (same user name) and I can supply my retrofit notes. Modern CNC machines tend to not have gearboxes, and just run a 3Ph motor and VFD. But to span the high speeds, and also the high torque at low speed, they typically have huge (30kW and up) motors.
Can you share complete wiring schematics / details from linux cards to the indramat drives and spindle relays?.... My mail is sourabhkumawat117@gmail.com.... I'll be waiting for your kind reply.
VERY Impressive accomplishment. I’m curious as to what types of projects are planned for this machine? Is this a hobby or is it destined to be used as a job shop?
Hello RotarySMP, what was the Heidenhain controller on your MAHO 400, and if your wife have complain about the Maho I have some free room in my workshop😉👍👍
