Orac Lathe retrofit

[xzibit206]

Hey guys, been reading this forum for a while as I got a hold of a nice orac lathe.

Firstly a bit about me, I'm a 22 year old student studying mechanical engineering at strathclyde university in Glasgow. I recently got into CNC machines when I was set the task of building a 3 axis CNC frame for a plasma cutter and MIG welder for my 4th year project. Once you get bitten by the CNC bug you're hooked as I have found out!

The has been in storage for a number of years at a college before I managed to get a hold of it for a few hundred quid. The machine itself has been well looked after and mechanically is sound (probably only ever seen exceptionally soft materials). All the original electronics etc were working fine so what did I decide to do? Of course, take them out and retrofit a new mach 3 based system in

I thought I would start this thread to show my progress and potentially help others if they decide to do the same.

I'll post some pics once I find the cable for my camera.

[bradders]

Good luck with your new venture

[Denford Admin]

Thanks for sharing!
I'm sure you're too young to remember the show, but this is where the name Orac came from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orac_(Blake's_7)

[xzibit206]

Ok managed to upload a few pics. As you can see the lathe is in great condition apart from the slight tear on the keyboard cover. Both screws and motors run very nicely.

O and it has an automatic tool changer which I believe are near impossible to find these days! I also have a regular quick tool post changer.

Since the pics have been taken out I have removed the electrical innards. I am planning to run the spindle motor off a 3 phase invertor (probably from ebay). I was thinking about making my own custom power supply or potentially buying one, depending on which works out to be cheaper. Stepper controller wise I'm looking to use the stepper controllers and uniport breakout board from zapp automation. Quick question, am I right in thinking that the steppers originally ran off 72V? Can't remember where I seen the figure but 72 rings a bell.

I'm planning on squeezing a PC in the space under the lathe, along with everything else. As am likely to be machining steels and titanium I will be installing a coolant pump. Flat screen monitor (touchscreen if i want to be really fancy) with mach 3 controlling the lot.

Another thing I was wondering is how the tool changer interfaced with the original electronics and how easy it's going to be to interface to mach 3?

O and funnily enough I was aware of Orac the computer although I didn't realise that the two were connected!

[Denford Admin]

Another thing I was wondering is how the tool changer interfaced with the original electronics and how easy it's going to be to interface to mach 3?

I presume you are able to control IO logic with Mach3, so it should be an easy job.
It looks like the Turret is an older version of what we still supplied on the Novaturns.

You just need to run the motor around (Direction1), looking at the bit pattern coming back from the tool sensor. When you see the correct tool number, reverse the motor (and keep it reversed)
Keeping it reversed holds the turret in position (Its a ratchet gear and pawl/clicker mechanism inside, see this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratchet_(device) )

[xzibit206]

Been a while since I have been on here but I have some minor progress to report (been busy with other projects). I have removed all the old internals and put them up on ebay (see for sale section for details). I have sourced a single to three phase inverter (thanks again ebay!) for the spindle motor and got a desktop PC to run the new internals.

I hope to get the remainder of parts from the big jolly red guy in the coming month and do the majority of the retrofit work between xmas and new years. Here's hoping I can bring in the new year with a working CNC lathe!

I'm considering completely pimping the lathe out and making a fully enclosed cabinet for the lathe using a new TIG welder I bought recently along with a coolant pumping system.

[danielo]

I've been considering getting one myself and was wondering if you still have it and how are you getting on with it if you do?

[kato]

Hi,
always fun to read about others projects.
Dont know if I posted pictures on my encloser before?
I am very happy with it and I dont want an open solution again.

Sorry for the bad quality on the pictures

[triac]

Hi Kato

Loks like a nice conversion, can you post details of products used ?

Rgds, Emgee