CNC Equipment Unearthed In Basement

 
 
 
 

I was looking back at posts to get an idea of the timeline for the project of making a cnc workshop. It has been very stop and go. It was just over 2 years ago that I was first testing the lathe with turbocnc.

Back to now: I unearthed my sherline cnc mill this past weekend, and tonight have just dug out my sherline lathe.

I started both up and they and the computers are still working ok! I am trying to get a spare computer or two running to upgrade from the laptop (latitude 266mhz?) and a pentium 2 450mhz. They work with turbocnc but I think I want to try to run mach 2 and mach 3.

I started in on the trial version of deskproto 5.0, the short description is that it converts 3D CAD models to machine driving gcode. If it works out I can make a 3d model on the computer and convert it to a form that will drive the cnc mill to make a part. It seems capable but without a cnc to run the g code on it was only going so far. I still have not run any code from deskproto it does indeed spit out g code. I am not sure it will run on turbocnc. Mainly the little extras in deskproto like speed callouts and the like might hang it up.

I did run some code on the mill. I set up a 1/8 endmill and did cut some wood to finish setting up and verifying the axis. It did turn out that the z axis was running 2x distance wise, which was easy to correct in the setup. I still have a bunch of things to go over in the turbocnc manual.

I spent time trying to set up a couple computers to dedicate to running the cnc mill and lathe. I want to try the mach 2 and mach 3 demo but am making sure things work right with turbocnc. Makes sense to me to start with something that is proven before trying out a new package.

I am going to spend some time setting up a tool box and putting stuff into an organized way that if I have to ignore the cnc I can come back in a month or year and it will be that much more advanced. I might be able to get a good run of work done with it.