Setting up a Lathe

[seafurymike]

Hi to all,

I just bought a Masso and I am refitting it from Mach3 on my CNC lathe.

I have come across a few things while configuring my setup that I am hoping can be answered here;

1. Is there a Fusion360 post processor being written for the Masso? I have a front facing tool post and F360 is written for a rear tool post. This is causing me grief and I have no Idea how to orientate the tool in F360 to account for this. Or is there another way I can fix this in Fusion 360??
   
2. The current tool post has a 4 position automatic tool changer which uses a stepper motor to drive the mechanism. None of the existing supported interfaces will work with my setup and I am wondering if Masso would be inclined to create a feature to support an A-axis connection with 4 or more/less tool positions. My only option today is to integrate a PLC to do this function, which is fine as I just need something that works for me.
   
3. I need to enable backlash compensation, but on my setup menu this is greyed out. Have I missed something, do i need to tick a box to allow this feature?
   
4. Pendant Estop. I don't have a pendant at the moment on the machine, but I am running Gecko G201 stepper drivers which need to be grounded to enable their operation. If i tie the current Estop (pin 2) to Pin 1, can I then have this drive a relay to ground the stepper drivers simultaneously so the Masso and the Gecko are both providing EStop functionality via the same Estop button?
   

Thats it for the moment.

Cheers

/Michael

 

[masso-support]

1. Yes there will be a post for lather version also released.
   
2. Can you share some photos of your tool changer, what signals it needs and what signals it outputs.
   
3. backlash is disabled in all versions due to an ongoing bug, will be enabled in future releases.
   
4. for the estop you can have a relay or some estop buttons have dual outputs and you can use one of the output for the drive enable.
   

 

[seafurymike]

1. Yes there will be a post for lather version also released.

Can you please advise when this is expected?

2. Can you share some photos of your tool changer, what signals it needs and what signals it outputs.

• The tool changer is an existing unit that came with the lathe. It is driven by a bipolar stepper motor via a worm gear (26:1 ratio, ie: 26 motor rotations to provide a full rotation of the tool changer)
  
• It has 4 tool positions which rotate in a clock-wise only direction for tool selection.
  
• Tool location is controlled by driving the tool changer in a clock-wise direction until it steps over the locking CAM pin. You then need to drive it counter-clock-wise to locate it back on to the pin, which provides the positive lock location to cater for tool loading and to locate it at the correct centre height.
  
• There currently are no position or home identifiers and this will need to be fitted. I have anticipated that having an encoder on the back of the stepper motor (it's shaft) would be a simple method of locating such a device that can be kept relatively clear and clean.
  
• I would prefer to use the A-Axis capability to drive the stepper motor
  
• I would like to drive the tool changer through home position for each tool selection to ensure "no error" is induced by selecting a previous tool.
  
• Photos attached with annotation
  

3. backlash is disabled in all versions due to an ongoing bug, will be enabled in future releases.

• Great. This is a must on my unit as it has a little bit of backlash (0.1 mm measured) in the X axis.
  

4. I tried to use the edit function today on the lathe (CTRL E) and with the attached file I get an error that the file is too large to edit. I think this is a fault as it is quite a small text file.

 

[masso-support]

Thanks for the information and this type of tool changer is supported by MASSO but the motor needs to be a DC or AC motor: https://www.masso.com.au/docs/masso...n/lathe-tool-changers/4-station-lathe-turret/

Most of the tool changers us AC/DC motors with feedback position switches or sensors and you might need to do some modifications to your setup as the system will need the feedback for proper tool position.



For the file edit, yes its only for small files for the time being as we are working on a new file editor that will not have any size restriction.