Just writing to introduce myself. My name is Wayne and I’m from an area near Huntsville, AL called Elkmont. I’m new to CNC. Looking to get one and convert a lathe to CNC as well. I’m about to graduate college again with another degree, this time in Engineering Design. I’m loving the CAD portion of the Academy so far and have already finished the majority of them. The CAM portion is helping me very much as well. I can’t wait to get a machine and start cutting parts! I’ve got several welding degrees and certifications. My Bachelors degree was in Music. I spent a good while in the ARMY and was medically retired after injuries from both deployments and general where and tear. VA has me rated at 100% Disabled but I don’t care for just sitting around too much.
I’m married with two kids, a 15 year old daughter and an 11 year old son. My daughter is currently pursuing an Associates Degree in Advanced Manufacturing / Welding. My son is in to robotics.
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Welcome Harold!
First, thank you for your service, and your sacrifice! It is awesome that despite being rated 100% disabled, you are choosing not to just sit around and collect a check, despite the fact that you definitely deserve to! With your background, I would imagine you should have no problems with doing a CNC conversion, many great options out there to do this!
Seeing that both your children are both interested in things that relate to manufacturing and engineering is awesome! All three of my children participated in robotics through FIRST Robotics, the oldest doing FLL in elementary school, and the younger two both in FRC in high school! This is a great program, and would recommend getting them both involved(if your son isn’t already). There are many opportunities that are available for scholarships and internships to students involved in FIRST. My son is currently a junior, and looking at a summer paid internship with Autodesk, huge opportunity! My younger daughter is working at a CNC shop, not from me being a CNC machinist, but from her time in FIRST. I have been a mentor in FIRST for the last 4 years, and have got to work with both of them on the team they both competed with. I also get to work with my daughter, as I also do work freelance programming for the shop she is working for. Its been great to be in a position where I could be involved with things my kids have been interested in, without having to push to stay involved with them as they became teens!
Keep pushing forward, and use this and the Facebook as a resource if you have any questions going forward with your formal and self education!
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Thank you!
I’m not familiar with those programs. Could you please share a link to them so that I can check them out and see if there is anything near us?
I’m glad to see other people raising their children to work and do things that they enjoy.
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As to the CNC conversion I debating on doing a lathe or a mill first. I really don’t know which one! I’m also considering financing a CNC mill. I’ve looked at Tormach but am really considering a Syil X7 Combo. They are similar in price for Syil’s lower end stuff but the Syil runs on linear rails instead of dovetail ways. They also offer several different controller options. I was going to see if I could get one of the lower end optioned ones and put Teknic Clearpath servo’s on it using possibly a Centroid controller.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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I would probably lean toward the Syil X7, for linear rails. The ClearPath servos and Centroid controller are good choices. What Centroid controller are you looking at?
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Welcome Harold,
It’s great to hear your involvement in getting your family interested in the trade. I have a centroid CNC mill and lathe. They have great servis.
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I currently have the Acorn controller with the free software. I was considering using it for a lathe conversion.
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You can use it for mill or lathe, or for a CNC routing table (gantry mill). You have 4 available axis’, so if you were to do a gantry and slave 2 axis, then you wouldn’t be able to do a 4th axis at a later point. Otherwise, its a good unit from what I’ve seen. I have one that I haven’t had a chance to play with as of yet, will be installing it sometime after robotics season in a cnc routing table or mini-mill, haven’t decided which yet. I also have an interest in using the Masso CNC controller, which is capable of controlling 5 axis’. Both are a good option, though the masso doesn’t need a pc, which is a plus… If your planning a lathe conversion, either one would work good!
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I currently have the board set up for lathe but I’m not sure if the all in one computer that I got for it has a good enough processor to run a mill let alone 4 axis. I would very much love to have the ability to run simultaneous 4 or 5 axis.
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The Acorn can only do 4 axis, so that would be the max with the Acorn, you would have to go up to one of the other Centroid boards, if you want to do 5 axis, at a much higher expense! The Masso board will give you 5 axis for $595!
As for your all in one PC, theoretically, if it can run the Centroid software, it should not matter if its 2 or 4 axis, it should work for both.
I’m fairly familiar with the specs on the acorn controller. The part I’m referring to is the following from their website.
" CENTROID CNC PC minimum hardware and benchmark requirements for proper CNC control operation.
We highly suggest using an Intel NUC model #NUC7i3BNK and a Touch Screen LCD display
You can purchase an Intel NUC from Centroid with all the CNC software preloaded with base mill and lathe cnc configurations ready to run here…
But if you want to build or use your own CNCPC here are the Centroid Primary CNCPC requirements:
1.) The PC CPU must have a SINGLE CORE minimum benchmark of 1500 for Milling Machines and Router, 1000 for Lathes You can look up a CPU’s benchmark # using this web site.
http://cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Notice that this is the “Single Thread” benchmarks chart.
Using a CPU with a single thread benchmark rating higher than 1500 is required for Mills and Routers, 1000 and higher for Lathes."
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It would appear that Centroid is suggesting a single core performance rating of 500 per driven axis. That site rates the AMD A9 processor that my Dell all in one computer has with a single core score of 1531. That’s one reason that I am leaning towards using it for lathe purposes.
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I’ve looked into the Masso controller briefly but I’m not very knowledgeable about it. It is tempting though considering the price difference for simultaneous 5 axis vs any other manufacturer.
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Masso seems to have great video instruction. It looks too good to be true, I am tempted to buy the controller for an old Mach3 machine I have that has a trunnion with rotary attachment
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That should be fine to run for lathes, and if the benchmark is correct, possibly for mill as well. If your looking to do 5 axis potentially, I would definitely give Masso a look!
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They do have great video How-to’s, and if you look around, great reviews as well! Check out DCTTeacher, and Neo CNC on YouTube for their adventures with Masso…
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