As some of you might know I am installing an NC
 controller on my Kasuga heavy duty mill.

 http://www.rotaryeng.net/Nc-Mill-How-To.html

 An NC mill is as close to printing money as you will every
 come unless you happen to be the government :) I need it
 to make parts for rotary engines.

 There is a open source for the software based on Linux.
 http://www.linuxcnc.org/

 It is very up to date and has far more computing power
 than your average used NC mill selling for $10,000 on up.

 I bought this self contained little mother board with
 processor for $89 called EPIA mini ITX Mainboard.
 http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/ProductSeries.jsp?serialNo=2

 There was some question whether Ubuntu Linux would run on this
 cheap 17 mm by 17 mm mother board. The good news is yes Ubuntu 9.04
 (Cost me $16 for the DVD and the magazine.) works fine as does
 Windows XP pro. For some strange reason Fedora 5 does not like
 the built in video driver.

 If I had to buy a new  mother board for a  Hass or Fadal used
 NC mill it would cost thousands and then would have only one tenth
 of the memory.

 Paul Lamar


 Paul, Ubuntu is available on the linux.com website with a real time
 kernal
 and their EMC-2 program for CNC already compiled when you download it. I
 chose it to convert my big cincinatti mill with dual ballscrews and
 stepper
 motors.I am lacking one ballscrew on e-bay to put it together. That is
 next
 after I get the rotary engine castings done, and will be usefull for a
lot
 of things.

 george grimes

 Does it come with an install program?
 How do you install it on a virgin hard drive?
 Can it be burned on a DVD and then installed from that?
 What version of Ubuntu is it?

 Paul Lamar

 The version is 8.4 although you can download the EMC-2 software
separately
 and assemble and compile it on any version of linux'. Some versions of
 linux ( such as linux puppy) can be run from the DVD drive without being
 instaled. The real necessity is a simplified version of linux. You
 definitely don't want debian linux for this. This  program needs a
stripped
 down linux so that it won't be trying to multitask when you are machining
 something and the command stream of the G-code would get interupted. The
 good folks at linux have taken the latest version of unbutu and assembled
 it
 with a real time kernal,( This makes it process only one program at a
 time),
 and assembled the EMC-2 ready to run.

 You can partition a large hard drive
 like a 500 Gb serial  ata (SATA) with multiple partitions to  boot other
 linux or windows operating systems at start up. They show the latest
 release
 and most stable release on the website and all are totally free. There is
 no
 advantage to a higher number release since we are only running a real
time
 application, just choose the latest stable release.

 Yes you do burn the
 downloaded file to a DVD and do the install from there. It installs on a
 blank hard drive or an empty partition of an existing hard drive.The
drive
 has to be partitioned during it's initial installation. Jimmy partitioned
 his up to drive L to use to troubleshoot almost any operating system from
 win 95 thru vista and many linux systems.

 It will install much easier than
 the more optioned linux releases a there are few options to sort thru.
Use
 something like 2GB of ram and a 3.2GHz AMD brand processor. If your
 mainboard doesn't have SATA channels  an expansion card on E-bay is cheap
 $2.72 thru $13.26 last week when I  bought 3 of them all free shipping.

 After installing the EMC-2 you use a parallel port (preferred) or USB to
 send signals to the stepper driverboard which will also need a power
 supply.
 The stepper motors wire into this control board. Jog the computer for
each
 axis one microstep at a time to be sure it continues the whole rotation
 with
 all steps going the same direction and the same size step. Also they have
 to
 go forward and reverse. Then you coordinate the number of steps to the
 travel distance on the mill to set up the program. You may be thinking of
 having something like RHINO V4 on a partition of the computer, but if it
is
 windows based you would have to reboot to start it. Best bet is a flash
 drive for the USB port. You  can load the file from it or even run off it
 and keep your CAD computer out of the shop dirt. When You start printing
 money don't forget your friends!!

 george grimes

 Thanks George.
 I have analog servos  so I won't be using steppers.
 The computer will be dedicated to the mill with no other OS's
 installed.

 Here is a preliminary schematic.

 Paul Lamar


Paul, looks real good to me. I don't know what computer capabilities need
to be for servo motors. I saw that EMC-2 would also run servo's but
elected
to do closed loop steppers with position encoders on the X anY axis motors
but not encoded on the Z axis. I am using the 1-1/4 inch diameter .200
lead
ball scews in pairs with an ability to run them out of phase for basically
no backlash in hopes of getting a better finish. My application is to cut
all the "O" ring groove lands bolt holes and porting on the side housing
castings after I face turn them on the lathe. The majority of the metal
shaping is done with the casting. If I was doing billet parts the servo
system might have been the  better choice. If later on I need a servo
system
I can use the stepper motors on the foam cutter which got the variable
speed
drives off the milling machine.

george grimes


Paul, I am gathering up hardware (now on hand) and software to convert a
7=1/2 HP cincinatti mill. I have downloaded the EMC2.2.3 software with
ubuntu 8.04.  I was wondering what CAM software is good to convert the
solid
model. I have access to solid works 2006 and could get solidcam for it but
would rather have it at home as a stand alone program on this laptop.
There
are several suitable programs available on the internet that will do 3D
surfacing and have roughing stratagies and finishing passes. I am thinking
Delcam or  Meshcam ($295 at their site) but am wondering what ou use with
our EMC2 or what anyone else has a suggestion about.

george grimes


Solid Works is the best.

Paul Lamar



I would like to comment on the "computing capibilities" or
processing overhead needed for running DC servo's ina CNC
environment. Years a go I worked for DAC, and OEM supplier of
industry specific CNC equipment for the contact lens and IOL
industries. My job was to build up, test and calibrate the
electronic/electrical components on the mechanical chassis.
Configutations of 2 to 4 axis, were common. The processors were
all 80286 based mother boards, not more than 640K of RAM. I
would assemble the computer into the chassis myself, format
virgin drives, load and configure the operating system, install
the in-house propriatary servo controller boards, calibrate
phase and amplitude of encoder inputs, and finally tune servo
amps. A final mechanical alignment and calibration was performed
by cutting a test lens and verifying conformance to curvature
and radius using a laser interferometer based measuring
equipment (the name escapes me at the moment). Such low
 powered computers were easily capable of meeting the task, and
some of my best alignments were within a few 10,000th of a
micron. That's right, I said MICRON.
I would think any mother board made today is well within the
task.
Your results may vary.
C. Smith


I#m running my lathe under dos and Turbocnc on an old Pentium 1 90 laptop.
Mark Wrathal