Subject: CNC upgrade?

From: "Lee B. Marshall" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 17:00:11 -0700

I've the opportunity to purchase a Gorton #230  ball screw vertical mill 
with hand cranks and  Tru-Trace hydraulic tracer on all 3 axis for 
$1500. It is is pretty good shape except for the tracer valve which is 
going to be inordinately expensive to repair. Knowing a little about 
chasing a hydraulic problem down to it's last leak, it seems to me that 
I might have a likely candidate for CNC conversion.
The lead screws are driven by hydraulic motors and timing belts. Not 
having servo motors to begin with may blow this project out of the 
water. Any comments?

Thanks to all

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From: [email-masked] (BILLG63475)
Date: 28 Jun 1996 05:01:15 -0400

Sounds like a pretty good candidate to me! I guess that the first question
would be concerning the amount of monet that you want to spend on this
project. If money is  no object, then there are several CNC retrofit
packages available to drive servos starting at about $11,000.00 for the
control plus motors, encoders and installation.

But if you are like most of the rest of us, MONEY is probably one of your
biggest concerns.  You should give the guys at AhHa a call, they have a
CNC retrofit kit that is open loop stepper based, and they have a model
capable of driving large stepper motors (>2300 oz in) at 12 amps per
phase.You can buy everything from them, or just the control if you can
find some used motors somewhere as new motors are quite expensive.

I have several machines that are using there software and I also have a
couple of there hardware packages.

I just recently purchased a Wells Index CNC 700 seriec CNC machine and
have scrapped out the original control and have replaced it with a 12 amp
AhHa microstepping package. I have yet to get the garage fully organized
to take delivery of the machine and the wife is getting tired of looking
at that black box THING on the living room floor! But the garage project
is nearing completion and I am anxious to get this heavy IRON up and
running. It will definitely take some getting used to, the largest machine
I have thus far only weights about 250#.

The phone number for the folks at AhHa is:

612-641-1797

Bill Griffin

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From: dotto <[email-masked]>
Date: 28 Jun 1996 06:20:07 GMT

> having servo motors to begin with may blow this project out of the 

You can give the guys a AhHa Design Group a call for information
on steper motor systems.
I just did a 2 axis conv. on my Bridgeport clone mill and am having
a blast with it. Now I'm spending my time trying to get a handle
on the Bob Cad/Cam software.

Regards: Dave Otto

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From: Andrew Werby <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Jun 1996 00:58:03 GMT

[email-masked] (BILLG63475) wrote:
 If money is  no object, then there are several CNC retrofit
>find some used motors somewhere as new motors are quite expensive.

[So, since money is a concern, how much does the AhHa kit cost, with and
 without the stepper motors? Does it include software capable of 
generating a tool-path from CAD data? Will it drive any 3-axis milling 
machine, or only certain models?]

Andrew Werby - United Artworks

http://users.lanminds.com/~drewid

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From: [email-masked] (BILLG63475)
Date: 2 Jul 1996 07:54:32 -0400

>Hello Bill,
 > Thanks for your note above; any chance that you could provide an
address
>for AhHa, for we folks outside the country?
>Regards, Ian.
 
>Ian Kirby.                          Ph: +61 42 213353
>Dept of Mechanical Engineering,     Fax:+61 42 213101
>University of Wollongong.           Email: [email-masked]
>Northfields Avenue,
>Wollongong. 2522.
>NSW Australia

The address for AhHa is:

AHHA DESIGN GROUP
470 CLEVELAND AVE N.
ST. PAUL, MN 55104

They also have an E-Mail address:

[email-masked]  www.gdic.com/ahha

Sorry for not posting this to the newsgroup for those of you abroad. I
sometimes forget that this is a global forum.

Bill

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From: [email-masked] (BILLG63475)
Date: 2 Jul 1996 04:25:31 -0400

>machine, or only certain models?]

The AhHa January catalog lists the following prices:

RC-500-12-2 Basic 2 axis 12 amp microstep cabinet $1979.00

RC-500-6-2 Basic 2 axis 6 amp microstep cabinet $1530.00

MSA12, 12 amp  microstep driver $575.00

MSA6, 6 amp microstep driver $367.00

Power Station CAD/CAM $995.00

BobCAD/CAM $995.00

Artisan-CNC Controller Software $944.00

CNC-Pro CNC Controller Software $549.00

This is the latest catalog that I have, You might want to contact them
directly for more info and current pricing on systems and stepper motors.
They will be more than happy to discuss the different options that they
can offer you.

You can reach AhHa at 612-641-1797

Bill Griffin