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| This is a standard
Sherline 5400 Mill which has been
converted to CNC using the Ahha
Artisan CNC Software. |
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The
rotary table is the standard
Sherline CNC ready rotary table
with a motor mounted that is
compatible with the drive
system. |
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This system has a
computer controlled spindle drive
and you can see the connector on the
motor cable which allows the
original control to still be used or
connected to the CNC controlled
spindle drive.
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| Having the spindle setup this
way allows the control to be
shared between 2 machines and
allows the other machine to be
used manually with the original
spindle control when the other
machine is under cnc control. |
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Here is
a view of the lathe conversion.
You can see the spindle encoder
mount and belt guard installed
on the spindle. This machine
shares the CNC control with the
Mill and also has the same
connector installed between the
motor and the factory speed
control. |
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Another
view of the machines. You can see
that the machines are mounted on
3/16" thick steel plates.
Using steel sheet adds some weight
to the light weight Sherline
machines helping dampen vibrations
as well as providing a magnetic
surface on which magnetic base
indicators can be attached for
various operations.
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Here you
can see the CNC control box
which contains the 4 axis drives
as well as the computer
controlled spindle drive. The
drive cabinet is sitting on top
of the control computer and
attached to the front of the PC
is an LCD flat panel monitor
which makes for a clean compact
system. |
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| The control box houses 4
165 volt bi-polar high performance
stepper motor drivers capable of
driving the Sherline at speed in
excess of 150 IPM. While the
control is capable of running the
machine at these speeds the
machines leadscrews and nuts are
worn out very quickly. Typical
rapid rates on these machines are
in the 60 to 80 IPM range and are
easily changed to suit the needs
of the job at hand. |
On the back
panel of the control box you can
see the computer and equipment and
spindle connections as well as the
4 computer M-Function controlled
AC outlets.
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