Talked with Sherline today on the phone. Asked about an educational discount, we mat be eligible for a 10% discount. I sent the following for quote on the following:
Plus:
Also, a member is donating a Sherline Model 4000 Lathe with a 15” bed. Is it possible to upgrade this so it also has DRO’s and what would that cost be?
Thank you look forward to your reply and ordering the equipment.
Sincerely
David Kessinger
Procurement Officer
I expect a quote back today so I can order … in the tradition of the Makerspace - the out going Chair blows all the committee funds leaving the next Chair poor!
Actually, there should be enough money for at least a couple on cans of 3-in-1 oil.
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Got the quote back, we’ll get the educational discount which, will let us get the DRO for the Sherline Rich is donating. Our original catalog pricing was $3,395.00, 10% of that is $340 and the 2 Axis add-on DRO is $307 so we are coming in under our budget, by only $33 … but hey it’s still $33.
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glad to hear it. I will also be donating about 8 foot of 1 3/8"diameter delrin rod for people to play with on the lathe or classes. I’ve got some smaller 1 5/8" pieces but I’ve already committed those to Bob K.
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The Sherline 4000 Lathe that I am donating has stepper motors installed. The Sherline DRO encoders will no longer fit this unit without some additional mechanical work. This Lathe will be CNC capable with just the addition of a PC that has a parallel port and the CNC software. In the meantime it will work manually using the MPG controls. The CNC software will have a DRO built into it. My suggestion is to NOT add the Sherline DRO to this Lathe. Adding full CNC control to this Lathe is yet another future project.
Anybody have an old Laptop that still has a parallel port on it that can be used? We could add Linux as an operating system and use LinuxCNC which is free.
If a PC with a parallel port is not available then PMDX.COM - Products for CNC and motion control applications has a special USB to CNC Parallel adapter for $119 that can convert the parallel interface to USB. This is a unique adapter used only for CNC machines, a normal parallel to USB cable will not work. But, I believe the literature on this adapter states it is only good if using Mach4 CNC software which would cost $200 to purchase. Mach4 requires Windows 10 operating system.
My personal Sherline Mill and Lathe uses Mach4 as it’s CNC software.
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Was told it’ll take about 3 days to prep the order before it’s shipped - so we should have it around middle of next week.
So the New Chair will have to get that table painted Blue!
Even if it were capable, I concur with your recommendation, but for a different reason.
One of the objectives we stated for buying the micro machines was for people who are not currently machinists to learn some machining without the intimidation factor of “the big machines”. While the DRO is a very nice feature, I think that people don’t learn important fundamentals if their only machining experience is on a DRO. Then they can’t transition to the large machine that doesn’t have a DRO.
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Already ordered. Not sure why the DRO can’t be adapted, the DRO’s should be attaching the parts that move, not input from motor type. @John_Marlow will have a solution I’m sure, she’s blinged her contraption out. Worse case: We’ll just have to get a third lathe!
Chuck Graf sent we a link about DRO’s for the lathes, haven’t viewed it yet, but a DRO I think is an important device, can eliminate a lot of gauging issues and when turning, especially when trying to get an accurate diameter, DROs are a great help as you aren’t constantly stopping to take measurements.
But that’s just me - I watch the DRO closely as it negates any backlash errors.
Not sure if these DRO’s can be used interchangeably with a mill, which would be a more likely next purchase. I fully expect these to get a lot of use.
Yes, but we will have one with the DRO. That’s why I thought it would be a good teaching mechanism to also have one without.
But since it’s on order, I guess we’ll just be thrilled to use it!
Make new students turn it of till they’ve logged 100 hours.
Just ordered some more Coolant Fluid. Instead of a 5 gallon bucket that is harder to handle and make pre-mix, I ordered 2 x 1gal. The saving over a 5 gal bucket is not much. We use concentrations of 5% to 10% so this should make 20 to 40 gallons of coolant mix for for the Lathe, Hass, and Cold Cut saw.
We can use the empty 5 gallon container for the Cold Cut and Lathe to make a 5% mix and the Haas always does a Refraction test to determine what is needed so small 1 gallon containers will be easier to use.
Also, part of my thinking is, when these smaller containers become empty, they can become 1 gallon pre-mix containers and can just be emptied into the Cold Cut or Lathe when the level is seen low.
Will let the next chair order the Way Oil as it is about $90/gal.
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