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Thanks John, I will see if I can get way oil. Sounds like I need to ask your advise on all the lubricants to use.

I would be interested in the oil cups, something practical to do! (LOL) Would then have helped if I was on CNC.

Ended up making this, though I still need to finish the ends.

Cheers for now.
Peet

I may have found a cheaper source of motors, waiting for their response. In the mean time I am considering wiring limit and home switches, so a few questions / thoughts on that.
Firstly having a home and origin points are confusing me a bit, is the home switch the home position and the origin a virtual point where the tool will start / end?
Would I be heading in the right direction if I am thinking of a home / origin where the Z axis would be backed out (Max soft + limit), the X axis at about the point where the tool holder about aligns with the jaws? My thinking is that would put the tool closest to a probable starting point, clearing max diameter for easier work on chuck / with tailstock.
Can one have a switch on the tailstock, as the carriage has limited movement if the tailstock is close, especially if the work piece is quite short?
I am thinking of fitting switches / sensors so long, maybe get the PC mounted... whilst I prep to get motors and drives.
I may try to source a diagram of a breakout one can build, maybe a PIC interface. My one PIC demo board has a quite capable PIC, with USB interface (I think)
Thanks
Peet

Any comments on motors? I am thinking of getting a www.interinar.com/public_docs/23KM-K723-23V.pdf for the X axis and www.interinar.com/public_docs/23KM-K102-P1V.pdf for Z, though I have not had to deal with motor / load / voltages before, so am a bit in the dark here. I suppose if the motor is too weak one gears it down? Just have a slower machine?

Also can one take something like a "gaming" joystick and assign the various buttons, hat switch... to various functions, or is a dedicated, switch based input better?

Thanks
Peet

Soundreflections wrote:I think you might be confusing X and Z. Z is generally the axis parallel to the spindle, so on a lathe the Z is the longitudinal feed and X is the cross-slide.
On my lathe the Z motor is rated 3.5Nm and the X is 2.5Nm. I am not actually sure that those ratings were accurate, though.Gamepads work fine, I am happy with mine.
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Simple_Remote_Pendant

Soundreflections wrote:
The lathe diagram might shed some light on that.

John

Thanks, yes I did have my axis’s crossed! Not sure how 115Ncm compares with 3.5NM, I suppose it is 1.1NM, which surprises me, as it is about their largest stepper. I will check prices when they get back to me and decide from there, these motors look about 1/3 the price I can get them locally.
I will look at purchasing a joystick and see if it works, thinking of setting up the PC, etc... whilst I look for the hardware.
OK, so the origin point is where I wanted my home and the home switch is end of travel. That's fine, I suppose one just makes sure everything is clear on the end of the bed and let it home. Am I right that I can have a separate home switch, a bit closer to the head? I feel really silly asking these questions, but I probably will have all switches set up and running before I get any motors, drivers and breakout cards, so I want to be sure I am doing it right. It does look like the home position is any soft point I choose, so that helps, as long as I do not have to hit home switch every time I home in a session.
Thanks
Peet