CNC Help

[billywight]

Does anyone out there have a MasterCAM post for a HAAS SL-20 Lathe, preferably version 9, but 10 will work as well. Or even better, does anyone have a fix for a Bridgeport EZ-PATH Romi lathe that comes up with a message: No BMDC, Desktop and then won't do anything (no jog, homing, spindle, nothing)? Thanks-

Billy Wight
UCSD FSAE

[billywight]

Does anyone out there have a MasterCAM post for a HAAS SL-20 Lathe, preferably version 9, but 10 will work as well. Or even better, does anyone have a fix for a Bridgeport EZ-PATH Romi lathe that comes up with a message: No BMDC, Desktop and then won't do anything (no jog, homing, spindle, nothing)? Thanks-

Billy Wight
UCSD FSAE

[James Waltman]

At WWU they have a Haas HL-2. We never used a Post Processor for it. The conversational programming worked pretty well. And parts done on a lathe are typically simple shapes.

Even if there was a Post for it, we would have made you prove that you could program it manually before you would have ever been able to run toolpaths from a CAM package. And only a very select few would ever be allowed to proof out a new Post Processor.

So anyway...
Do you have conversational programming available on the machine? Why not just use it instead?

[billywight]

The language isn't difficult, but the profile is. I need to use a CAM package to create the profile...

[Jersey Tom]

If you have a legally licensed copy of MasterCAM, your reseller should be able to acquire the post you need. Haas posts especially should be readily available.

[Arn Anderson]

Billy,

Looks like its been years ago, but did you ever find a fix for the no BMDC, desktop problem you were having or does anyone have any updates? Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Arn

[Drew Price]

Knowing what I know now about the knowledge base contained only in Billy, James, and Tom, particularly about machine operation, I am endlessly amused by this thread.

Best,
Drew

[billywight]

We had all sorts of issues with that Lathe. Computer going out, disc drive going out, etc. Another team member started a magnesium fire in it... It still can't cut a circluar path correctly for some reason so we have to break all the arcs into little lines.

If I remember correctly, the No BMDC issue was fixed with a re-install of DOS (boot with DOS disc), but I could be wrong as it has been so long and we've done so much to the thing.

[Brian S]

We had the same problem with the no BMDC error. I got part way though it, but then graduated and passed the project on to someone else. According to the company that does the support for those machines, that error means that the computer in the mill couldn't connect to the CNC control card, so either the card came out of its socket, one of the cords came off of it, or ( as was our case) the card had died and needs to be replaced. ($$$)

[billywight]

Yeah, that sounds familiar. Try to take out the cards, clean the connection and put them back in again. Worked for us. We also had to rig up a system (complicated zip-tie array) to hold them in tightly as the vibrations loosened them up.

[overdrive535]

Ah, the EZ Path. SDSU had (has?) one of those beasts. In '08, I had to reload the OS to get the machine to work, so I could finish our diff housings. The software had crashed and there was no manual mode with that big buzzard. The hardest part of the whole fix was finding a keyboard old enough to interface with the lathe, because the control panel didn't have a key we needed. I always found it funny that the control software running in DOS was based on some shareware.

[billywight]

EZ-Path (http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/6551/lathe.jpg)