Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

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Simko
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Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by Simko »

I may be jumping the gun a little bit here, but I will soon be in possession of a handful of older HAAS 5C indexers without controllers. They are the older 7-pin type which use Slo-Syn stepper motors instead of the newer type which use servos.

I am hoping to be able to fabricate a mount / live center, add a Gecko drive to my CandCNC controller, upgrade SheetCAM with rotary add-on and pretty much be able to cut rotary plasma. Sounds too easy...

Why is the SheetCAM rotary bundle so expensive ($299) and are there any other options?

Has anyone used a HAAS 5C rotary indexer for rotary plasma and can anyone see any reason why it wouldn't work? The only thing that I can think of that might cause a problem is if the gearing is too much it could prevent the pipe from rotating at the right surface speed for plasma cutting thinner wall thickness pipes.
Steve

Homebrewed plasma table in the works, NSK linear rails, 3.2:1 belt reduction, CandCNC Plazpak 1A with DTHCIV Ethercut, Hypertherm 85, CommandCNC and SheetCAM
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SegoMan DeSigns
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Re: Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by SegoMan DeSigns »

Rotary plaz has some interesting parameters like you say, the rotary head has to have the mechanical / speed adjustment to allow for the pipe OD and wall thickness to account for the correct cutting speed. I have watched some Y/T vids that cuts square tubing also.
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steel 35
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Re: Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by steel 35 »

($299) and are there any other options?

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DMoneyAllstar
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Re: Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by DMoneyAllstar »

Ha, I was researching this same topic!

I've got a Hardinge 5C2 indexer head & tailstock for my Bridgeport that I'd like to adapt to my CommandCNC / Bladerunner. I emailed CandCNC and got nothing but crickets. I can get my Acu-Rite cnc (gen1) to talk to the 5C2, but it's circa 1996 technology.
Simko
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Re: Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by Simko »

DMoneyAllstar wrote:Ha, I was researching this same topic!

I've got a Hardinge 5C2 indexer head & tailstock for my Bridgeport that I'd like to adapt to my CommandCNC / Bladerunner. I emailed CandCNC and got nothing but crickets. I can get my Acu-Rite cnc (gen1) to talk to the 5C2, but it's circa 1996 technology.
I should have mine soon. Looks like I'll be getting a working controller with it also for use on my Bridgeport, but shouldn't need the controller for rotary use.

If your motor has a 7-pin Amphenol connector, then it is a Slo-Syn stepper motor (take off the cast heat sink cover to see the motor details), similar to the other stepper motor you are currently using on your CandCNC system. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work with the addition of a 4th axis drive in the extra space in my CandCNC ethercut DTHCIV box, but I will know for sure soon enough.
Steve

Homebrewed plasma table in the works, NSK linear rails, 3.2:1 belt reduction, CandCNC Plazpak 1A with DTHCIV Ethercut, Hypertherm 85, CommandCNC and SheetCAM
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DMoneyAllstar
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Re: Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by DMoneyAllstar »

My 5C2 uses a DC servo. I've got a 7-pin motor connector, 28-pin encoder connector, 6-pin remote input, as well as RS-232 "up" and RS-232 "down" parallel ports.
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Simko
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Re: Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by Simko »

I got the hook up on mine. 8-) Everything works great and they were even nice enough to leave a 6-jaw Bison chuck on it. :mrgreen: Not the best for doing both round and square tube, but it will work for now. The indexer has a little bit more backlash than I would like and according to the manual, it is either the universal joint that connects the shaft to the worm or it is the worm to the main gear connection. Either way, it should be fairly easy to fix.

Too bad you don’t have the stepper version, it would be much easier to integrate with your table. I thought all seven wire motors were steppers, but yours says servo driver right on it.
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Steve

Homebrewed plasma table in the works, NSK linear rails, 3.2:1 belt reduction, CandCNC Plazpak 1A with DTHCIV Ethercut, Hypertherm 85, CommandCNC and SheetCAM
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DMoneyAllstar
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Re: Rotary plasma with HAAS 5C indexer

Post by DMoneyAllstar »

Yep, mine is servo. I got a 3-jaw chuck, tail stock and a face plate chuck with mine. Best part about mine...it cost me $0 (my work cleared out it's toolroom and I was 1st on the tenure list for goodies). I won't be able to run any plasma programs with it, but I can prob run a plasma program, pause, index, resume, etc. for some basic stuff on tubing.
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