Remote control milling machine and lathe help

[Fast Fergie]

This is my first post and it is a good one. I am a Marine EOD tech and we use a very expensive and poorly built remote controlled 3-in-1 lathe mill for the disassembly and exploitation of ordnance. We can't get parts anymore so we have decided to build our own machine and scale it down some. We have a Grizzly bench-top mill and a Grizzly 9" lathe as our base.

My goal is to attach motors to all axis with a 50' pendant so that we can mill, drill, and turn remotely but also still use the manual controls of the machine for making tools and parts. I know what a stepper motor and pulse generator are and that is where my experience ends. Any help or advice on how to built the electrical control system is greatly appreciated. Mounting the motors will be the easiest part.

Now, why would the best equipped and possibly the best-funded army in the world have its techs running to this forum for help? But not only that, also stating they only have a very cheap benchtop mill and 9" lathe at there disposal. And then they also want to use the base unit of the proposed machine to make tools and parts! Now I would have also thought that with all the electronics in modern fighting weapons there should be some techs on the base that could help out

Guys something does not add up here. The bona fides of any person looking for information of this kind should be checked first, before imparting information that might be helpful to a possible potential enemy of the USA.
However, i do apologize in advance if this person is who they claim to be and is kosher. But it never pays to be very careful in the present world we live in.

[tonyfoale]

Guys something does not add up here. The bona fides of any person looking for information of this kind should be checked first, before imparting information that might be helpful to a possible potential enemy of the USA.
However, i do apologize in advance if this person is who they claim to be and is kosher. But it never pays to be very careful in the present world we live in.

Kosher or not, I think any info given here is already out there on the net for anyone with Google to see. The Genie has already left the bottle.

[Fast Fergie]

Kosher or not, I think any info given here is already out there on the net for anyone with Google to see. The Genie has already left the bottle.

True enough Tony and there is no point putting the cap back on after the Genie has popped out of the bottle. However, it might make people aware going forward.
If its out there in Google I can't see any point in coming to this forum.

On a more pleasurable subject. I have A BSA B31 crank to rebuild and true up Friday, a very good excuse to build your jig for truing up.

[amirlach]

gcoder has it nailed.

While arduino boards are ok, and can be made to run steppers and servos. Your doing things where lives are in play.
Your best to go to a reputable CNC retrofit company that can deliver the whole package from nuts and bolts to engineering in all of the safety considerations dealing with explosives requires.

If you really want to go rouge, there are do it yourself kits out there. Just consider that the life you save could be your own.

My home made 4 axis cnc conversion uses DC servos designed for the hobby or home brew application. The AC servos are what the big industrial machines use now i think.

Some of the newer boards support fully wireless controls. There are people running a mach cnc machine with a smart phone or tablet.

Or a wired or wireless a manual pulse generator if your going to just run in manual mode. (Just an example) There are many to choose from. https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...57347457V226Jt

[eodcoduto]

I have been gone quite a while but I am getting back on this project. I have a few YAKO nema 34 motors that I can rob and I will be working on this a couple hours a week now. I'm always open to new ideas as well.