Lathe Autonomous Pushbutton Power Feed, Clough42 ELS Electronic LeadScrew independent controller

I have a Clough42 ELS on my late and love using it for threading! It comes with a power feed option but all feeding is based on the spindle rate. I wanted to be able to set my spindle speed and then independently of the CLough42 setup control my power feed so I decided to add a stand alone controller. The problem is for all the pushbutton controllers I found, the on/off switch and the forward/reverse switch are pushbutton and 90º offset from the speed knob, which made mounting difficult. My solution was to remove the pushbutton switches, and wire in pig-tales going from the board to some toggle switches. This video shows how I modified the independent control board, added the toggle switch, wired it to the Clough42 system and mounted it up. Enjoy the bloopers at the end.
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Affiliate links to items in this video:
Autonomous stepper controller
amzn.to/3G7KRb0
Encoder amzn.to/3TWEi0B
Stepper motor/driver kit amzn.to/3Q7aKLN
Stepper Power supply amzn.to/3IAGur1
TI board www.ti.com/pro...
Clough 42 parts
ebay.us/m0Uq9H
There are 4 boxes I use:
This is the hinged box
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Control panel bud box
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This is the medium size box I used in the power supply mistakes video
amzn.to/3Qe2edL
This is the larger box that holds all my ELS components
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USB internal connector cable
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Aviation Plugs
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[@michaelsemenchuk3056]

So, I bit the bullet and ordered my Clough42 stuff off EBAY. Should be here in a few days. Next I'll be looking for NEMA motors and RPM counters. I have an old Smithy Granite 1220 LTD than needs some souping up. I may increase the size of the pulley cover so I can house most of the components in the same location and mount all the knobs and controls in a bespoke 3D printed bezel on the side. I should probably document all this so I could be of some help to someone else like you've been to others. Keep up the great posts..

[@dazecars]

Glad I could help! The stepper motor/controller I ordered is no longer available, but this one is similar amzn.to/3CqENJj with it I was able to do direct drive and it works very well. Let me know if any questions come up. Also post your progress on the 3-in-1 facebook page I'm sure lots of people there will be interested.

[@paulmanhart4481]

Nice bloopers at the end. 😂

[@dazecars]

👍

[@paulmanhart4481]

Very cool. Thanks. BTW, you said double pole quadruple throw instead of quadruple pole double through.

[@dazecars]

nothing I can do about it now.

[@AndySomogyi]

Nice! Hey what stepper did you use? Fitting an ELS on my 1236 lathe, but not sure of the 4 Nm Nema 24 James used is big enough for mine.

[@dazecars]

I went with an 8 nM nema 34

[@paulshermet535]

I didn't see a wiring diagram for the 4 pole switch. Looks like 6 wires to the other items.

[@dazecars]

there are 6 signal wires but three of them are the same + so I only needed 4 terminals.

[@dazecars]

at 5:16 it's the blue wires and red wire. the ENA-, DIR-, & PUL- each get their own terminal. The 3 + get combined into one terminal. That is the 4 terminals. The center terminals on the switch go to the servo/stepper driver. The 4 wires from the ELS go to one side of the switch and the 4 wires from the autonomous control go to the other side of the switch.

[@mikebrewington1425]

You went to an awful lot of work. My solution was much simpler. Draw up a small box with 2 shaft guides above the buttons and a hole in the front for the potentiometer shaft in Fusion 360. Draw a lid with 2 holes for the button actuation shafts and 4 holes in the corners to screw it down. I did this for my mini-mill X axis automation. My Clough42 parts are gathered and that will be my next project.

[@dazecars]

Some would say everything you had to do in Fusion 360 is a lot of work 😁😁 I have not yet gotten into 3d printing so I worked with what I had. The other advantage is eventually I can mount it n a master control panel. Thanks for the tip, it might help others that are setup to 3d print.

[@mikebrewington1425]

@@dazecars 3D printing is totally addictive. I’m still using my Ender 3 printer I bought for less than $200. Fusion 360 is powerful and free to non-commercial users. I find myself drawing things up in Fusion then printing in plastic to see if I have what I want then making final design in aluminum or steel.

[@dazecars]

​@@mikebrewington1425 It is on my to do list 😁😁 At this point keeping up with life, running a business, growing my KZbin channel and all my other projects I have not yet found the time to get in to it, but I will. I can see the value of printing all kinds of things. I also have a furnace I made for melting bronze and aluminum and a 3D printer would allow me to make plugs for casting. It would all be fabrication related.

[@mikebrewington1425]

@@dazecars I can definitely see value in a forge for aluminum. I’ll get around to posting a video on my little project in the next few days. I’ve been retired for almost ten years so spare time is hard to come by.

[@dazecars]

👍