I Bought a 1980's Mini CNC Lathe | Emco Compact 5 CNC

I bought the legendary Emco Compact 5 CNC lathe. This is a small Benchtop mini CNC machine made back in the 1980s for educational purposes.
It's an ideal machine to start with in the CNC world as there are a lot of educational documents and instructions available for this machine.
In this video I introduce you to the new addition to my workshop and show you all the features of the machine.
And if you wonder: There will be definitely still some Mini Lathe content here. I have planned some videos of the new Emco in the future but I have still a lot of projects in mind with my Mini Lathe.
I hope you enjoy this video and the new machine as much as I do.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
If you don't want to miss new videos on this machine and on my other projects, please consider to subscribe to my channel.
Thank you very much for your support! I really do appreciate that!
Patreon support: www.patreon.com/wecandothatbetter
00:00 Intro
00:28 Why an Emco compact 5 cnc
04:21 Introducing the mechanics
09:32 Introducing the control panel
13:20 Manual mode
14:54 Cnc mode
15:52 Changes in the electronics
19:39 Some problems occur
24:17 Machining a test part

[@The_Black_Sun91]

the moment when you click a random video on youtube and see the sticker of a company you used to work for within the first minute, crazy small world.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

What? Schachermayer? How cool is that! What is this company and why they needed this small CNC lathe? Pretty crazy how small the world sometimes is :)

[@The_Black_Sun91]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Schachermayer is essentially a big warehouse full of building materials, tools, etc. I worked in the warehouse and hauled around door and window frame parts etc, essentially everything above 1 meter. I think the machine was never actually used there but rather sold through them and maintained by schachermayer but that is mostly just guess work. you should still be able to google them they are big and are around since 1800 something. only thing that kinda changed is the street because after they modernized and got bigger they got their own adress.

[@jrEwing-lo4ky]

My high school had one of these I learned how to program it my senior year 1990. Was the start of my machinist career.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Lovely memories I guess :) Very cool :)

[@lucianociri]

Me to 😊

[@partyalldaypartyallnight1057]

1999 here. We had the red emco. Ah.... joy feels.

[@kritikatura]

Me too, in 1987-88.

22:09 Cover of the machine saying "TROLLED" right when you are talking about the backlash is excellent framing

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Oh wow, I haven't noticed that :D What a coincidence :D

[@IkarimTheCreature]

Wow that's a gorgous machine and the cassette player memory is a real retro future quirk, congratulations!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment! It's a really cool old retro machine :)

[@limauais1670]

Honest question how does it work I never see cassette player memory I saw plenty of cassette music player

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@limauais1670 I can't say exactly but somehow the g-code program is written onto the cassette. You can save several minutes of programming on these small cassettes. I haven't managed to bring my cassette player back to life yet but I hopefully will. Perhaps I make a video on this.

[@filopat67]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter It's a DAT-cassette, the code is in digital format in the tape. Basically the same as in any other digital storage system, just on a magnetic tape.

[@kritikatura]

@@filopat67 We used a standard CompactCasette MINI for it. The prepared programs were saved and could be used later. Quite a lot of programs fit on a 60-minute tape. Unfortunately, it was a long time ago, so I can't give you a specific number. Its biggest flaw is that the cassette door can be opened during program copying, so you could destroy the entire cassette if you opened the door. This was later corrected. I studied like this (Mark III upgrade) for almost 2 years.

[@elluisito000]

I recently learned that cassettes were used to store data, nice to see that here too. Thanks for sharing

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! I couldn't get the cassette deck running yet, but I will try my best.

[@TheUncleRuckus]

Congrats on the new machine, I'm excited to see it incorporated into future builds! 👍👍

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much! I'm really exited too to really use it. Unfortunately I have to fix a few things first...

[@peterparsons7141]

You do a very good job explaining the machine function, and looks like a very interesting project. I know nothing about CNC, so your 5 minute demonstration of the operation was perfect.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment and feedback. I really do appreciate that. Happy to hear you like my work! :)

[@VanFlausch]

What a lovely little lathe! Cant wait to see more of this Projekt

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much! :) I really like the machine.

[@LegendsRacer37]

Sweet, we had one of these in my Vo-Tech robotics class back in 90/91. We modified it so that the chuck open/close and cycle start could be triggered by a Eaton flat pack PLC. We loaded and unloaded the chuck with a pneumatic pick and place robot controlled by the same PLC.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Wow that sounds amazing! How do you manage to remotely control the chuck? Never seen a such small pneumatic chuck. Would be extremely cool to have one. I guess you don't have pictures of this machine out of this time haven't you?

[@Paul-FrancisB]

Wow that has just taken me back to 1988 when I was going through the apprentice workshops at British Aerospace,

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

I hope these are good memories :) I really like the machine.

[@Carnold_YT]

What a great find, I never knew these lathes existed. This will be interesting to follow!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks! It's a really cool little machine.

[@lusher00]

I saw one of these for sale on facebook a few months back for around $2k. It looked like a decent machine but I didn’t have the time or energy to do any research. Thanks for making the video.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment!

[@halilinusi]

hi bro, congratulations you got a new toy, after this you can put your hands behind your back while watching your new toy work~malaysia boy🇲🇾

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Oh yes, that is so cool! :) Thank you :)

[@jokoluna6978]

Das Intro hat mir richtig gut gefallen, Schnitt und Ton/Musik sind sehr toll gemacht! Also ich bin gespannt wie sich die Maschine schlägt, wenn sie wieder fit ist!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hey, das ist lieb! Vielen Dank, freut mich sehr, dass dir das Video gefallen hat. Ist immer extrem viel Arbeit und ganz soo gut kam es diesmal leider nicht an. Bin gerade dabei, die Maschine wieder auf Vordermann zu bringen.

[@chyrt]

wow what is not to love about this machine!

[@juergengmeiner5937]

Very nice - thank you for sharing

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment!

[@angelramos-2005]

Congratulations and good luck.Thank you.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much!

[@pirminkogleck4056]

i love the retro control pannel !!!!!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Me as well!

[@WUdhuozouz]

Beautiful machine! Really looking forward to the lathe improvement videos. Maedler sells 8x2mm ball screws for 25Bucks...(250mm long)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment! Yes, it is a beautiful machine! The lathe needs 8x2,5mm ballscrews. That is a little bit odd. A special pitch - unfortunately...

[@jesperwall839]

We had Emco in school in the 90’s. Quality machines for sure!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Yes, they definitely are. After 40 years still working.

[@pirminkogleck4056]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter i am glad you share your Journey ! welcome to the Emco Family :)

[@janbeck8269]

What a gem!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

It definitely is! :)

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

The manual looks to be made somewhat enjoyable to read. This looks like a fun project! The carriage design could have been made in such a way that the tools don't interfere, but maybe that was not needed since the tools should stick out as far as it should to keep rigidity. It would be nice to see a turret that accepts tools for boring as well. The first thing you should make with this machine are replacement potentiometer knobs.

[@bidgi08]

You can put boring tools on this turret :)

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@bidgi08 Cool!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! Yes, that manual book is pretty cool. Like the style of these old school educational documents. The turret takes boring tools as well. The 3 10mm bores are for boring bars. You mean replacement knobs that I don't need to blurr them anymore? Or why? :)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Yes in the 3 10mm holes.

[@PatrickHoodDaniel]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter I noticed the lower knob was a bit out of concentricity with respect to the potentiometer shaft.

[@JanBinnendijk]

I made my First CNC Chips on a "Compact 5 CNC" as well.. like many others who were in school in the 80's... 10 Years ago, i got myself my own Compact 5 CNC, and 3 years ago i got myself an EMCOturn 120, Now i own both machines. to be honest.. while the EMCO Compact 5 CNC was a really easy machine to learn programming and making your first CNC Chips.. now i would prefer a "Compact 6" or EMCOturn 120 anytime . Do be aware that most, if not all EMCO Compact 6 CNC's have the Mk1 Toolchanger, with the Maltese Cross (a bit like the EMCO 5 toolchanger, but with 8 tools) where the Mk2 Version, EMCOturn 120, has a Disc-type, with 8 identical Slots, you do need special boringbar holders for that.. but, you can put whatever tool, wherever you want.. Why would i prefer a "120" over a Compact 5?.. the Compact 5 is Too basic.. , it has NO Tooltable, NO MachineCoordinate System, NO Workpiece Coordinate systems that can be stored. When making programs with multiple tools, you have to call the offsets of every tool when loading that tool.. that is like a convoluted mess, because there is no tooltable. and.. when you start your machine and you didn't write down the position.. you have to "re calibrate" every thing.. and if one tool is off.. all of the tools are off.. the EMCOturn 120 /Compact6 either have the M1 or TM02 Control, i haven't used the M1 ever, mine has the TM02, and while it is a bit old, it is a great CNC Control. G84?.. Yup.. it has that.. as well as many others.. , and it has a Tooltable for 99 Tools, and i has machine Coordinates, and Workpiece Coordinates, and!.. it has this Cool trick.. the Toolchanger has 8 positions.. most people use tools 1-8.. but i have more than 8 tools., A Toolchange is like T0101Meaning Toolchange Position 1, Tool 1, but if you need another tool and you don't need tool 1, you take it out, place tool .. 13?.. in position 1, so you then program T0113, meaning Position 1, Tool 13.. That also means you can store one tool with multiple orientations, like a grooving tool with the reference left or right.. I have put EdingCNC on my Compact 5 CNC, and i did go through the hassle of programming.. but that is because i like that.. , put modern 2Nm steppermotors on it (6.35 mm shaft fits rightaway, you only have to flip the Z-axis Pully around, otherwise the shaft is too short.. a 0.5Nm stepper on the ATC, resulting in a faster and way more accurate machine.. Oh.. and about the 0.0138 Mm resolution?.. the Ballspindels have a 1:2.5 reduction, and a 2.5 mm Pitch.. meaning 1 rev of the stepper is 1 mm 1mm/72 steps= 0.0138 mm /step.. That's Why!...🤣

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and thank you for your detailed comment! And sorry for my late reply... In fact, my first plan was to buy an Emco Compact 6 CNC. I already had a machine in mind but unfortunately the seller didn't answer anymore. In addition to that I got the advice to better start with the Compact 5 CNC to enter the CNC world. I first was a little bit disappointed but now I think it was the right choice and the right machine to begin with. First of all it is smaller and has 220V. In my shop I don't have 380V so that's a problem for a bigger machine. But I'm definitely thinking of some day adding an Emco Compact 6 or 120 to my shop. Unfortunately they seem to be pretty rare.. We'll see. Thanks for all the hints on the machine and for sharing your experiences. Have you done anything to oil the slides of the Compact 5? There are no oil holes. I will definitely add some kind of lubrication system.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

I now watched a little bit through your youtube channel. I've seen that you even machine titanium on your compact 5 cnc. That is really promising :) The chuck you use for the watchcase machining looks very interesting. Never seen this. What sort of chuck is this?

[@JanBinnendijk]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter an EMCOturn 120 Rare?.. Since most of these come from schools, there are quite some on the market is my experience.\ Not having 380 Volts in your workshop is an issue though.. you do need that if you want to run a "120" or a Compact 6.. I started with my Compact 5 CNC, but ran into the problem with the tool turret, only having 6 positions.. while i needed at least 8.. I then decided i wanted a "120" with the MkII Toolturret with 8 identical mounts, giving me the freedom to mount anything i want anywhere on the turret.. (i even have 1 toolholder with 2 tools on it). I put EdingCNC on my Lathe shortly after i got it, and that was a good thing, machine became more accurate, and faster. Oiling?.. that's just Squeezing a dab of oil on the sliding surfaces, a Lubricationsystem is also high on my list, as well as an enclosure around the machine..

[@JanBinnendijk]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Yes, i indeed machine titanium on my EMCO Compact 5.. the dutch importer was gobsmacked when he heard that..he said that the Compact 5 was only meant for Non Ferrous Metals... "Well.. Titanium is Non-Ferrous.. so what's the problem?..." That answer caught him completely off guard... As long as you "listen to the machine" you can machine anything.. Hardened Steel?.. haven't tried that yet.. but i'm sure it can be done, i already did hardmilling of hardened steel on a Proxxon MF 70 Mill... The Chuck i use for the watchcases, is basically an inside-out Collet, i made a holder that mounts to the spindle with a Ø34 mm seat in it, and a threaded rod through it, with a knob on the left hand side of the headstock..the Chuck expands when tightening the threaded rod, by pulling a cone into the collet..

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@JanBinnendijk Thanks for the explanation of the collet chuck. Sounds really interesting. And cool to hear what the machine is capable of doing :) Cant't wait to get mine finally working...

[@partyalldaypartyallnight1057]

Nice find! I wound up ordering the beginning of the parts to get same features out of a seig type. Can find compact 5 often in manual but not cnc. Luck of the draw! Ive been subbed a while so look forward to seeing what you do witb it.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your kind comment! Which lathe do you have? Thanks for subscribing! I really do appreciate that :)

[@vukaankuka2901]

Awesome !! I got similar but manual,and i turn it to cnc... still in progress

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks a lot! Good luck for your project! I'm happy my machine is already a full cnc type :)

[@bt410382]

3 jaw chuck and tailpiece looks like a proxxon design.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

That's right. Even the bed seems to be very similar. I think the spindle nose is the same on one of the proxxon lathe. Never seen it on another machine.

[@glassyuri_]

I'd say it's more likely that the relationship is the other way round (that the Proxxon lathe is based on an Emco design)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@glassyuri_ I guess this too.

[@pawekowalski7469]

👍💪 A cassette like ATARI 65xe, I am reminded of childhood. 😀

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

I'm too young for this stuff :D But I definitely want to bring the cassette deck back to life.

[@memyself3275]

We had one of these at MCVTS where I went to school during my apprenticeship. Our instructor didn't know how to use it and shat all over it and me for wanting to learn how to use it. We only had a "Shop class" in our 4th year so I kinda knew how to run everything else, so that was a disappointment. Will be watching with interest for future updates.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much for your comment! Seems that quite some people here know the machine from their apprenticeship :)

[@filopat67]

I have the exactly same machine, but of course without the button panel and the display panel. I still have the original DAT cassette unit installed. I run the machine connected to an old PC via RS232. I have a program on the PC to create and simulate programs, and I upload them to Emco via RS232. I also have a LCD-display for the computer and I can also see Emco's own display on that. It's a great little machine and I got it super cheap! I love it!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and thanks for your comment! Which software do you use for creating and simulating the programs? Still looking for some options. Do you have pictures of your machine? And good for you the machine was cheap. Mine wasn't. In fact it was pretty expensive...

[@filopat67]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter The program is called Mikes Free Interface. I think it's still available for download on internet. I paid 250 Euros for my Emco, I honestly don't know if that's cheap or not, but I thought it was cheap. My lathe is not as clean looking as yours, but everything works. It has the same problem of retracting too little on thread cutting cycle though.

[@user-zr3iy2ou5g]

Very Nice video. A few years ago I took CNC classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, in California - we used this machine. I have the software we used to create programs for this - from Emco - If you would like I can probably email it to you as an attachment - it originally came on a single 3.5" floppy disk! It is actually pretty cool software - if you have a PC running windows 98 - I run it in a virtual machine. As far as I know it is in English only, however. Cheers! John

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and many thanks for your kind comment! Nice to hear, you used the machine too. It would be so cool, if you can send me the original software. I have heard about it and even downloaded it somewhere but just couldn't get it running. It would be extremely nice, if you can send me the software and perhaps help a little bit with installing. I actually bought an extra laptop with win98 but the program doesn't work. Have you managed to run it on win98? I think it's best, you contact me via email. You find the email in the channel infos. Thank you very much :) !!

[@tooltimechris7217]

Hell yeah!!

[@mike9500]

😂😂😂 “I N C H. Don’t know what the H that is”. 😂😂😂 you crack me up! Haha that was awesome!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

:D Thanks my friend ;)

[@johnpekkala6941]

I remember we had a lot of these at my school but I never got to try them.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Wow! A lot of them, sounds like heaven o: !

[@merlin1943]

It’s a really nice machine, with all these extra features!! Something caught my attention, did you check if the motor is working during the retract cycle when threading? Maybe I’m wrong, but I could just hear the motor moving the tool forward, but not retracting. I’m asking because I could not notice the motor and as there was so much firmware changes, maybe you have a software issue alongside the backslash.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! My first thought was if the program doesn't work properly. I actually have to check this again, if the motor is turning for retraction. But I think it really has to do with the backlash. Have to check again.

[@rustamsaifullin8034]

Шикарный аппарат 👍 поздравляю с покупкой.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thank you very much!

[@mundaryus]

Good!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks!

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

I love the small detail of blurring your face on the knobs lol

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hehe, forgot to cover the shiny knobs before filming ;)

[@y2ksw1]

Backlash problems can be temporarily fixed with grease and cotton strings. They fill the gaps and mash up the ball bearings nicely. The movement can then be a bit stiff, but in exchange, the backlash almost disappears. Of course, it's not a long term solution!

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Intersting, never heard of this :) But yes, sounds like a temporary solution. I have to see how I can fix that. Perhaps new balls in the ballnut are sufficient. I already ordered some.

[@y2ksw1]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter I was heavily pranked, but everyone played by the book when it came to find reliable solutions to unsolvable problems. I traded my skills for protection 😅

[@kritikatura]

For mechanical machines, we mixed aluminum powder into the grease, not cotton fibers. It is a little more durable, but in the case of CNC, it can cause inaccuracy. Changing the balls might help, but it would be best to change the spool as well.

[@y2ksw1]

@@kritikatura I found that metal powder may bind and block the movement completely.

[@kritikatura]

@@y2ksw1 We did it with silicone grease, 2 grams/kg, for hand-driven reels only. Due to the higher load capacity of machine-driven reels, jamming may indeed occur. Fortunately, it is not difficult to remove.

[@bidgi08]

I have a compact 5 CNC too. You can program it on a computer with Mikes Free Interface software (MFI)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Nice to hear. Yes, I have the program too.

[@johnmoorefilm]

Ah! Those keys❤…do any of you wonderful people have a recommendation for a computer keyboard that genuinely has those old heavy keys? Thank you

[@matthewsimmons6831]

Be honest, how many test pieces did you turn before getting that final shot of the chuck stopping and showing the emco logo?

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Haha :D I actually just noticed that while editing and just flipped out about it! I made 3 testpieces but only because on every part something went wrong. I don't watched the orientation of the chuck. It was really just a very very lucky coincidence. Thanks for noticing and thanks for watching my video till the end ;)!

[@nealpedigo2842]

Curious as to why the potentiometers knobs are blurred…..

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Because they sometimes reflect my image.

[@nealpedigo2842]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter that is a very good reason. Thank you.

[@TheUncleRuckus]

Was wondering the same lol

[@MostlyPennyCat]

A friend of mine has something very similar, except it has a green screen crt. Took years to get it working because his tube was blown, ended up buying one from Brazil to get it working. I forget the name and model, it's not that one though, i don't think.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi, that sounds very interesting. Would be cool to hear which machine it was exactly. Perhaps you can find it out and let me know. Thanks!

[@MostlyPennyCat]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Phoned and asked, his is a Denford ORAC. His CRT has now also packed up but he's bypassed the internal screen and hung an LCD off of the external video out.

[@cdmChase1]

Great video!!! "What is this I-N-C-H thing"? Haha, I use imperial now and then making stuff for the USA.. im in the UK so metrici im used to. Boomers talk, "just a thou tolerance".. I program set and operate CNC lathes for now. Make castors, wheels press on bands with polyurethane moulds..

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! ;)

[@mirakulix001]

Hallo, sehr schöne Maschine, ich hab auch seit kurzem so ein Teil 😀, kannst du mir sagen welcher Monitor verbaut ist - ich hab noch ei Röhrengerät. lg

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi, danke für den Kommentar. Cool, dass es noch mehr Emcos hier gibt :) Ich muss mal sehen, ob ich herausfinde, was das für ein Monitor ist. Aber es geht jeder kleine Monitor. Oft werden sie für Rückfahrkameras in Autos angeboten.

[@thomaselser4974]

Oh eine erst cnc Maschinen wo ich Lehre gemacht hab so geil

[@JCWren]

I recently missed buying an Emco Maximat Super 11 that was completely loaded (including the vertical mill) plus a bunch of extra tooling by about 45 minutes. I was really disappointed.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Sorry to hear.

[@Mikepet]

Ich arbeite nun seit 10 Jahren in Hallein bei emco und bin einerseits geschockt und fasziniert dass wir unsere kleinen CNC Drehmaschinen immer noch bauen wie in den 80ern, nur mit anderem Design. Wieso hast du dir keine neue Concept Turn 60 oder Concept Turn 105 gekauft hast? Sind keine schlechten Maschinen und vergleichsweiße gar nicht mal so teuer. Möglicherweiße könnte ich dir eine neue Spindel für die X-Achse zukommen lassen, die sind genau gleich aus wie bei der Concept Turn 60.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hey wow! Das ist ja klasse! Cool, dass du schreibst. Würde mich freuen, wenn du dich mal per E-Mail bei mir melden würdest. Die Adresse findest du in den Kanalinfos. Wäre super, wenn wir in Kontakt kommen. Vielen Dank schonmal :)

[@Mikepet]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter Ich werd am Montag mal die X-Achse von der Compact abmessen und dir dann paar Bilder und die Maße per E-Mail zukommen lassen.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@Mikepet Super, ich freue mich, wenn ich am Montag von dir höre! Vielen Dank schonmal! :)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@Mikepet ...mit Emco hatte ich auch schon Kontakt aufgenommen aber leider keine Rückmeldung bekommen...

[@noviceartisan]

I dread to imagine how underpowered those motors are vs the modern equivilent NEMA standard motors. I've read somewhere that they're typically replaced on these emcos to permit decent working speeds and depth of cut in metals. I went the hard route for my machines and slowly upgraded them to cnc manually, using custom mounts, then learnt the software to operate them. I'm still leagues behind professionals, and am stuck using open source and free tools for the most part but they give nice results :D Currently mid process finishing my Clarke CMD10 conversion so i can finally cnc mill steel to a decent +/- 0.01mm accuracy, least that's the end goal, so i can make precision parts for watch/clock scale things :-)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment! Yes it is a small, old and slow machine compared to modern cnc lathes. But I will preserve the machine as original as possible. I have no plans of doing a retrofit or something. I think for what I need, the machine is just right at the moment.

[@bidgi08]

Not a good idea to use more powerfull stepper motor. The ballscrews are really tiny. Because of no limit switches, many of theses lathe were mistreated. I think the balls of your ballnuts are damaged. The nuts do not have a seal on this model. You should first try to clean them and adjust the preload. If the screws have hard spots, the balls will need to be replaced.

[@noviceartisan]

@@bidgi08 Oh wow, no limit switches :O Eek, that's a dreadful thing to neglect for a machine that's designed for a training environment! (and in general too, way too easy to slip a figure and your code go OOB lol)

[@bidgi08]

⁠@@noviceartisanEmco added limit (home) switches on next versions. I have a pc turn 55 too with them.

[@hinz1]

More teaching toy than real machine, Emco starts to get somewhat useful with Emcoturn 120-140, fairly nice machines, if stripped of all the sheet metal.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Yes, kinda right. But at the moment I'm really happy with the machine though. As said I first wanted a 120 or compact 6 but I think for the start this machine is just right for me.

[@leoetcheverry9685]

I own one also and made it manual (not computer controlled) by adding a playstation joystick and an arduino

[@shanent5793]

Really makes the Chinese one look heavy duty! What do you find unusual about the rounding? the only variation is whether to round five to even or away from zero

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Yes I was astonished how big the mini lathe bed is compared to the emco bed. I was confused why emco choosed to design the machine that one step of the motors has the odd number of 0,0138mm. Don't know if that makes sense in the imperial world, but in metric that is rather unusual.

[@shanent5793]

​@@WeCanDoThatBettermaybe to make the students think😂😂! I think it's actually 0.0138888888… repeating or 1/72 mm. The table in the manual has 45° (9 steps) corresponding to 0.125 mm (1/8) so 8x9=72. You can count the teeth on the pulleys to be sure but i expect the ratio to be 2.5:1

[@rcdieselrc]

This is a very simple machine intended for teaching CNC and programming. There is nothing industry standard about it, unfortunately. They are fine for what they are, if you understand the limitations. The Chinese mini lathes are based on the Emco Compact 8.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@rcdieselrc I thought the controls are like on the real industry machines of that time. But don't know exactly. I actually deleated the industry standard from the title. I guess it was too much text anyway ;)

[@captianmorgan7627]

8:18 It's weird to see "schritt" used in this way. I'm used to seeing it as a unit of length (a 'pace'). Where 1 Schritt = 75.85936 cm.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Interesting. Seems to be an old unit for measuring lenghts. Here it means step of the stepper motor.

[@captianmorgan7627]

It was used for distance markings on the rear sights of Austro-Hungarian rifles until sometime the early 1900s when they were switched to meters.

[@ailahanifah6215]

my first G-Code with emco😂

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Oh yes, it definitely is! :) And it's fun. I think the Emco is not the worst machine to learn with:)

[@VEC7ORlt]

Hah, that controller is almost as large as the lathe itself. Didn't expect the microcasette.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Yes, that control cabinet is huge :)

[@nightsaber2272]

Vintage german machinery :)

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Best :D

[@pirminkogleck4056]

i am sure you will be able to sort out all the issues ! you have a very good MAchine here as a Base, not big but good ! if i would be yu i would order me a taylor made new spindle and a ballnut . there are a few companys in germany where u can order ballscrew spindles with the nut for reasonable money. in my opinion its not a good idea to just switch the balls but then leave the nut and spindle untouched.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Thanks for your comment and the hints on the spindle replacement. Do you have some sources for new ballscrews and ballnuts? Sprichst du deutsch? ;)

[@pirminkogleck4056]

ja sicher spreche ich Deutsch ! Ich kommentiere sogar in der Zerspanungsbude :) ich müsste da nochmal recherchieren und schau was ich finde !

[@pirminkogleck4056]

@@WeCanDoThatBetterAuszug von der Homepage : Falls Sie individuelle Enden benötigen schreiben Sie uns an! Gerne unterbreiten wir Ihnen ein Angebot. Die Längentoleranz entspricht +-1mm. Sollten Sie einen genaueren Zuschnitt benötigen schreiben Sie uns gerne an! Die Toleranz der Lagersitze ist den jeweiligen Lagern angepasst.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@pirminkogleck4056 Ah, jetzt kombiniere ich :D

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@pirminkogleck4056 Welche Firma bzw. Webseite ist das?

[@dazaspc]

It was a real shame that in the era these were made so many CNC training machine tools used odd ball controls. But I suppose they were built to a price and not a usability level. I dont know about your particular machines control but many have the ability to adjust things in the Canned Cycles like the screw cutting option in the machines parameters. Alternatively you could write the program in such a way that it didn't need the retract option like we used to do it in the days of the tape run machines. The machine I learnt on was pretty crude to be polite. No PC around then so you wrote the program out on a bit of paper and then typed it out using a telex machine to get a paper tape. I was lucky that the machine had wear offsets for each tool so you would just put that offset on the tape for the tool and you could adjust it from the control. No screens just a nixie tube display to get the numbers in. You could write the program up like a batch file you would use on a pc so each step is read at the appropriate time, block skips, goto's etc and that usually works in everything. However this can be controller dependent and I cant guarantee that particular one will do it. A great little machine I worked for 25 years repairing CNC machine tools of all types and worked on a couple of little emcos one manual and one CNC and apart from them being extremely lightly built they were a good machine if not pressed to hard. That MC having a Micro tape drive was a little unusual the one I worked on had a cassette drive but with a com port you wouldn't want to ever use that again. A great find and it looks like a useful addition.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hi and thank you very much for your detailed comment! Yes the machine has it's oddities but as I'm not used to modern controls and CNC stuff I just take it as it is:) So far, I really like it. At the moment I struggle with a little bit hardware stuff, lathe chuck, play in the bedslide, collet chuck, bedway covers etc. So there has to be done some work to the machine but I hopefully get it back to life soon. My machine has a com Port (rs232) but I nontheless would like the old cassette deck reinstalled. Needing everytime you want to use the machine an laptop connected seems a bit impractical to me..

[@dazaspc]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter You could hook it up through a RS232 to Ethernet adapter and if a cable wasn't handy just put it on a old Wifi router. Then just send your program in via a terminal program from where ever your laptop/desktop is. The micro tapes are quite fragile and can be difficult to read if a reader has failed with the tape in it. You can also back up machine parameters that you know were ok for editing or just backup. Especially in older machines I would always back up the full set of available parameters before I would make a change or even leave the machine off for any length of time. This machine probably postdates stuff like bubble memory but you never want to get caught out if you dont have to. Anyway just thoughts from an old man. Cheers

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

@@dazaspc Hey thanks! Thats actually a cool idea to make the data transfer wireless. Have to check that :) At the moment the tape recorder doesn't work. It might be defect :(

[@dazaspc]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter You could really pare it down to something like a Pi zero wireless and it should have pin outs to connect to the rs 232. Also considering the program sizes your machine will take it would probably store quite a few as well, but I have only ever done this with pc hardware. One of the old micro PC's you might get from e-bay for a few dollars.

[@staviq]

(2.5/72)*(2/5) = 0.0138(8) You have a 2 to 5 reduction between the motor and the ballscrew. Nice ratios do not matter for a CNC machine because positions are recalculated for every step as an absolute value ( not incremental value ), so it's probably simply chosen for optimal speed vs torque.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

That might be but in my humble opinion it shouldn't be too difficult to either choose the ratio of the beltdrive or a 2mm pitch ballscrew which should be more in the 0,01mm region per step. But don't know which reasons they had to design it like this...

[@staviq]

If you manage to find a 100 steps/rev stepper motor, it would give you 0.01 exactly Though with CNC, it's something you shouldn't be thinking about, because you have no control over the exact amount of steps the machine chooses to use for a given distance, so in practice it's irrelevant. Basically, that 0.0138/2 is your +-minimal tolerance, and that is the only thing you would use that information for. Even if you get a nice round step to travel ratio, stepper motors can be driven with in-between steps (micro stepping) and the magnetic poles of the motor aren't perfect so the steps aren't perfect X degrees either, so that nice ratio wouldn't hold in real life anyway. Nowadays it's a completely different story, but first CNCs were invented for predictable repeatability, not absolute precision :)

[@perfesser944]

Trip down memory lane. I cut my CNC teeth i a lathe just like this.

[@borisstokic3799]

Why are the potentiometers blurred? 😅

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Cause unfortunately they sometimes reflect my image. Don't want that and have to do something about it in the future ;)

[@borisstokic3799]

@@WeCanDoThatBetter thanks :)

[@jimsvideos7201]

0.138mm is equivalent to about 0.005", coincidentally.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Oh that makes sense. I wondered if this for us metric guys weird number has something to do with the imperial measurements. Thanks for clarifying.

[@andrease.5100]

the inch thing means Bananas

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Haha :D

[@platin2148]

Well there is YourNew now that makes these machines but it's quality wise basically not even in the same universe. Sad that they basically stopped with these. Well this was probably because of this giant metal working company that died and took a lot of that stuff with it. (Was called erletzberger, part of this company is today schachermayer)

[@Convolutedtubules]

Dust allergy triggered lol.

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Hoops :D

[@KF-qj2rn]

I wonder why the commercial stuff never used audio cassette tape, pre-3.5" floppy.... I can tell I went to the wrong schools, they had nothing "metal working", manual or cnc...

[@andreasbalster6871]

Funny the machine speaks spanish when resetting

[@WeCanDoThatBetter]

Haha :D

[@oithetresen609]

I inherited the non cnc model of that lathe. Didn't like it. I already sold it so Idon't know for sure but I think it had something crazy small like 500W. If you only make the tiniest of cuts it's possible to work on brass and even mild steel. But you can barely use a cutoff steel for aluminium, becuase the top slide weighs nothing and it uses regular metric M8 thread for a lead screw. So when you touch the material withn the steel it pulls the whole slide in resulting in the tiny motor overloading and the belt slipping. Absolutely useless. I'd rather get a better chinese lathe. The chinese ones are also way easier to modify.

[@chrisyboy666]

This is the 1st CNC lathe I ever programmed learned on…35 years later worked all over the world on the Apps for Mazak Deckel (DMG) starrag ..now @ WFL back in the uk…I would recommend anyone thinking of doing this for a career DONT pick something else