Boxford 260 VMC

[shoeswith]

Hi I have an old 260 VMC at my college we are trying to keep it going. It had the basic problem of the motor speed hunting rhythmically speeding up and slowing down.

I remember contacting boxford before and they said it could be the speed controller I think its the lenze 534 unit after reading a few threads here. I contacted i2i who helpfully told me about a unit that could be put in. But I think its a bit beyond me really.

I talked to Boxford again and they said this time it sounded more like the encoder and that i should give it and the encoder disk a good clean. Long story short I unbolted the sensor unit and I tried operating the motor with out it (yes Im looking back and i realize that was a very foolish thing to do) now all i get is an electro mechanical very fast clicking like a contact bouncing and no motor movement at all even with the sensor replaced. (it is now spotlessly clean tho)

Anyhow does anyone know any kind of a route to get this thing fixed does anyone know of any contacts in london or the south east who might be able to mend this thing. Is it worth repairing or would i just be better ripping everything out and going down the mach3 route

Thanks

[GEOFFREY]

Although the original machine was not bad at the time, most people with the older Boxford or Denford machines do seem to end up with modern electronics and usually mach 3, but I guess you know that already! G.

[shoeswith]

Yes i agree Ive been looking at the cnc doctor page who sell parts to do this. I may go down this route it would be so so much better as Mach is such a great piece of software and the boxford software is charitably put not great. But its the work that scares me i can probably do it but it seems a long steep learning curve.

[Woodfish]

I bought a 260VMC a few weeks back from a college in Essex, they used a company called Chappell (Machine Tools) Ltd and seemed to be happy with their service.