Isel CPM 2018 or Unimatic Educam 20

[Steve-m]

Hi all

Im starting a new thread on a new toy i have bought, Im almost a novice in CNC, years ago I did build 3/4 of a plasma table but Ill health and circumstances meant it never quite got finished

any way, the story so far,:

in return for fitting a 4 post car ramp I was given a brand new 3Hp single to 3 phase inverter, I found my self at a loose end with half a day spare in Chester, so I wandered down to Chester engineering just to see if they had cheap mill, lathe something to use inverter on, wandering around there was a small cnc desktop mill with "OFFERS" on it so being cheeky and having £100 "play money" with me I offered them that CASH after a bit of bartering and shaking of heads I paid my £100 over and had mill put into my Smart car, Just.

so here is what I have please see pictures below, I have been out this morning to look under all covers and see whats there, they are 8 wire Isel steppers,

It powers up all axies hold strong under power, I can not push them so i assume all steppers are fine, light comes on, and cabinet unlocks, seems to have had little use on any thing other than MDF

what im thinking is as machine is old, slow evedently, and software is a hell of a price, even though i have been offered a KAY software for £50 I think i would rather put that money to making it run on Mach 3 that I already own. I have no idea what to use yet Im open to your suggestions PLEASE when I remove existing circuit board I will have a area in back some 500mm wide 400mm high and 100mm deep, that i would like to get a Micro itx mother board PC, a power supply from a shuttle pc that i have but can only get to run on vista, A BOB of some description and its PSU and 4 stepper drivers X,Y,Z and A should i ever need, so apart from key board, mouse and monitor it comes as a self contained unit,

All your views, comments and ideas will be most welcome,

Thanks Steve

[Steve-m]

I made up a serial lead and downloades a demo of KAY and GALAAD just to see if machine moves, and all is good in the world, a old steam driven P4 pc, I have one a touch screen all in one PC on ebay, that will be here tomorrow, running win 7
still trying to decide what BoB and drivers thinking of going with the CNC4YOU UC100, the KK01 BoB and CWD556 drivers, I did fancy the Leafboy77 motion control but cant find one,

still unsure how to wire the motors there 8 wire, and 4 of the wires are joined in 2 lots of 2

any help will be welcome please

Steve

[Steve-m]

A bit of a update,
I have bought a touch screen "medical all in one" pc from ebay just as a mancave PC to run Frankie Isel at £8.33 plus delivery was a bargain (i had a £25 voucher from some where)

I have bought a UC100 motion control and A KK01 BOB, from CnC4You and ordered some CWD556 form china £20 cheaper each, may have to wait a few weeks but loads of other things to do in meantime, also ordered a 36v and a 5v switch mode psu's to run things, Im going to use original steppers there isel High-Torque Stepper Motor MS 135 HT and Thanks to Clive S I have a idea how to wire them now, Bits for JazzCNC e stop circuit are on way form Ebay

Still need to decide weather to go with original router head, nut and collets missing or go for a brushless spindle motor that probably wont cost much more than a replacement nut and collets

[Clive S]

Still need to decide weather to go with original router head, nut and collets missing or go for a brushless spindle motor that probably wont cost much more than a replacement nut and collets

Can't advise on that but I think it has been discussed on the forum. Not sure if a 0.8Kw Chinese one would fit.

[Steve-m]

Thank you, I will look into it, I can always machine a mount, but that is in future, if i can get it miming a drawing of mine in G code without a spindle at all I will be over moon,

I have a door latch and interlock would you use or leave off and uncomplicated and allow for 61 yr old common sense to prevail not to put hands, head etc into moving machine? this from a ex maintenance fitter that stood in a cage with a fetteling robot that had a habit of throwing engine blocks around looking for the fault

[Clive S]

Thank you, I will look into it, I can always machine a mount, but that is in future, if i can get it miming a drawing of mine in G code without a spindle at all I will be over moon,

I have a door latch and interlock would you use or leave off and uncomplicated and allow for 61 yr old common sense to prevail not to put hands, head etc into moving machine? this from a ex maintenance fitter that stood in a cage with a fetteling robot that had a habit of throwing engine blocks around looking for the fault

I don't see a cage around the food mixer in the kitchen or a safety lock. That's the problem today no common sense.

[Steve-m]

fair point will keep door as there is a vacuum point and it may help in small shed, common sense not needed these days this is why there is ELF and Staffy

[Steve-m]

I had a quiet day went and wired electronics, I have used a KK01 BoB, CWD556 drivers, a UC100 motion control ( but bloody thing keeps dropping out no blue light) I have used 3 of the windings on origional transformer I built a couple of rectifiers to drive the E-Stop and limits through a couple of relays

Just waiting for some 9 pin breakout boards to connect to origional motors But all powers

[Steve-m]

all running now I need to decide what way to go with software untill today i thought my Mah3 was a full version but after a update its showing demo, so Mach4 (but after playing all day with demo cant get head around it) Mach3 licence
or the outsider UCCNC I did think of fusion 360 but pc is only 32bit Please someone give me some pointers

Steve

[magicniner]

or the outsider UCCNC I did think of fusion 360 but pc is only 32bit Please someone give me some pointers

Steve

Fusion 360 is CAD/CAM.
UCCNC, Mach3 and Mach4 are machine controllers.

You need both CAD/CAM AND a machine controller

The CAD/CAM is for creating models, tool-paths and G-Code, the controller runs the G-Code on the machine.