Not Just another Boxford tcl 125 thread....

[battwell]

for the 24volts are you using the original transformer/ big cap in the boxford or a switch mode?
switch mode psu can trip with a no load as well as full load condition

re breakout: i used a cnc4pc buffered breakout and a step to analogue board from jon at cncdoctor.co.uk (always on ebay)
if your going to run off a laptop make sure you use a buffered board to pull the 3.3 v signals to 5v

the gemini is a torque drive so wants a max 8volt analogue signal not 10volts.

the gemini is pretty crap at holding correct rpm. and takes a hell of a lot of tuning to get to a reasonable state.
i hate steppers so i put in mitsubishi servos in mine. making it rapid at 6m/minute is fun to watch on such a small machine.

mach 3 will do whatever you want. its totally configurable when you start digging a bit deeper into it as ive proved with my latest conversion
(wood machining centre with 2 routers, 24 vertical drills, 10 horizontal drills all offset from each other)

[cooliced]

tbh the laptop i was using was a peice of shit! so i smashed it up.... lol (gonna use for another project)

the original trans and big cap have long gone from the setup mate.

Like i said im gonna use the main PC to run this for now, then look at shuttle or something small

[cooliced]

So anyway, long time since I updated this..

I got another desktop pc and ran mach3, still had problems gallor. so I ran the latest emc build and the steppers ( x and z) worked fantastically after a little setup.

Still need to get the spindle controller bought tbh then should be good to go with some full on cnc turning

Stu

[battwell]

what problems did you hit with mach? it works great once set up right. plenty of help on the mach yahoo forums etc.
i had mine cutting right on the first day.

[cooliced]

Tbh i really dont know what it was, but it seems to be running smoooth in Emc, so thats what i will stick with for now.

Im just looking at a Opto Relay board for the spindle

[battwell]

i used an earlier version of this.
works well
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/0-10V-analogue...item230b0cd3d0

[cooliced]

Is that for manual controlling? I was looking for something I can do through pc

[battwell]

it is for use from a pc.
you send it a step pulse,(the same as you use for a stepper motor) it converts it to 0 to 10v analogue to be fed into the motor drive which controls the speed of the motor
0v the motor would stop
10volt the motor is at full speed
(8volt is full speed if your boxford has the gemini torque drive)

[battwell]

he also makes a neat interface for the spindle opto switch which you will need to use if your going to do threading etc on the lathe

[cooliced]

ok i wanted to run the spindle both ways and control speed from PC,