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  1. #11
    Zapp Automation are good for steppers and mechanical components. Drivers are a bit pricey IMHO but I'm sure excellent quality. Quick look on eBay shows you can get a BoB and 3 stepper drivers for about 75 quid. There are also a lot of suppliers of suitable psus on eBay. I fitted my Denford Novamill with new electronics for significantly less than £200 mainly from eBay.

    On the question of strength of the mill, with cnc because the machine does the work you can use smaller cutters running faster which I think makes less demands on rigidity. But having a round column without a gib will makes tool changing a pain and really only a lead screw gives good z dimensional accuracy, rather than a quill feed.

    Backlash is a pain, and in my experience the backlash compensation in Mach3 only works well for very small amounts of play. You may think that your screws don't have much backlash, but I think you will be surprised if you measure it. My manual VMB and Super7 both have about 0.2 mm backlash in their leadscrews - I've cnc'd the lathe with a ball screw on the x axis, but I need to convert the z axis, as it's a pain having to plan some cutting sequences to compensate for it.

  2. #12
    Oh and on software, Mach 3 is pretty good overall. LinuxCNC may be better and it's free but I think unless you are comfortable with a non Windows environment you could find it harder to set up. Another point is that standard Mach3 assumes a PC with a parallel port, and these are getting rarer now. You then use the BoB to adapt the parallel port to the stepper drivers. I've followed this route on both lathe and mill but starting again I would use a USB or Ethernet motion controller. Look for Smoothstepper or CSM products, there are others around too.

  3. #13
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    Backlash compensation in any software, not just Mach, is pretty much a sticky plaster approach. All it takes is for whatever cutter/drill you're using to push the table, and the free play could end up in either direction of the lead screw.
    Things like always conventional milling do help to control the play, but it's still not guaranteed.

  4. #14
    thanks guys for all the input.
    i did look on ebay at the electronics, as you say you can get the kit for less then £200. but the sellers are either hong kong or china.
    now i bought a few things before from sellers in china, but what if a stepper fails or there is a problem.... posting stuff back to china isnt going to be cheap and turn around takes longer then in the uk.
    Last edited by T0rnado69; 30-03-2014 at 09:26 PM. Reason: typo

  5. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by T0rnado69 View Post
    thats a fair list magicniner.
    but i dont think il do everything on this mill.
    ive never had a cnc before.
    Hi with regard to slide lubrication I have been thinking of adding an oil pump to lubricate the slides to replace the gease nipples, and has I do a bit of work restoring motorcycles I have found a pump that was fitted to Yamaha RD125 & RD250s two strokes, the pump was designed to pump oil into the induction tract and to provide lubrication to the engine one advantage of useing this pump is that the oil discharge can be adjusted. as the pump stroke was increased as the throttle was opened.
    I have not got round to fitting this yet but will let you know the results when I do.
    Phil

  6. #16
    Hi

    I know is this an old thread so please excuse me, I have just bought a CMD1225 to convert into a cnc Machine, and was wondering how people have got on with this 4 years later, did you do ballscrew converstions? what did you do regarding the z-axis?

    Where did you get the ballscrews from, and what size did you buy?

    Any pictures or tips would be very welcome.

    Simon

  7. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by T0rnado69 View Post
    thanks guys for all the input.
    i did look on ebay at the electronics, as you say you can get the kit for less then £200. but the sellers are either hong kong or china.
    now i bought a few things before from sellers in china, but what if a stepper fails or there is a problem.... posting stuff back to china isnt going to be cheap and turn around takes longer then in the uk.
    My kits are from Wantai or longs:
    https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/Wantai-El...p2047675.l2563
    https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/longs-mot...p2047675.l2563


    Nothing has broke and had them 2 years. The lower the inductance of the motors the better.
    Personally wouldn't touch anyone else if you want to get the kits at a good price.

    Zapp have some nice looking 570oz ish nema 23 though.
    Oh and I use a cheap £5 5 axis bob & Mach3 with my mill.

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