What may be the best way to convert my Denford compact router to mach 3?

[suesi34e]

Hi m_c many thanks for your view. I would like to do what you would do and go the 24V route. My steppers are 3 amps. If you come accross a BOB and drivers that you think would be good it would be great to know what they are and a guide on price that is a reasonable price to pay.

All the best

suesi

[JAZZCNC]

The CSMIO/IP-M is a great bit of kit for motion control I use them all the time.
It's got 24V I/O, 2 x anologue 0-10v outputs for spindle control or feed rate via a pot at same time or any other thing that needs 0-10V, plenty of I/O's.
Best if all Doesn't require a BOB so takes another level of complexity and general pain in the arse away and mounts neatly on Din rail with very good termninal connections.
The quality of the CSlabs stuff is brilliant and you can really see it's been designed for industrial use, the software plug-in for Mach3 is first rate and they give regular updates if needed, which are not because it just works like it says on the tin.!! . . . 10/10 in my book.

Connect some Lead shine EM503 digital drives to it and you'll have a cracking system. (or slightly cheaper DM442 drives if on a budget)

[suesi34e]

Hi JAZZCNC, thank you and wow this sounds good I havedownloaded the PDF manual. It is a comfort that you are so complimentary of thecontrol, it takes away the BOB and that it takes away the pain in the arseelement. I wonder just how easy or tricky it would be for a novice to set it upfor my router with all the other components in the back of the machine! Not toooften I here you say such good things about a product.
Thanks again
suesi

[JAZZCNC]

The controller it's self is not difficult to setup at all even for a novice, thou it must be wired correctly otherwise it can be damaged just like any other device incorrectly wired.
As to connecting to your existing hardware then I don't know enough about your machine to comment. If just a case of Outputs to control things on/off and inputs to monitor things then I doubt you'll have a problem because the CSMIO uses 24V I/O's which are common on many bespoke control systems.
CSMIO range of controls are often used to retrofit large industrial machines, both lathe and milling/routers. The IP-M being the baby and only 4 axis with reduced features, with IP-S being the Daddy for Step/dir control and the IP-A being the Grandaddy for Older anologue machines so if you have any chance at all these will give you it I'm sure.

Regardes the new drives and connecting then that is simple. If your wanting to use the existing drives then you'd need to check out what they require. Thou I suspect you'll get much better performance and easier conversion if you upgrade the drives.

[m_c]

The CS-Lab option is probably the best option. The other options would be KFlop+Kanalog, which is a far more powerful option with a much higher price tag and complexity, or the PLCM controller with it's own BOB, but I'm not sure on how much support they are actually providing.

I've just had a quick scan through the wiring diagrams, and going by the Next-Step connection diagram (sheet 3 in the previous link), the machine should have the followingn connections-
Digital Inputs
X Datum
Y Datum
Z Datum (you need to double check what kind of datum switches are being used, as they may not be basic switches)
E-Stop circuit
Guard Contact
Analogue Inputs
Feedrate pot (might not be fitted, but denford still show full options in thier diagrams)
Digital Outputs
SGR relay (Spindle Guard Relay - when machine is active, I think this should be non-powered to lock the door and allow the spindle to start)
Stepper outputs (the Next-step has onboard drivers, so you'll need to allow for 3 x step/dir pairs and an enable signal)
Analogue Outputs
Spindle Speed

A few key points I've noticed-
You'll need a 24VDC supply. CS stuff should happily run using a 24VDC din rail switched mode supply (I personally use RS ones, but others are available!)
The existing steppers are designed to run from rectified 24V AC via the next-step on board rectifier, so you'll need an external bridge rectifier and suitable capacitor to supply whatever drives you buy.
The Z-axis stepper has a brake, which is supplied from a half-bridge rectifier setup when the estop circuit is active, so make sure you don't disconnect any part of that circuit.
The timer seems to be used to hold the guard locked for a period after the SGR relay has been de-activated.
The SGR is a 12V relay, being powered from the 12V output of the Next-Step board. You'll need to check to see if the SGR relay will work on 24V (doubtful!) and if not, either swap it for a 24V version, or add a 12VDC power supply.

[m_c]

If your wanting to use the existing drives then you'd need to check out what they require. Thou I suspect you'll get much better performance and easier conversion if you upgrade the drives.

The existing drivers are built into what is essentially the Next-Step BOB. The Next-Step control board itself sits above and is connected by two large pin headers to a connection board with three stepper drivers and required power supplies built in. You can use the existing drivers by simply patching into the pin headers, but they're pretty basic drivers, although they're good enough for the machines they're fitted to. You will get better performance by fitting new drives though.

[suesi34e]

Hi m_c

Thanks ever so much for having a look at the wiring diagrams for me and goinginto so much detail. You have been a big help to me and the good news is I amnot bothered about the lock on the door so I may bypass that. If I understandwhat your saying it is that I can use all of the hardware in the machinewithout the need of the control box by patching some wires into the pinheaders.

Thanks ever so much for all the help

Kind regards

suesi

[suesi34e]

Hi JAZZCNC

Thanks for the info on this. I am yet to read about the controller in anydetail but it sounds good. I am also glad you say it is not difficult to setupfor a novice. I am still getting to grips with the mill I have, G-code and Ihaven't even started on CAM software!

Thanks

suesi

[paul_m]

Hello Suesi, im new onto here and ive rushed a bit prematurely into a Denford Microrouter compact. did you get this completed and running reliably? i would be very interested in whatthe outcome was and how much its cost to convert too.

thanks, Paul

[suesi34e]

Hi Paul, just sent you a PM.