Hey all

[Rye]

Hey all,

Just a hobbyist from Sheffield trying to get into CNC. After doing much research, I took the plunge and bought me one of those 6040 chinese routers. It doesn't work, but I'm sure I'll get it working somehow. Hopefully I'll get plenty of advice from you guys :)

[magicniner]

Welcome!
How does it not work?
Is it completely dead?
Does it light up but there's nobody home?
There are so many ways in which a CNC machine can be deemed not to work that simply stating that to be the case leaves everyone guessing.
If it's new, send it back would be my first thought,
Regards,
Nick

[Rye]

Hi Nick, unfortunately the company I got it from isn't so good at communicating when there's no money involved. And by the time I've forked out and messed with sending it back to china, I figure I may at well attempt to resolve the problem myself.

The black box with power supply has a VFD & SMC 4-4-16a 16b DSP built-in. I bought the DSP version so I didn't have to mess about buying Mach3 and connecting it to a PC. The built-in VFD powers up OK and operates the spindle, but the SMC unit is as dead as a dodo. So I have no means of sending gcode to the machine(from a TF card) to operate the steppers.

I guess I could attempt a re-wire and test the wiring, but I can't find any wiring diagrams for the SMC. I'm wondering if I'd be best salvaging the power supply, VFD and stepper drives and buying a USB or Ethernet board so I can operate the steppers and connect to a PC. I'm happy to go "cheap and cheerful" as long as it works reasonable well - even if it's just to get me up and running. Thought I'd ask you guys for any help or advice.

[magicniner]

I experimented with some cheap & cheerful drivers, 1 in 3 worked reliably but in use sensitivity to EM interference made them less than useful, I gave them away to a friend who was contemplating the same route to play with.
I think your suggested solution is a good one but I'd strongly recommend buying good kit, saving money that way by only needing to buy it once and where possible from an established UK supplier as local support, postage and consumer law all then work in your favour,

- Nick

[Rye]

What good USB or Ethernet kit would you recommend? (I'd prefer either of those to parallel so I can easily operate from modern 64bit PC.)

[magicniner]

The ethernet Smooth-Stepper is supposed to be good for the price, I have one but haven't had chance to implement it and try out function yet