Boxford 160 Refit

[dunning123]

Good Evening

I'm very green to CNC lathes. Buy, sell and restore a lot of manual lathes so have an understanding of turning.

Recently bought a Boxford 160 TCL and attempted to get the Boxford software for it, but for the price thought I may as well frutureprroof this one and convert it to run on Mach 3 or LinuxCNC

Spent a few weeks being massive daunted about the procedure but now think I may be getting my head around it

Have a machine with the Lenze 530 speed controller and Lenze motor.

from my very basic understanding, I will be looking to buy a break out board something like this (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mach3-Interface-CNC-5-Axis-motion-Controller-Breakout-Board-Router-Mill-Plasma/283139069422?hash=item41ec6755ee:g:FvYAAOSwfbpbjaJ E) and utilise the existing stepper motors and probably replace the controllers with something a bit more modern, no idea where to start with finding something suitable.

Thats as far as I am with my planning, but looking forward to getting amongst it and would welcome any advice.

[trenchardb]

Hi there, I’ve just done a tcl160 Mach 3 conversion. I used a gecko drive G540 and replaced the boxford electronics and drives, but used everything else including the lenze spindle drive, existing steppers (apart from the tool changer motor, which wasn’t working), limit switches and spindle sensor. I did replace the spindle encoder disc with a laser cut version with a single long slot. It was a pretty straightforward conversion, with just a couple of relay boards and some wiring. Let me know if you have any questions.