Boxford 260 VMC rebuild

Well, folks, It's there—just a few odds and sods left to sort: reassembly, wiring, setup, cobbling together a 4th axis, and the small matter of squeezing this beast into my gloriously cluttered workshop. Wish me luck!
For the controller and electronics, I stuck with tried and tested stuff I have used before. I plumped for the ever-reliable CNC Drive UC300ETH motion controller—used the USB version before and loved it. It’s got bags of inputs and outputs, plus those handy dual analogue inputs for SRO and FRO. For stepper drives, I went with ANGEEK DM556s. At a wallet-busting £8.99 each (including next-day delivery, no less!), they’re an absolute steal. I’ve used these drives before, and they’ve never let me down, so why splash out on pricier kit?
The spindle drive was a bit of a saga. I had a nice Parker Compax3 with an AC servo motor just waiting to be used. I was aiming for spindle reversal and maybe rigid tapping down the line. Sounds simple, right? Not quite. The drive only plays nice with a limited set of inputs: ±10V, open-ended 24V step and direction, or 5V differential. I faffed about for ages trying to get the first two methods to work, but clean input signals were as elusive as a sunny bank holiday. In desperation, I tried driving the 5V differential inputs with 5v open-ended drive signals, despite the manufacturer insisting it was impossible. Lo and behold, it worked! Take that, naysayers. To bridge the gap between the UC300ETH and the drive, I used a couple of dirt-cheap 5-axis breakout boards off eBay.
My one cock-up? Mounting all the control and breakout components behind the control panel. Seemed like a great idea at the time, but it’s now tighter than a sardine tin back there. Lesson learned. On the plus side, I’ve kept the high-voltage, noisy stuff tucked away in the rear of the cabinet, with the spindle drive well clear of the stepper drives to avoid any electrical tantrums.
I just have to get all the heavy bits into the cabinet without serious injury!
A few pictures of the work below.


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Looking really good Mike, I'm going to take a punt and say you've done similar work before :thumsup:

That looks a great build, Did you spray the Cabinet with a HVLP gun or cans ?.Im just prepping a Lathe I brought a while ago and about to start painting I have been torn with spraying for a nice job or brush for a thicker and quicker job.

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Originally Posted by Lee Roberts

Looking really good Mike, I'm going to take a punt and say you've done similar work before :thumsup:

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Thanks Lee, I have had a bit of experience but never had to do so much to a machine. The last was a Boxford 240 CNC lathe but it was in pretty good condition so just needed all the electrics and spindle drive etc.

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Originally Posted by grain_r

That looks a great build, Did you spray the Cabinet with a HVLP gun or cans ?.Im just prepping a Lathe I brought a while ago and about to start painting I have been torn with spraying for a nice job or brush for a thicker and quicker job.

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I used Rust-oleum hard hat top coat, it is fantastic paint. I was originally going to get the cabinet shot blasted and powered coated, but quotes seemed a bit crazy so rattle cans it was. The problem with Boxfords is that the original paint is rubbish so moisture gets underneath and you really need to strip it all off or not bother.

Due to the cramped nature of my workshop, I decided to assemble the machine in situ. After manhandling the lighter VMC 190 out the door, I brought in the main cabinet body and rear section and got them assembled. Next, I installed the rear electrical panel, servo drive, and most of the wiring, along with the connector for the 4th axis. At this stage, the machine was still light enough to rotate on its stand, making it easy to work on from the front or back.
Once I had the stepper motors moving and the spindle motor running, it was time to fit the heavy bits. The Y-axis base bolts to the column with a bunch of M6 cap screws. Interestingly, when I disassembled the machine, about half of these weren’t even hand-tight! I made sure to tighten them properly this time and used thread lock to ensure they’d never come loose again.
Unfortunately, the resulting assembly was way too heavy for me to lift into place without risking scratches to the paint. What I did next probably shouldn’t be tried at home. I built a bridge using an 8mm-thick high-tensile aluminium plate from the bench to the machine cabinet—100% totally safe, of course! The column assembly was then carefully slid across this makeshift bridge and into place within the cabinet. It was pretty much open road from here, with the column assembly bolted into place and sealed with clear silicone, the other parts could be added and tested. Pictures hopefully below:

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https://youtu.be/iGHta-OQH7E

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Wow, mate, cracking job you’ve done!.

Really enjoyed reading through this latest post, lol proper workshop thinking all the way. The bit about the bridge solution made me smile...the classic “getting done” ingenuity!

Loved the fact you admitted it probably shouldn’t be tried at home, definitely earns extra bonus points for that :yahoo:

You’ve clearly put a lot of time and effort into this rebuild and it shows, sorting the electricals and wiring, that M6 cap screws was a good catch.

You’ve gone above and beyond to make sure this machine is built better than it probably ever was...NICE!

I'm currently sat nursing a total right knee replacement, So enjoying as much content as I can get at the moment, thanks for sharing the pictures and video, it’s always a right buzz when/seeing the machine come to life and make those first cuts isnt it, are you happy with the outcome ?

Hope you’ll keep the thread updated as you start to put it to work and look forward to the next set of action videos, I reckon others here will find it just as inspiring (and reassuring!) to see what’s possible with a bit of patience and a solid plan.

Top work :beer:

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Originally Posted by Lee Roberts

Wow, mate, cracking job you’ve done!.

Really enjoyed reading through this latest post, lol proper workshop thinking all the way. The bit about the bridge solution made me smile...the classic “getting done” ingenuity!

Loved the fact you admitted it probably shouldn’t be tried at home, definitely earns extra bonus points for that :yahoo:

You’ve clearly put a lot of time and effort into this rebuild and it shows, sorting the electricals and wiring, that M6 cap screws was a good catch.

You’ve gone above and beyond to make sure this machine is built better than it probably ever was...NICE!

I'm currently sat nursing a total right knee replacement, So enjoying as much content as I can get at the moment, thanks for sharing the pictures and video, it’s always a right buzz when/seeing the machine come to life and make those first cuts isnt it, are you happy with the outcome ?

Hope you’ll keep the thread updated as you start to put it to work and look forward to the next set of action videos, I reckon others here will find it just as inspiring (and reassuring!) to see what’s possible with a bit of patience and a solid plan.

Top work :beer:

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Thank you for your kind comments, I did do a bit more while I was distracted from my main project (Fairbanks Morse 15hp Model N ) https://www.smokstak.com/forum/threa...-model.228112/

One last thing on my list was converting an RDG Tools HV4 rotary table to a 4th axis. I recycled the stepper motor that originally drove the tool carousel to power the 4th axis. I had already installed a socket and stepper drive for this purpose. A word of warning: if you’re considering buying an RDG Tools HV4 or similar £100 rotary table, DON’T—they’re rubbish! I wasn’t expecting much, but it was about 50% worse than I anticipated. Apparently, Vertex Taiwanese HV4 tables are far superior to the poor-quality Chinese ones sold by RDG Tools. The main issues with the HV4 I used were significant. The 3 Morse taper bore was a good fit on a Morse taper sleeve but was nearly 0.5mm out of true—yes, half a millimetre! Additionally, every single part had burrs and work-holding damage from chuck jaws, etc. I couldn’t be bothered to send it back, and honestly, I enjoy tackling a basket case! So, I re-machined nearly everything the manufacturer had messed up, spent time deburring, and ensured the worm gear was mounted accurately. With some care and running in, I managed to get it running mostly true with minimal backlash. I designed a 3D-printed belt housing and motor mount. The main motor mount was commercially 3D-printed in nylon, while I printed the other parts in ABS. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many pictures during the build, but here are a few of the finished unit.

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https://youtu.be/9nvm8AGoWtM?si=ZMLrr24wV4OiMYdX

So that pretty much completes the rebuild, hopefully the machine will have a new lease of life and has been saved from the scrap man for now. I am at present trying really hard not to make a BT30 spindle for the machine although the current spindle is OK and works pretty well as it is, I think a BT30 spindle would more rigid than the Easy change tool holders and the BT30 toolholders are so much cheaper than the Easy change ones. Should I or should I just stick with what I have ??

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Wow, that’s a cracking bit of work, mate!

I really enjoyed reading through it, the attention to detail you’ve put in is good to see Mike, as are the renders and models you shared. It all looks brilliant!

You’ve clearly poured some serious time and effort into making it right. Fair play for not chucking the HV4 in the bin and calling it a day. The fact you took something that far out and brought it back into usable spec speaks volumes. I really like the belt drive design too, it’s tidy!

So many things folks can do now with 3DP being so widely available. I like that you went for a pro print where it counted; that was a smart move for this sort of job. It’s the kind of thing that looks deceptively simple on the surface but takes a load of thinking and fettling to get just right, so well done.

Definitely appreciate you sharing this, it’s builds like this that remind me why I love this place and the people in it. Can’t wait to see what you do next (and I’ll be having a proper nosey at that Fairbanks Morse thread later!)...

Edit: Bit late now maybe, but you could always post that up here as a build log too.

Thank you Lee for your kinds words, its nice to be able to share the results and I just hope it encourages others to have a go. I am trying to work up the enthusiasm to start work on the spindle as I feel the Easy change holder is the weak point on the machine. I have the EN24T ready, just need to make a start!