Starmill

Yes, you would need three of these circuits one for each drive, and no the breakout board does not give you this feature.

It's a simple circuit that you can pop on a small piece of veroboard and connect it between the breakout board and Parker stepper drives.

Componants for 4 boards orderered (1 spare) I'll get soldering when they arrive. Not quite sure how to connect up or what my next stage is though.

here's a link for the drives you have.

http://www.denfordata.com/bb/viewtop...1&hilit=parker

the only sticking point may be the spindle drive, as you'll need to find out what varies the speed and what enables the spindle. Normally there is a relay (SGR, spindle go relay) that enables the spindle, and an isolated 0-10v board that varies the speed.

I will have a look tommorow to see if I can identify which of these drives I have. Thanks for that. Phil

Attachment 3606Attachment 3605I have hard a good look at the circuits in Attachment 3604the back of the Starmill. I can't be certain but out of the two types of drive on that Denford link you posted, the sd range looks closest.
Attachment 3603 I have attached a few pics. On one of the motor boards- PKS Digiplan '87.

The Spindle board is- Jay Electrical DC speed control JE124/1 seriAttachment 3602al 98712407

The tool change psu 122ve.

I have received parts from Maplin to make buffer but haven't got a clue where to connect up. Phil.Attachment 3601

have a look at the end of the stepper drive boards and it will state what type they are, probably a cd20 or sd 20. Page 23 of the digiplan drive manual shows the pinout for the end connector, and pins 26 and 28 of row c are the dir and clock positions. You'll need to find the wiring that feeds these signals into the drives and isolate them from the main board, then it's simply a matter of putting the buffer board between the breakout boards output and these points

with the spindle board, do the red orange and brown wires go to a pot for varying the speed.