Help! 4 axis contollers from ebay japan

Hi hope someone can help here; I was looking for a lathe for tinkering
with for small jobs; nothing fancy; anyway got the offer of a shesto cnc
lathe which ran on the old acorn bbc/b computer which I bought, I would like to upgrade it to a more uptodate pc so i can swap for a manual one. Cad ain't my thing.
I was looking at one of these 4 axis contollers from ebay japan; has anyone upgraded one of these old cnc machines and what is involved. What do you recommend I buy and which software do I use with it. I am a complete newbie to this so I apologise for my lack of knowledge in this dept.

Hi scotty,

Welcome to the forum. Have you got any pictures of the machine you've bought? I'm guessing that because you're thinking of upgrading it, that the BBC computer isn't working?

You need to work backwards from the motors. Steppers or servos? (steppers probably have 4 or 8 equally sized wires going to them, whereas servos will have 2 fatter wires and 4 or so much smaller wires).
The motor type decides what controller to buy. Which controller are you thinking of?
Once the controllers are decided you need to wire it up to a PC.
The PC then runs software like Mach3 (not free but well-documented), or EMC (free, and getting simpler by the day).

I hope this helps - it would be great to see some pics...

for info - pics of a shesto cnc lathe on ebay here, starting bid £80 with a reserve

scotty, why do you want to swap for a manual one? do you want/need something bigger? A CNC lathe can be driven manually and argueably is easier to use that way than a manual lathe...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by irving2008

for info - pics of a shesto cnc lathe on ebay here, starting bid £80 with a reserve

scotty, why do you want to swap for a manual one? do you want/need something bigger? A CNC lathe can be driven manually and argueably is easier to use that way than a manual lathe...

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Ha! ha! thats my lathe. I was looking for a manual one for small jobs
CAD/CAM I think is a bit much for me but it did not sell so I will upgrade it
and teach myself; I just got some autocad notes and software
I was quoted £290 for new boards and software from cde just wondered if there was a cheaper/better hadware and software alternative

Scotty,

Well assuming the steppers are OK, you'd need a suitable driver/interface package, which could be as little as £70 or as much as you'd lke to pay, and a PC running Windows/Mach3 or Linux/EMC...

So your first port of call is to determine what stepper motors are fitted...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by irving2008

Scotty,

Well assuming the steppers are OK, you'd need a suitable driver/interface package, which could be as little as £70 or as much as you'd lke to pay, and a PC running Windows/Mach3 or Linux/EMC...

So your first port of call is to determine what stepper motors are fitted...

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Thanks for the help what I know is spindlemotor varible speed dc
size md 7175

stepper hy200-3424--170a8

stepper hy200-2220-100a8

been advised that a CDE m401 controller and a step1motor card
should do the trick with free software being a newbie I am looking for
the best and easiest option here.

thanks
scotty

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by scotty

Thanks for the help what I know is spindlemotor varible speed dc
size md 7175

stepper hy200-3424--170a8

stepper hy200-2220-100a8

been advised that a CDE m401 controller and a step1motor card
should do the trick with free software being a newbie I am looking for
the best and easiest option here.

thanks
scotty

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From what I can find out, the 3234-170 is a Nema34 size 1.7A 1.7Nm motor, and the 2220-100 is 1A Nema23 0.7Nm size. These are old motors and might be worth considering replacing them eventually... but initially they would be OK. I've attached the data sheet..


Accordign to CDE's weboste the M401 is £200 and the two Step1 cards £50 each, so you are looking at £300 and these are 3.5A cards which are overkill for the motors you have - this assumes you can reuse the existing power supply. There are other options, and by way of example, a 2-axis System4 with 2.5A cards, including power supply (if needed) from DIYCNC.co.uk would be around £120 (£90 without), and the free version of MACH3 would do to learn on...

Ok ordered the new parts last week inc new power supply can't wait
to get started :yahoo:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scotty

Ok ordered the new parts last week inc new power supply can't wait
to get started :yahoo:

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what did you go for in the end?

Just as you advised:-
and thanks for all your help for pointing me in the right direction;

system 4 main board,
two 2.5a bipolar stepper motor drive cards,
a spindle control module card,
and power supply

I'm looking forward to the rewire and getting it up and running.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by scotty

Just as you advised:-
and thanks for all your help for pointing me in the right direction;

system 4 main board,
two 2.5a bipolar stepper motor drive cards,
a spindle control module card,
and power supply

I'm looking forward to the rewire and getting it up and running.

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Good luck and dont forget a buiild log and lots of pictures...

Well the parts arrived yesterday I have been hard at it
the photos are on there way everythings gettin there
just a few things am stuck with stepper motor wires each has 8
which do i use for the drive cards
orange and white/ black and white both pair joined
red and white/yellow and white both pair joined
black,red,orange,yellow.

also do I use the potentiometer wires black,red,blue
and below/ connected to the spindle motor there is an inductor
there are 4 wires here two large black,red the red runs into the inductor
and two small wires pink/white.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe001.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe003.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe012.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe014.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe017.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe019.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe020.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe021.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/lathe023.jpg

I have looked every where for info on this lathe can't get much
if anyone has a manual a copy would be most appreciated.

scotty

Just a wee update; I managed to get hold of a connect 121 manual and a mach3 tut printed version and I have saved it to usb. also I now have a fully working cnc lathe. Woo Hoo! and a big thanks to Irving for helping me out with lots of much needed info. The motor control card was busted so I ordered a new one and now we are now up and running. I just need to learn how to draw in cad and which software to get. I think if I can get into the swing of things I will keep it. Failing that it's going back on the bay and hopefully i will get a manual one.

well done Scotty, and thansk for the thanks :)

you can always drive the CNC lathe manually via MACH3... easier still with a pendant... here is a nice homebrew example but you can buy commercial ones...