Help! Boxford 125 TCL CNC lathe

Hi folks, new to all this.

Firstly, I am an Engineering teacher in a school in Cork, Ireland. I have only recently began working in the school and I am currently sorting, tidying and just trying to improve what equipment is here.

My problem is with a Boxford 125 TCL CNC lathe. It is currently not working; It is not plugged in, not connected to a computer, nothing - it is simply gathering dust. The previous teacher has retired and anyone here in the department cannot remember it working for at least 10 years, possibly longer (your guess is as good as mine....)

I have searched everywhere in the room for documentation on it and I haven't found anything. I understand that I will have to spend money on it, but I'm not sure what sort of a budget will be available to me.

To be honest, I haven't a clue where to start or what to do with it, but I want to sort it out.

Any advice is greatly appreciated guys.

Kev

Hi 'sir' (pun on teacher)

Ok, I am new to this, but have read a lot in the past few weeks and I do not doubt I will be corrected if I am wrong. But I believe the most simple thing you can do is 'convert' it. Think im right in thinking the native Boxford equiptment used BBC micro's. which im sure you will agree are long since any use to man or beast.

Most of the home made CNC routers / millers etc you see on here and on youtube, are done with components that make up the automation side of the cnc, essentially you buy some stepper motors mount them to the machine. you then buy a controller for each stepper, and a suitable power supply. you then connect these 'controllers' to a break-out board and the break-out board is compatable with most of the reasonably cheap CAD/CAM software available in the modern internet age. Mach3 is a common tool used to control the machine and will take DXF files staight from autocad etc.

perhaps something like this
http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/en/s...hree-axis.html

a mach3 licence.

and some tinkering to connect the steppers to the axis drivescrews and jobs a good-un. Have a look on you-tube there are loads of videos of boxford conversions.

so in answer to your question sub £500 (or whatever that is in euros). Good project for the kids!!

here some related links from a quick google

boxford 125 tlc | Model Engineer
http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/machin...-software.html

remember, dont take anything ive said as gospel. do some research and keep us posted with your plans.

Matt

So do you get anything at all if you do try plugging it in? There are a few posts on here about the machines if you try a search but most of them will relate to converting them to run with more up to date electronics, something that your budget might not stretch to.
Some of the other forums have info on the machines so worth trying them as well.

Best of luck with it, shame to see it just sit there gathering dust.

This guy might have manuals etc as hes selling one on ebay Link you could try to contact him and ask if he has the manuals and if he could photo copy them for you? :smug:

Boxford 125 TCL Training Computer lathe

The 125 is a bench top slant bed CNC training lathe. It is the ideal machine for introducing CNC to students or for use in workshops

Compact and portable it cuts steel

This Machine can be operated in manual mode without the computer.

Lathe Specifications and capabilties:


Swing over bed (single point tooling) dia 160mm x 125mm
Swing over X Axis slide dia 70mm x 125mm
Swing over gang tooling sub plate dia 50mm x 125mm
Programmable spindle speeds 40 to 3000rpm
Main drive moter 0.44kW
Programmable feed rates 1 to 300mm/min (04 to 12''/min.)
Rapid traverse rate (100%) 350mm
Programmable thread pitches (inch and metric)
Tailstock - swinging body arrangement to clear multiple tooling set ups, in simulated chucking cycles
Axis drive system - pre-loaded ball screws and stepping motors in both X and Z Axis.
Lubrication - permanent grease on spindle and ball screws - oil lubricators on slides

ok, this is an ideal lathe to convert to Mach3, which is a pc based controller.

Inside the Boxford 125 you'll have 2 stepper drives, a spindle drive, a power supply, and a motherboard.
It may look a bit more complicated than that, but that's basically what you have.
What you need to get to allow a computer with Mach3 installed on it to operate the Lathe is:

1. A breakout board - to interface the computer to the lathe
2. A 0-10v isolated spindle drive board - to interface the breakout board to the spindle drive
3. You may need some form of level shifter to allow the breakout board (5v logic) to control the stepper drivers (12v logic)

That's about it, you ditch the old boxford controller and wire in the items above.

Oh yes i nearly forgot, a lot of patience.

When the machine is plugged in, I have power but no control manually-cannot run the spindle, cannot use the jog keys to move the axes etc.....a few lights are coming on alright. I have since found out that the machine was bought in 1986/1987 and ran on the old 5inch floppys. Computer has long since been thrown out, and all documents and floppys too!

Thanks for the advice guys I'll go with this much and see first! Much appreciated! :)

check the estop is not in, i think the older 125s may not run manually without the original computer connected. Check if the steppers are being energised, they should clunk when the machine is turned on and be hard to turn by hand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kingcreaky

Hi 'sir' (pun on teacher)

Ok, I am new to this, but have read a lot in the past few weeks and I do not doubt I will be corrected if I am wrong. But I believe the most simple thing you can do is 'convert' it. Think im right in thinking the native Boxford equiptment used BBC micro's. which im sure you will agree are long since any use to man or beast.Matt

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If it is of any use to you, I have a BBC computer that you could have. However, I suggest throwing the electronics in the bin and rebuilding with a Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone, or arduino as the controller. There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to do it, and I am sure that someone has already done something similar. I recently bought a co-ordinate measuring system which I intend to convert for 3D printing, with a working volume of about 1.5m^3.

Is there a prize for thread resurrection - this has been dormant for the best part of 8 years.

:-S. me culpable

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cropwell

Is there a prize for thread resurrection - this has been dormant for the best part of 8 years.

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Probably not, but there should be ;-)

Well, I was reading avidly until the thread stopped! lol.

I would like to resurrect this fine thread just one more time, if you folks could lend some wisdom

I have a Boxford 125 TCL with Mach 3 and I am struggling to get the spindle to rotate. The X and Z axis’ are working as they should but the spindle is not turning at all

I’ve scoured the web for a few days and haven’t managed to find any remedy. I believe it could be down to incorrect parameters within:

Ports and Pins > Spindle Setup
Ports and Pins > Motor Outputs (“Spindle”)

I have taken the back off the lathe and traced the motor cables hoping to find trace it to a numbered port on a circuitboard but it seems a bit more complicated than that. I haven’t got a clue how the spindle’s motor is controlled and if the parameters are correct (likely not)

As you can probably tell I’m a complete novice with these builds/setups. If anybody could point me in the direction of basics to check on the machine itself and in the parameters it would be a huge help

Thanks, Repro

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reprobus

I would like to resurrect this fine thread just one more time, if you folks could lend some wisdom

I have a Boxford 125 TCL with Mach 3 and I am struggling to get the spindle to rotate. The X and Z axis’ are working as they should but the spindle is not turning at all

I’ve scoured the web for a few days and haven’t managed to find any remedy. I believe it could be down to incorrect parameters within:

Ports and Pins > Spindle Setup
Ports and Pins > Motor Outputs (“Spindle”)

I have taken the back off the lathe and traced the motor cables hoping to find trace it to a numbered port on a circuitboard but it seems a bit more complicated than that. I haven’t got a clue how the spindle’s motor is controlled and if the parameters are correct (likely not)

As you can probably tell I’m a complete novice with these builds/setups. If anybody could point me in the direction of basics to check on the machine itself and in the parameters it would be a huge help

Thanks, Repro

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Really Repro you need to start a new thread.
Lots of us have been through the mill with a TCL and I have some useful info and indeed have had some hard knocks experience , but better to start afresh than to tag onto this nine year old thread .
Lots of guys with legitimate experience could be passing it by for that reason alone .

Yes please ! Start a new thread with lots of clear pictures and screen shots.

Thank you both for your replies. I will try to make a post tonight with a rundown of my machine and my Mach3 settings

I spent all weekend trying to get the spindle rotating and didn’t get anywhere, but I’m sure it’ll be down to something relatively simple

Either way I’m looking forward to learning more about my machine and how it operates

Thanks, Repro

I’ve created a post as requested :)

Many thanks

http://www.mycncuk.com/threads/14802...729#post126729