Boxford TCL 125

**Clive S** · 11-09-2020

Originally Posted by John11668

Looks like email of manual pdf is not working .
Will try to copy electrical pages to a word doc and see if that is a better size to send. (Be after dinner though)

It worked for me 118 pages. Thanks

**John11668** · 11-09-2020

Sent a more brief version of the electrical content for what it is worth

**John11668** · 11-09-2020

Thanks for that Inee and to all that have helped me with this thank you too .
Manual doesnt help a lot , but I feel that interlocks and and spindle controls seem OK
Voltages at transformer seem good and seem OK at the board connectors, and all LEDs light up , but I wonder if I can follow supplies across the board.
Any suggestions on best way??

**inee** · 11-09-2020

Hi john
i sent the stepper driver datasheet across via email, hopefully it will help.

**John11668** · 11-09-2020

I suspect that juice is not getting to the drivers cos not a single one of them are working.
I am about to tackle the supplier about his so called "working machine" . They never checked it .
If I can get the price reduced sufficiently to cover the cost of some new kit then i think i will go for building a new board.
I havent yet checked to see where things seem to be breaking down but that is next step.

**inee** · 11-09-2020

John
the steppers lock up when lathe is powered, if so then some power is getting to the drives.

The dodgy wires under the top board were probably fitted by Boxford, i had a few on my original boards.
I would pick an axis button and check for continuity right back to the board, then check from the board connector back to the stepper drives.
Also check from the lower board.

**John11668** · 12-09-2020

Difficult to trace Inee!

It looks like there is a ring of black ground wires around most of the button switches , and each switch then has a signal wire at 10.6 volts dc.
I also presume that the motion is operated when each of those signal wires is grounded by pressing the button. All the wires seem to be supplied by the 34 wire ribbon connector which also connects to both Microprocessor (Bottom) board and to the feed regulator / potentiometer board on the back of the feed rate switch.

Difficult to follow the ribbon connections.

**JAZZCNC** · 13-09-2020

I wouldn't waste any time on it just gut it.!!
IME These things are like a box of chocolates and no two are ever the same and you don't know what's been messed or what works or doesn't unless you have seen it working.

Fit 2 x new drives run it on Linux CNC with a couple of parallel ports using £5 BOBS and away you go. Linux CNC is far better for lathe's than Mach3 as it allows multi-count encoders for things like spindle speed or MPG's.
Now I'm a long time Mach3 user and some would say fanboy, so for me to say Linux is better is like pulling teeth with pliers but it's a fact. Thou it's got a bit of a learning curve it will be the better option than Mach3 and much cheaper.

**John11668** · 13-09-2020

Originally Posted by JAZZCNC

I wouldn't waste any time on it just gut it.!!
IME These things are like a box of chocolates and no two are ever the same and you don't know what's been messed or what works or doesn't unless you have seen it working.

Fit 2 x new drives run it on Linux CNC with a couple of parallel ports using £5 BOBS and away you go. Linux CNC is far better for lathe's than Mach3 as it allows multi-count encoders for things like spindle speed or MPG's.
Now I'm a long time Mach3 user and some would say fanboy, so for me to say Linux is better is like pulling teeth with pliers but it's a fact. Thou it's got a bit of a learning curve it will be the better option than Mach3 and much cheaper.

Hi Jazz and thanks for that. (and to depronman )
I was sort of coming to that conclusion that I might need to start afresh, but from the diagrams it seems the spindle selection is run through the boards so just wanting to be sure that If I pitch the boards, I can arrange alternative signals for spindle forward / reverse , speed up , slow down.

Does Linux CNC run in a windows environment or do I have to install a linux operating system too?
Excuse the ignorance on this . My IT skills are limited .

**JAZZCNC** · 13-09-2020

Hi John,

Linux CNC using the Linux operating system. I would suggest you buy a cheap PC to run it on rather than dual booting with a windows PC.

I won't blow smoke and say straight off there is a bit of a learning curve to Linux CNC and I'm not an expert on it either so won't be much help, but it's got a very good Forum and there are a few Linux users on this forum, Clive S is the Linux CNc guru and if you go this route I'm sure he'll point you in the right direction.

Regards the Spindle controller then it will be simple enough to re-use, forward, and the reverse is done using Contacotors that are controlled with Outputs from the controller and the BOB will provide 0-10V signal required for speed control. This is standard stuff and nothing special or difficult to implement.

The only bit that will get more difficult is if you want to re-use the Jog buttons etc on the front panel rather than using from the screen. Well, it's not actually more difficult and easy enough to do but does mean you require more I/O so you might need a different board like a Mesa card which provides more I/O. But that would be the case no matter which controller you used.!

I suggest you go to the Linux CNC forum and have a look around. Linux CNC can get deep but it's infinitely scalable with the right Mesa cards and there are some very clever people who support it.!