Boxford 260 VMC rebuild

[mike-f]

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.