What may be the best way to convert my Denford compact router to mach 3?

[cropwell]

The more I look at this, the more convinced I am that it is easier to go the conventional route with motor drivers and a BoB, control relays for coolant and spindle and proximity sensors for the home switching. Shame that such expensive and robust electronics will probably go to waste.
Thanks m_c for the info. It is good to be aware of the problems if buying a surplus Denford machine.

[suesi34e]

Hi guys,

Hope the w-end is going well for you all.

Re the BOB for my little Denford micro router how would the one in the link do. I guess m_c may have an idea which would be great.

NEW 4 Axis TB6560 Stepper Motor Driver Board Controller + DEMO Mach3 + DB25 Cabl | eBay

Anyhow happy machining all the best and thanks in advance for any help

suesi

[cropwell]

Suggest you search the posts for TB6560. It seems that the TB6560 is well discussed (with disgust). Apparently not a good choice it seems. Why are they all over eBay ?

[m_c]

3 individual stepper drives, combined with a good BOB would be a far better option.
Recommendations would depend on budget, and if you wanted to keep the 24V logic, or swap to 5V.

Personally, I'd go for 24V as it's far more noise tolerant, however it does come at a price premium.

[suesi34e]

Hi m_c many thanks for your view. I would like to do what you would do and go the 24V route. My steppers are 3 amps. If you come accross a BOB and drivers that you think would be good it would be great to know what they are and a guide on price that is a reasonable price to pay.

All the best

suesi

[JAZZCNC]

The CSMIO/IP-M is a great bit of kit for motion control I use them all the time.
It's got 24V I/O, 2 x anologue 0-10v outputs for spindle control or feed rate via a pot at same time or any other thing that needs 0-10V, plenty of I/O's.
Best if all Doesn't require a BOB so takes another level of complexity and general pain in the arse away and mounts neatly on Din rail with very good termninal connections.
The quality of the CSlabs stuff is brilliant and you can really see it's been designed for industrial use, the software plug-in for Mach3 is first rate and they give regular updates if needed, which are not because it just works like it says on the tin.!! . . . 10/10 in my book.

Connect some Lead shine EM503 digital drives to it and you'll have a cracking system. (or slightly cheaper DM442 drives if on a budget)

[suesi34e]

Hi JAZZCNC, thank you and wow this sounds good I havedownloaded the PDF manual. It is a comfort that you are so complimentary of thecontrol, it takes away the BOB and that it takes away the pain in the arseelement. I wonder just how easy or tricky it would be for a novice to set it upfor my router with all the other components in the back of the machine! Not toooften I here you say such good things about a product.
Thanks again
suesi

[JAZZCNC]

The controller it's self is not difficult to setup at all even for a novice, thou it must be wired correctly otherwise it can be damaged just like any other device incorrectly wired.
As to connecting to your existing hardware then I don't know enough about your machine to comment. If just a case of Outputs to control things on/off and inputs to monitor things then I doubt you'll have a problem because the CSMIO uses 24V I/O's which are common on many bespoke control systems.
CSMIO range of controls are often used to retrofit large industrial machines, both lathe and milling/routers. The IP-M being the baby and only 4 axis with reduced features, with IP-S being the Daddy for Step/dir control and the IP-A being the Grandaddy for Older anologue machines so if you have any chance at all these will give you it I'm sure.

Regardes the new drives and connecting then that is simple. If your wanting to use the existing drives then you'd need to check out what they require. Thou I suspect you'll get much better performance and easier conversion if you upgrade the drives.

[m_c]

If your wanting to use the existing drives then you'd need to check out what they require. Thou I suspect you'll get much better performance and easier conversion if you upgrade the drives.

The existing drivers are built into what is essentially the Next-Step BOB. The Next-Step control board itself sits above and is connected by two large pin headers to a connection board with three stepper drivers and required power supplies built in. You can use the existing drivers by simply patching into the pin headers, but they're pretty basic drivers, although they're good enough for the machines they're fitted to. You will get better performance by fitting new drives though.

[suesi34e]

Hi m_c

Thanks ever so much for having a look at the wiring diagrams for me and goinginto so much detail. You have been a big help to me and the good news is I amnot bothered about the lock on the door so I may bypass that. If I understandwhat your saying it is that I can use all of the hardware in the machinewithout the need of the control box by patching some wires into the pinheaders.

Thanks ever so much for all the help

Kind regards

suesi