What 'decent' Milling machine?

[JohnHaine]

Look for denfordata on google to get the mill details as well as lots of info from people who have probably converted them to Mach 3 and / or modern drivers etc. for guidance I spent less than £200 on new drivers, a BoB and smps to get my Novamill working, using the original motors. All the electronics from China via eBay, 2m542 drivers. Psu is 36volt. There were no electronics at all with my mill so also had to use a KB electronics motor drive I already had, but you can use the one in the mill if it's working. Caution however, if it's a dc motor thyristor drive it is NOT isolated from the mains and you will need an isolating circuit to link the drive to your BoB.

[Chaz]

Thanks both. Good info to consider.

[Boyan Silyavski]

Or you could use:
-3 x Leadshine closed loop steppers 3nm around 200euro each kit shipped
-1 x PoKeys57CNC /still have not tested it but price and what offers seems unbeatable by any board/~150euro shipped

and for affordable price have a closed loop machine ethernet driven. thats what my calculator says , i spend all last night in similar doubts and researching options for quality versus price

PS. I found some new similar drives for around 160 so shipping could be combined like 3x160+50, which is even better. Not to speak of that understate the value is a must nowadays

[Chaz]

Or you could use:
-3 x Leadshine closed loop steppers 3nm around 200euro each kit shipped
-1 x PoKeys57CNC /still have not tested it but price and what offers seems unbeatable by any board/~150euro shipped

and for affordable price have a closed loop machine ethernet driven. thats what my calculator says , i spend all last night in similar doubts and researching options for quality versus price

PS. I found some new similar drives for around 160 so shipping could be combined like 3x160+50, which is even better. Not to speak of that understate the value is a must nowadays

Thanks. For closed loop, you need some form of encoder? How is this fit to the standard motors?

[Boyan Silyavski]

The motors come with encoders already. Its all in one, they call it Easy Servo. It seems on paper better than steppers, cause due to the precise control the steppers loose power at higher than normally RPM.

I would say with hand on my heart that IMO for metal working closed loop is a must. Not that steppers will not do it, but my mind feels easier that the machine is where i tell it to be :-)

[Chaz]

The motors come with encoders already. Its all in one, they call it Easy Servo. It seems on paper better than steppers, cause due to the precise control the steppers loose power at higher than normally RPM.

I would say with hand on my heart that IMO for metal working closed loop is a must. Not that steppers will not do it, but my mind feels easier that the machine is where i tell it to be :-)

Understood. Thanks.

Just found a Triac VMC that looks like a worthwhile project. Depends on the final price though.

[Jess]

Look for denfordata on google to get the mill details as well as lots of info from people who have probably converted them to Mach 3 and / or modern drivers etc.

Yes, everything should posted somewhere on Denford's forums; might need some digging though!

Caution however, if it's a dc motor thyristor drive it is NOT isolated from the mains and you will need an isolating circuit to link the drive to your BoB.

Given the simplicity of the circuit needed for this (in the common PWM output case, it's one opto-isolator, two resistors and a capacitor), I'd probably avoid a breakout board that has a non-isolated 0-10V spindle output on the basis that it's been overly cost-reduced.

[Chaz]

So, Ive bought a Denford Triac VNC. Ive not seen the machine yet (via ebay), hoping that it should be collected tomorrow and delivered to me early Saturday.

Will post up a new thread once I have it and I can start looking at retrofitting the older system with something newer.