Denford Triac Spindle control / ATC

**andy_con** · 22-06-2016

both my denford machines with sprint drive cards use the v4 board

**John S** · 22-06-2016

We helped introduce and develop this board when Roy ran the company.
It was done for the Sieg X3 machines that had mains voltage on the spindle side of the board.
The original board was the V3, later to become the V4 that had an optional 2 relays fitted.

All these boards are isolated by means of a DC to DC converter.
The manual for the V4 is still on the web.

www.diycnc.co.uk/forms/spindleV4.pdf

One thing to note:

On the V4 Roy made a bad choice when he chose the DC to DC converter in that he chose one with a low amperage. This showed itself when we built a control box that was 6' away from the machine for a disabled user and speed just didn't work.
We found out that if the DC to DC unit was replaced with a higher amperage the problem went away. Ironically the 2 amp unit was cheaper than the 1 amp unit.

This was reported to Roy but ignored.
Together with some other problems it's one reason we stopped buying his boards.

**rrossetti** · 19-07-2016

hi
im rob i now own diycnc
im always open to sugestions to improving products
cheers rob

**battwell** · 24-01-2018

Originally Posted by rrossetti

hi
im rob i now own diycnc
im always open to sugestions to improving products
cheers rob

do you have any version 5 boards available?

**RocketBoy** · 22-06-2016

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the advice so far. I'm poor in money and time so I'm going to have to break this down into smaller chunks. So I'll concentrate on the spindle drive and control and get a V5 card. Can you tell me what you used for the spindle encoder, did you buy this or make it? Any pictures you could send me please?

I do have a few more questions regarding the spindle, I've watched a few videos on YouTube of the ATC mechanism working. it looks like the spindle is positioned and locked in place, is there a mechanism within the motor spindle assembly that clicks in to do this? Or is aligned with the slot on the encoder and then motor braking is applied?

Do I need to have any more inputs to the Sprint card such as breaking and the Taco? Lastly I have a temperature sensor wired in the spindle motor, does this do anything, do I need to use it?

Cheers

Mike

**andy_con** · 23-06-2016

spindle encoder? do you mean rpm feedback into mach?

the spindle doesn't affect the atc in any way. the z needs to be at the correct height so the atc disk can collect the tool, that's it.

I don't use any temp sensors

Originally Posted by RocketBoy

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the advice so far. I'm poor in money and time so I'm going to have to break this down into smaller chunks. So I'll concentrate on the spindle drive and control and get a V5 card. Can you tell me what you used for the spindle encoder, did you buy this or make it? Any pictures you could send me please?

I do have a few more questions regarding the spindle, I've watched a few videos on YouTube of the ATC mechanism working. it looks like the spindle is positioned and locked in place, is there a mechanism within the motor spindle assembly that clicks in to do this? Or is aligned with the slot on the encoder and then motor braking is applied?

Do I need to have any more inputs to the Sprint card such as breaking and the Taco? Lastly I have a temperature sensor wired in the spindle motor, does this do anything, do I need to use it?

Cheers

Mike

**Chaz** · 24-06-2016

Originally Posted by andy_con

spindle encoder? do you mean rpm feedback into mach?

the spindle doesn't affect the atc in any way. the z needs to be at the correct height so the atc disk can collect the tool, that's it.

I don't use any temp sensors

Ive done a Denford Triac mod to a CS Labs unit. I can help answer a few questions.

1. The spindle drive needs to be isolated. A new sprint 1220i drive is around £250.
2. The ATC needs that Z is set roughly at Z + 30 from home. This is set for me via my macro for M6 in Mach 3.

**andy_con** · 24-06-2016

You do not need a new sprint card, ignore that advice. You just need to use a v4 or v5 board, they work perfectly

**RocketBoy** · 05-07-2016

Gents,

Been away for a while, just catching up now. Thanks for all the input been very useful, especially Andy. Think I have enough to be getting on with now, sure I will have more questions down the line.

Mike