Advice on conversion kit

[Pete92]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nema23-St...107&pid=100015&prg=1006&rk=1&sd=121122775108&

Could some people give me there views on this kit? I am planning on converting my Mill to cnc control.

I am more used to programming CNC machines than building them. I guess I need a fairly powerful motor and power system. Would this one do?

Cheers,

Pete

 

[Herbiev]

Assuming you have a Bridgeport mill and have done the ball screw conversions I would go for something a bit more powerful.

 

[Pete92]

I have a SPG tools SPG9525. Currently having a few spindle issues with it, which I have in another thread.

My plan is to just fit the control for now. then later on convert to ball screws.

Any other kits people could recomend?

Cheers,

Pete

 

[rcfreak177]

Pete,

The kit you are looking at will be ample for the mill you have.
If you wire the steppers in parallel you will get 439 oz inch of torque, even directly driven to the screw that will provide enough grunt to stall the spindle, not that you would want to.

One thing to keep in mind though the breakout board is a typical made in China type, there are good and bad reports on them.

personally I would be looking at CNC4PC for the breakout board, Gecko for some G251X drives and then Ebay for steppers and power supply.

I have done several CNC conversions and only use Gecko drives and quality breakout boards, these items are the most important part of a conversion as they handle all the signal's to and from your pc.

Edit: Here you go, here is a bit of info to help you get your head around it all.
http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCBreakoutBoards.htm

If you need a hand or questions there are a heap of us here that have done conversions and can help you out.

Baz.

 

[rcfreak177]

Here is another option that would definitely give you a reliable system and ease of setup.

http://www.geckodrive.com/geckodrive-step-motor-drives/g540.html

Simply add motors, power supply and a pc with Mach3, then modify your machine for the motors.

 

[Pete92]

Cheers for all the help,

Any motor or power supply you would recomend?

 

[rcfreak177]

These motors should be ample,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Stepper...ial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item19de580fe5


I have used these with great success, still only an el cheapo but seem to last the test of time.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-350W-..._Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item51a0fbec33

I have tried to find stuff that is relatively local to you in this post, if you shop around a bit you probably will save a bit.

 

[Pete92]

Cheers for all the help, hopefully I will sort the machine out this week then start looking into this seriously.

Is it simple enough to wire in? And then is it as simple as plugging a computer with Mach3 software in?

 

[rcfreak177]

Yeah fairly easy,

The G540 driver comes with detailed instructions available online, you will need to wire the motors to DB9 plugs for the G540, the power supply will need to be wired to suit the AC supply for your shed with a plug obviously and also the 48v DC then wires to the G540 directly.

Mach 3 communicates through the DB25 (printer port) of your desktop, that bit is real easy with a pre made cable, an emergency stop is crucial, can be wired direct to the G540.

Once that is done the ports and pins need to be configured in Mach3, that info is in the manual, it's pretty easy.

G540 manual,
http://www.geckodrive.com/images/cms_files/images/G540 REV8 Manual.pdf

 

[Pete92]

Thankyou very much for your help.

When you do your conversions do you change the screws to ball screws? Or just leave them as standard?

Cheers,

Pete