CX601 Milling Machine

[Brian Rupnow]

So this is the electronics card being replaced. It wasn't the one at the rear of the control box, it was located on the inside/underside of the top of the control box. The new electronics card they sent me does match this one in the picture. according to the BusyBee technician, it should be pretty well a "plug and play" job, with no soldering required. These photos will be my record of what things looked like before I start pulling off wires and transferring them to the new card, one at a time.

 

[awake]

Brian, have you already pulled off one wire? I'm a bit concerned about that open connector in the second photo. I don't suppose the whole problem with the mill is as easy as that wire coming loose?

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Andy--I have looked at the old board under high magnification. While all the other tabs have scratch marks on them from the push on wire connectors, that one has no marks on it at all, and there are no disconnected wires anywhere in the control box. I don't think there was ever a wire on that terminal.

 

[awake]

Interesting. The plot thickens ...

 

[Brian Rupnow]

New board is installed, and still no cure. However, there is some good in this.--I now realize that I don't have to transport the entire mill to Toronto for Repairs. I only need to take the head with the motor on it. Am I disappointed?---Yes. Ah well, my hands and wrists are too buggered up with carpal tunnel to do much anyways. I've worked almost every day this winter on my mill and lathe, and if I have a few more days of downtime it isn't going to matter one way or the other.

 

[SirJohn]

Hello Brian, questions are a bit off topic but mill related. I am in the market for a mill and would like to know if you would buy another BusyBee Craftex mill considering all the recent problems you have encountered? I am debating between the 600 and 601 models because of the sizes and weights and the difficulty to move a mill into my basement shop. What are the short comings of the 600 vs. the 601? How difficult would it be to dismantle either model into smaller components that could be manhandle?

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I would buy another cx601 in a minute. it is a great mill. I've had mine 5 years, seeing almost daily use, and the only trouble I've had is the nylon gear and this electrical issue. It is very easy to separate the head of the mill from the base and column and just take the head in for repair work. (The entire head, spindle, and gearbox are held on with two large bolts.)

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I have taken the head completely off the machine and set it on my stool. It is very, very heavy, but nothing compared to the weight of the entire mill. Tomorrow I will probably bring in my cherry-picker hoist, move it from the stool to my two wheeled dolly, wheel it out to the garage and then lift it into my truck and take it to Toronto.

 

[deeferdog]

Brian,
Like you I have had that mill for over five years. Once I had the exact same problem as you. It turned out to be the brushes in the motor, might be worth a check. Cheers, Peter.

 

[BaronJ]

I agree with Peter, I have made and replaced the brushes in the motor a number of times because the motor has just stopped usually in the middle of a job.

Not only do the brushes wear, the springs also end up carrying the motor current and get hot then collapse allowing the brush to loose contact with the commutator. I would certainly check them first.

Don't rotate the brush when you take them out ! If you need to put them back in they must go back the same way they came out. I mark the top with a red marker pen. I've had new brushes that had a pigtail and it just pulled out of the carbon, so the springs had to carry all the motor current.

HTH.

 

[lucsimoneau]

Hi all,
Just wondering if any of you with this machine have done a CNC Conversion. I've been looking into this and would like to hear what others have had as experience. Maybe I should start a new thread. New on this forum.
Thanks

 

[ssaxer]

IF you go over to Blondiehacks" youtube page she has a video ( )where she repairs her Precision Matthews mill (look a lot like the CX) and had to fix a problem with the mill not running. Might offer some additional information.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

The head is in Toronto. Very little problem in loading it into my truck and driving it down and unloading. Takes me 1 hour to go one way. They will repair it and then ship it up to the Barrie sales outlet which is only 3 km from my house. I got home, had a hand full off papers in one hand with instructions on how to find the shop in Toronto, had a rolled up tarp in the other hand, and stepped out of my truck. My driveway is solid ice and I felt both feet starting to go. I cursed as loudly as I could, held on to my papers and tarp, and ended up flat on my back like an old turtle that someone had flipped over on it's back. I folded into the fall as well as I could, and other than a moment of sheer terror as I was in freefall seemed to be unharmed. So there I was, laying on my back, wet from ar$hole to eyeballs, rather shocked to say the least. After deciding that the only think harmed seemed to be my dignity, I scrambled around on my hands and knees retrieving all of my paperwork (which by this time had blown underneath the truck). Went into my house told my good wife I had a "great trip", and spent the remainder of the day setting on the couch and reading.

 

[BaronJ]

I agree with Peter, I have made and replaced the brushes in the motor a number of times because the motor has just stopped usually in the middle of a job.

Not only do the brushes wear, the springs also end up carrying the motor current and get hot then collapse allowing the brush to loose contact with the commutator. I would certainly check them first.

Don't rotate the brush when you take them out ! If you need to put them back in they must go back the same way they came out. I mark the top with a red marker pen. I've had new brushes that had a pigtail and it just pulled out of the carbon, so the springs had to carry all the motor current.

HTH.

Hi Guys,

Talk about coincidence, I've just done some maintenance on my my mill and what do you know the motor doesn't run any more.

Usual thing go straight for the brushes, this is what I found...

Worn almost to about two fifths of the length they should be.

The springs aren't much better ! Suffered from having to carry the motor current.

Still it is not a disaster. Dead easy to make some new brushes, that is if you can get some suitable carbon.

The brush on the left is the one that I got the carbon from, and the one on the right is the new brush ready to be cut in half to make a new pair.

Total cost about half an hour with a junior hacksaw and some 80 grit sandpaper.

The net result is that the motor is running nicely again !

 

[awake]

The head is in Toronto. Very little problem in loading it into my truck and driving it down and unloading. Takes me 1 hour to go one way. They will repair it and then ship it up to the Barrie sales outlet which is only 3 km from my house. I got home, had a hand full off papers in one hand with instructions on how to find the shop in Toronto, had a rolled up tarp in the other hand, and stepped out of my truck. My driveway is solid ice and I felt both feet starting to go. I cursed as loudly as I could, held on to my papers and tarp, and ended up flat on my back like an old turtle that someone had flipped over on it's back. I folded into the fall as well as I could, and other than a moment of sheer terror as I was in freefall seemed to be unharmed. So there I was, laying on my back, wet from ar$hole to eyeballs, rather shocked to say the least. After deciding that the only think harmed seemed to be my dignity, I scrambled around on my hands and knees retrieving all of my paperwork (which by this time had blown underneath the truck). Went into my house told my good wife I had a "great trip", and spent the remainder of the day setting on the couch and reading.

Brian, that was scary to read - surely far more scary to experience! So glad you escaped serious injury.

 

[SirJohn]

Had a similar experience in the church parking lot, thought I was on my to heaven or maybe hell. Went straight out flat on my back, no injury but spent the rest of the day in a chair too. So much for going to church, it is a lot safer in my shop.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I got the phone call from BusyBee in Toronto. The holder for the glass fuse which is located on the underside of the control box had failed internally. The technician said that he has never seen that happen before. I had the fuse out and examined it while I was trouble shooting the mill myself, but the fuse was okay. The mill will be shipped back to me on Thursday. I personally am not doing very well, as I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists and very bad arthritis in my knees. I'm off to see the doctor in about an hour.---Brian

 

[Shopgeezer]

I bought a pair of the slip on ice claws that posties use for our trips to the city. The ice in town is deadly. Not so bad here at the farm but we are supposed to be getting a big pile of wet snow and rain tonight. Sounds like a good shop day tomorrow.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

My old grandpa had a pair of those slip on "ice crampons". He wore them all the time when it was icy outside. I'm probably older now than he was, but if I end up on my arse again in the driveway, I'm going to buy a pair!!!

 

[Linz]

So, with the head dismounted and the back cover off the control panel---It looks like they may have sent me the wrong board. The one in the machine is considerably different from the one in my hand. EDIT-EDIT--a friend with the same machine as mine had his apart while changing it over to cnc controls. The control box has a second board setting underneath the top/inside of the control box which does match the board they sent me.

The board on the left is the line voltage filter and the board on the right is the motor speed control board. These along with the forward/reverse switch appear to be the same ones used in the CX-701 lathe.