[MarcusHMM]

Well glad to have found this sight on the recommendation of Rodney. I bought his old HF mill and am restoring the CNC setup he had on it. Being a "nube" please bear with me while i try to explain what I am trying to do.

However I also have some other needs and the Gecko 202 drives and breakout board will hopefully be doing double duty.

I would like to automate some drilling of some fiberglass and Lexan enclosures that we use for our product. We manufacture lightning siren and warning systems for golf courses and recreation areas. We use about 500 to 600 Hammond enclosures and they all have to be drilled by hand. We use a step bit, a pneumatic clamp and a Craftsman drill press to drill the enclosures by hand now. 3 of the four sides need to be drilled and all 3 sides are different. We mark the spots to drill and then use the step bit at varying depths to get the size hole we need. From 1/8 hole for #10 self tapping screws to a full 1/2" for bulk head fittings and LED displays. And a few holes sizes in between for antennas and brackets.

With the mill I got 3 Gecko 202 drivers, and a C11 Multifunction CNC Board. We have the needed power supplies etc. for setting the Mill up.

I want to set up the system to do double duty on the Mill for heavy jobs and also on a drill press for the simple drilling that we do. If it works like I hope I may invest in another set of drivers and break-out board just to run the drill press.

In addition I have acquired in the past a positioning table with some Compumotor driven X,Y drives. I do not believe they are step motors, but I cannot get a model number to verify that. The mounts appear to be the same as Nema 23 step motor mounts.

So what I want to do is put 2 Nema 23 step motors on the positioning table, and then also a step motor for the drill press to control the drilling motion. That may require a Nema 34 or whatever some more knowledgeable people here tell me to do. I have attached pictures of the positioning table and also the drill press we will use.

Now my questions are :

What step motor setup do I need to drive the drill head ?

How do I mount the step motor and screw drive to move the chuck and drill and is it a DIY or is there a kit or parts that I can buy to adapt to the drill press?

What size Nema 23 should I get for the positioning table?
The pneumatic clamping fixture and fiberglass enclosure weigh about 15 pounds sitting on the positioning table. The positioning table will be just to move the enclosure to the proper location for drilling and not for milling.

I will be using Mach3 for the control of the system. My plan is to have 1 large multi-pin plug for each machine and just move the system to the drill press or mill when we are using them.

So let the games begin and tell me I am:

A) Crazy and in need of help.:rainfro:
B) Stupid idea but it can be made to work.
C) Workable but a PITA set up to save a few bucks
D) Brilliant and should be hired to solve all the problems in Washington

Where do I go to get the stuff I need and who do I talk to that has done anything similar in the past? And thanks for all the help in advance.

Marcus
Rochester NY