Noob - Helping friend use CNC router.

Hi, I am new to this.
Couple of questions for the you guys. This forum is awesome and I have learned a lot from reading.

I am a computer geek.I took a class on CNC programming using Mastercam a long time ago. That's about all I know.

My friend used to work with a guy that programmed his CNC router. That guy is gone, so he asked me to help out, said the thing is collecting dust. I am helping him for free, cause he is a good guy and CNCs have always interested me.

The Router is a:
Digital Tool Inc. Model DR 903-1
9/22/93 dated
with Anaheim Automation Controls

Right now it is connected to an old 386, or 286, pc with what appears to be 2 parallel cards connected through a controller. Does this make sense? I want to bring him in to the future if I can. He was given a decent machine P4 3ghz 1gb ram. Can I locate and purchase 2 pci parallel cards and connect the CNC to that? On the 386 he can still run his programs. He runs a program then types the name of the program and then types MOTOR to send it to the CNC. I have read here about Mach3 would this be a substitute for this program? Also any recommendations on PCI Parallel card, if I can do this?
Found a link to this in a thread...
Newegg.com - Rosewill 2 port Parallel (SPP/PS2/EPP/ECP) Universal PCI card Model RC-304
still the one to buy? just one?

Next question. My friend has explained that his router will not do any "absolute" values and can only use "incremental." He remembers his partner used to convert the code to incremental. If true, is that a limitation of the controller or the software used to control it, so if we bought Mach3 would that now overcome that issue?

Lastly, what would you recommend for a good software for CAD-CAM? I think he said they used to use BOBCAD-CAM? That seems over his price range, anything more affordable that you guys would recommend? I liked MasterCam but I believe that is pricy as well.

THANKS! I really appreciate any input!
RandEE

Just in case someone has a similar problem.

I I used Mach3 to get it working and it worked perfectly. I just had to find the pinout and then rewire it so that the pinout was in a range of wires that Mach3 could use. I used that rosewill card and that worked fine.

Any other questions just ask and I will try to help.

Hi,

I wanted to see if you were able to find anything on this machine? I recently purchased the same one. Thanks,

Hi there,

The machine worked pretty decently until a stepper went out. My friend got new steppers and controllers for it. He just recently passed away, but I think it's still working.
My friend's table was really rough and that played into some issues with Z accuracy. Hopefully, yours has a nice steel table. I have kept my eyes on them on craigslist/ebay, I saw a really nice one go for about $3500 and really wished I would have got it. They aren't too difficult to retrofit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Angelok

Hi,

I wanted to see if you were able to find anything on this machine? I recently purchased the same one. Thanks,

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I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. Mine does have a nice steel table so I'm thinking / hoping it just needs some TLC. i'll let you know how it goes.

Thank you

I am sure it's worth it, they are great machines. Send some pics if you have a chance, be neat to see how they are different;y configured.
Let me know if I can help, I know the guy who operates it now, I can probably get some scans of the manual if need be. We used the same steppers/gears so the steps per inch from the manual was accurate. We made signs, tables, and cabinetry. It was a fun machine!

A manual would be great!! I've attached a picture. We painted it blue, it was gray when we got it. It needed a new table so I thought that would be a good time to clean it up a bit.

I'm actually have a bit of an issues with it. I put a posting on the different thread and there has been some great suggestion but maybe you have some ideas.

Here is the post:

Hello everyone,
I want to say thanks to everyone here, this forum is awesome!
I did some testing on my machine today to see if I could isolate some of the issues and I’m starting to think this may need more work than I anticipated.
First what I did was set the machine to zero and ran a few patterns. I wanted to make sure that it went back to zero each time. It was perfect!
The next thing I did was cut out some 10” x10” squares. I cut out 24 pieces form a sheet 34” x 92” so 3 pieces along the Y axis and 8 along the X axis. (See attached)
On the X axis they were all the same, not perfect with a bit of a bow but not my concern at this point (baby steps). The Y axis on the other hand… the first row was 9.9375” the middle row was 10” and the last row was 10.03125”. As the machine move to the right the cut get larger.
I later did another test with 11.5” x 11.5” pieces and got similar results.
What would cause the measurement to increase?
Thanks