[Jakar]

For my school project I would like to retrofit Emco F1 mill with SainSmart CNC TB6560 3 Axis Stepper Motor Driver Controller(SainSmart CNC TB6560 3 Axis Stepper Motor Driver Controller Board & Cable Specializing in Arduino compatible development boards and modules, oscilloscopes and other electronics.). I am new at this so I dont know how to start. I would be very happy if somebody would helped me. The electronics from the old controller were fitted in the back of the machine and we chaged the old stepper motors with new ones (57bygh633, 3.0A).


My first problem is if the motor driver controller is compatible with the old electronic board from the Emco machine?

If it is how do I wire it with the old electronics?

Thank you for any sort of help.
I will update my progress and soon add some pictures.

[109jb]

The controller you linked has built in stepper motor controllers. As such you would not use the motor drivers already on the machine. The controller you linked would hook directly to the stepper motors on the machine.

[Fastest1]

Please do post pictures, many.

I also suspect what you are really looking for is a BOB, also known as a breakout board. This board gives you access to the 25 pins of a parallel port. These pins are assigned certain responsibilities when using Mach3 or EMC. If you already have drivers in your machine, you need to be able to feed them the step and direction signals. Again pics will help.

This community will jump at the opportunity to give their opinion, get started. You might also want to post your location in your profile. Someone might live next door?

[Jakar]

I have 3 machines and one of them was modified before by a teacher who I think gave up... (https://www.dropbox.com/sc/p6t58cuwooawc8j/0zBeV3Beci) The electronics that you see were fitted by the teacher in the back of the machine. I havent made the best of photos but I will make a few more.
Im on a bit of a tight budget so which option would be better BOB or the controller? What are the downsides of each option? Which one is harder to do?

[Fastest1]

Ok, Lets start with a little background.

Do you have any CNC or manual machining experience?

Ever run Mach 3 or EMC?

Are you familiar with electronics? Capable of testing and understanding the results? Have the tools?

If you are starting green in all of the skills, take your time. It will be a bit to learn and you wont get it right the first time but it could work to some degree and as you learn more. The machine will operate better.

Now on to the questions and possible solutions.

From the pictures it is hard to tell exactly what I am seeing and if I am seeing 1 machine or bits of 3. The 1 thing I can see is that there is 1 modern stepper installed. Maybe more but the pic only showed one. Is the spindle intact? I do see what appears to be a spindle controller.

First take some pictures, preferably oriented correctly and with enough field of view. A small walk around with video is great and can lead to considerable input from others with the same or similar machines.

The more I look at what you have I would say going with a controller would be the quickest and most likely least expensive option for you. The Gecko G540 and the new Leadshine MX3660 are both complete controllers. They only require a power supply (the G540 up to 48v and the MX3660 up to 56v). With a little more investigation of your parts (I see a large transformer in the cabinet) it is possible you already have a power supply. These controllers I mentioned will work on roughly 20-60v (see each models specs), though the higher voltages will have higher speeds and torque.

There is a bit to digest there. If going with a BOB, you will need to be able to analyze where the step and direction signals for each axis would go on your distribution board (if there is 1).

Lets answer what we have and then go from there.

I have 3 machines and one of them was modified before by a teacher who I think gave up... (https://www.dropbox.com/sc/p6t58cuwooawc8j/0zBeV3Beci) The electronics that you see were fitted by the teacher in the back of the machine. I havent made the best of photos but I will make a few more.
Im on a bit of a tight budget so which option would be better BOB or the controller? What are the downsides of each option? Which one is harder to do?

[Jakar]

I have some manual machining background but very little in CNC. Never ran mach3 nor EMC but I have a manual and my teacher will help me to get that running. I am capable of testing and understanding the results and I anticipated that it wouldnt be easy so I started a bit early.

I will photograph it on friday when I have acces to the machine.

All that you see came from one CNC machine but if anything doesnt work we have 2 more from which we can take parts.
In that machine that you see in the photograph all three stepper motors were replaced with the same ones that you see in the picture.

The power supply is in there and I think it still works.

I like the idea with the controller more but I will see how much money I have or how much the school is prepared to finance it.

[109jb]

If I were you, I would ditch all of the electronics currently in the machine. The stepper motor you showed is a 270 oz-in 3A motor. Get either a G540, a MX3660 as previously mentioned, or get a BOB and 3 separate stepper drivers. The new electronics would be wired to the exisiting motors. You would then need an old desktop type computer and you would have everything you need except for the control software. Mach 3 and linuxcnc are popular. LinuxCNC is free and is easy to set up. On my first machine I used linuxcnc and software setup was about an hour or two including installing Linux. After a while (a couple months), I wanted to see what all of the fuss was about with regard to Mach3, so I downloaded the demo, installed Windows XP, Mach 3, and set up Mach 3. I messed with it for about 4 or 5 hours and wasn't running anywhere near as well as with LinuxCNC, so I gave up. It may have worked just fine if I had found the sweet spot, but I couldn't get there quickly enough to turn me away from LinuxCNC.

[Fastest1]

Funny 109 says that. I tried to understand EMC after using Mach for a while. I would have really needed help getting it running. Like the difference between Mac and Windows. We get set in our ways and most likely dont understand the others. Neither is better or worse, they are just different.

[Jakar]

I think ill go with the mach 3 at first. Ive taken a few pictures again (https://www.dropbox.com/sc/lvrqwrwx1kkfrdn/hVZMQ2coRo). I hope they help.

[davidpap]

I have 3 machines and one of them was modified before by a teacher who I think gave up... (https://www.dropbox.com/sc/p6t58cuwooawc8j/0zBeV3Beci) The electronics that you see were fitted by the teacher in the back of the machine. I havent made the best of photos but I will make a few more.
Im on a bit of a tight budget so which option would be better BOB or the controller? What are the downsides of each option? Which one is harder to do?

None of the machines is for sale?

[Jakar]

Ok so I got a 500 euro budget. Now i intend to buy the Leadshine MX3660 controller. So if i understood correctly I now need a 20-60v power supply and a computer with mach3 or linux cnc? How do I set up the connection between the controller and the computer? Over a communication port?

[Jakar]

And do I need anything to control the spindle? You said that you think you see one but I have to be sure.

[Fastest1]

Ok so I got a 500 euro budget. Now i intend to buy the Leadshine MX3660 controller. So if i understood correctly I now need a 20-60v power supply and a computer with mach3 or linux cnc? How do I set up the connection between the controller and the computer? Over a communication port?

You will need a power supply with multiple voltage outputs. The 3660 will operate at its best at 56v, however you will need 5,12 or 24 v to run any relays. It does put out the 0-10v for the spindle speed control with no additional power supplies.

There are 2 ways to communicate with your controller. Get a computer with a parallel port or buy a Smoothstepper or equivalent to run it from an Ethernet or USB. I would recommend the Ethernet over USB.

Nothing wrong with PP controlled machines but higher signal rates will be available via USB or Ethernet.

[Fastest1]

And do I need anything to control the spindle? You said that you think you see one but I have to be sure.

Do you have manual control of your spindle now? Does it have a potentiometer that controls the speed? Find where the wiring from that pot goes to the spindle control board. Measure the voltage there as you rotate the pot (with the spindle on). If you don't have it manually operational, take a few good pictures of the speed control board and post them. Someone here will recognize and know how to interface with it.

[Jakar]

It has a potentiometer and I will measure as soon as I get to it. I asume I should measure it full power? Ok I think ill go with the parallel port because am a bit more familiar with it.

[Fastest1]

Measure it and turn up the dial while doing so. You should see voltages between 0-10v.

[Jakar]

T

[Jakar]

Ok so I measured it and checked the manual. In the manual it says that its supposed to be like you said from 0-10V but when I measured it it was from 0-7.9V but it worked completely fine. So is that ok?
The power supply has to be 56V but how much amperage do I need? 3A? 6A? 9A?

[Fastest1]

That is pretty normal. I am yet to actually ever see 10v. Generally higher than 7.9 but barely. I wouldnt let that get in the way just yet. Everything sounds about right.
Regarding the amperage of the power supply. There are formulas to get accurate but if you add up all of your steppers (as if they are running full load) that would cover you. You will not be loading all of your steppers at max at any given time. That being said, I always like to err to the high side. More horsepower, even if I dont need it.

[Jakar]

So the power supply has to supply the controller which will have 3 (3Amp) stepper motors and the spindle motor which also requires 3Amps but it needs 180V oposing to the 56V that the controller needs. So I assume that I need 2 transformers on that converts the voltage from 220V to 56V and one that converts it to 180V? I have to bring 3 amps to the controller or 9A?
And the machine doesnt have end switches. What should I do? I think there are clutches which stop the motion. But is that a problem with calibration?