This thread will be a build log of the refurbishing and retrofit of a BROTHER TC-225 Drill Tap center.

A quick background on myself and this project, to give you an Idea of my skills, capabilities and equipment for anyone interested in doing something like this themselves.
I am 23, I have been in machining for about 4 years now, I by no means consider myself a "master machinist" or machine builder. I finished my last two years of high school at a local college going through their Drafting & Design as well as the Manufacturing Technology degrees, and realized I really enjoyed machining. I had always been mechanically inclined and enjoyed build things as a kid, so it was a logical next step. I completed both my AA's about a year after graduating high school and started working as a lab tech in the machining program at the school. I had the opportunity there to get a good amount of time on the machines (all haas CNC's some bridgeports and JET engine lathes) I also had the opportunity to do quite a bit of repair work on the equipment at the school(repairing lathe gear boxes, fixing leaks, troubleshooting CNC's, calibrating machines ECT ECT. ) For the last 3 years I have been working in industry the last 2 at a prominent custom wheel manufacture doing programing, setup and of course a good bit of repairs. I have always wanted my own CNC to tinker with prototyping parts but the high cost has always put them out of my reach.

Which brings me to where I am right now in the rebuild and retrofit of this Brother drill tap center.
I often skimmed Craigslist for used CNCs hoping to find some out of this world steal on a small HAAS Mill or similar but It wasn't happening. by dumb luck I was browsing craigslist adds in Georgia (I live in central Florida) and came across an add for two brother CNC Mills for 5K. It sparked my interest and I started researching. I found that everyone who ran them had nothing bad to say about the mechanics of the machine, quite a few spoke highly of it, but the only downfall being that the control was an outdated conversational type that did not even support G code what so ever. After negotiating with the seller I was able to purchase the two machines for 2k both powered up and all axes and spindle sounded good and came with a few boxes of tool holders and tooling!

I drove up and picked up the two machines with the help a friend and his truck and trailer to what turned out to be South Carolina 800miles away one direction. Brought both machines back and sold the Brother TC-321 for 3k to a guy I lined up before the trip and recouped the cost of both machines and all my transport expenses!

Wow that ended up a lot longer than planed, sorry for the long winded background story!

So on to what you all came here for.... The Build!

My goals for this build:
-Complete tear down to the casting.
-Sand blast and refinish all painted parts including all castings
-Inspect all mechanical components of machine (linear rails, ballscrews, spindle, tool changer ect.)
-Remove and sell all electronics from machine
-Acquire all new electronics for machine (servos, drivers, controller ECT.)
-Implement automatic grease system
-Upgrade coolant system
-Reassemble and rewire machine
-Do final controller programming
-MAKE PARTS

The Machine will be retrofitted with a controller from MACHMOTION.com and be running on MACH 3 and a Motion control board from MACHMOTION.com

I Will start with the photos in the next post, and bring you all up to date with where I am at now. Hope everyone enjoys the build and I would love to hear your comments, concerns and questions!