Hey all, long time lurker, first time poster...
I have been using a manual mill and lathe and for a long time wanted to get into CNC and was considering converting my manuals buy I wanted to do something on a hobby scale to start. I was able to get a Labvolt 5300 Lathe and 5400 Mill that are in mint shape (lathe looks like it wasn't ever used, mill maybe a handful of times?) for a few hundred bucks for the pair and I couldn't say no because I felt like the machines without the CNC were worth more. I did know going in that they had proprietary hardware/software involved but I was naively optimistic I could find a hack to get it running as is or maybe find an official PC for cheap that would work with them just as a way to get my feet wet in CNC without a lot of cash and time.
These have been sitting in my shop for a long time and I really want to to get them running, and figured the lathe would be the easiest to start with since it is just the 2 axises to deal with. I searched and saw a lot of inquiries about getting these particular machines to run without the proprietary hardware but not much in the way of info from people who have converted them. Ideally, I was looking to take a working "recipe" and use that since I already feel over my head after looking at the electronics and wiring on it as it is.
I am a programmer by trade, so getting into the troubleshooting and documentation is not what is holding me back, but the extent of my CNC experience (and not much further in terms of electronics) goes is building and running an Ardunio based RepRap 3d Printer... and so I think I'm a bit overwhelmed on where to start to take it one step at a time.
I reached out to a guy who had a video on Youtube of his conversion working and I could only get very sparse info in terms of what parts he bought, but nothing in the way of troubleshooting or issues he had to overcome. For instance, it looks like he is using the DC motor controller that came with the Labvolt but he mentioned he had to install the CNC4PC Variable Speed Controller and I have no idea how those work together. I understand the BOB is replacing the OEM board, and it appears I'm fine using the OEM power supply, drivers and motors... and from the pics he provided it appears the only aftermarket stuff he bought was the BOB, Safety Charge Pump, Speed Control and an optional Index Pulse Card for accurate threading. But since I don't have any docs (and I don't think any exist since this is not supposed to be something serviced outside the factory) I don't even know what all of the components are or how they are wired.
I guess my question is anyone on here had success with the 5400 lathe (or Mill for that matter) that wouldn't mind sharing what setup (parts/config) they went with and any noteworthy information as far as the troubleshooting or pitfalls relating to frying something or non-conventional wiring/pin assignments? That, or just any advice in general or tutorials that involve similar conversions/builds that might be a good place to start getting more comfortable with what I'm about to do?
Thanks in advance!
-Jay