[Impyman18]

I don't think I ever shared my 1st cut with the machine before I started the rewire.

The surface finish on the edges left a little to be desired, largely due in part with using an 1/8in downcutting bit (my mistake). You can see the large chips from when I failed to double check my DOC and it did a full DOC which caused the tool to pull out a bit driving it further into the part. I saw what was happening and figured it was a $3 EM and let it run. It did great until it it the 1st arc and snapped.

The engraving was cut with an 1/8in 60 degree vBit from Drillman1 on eBay. I use his bits a lot on my router.

I used it to stamp the AF logo into some leather. I was pretty impressed with the results.

[why9faster]

I see. Thanks for trying.

I did a little cleaning up of the wiring lastnight. Sadly, this machine will be put up for sale once I get it all cleaned up and running again. I purchased a 2nd hand UMC-10 and the wife says no to 2 machines. I was really looking forward to building the PDB and using TTS holders.

Impy,

Would you share the cost of the retrofit for everything?

[Impyman18]

Impy,

Would you share the cost of the retrofit for everything?

Sure,

Machine: $3000

C11 BOB *$129.00

3 x G320X *$344.85

Encoders - $123.81

Mach3 - $149.00

PC - NIB CL Find - $175

Monitor - $15

New Wiring - $30

PSUs, 12v, 5v, 24v - $100


I was able to sell the 2100 controller for $1500 which covered the conversion and more. I've still got the screen and pendant listed on Fleabay and I'm sure I'll get another K for those total in time.

Still have the Whales, drivers, and OEM encoders as well.

The biggest cost IMO was my time. I have probably 100+ hrs into it. I have product that I make that was taking the backburner while doing the conversion. Though I'd do it all over again the same way. I had a blast and learned a ton.

[samco]

An FYI for others thinking about this conversion. The existing copley (AMC) drives are good analog drives (+\-10v in 10a cont 20a peak). Mesa makes a interface/daughter combo (5i25+7i77) for $239. 6 axis analog (+/- 10v and diff/ttl encoder interface + 48 I/o) and expendable. This would have saved at least $234 (gecko's and Bob)

This would require (gasp!) Linuxcnc but given you true closed loop control.

Sam

[kmeyers]

Impyma18, I recently got a Prolight 5000. I am thinking about upgrading the machine, if I can't get the controller to work, and I was wondering if you have a wiring diagram for the mods you have done.

[MacMarty]

More great news!

I got the speed controller figured out and wired up.

Hello! I'm going down a similar path with a Benchman VMC4000. I'm planning to use an Ethernet SmoothStepper and C25 terminal board. Could you please share a diagram of exactly how you wired the spindle controller? (And save some of us from duplicating your effort?)

In the mean time, here's what I have learned so far. The Minarik User Guide for the BOSS BLDC controller is in a new location. Here are figures 9 and 10 from that document, the connection diagrams:

Fig 9 (basics) https://photos.app.goo.gl/BGCmABHg5e9zmFc36
Fig 10 (alternate power hookup for encoder) https://photos.app.goo.gl/WbSjmoVQUi8Wk9bcA

Benchman's wiring job seems very strange. Some pins on the spindle connector are wired toward the encoder, some are wired toward the power card, and some are wired in BOTH. It appears that pins 8..12 are for connection to the Hall Effect sensors, including power for them. Pins 1 through 4 are contact closures for Enable/Disable, Run/Brake, and Direction. Pins 5 and 6 are for a 10k pot for speed control. (It'll be easy to set that up for testing, but I'm not sure how I should set that up on my C25. Is this just a voltage divider, something I can drive with an analog output pin?)