Hi
Anyone still look at this thread? I'm looking for wiring diagrams for d & m m5 lathe or the mill as i'm sure it has same guts. Any info at all would be greatly appreciated
Doug
Hi
Anyone still look at this thread? I'm looking for wiring diagrams for d & m m5 lathe or the mill as i'm sure it has same guts. Any info at all would be greatly appreciated
Doug
Hello,
I'm looking for some guidance in retrofitting two old CNC benchtop mills. Both machines are running on MS DOS/WIN95 machines and I would like to bring them into the 21st century.
Any suggestions as to where to start this process would be greatly appreciated.
Steve B.
Windows 95/98 and bringing it into the 21st centrury are a litte at odds.
The simpleist option is to get a G540 and lose all the orignal electronics. I'd also recomend replacing the Steppers.
The cheapest way is to just get a breakout board, loose the on board computer and keep all the orignal power supplies for the drivers. The driverboards have 4 connections. Clock( step pulses ),direction and +/- power.
Thank you for your reply.
I was hoping to run the mill/s using Win XP. I have two CNC mills, D & M4 and a Spectralight. Would the new G540 controller work in both machines? What type of CAD/CAM software would you recommend on a tight budget? Are there schematics available to install the G540 controller?
Steve B.
G540 4-Axis Motor Control
Soldering the 9 pin connector is the only difficult part and that will depend on your soldering skills. Gecko is well supported and works with XP. The hard part will be finding a board that still has a parallel port. But really it's about as simple a controller as you can get.
Cheap CAD CAM is a loaded question and you can find threads here about it with a simple search. You can get Free cad cam but you get what you pay for. Mach come with lazy cam but it's development has stopped a long time ago. Lots of free Cad but not all will export the right file if at all in some cases.
Steve, I sent you a Pm and will be more than happy to help you get these machines up and running again.
The big question is what do you need the machine to do and how much do you want to spend get it there.
You can simply get the machine up and running with just a breakout board or you can replace most of the electronics and have a pretty powerful machine. What it really comes down to is cost.
You can either pick up a good breakout board for $100.00 or your looking at $250 for a G540 stepper drive system and $150.00 for three stepper motors. You will also need some misc wiring and switches in both scenarios. The good news is you can reuse your old power supply and spindle drive which will save you some cash.
Dale P.
Hey
Anyone have any schematics for the DM5 lathe? or mill maybe?
Sorry but I don't. I do have schematics for the stepper drives though.
What do you need the schematics for the whole machine for?
Dale P.
Hi
I'm trying to get the spindle drive working again using the original gear, but I had to replace the DC drive and the one white wire i'm not sure where it came from....oops.
Doug
Can you post a picture? What brand of drive did you replace the old one with ?
Are you using the original software to run the mill?
Dale P.
Hi
Its the original drive Rapier Cube, but the steppers I'm using will be Mach 3 controlled.
I made a mistake, the white wire is +10VDC from the breakout board to control the spindle, but there is a purple SP wire that i'm not sure where it goes.
Doug
Hi,
I am doing a retrofit to a D&M 4 mill and would appreciate the schematics on the original driver boards if anyone has them.
Thanks in advance.
Steve
Here is a copy of the schematics. I can send you a larger picture if you give my an address to E mail it to.
Dale P.
Steve, I sent out some info for you with lots of pictures, hope that helps.
Doug, I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with your Rapier stepper drive and what the SP wire is for. Do you have any instructions for the stepper drive that says what the terminal is for?
Dale P.
Hey Dale
I believe its for stall protection, but no worries I'll figure it out, I thought you had the same drive.
Regards
Doug
Dale, did you ever end up with more circuit knowledge for the sherline cnc mill? i just found one and want to see if the original breakout board might work. thanks, stephen h, [email protected]