[jheyne]

Hi Everyone,

I hope this is the right place to post this. I've scoured the boards, and can't seem to find the answers to what I'm looking for so i figured, I'd just ask.
I recently got my hands on a nice little central machinery(i.e. harbor freight I believe) desktop mini mill.

The model # is 47158 Micro Mill/Drill machine. The guy I got it from had retrofitted it to be used as a mini cnc, and it looks like he bought a kit from maxnc many moons ago.
It has some nema 23 (55D) steppers. Couldn't find much info about these motors on the web.
The driver board for it is marked maxnc 10. It looks pretty straightforward, but i want to be sure on the wiring. I have attached a couple of photos for reference, if anyone knows the correct wiring it would be much appreciated. (I'd rather not fry the board if i can avoid it). The guy had it wired directly to a transformer and plugged Straight into AC 120v. I'm not very comfortable with the transformer, so i figured I'd add my own power supply. You know... my wife would rather I'd not burn the house down.

Anyhow, here are my questions.

Do i have the inputs marked correctly?

How many limit switches can i hook up with this board and how are they wired in?
If i had to guess, i'd have to say 2 switches wired into the ports i've identified on the board.

Voltage or power supply input suggestions??
(I know this one is kind of hard factoring in the steppers with no documentation)
Steppers are marked model: spsst55d2c040 and labeled as MAXNC - dated 8/27/99 serial #179

Is is safe to just wire a transformer into 120v and plug it into the board? (the transformer is not even marked)

Is this board just simple too old and should I scrap it and design my own or buy a different one?
(trying to be cost effective here and learn in the process) With this board being parallel, I'm pretty sure it's going to limit my software options, but if i remember correctly, mach uses parallel?

I was thinking about using an arduino with a stepper shield but i'm not sure it's a good idea due to the power requirements of the motors. I have successfully rigged up a little xyz setup with arduino - shield, and 3 nema 17 motors, but i am really hoping to use the nema 23 motors that i got with this machine. (more power... grunt, grunt)

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[DICKEYBIRD]

I still have my old MaxNC equipped router built back in the 90's. I purchased their 3-axis motion controller kit & built a wood frame router around it. It still runs the original DOS software on a 386 Toshiba laptop w/Win95! (Have to re-start it in the DOS mode.)

The 24v transformer's OK if it's still good. Mine has one & it's works fine. The controller has rectification & filter on-board.
You can download a Mach3 demo & it comes with a "MaxNC Wave Drive" option that will work with some fiddlin' BUT Chinese breakout boards & controllers that will work great with Mach & Linux are so hilariously cheap now you'd be way better off building a shrine to old, obsolete CNC hardware with that board & just move on without it. I'm all about using old stuff to do good things but the whole MaxNC thing is so over & done it ain't even funny!

[UrielBaez]

Can you share the MaxNC program files with me. They no longer exist anywhere else.

[Elchunter]

UrielBaez, i just acquired a Maxnc 10 two days ago. I'm starting the process of getting it to work with Mach3. I'd appreciate coordinating if you are doing the same.

If I can inquire as well. I have aMax NC 10 Mini Mill given to me. New condition, never used, except the guy lost the software. I would like to know what software you are using or if you have the old software that is no longer available, could you possibly share a copy of it with me?

[bmwbykrydr]

I decided to discard the old tech for new tech. I've purchased a Mach3 USB board and three stepper drive controls and have been slowly converting the machine to USB connectivity and Mach3. I didn't even own a PC with a parallel port anymore and even if I did, I never did find the software. It was a pretty easy decision to move on to a USB board. Quite affordable as well, only about $45 for the board and three drives. Later on I purchased three power supplies, one for each motor, for $20. I've since salvaged three NEMA23 motor from old label printers to replace the original motors as well as salvaged two component boxes for all of the new electronics. Once the temps around here get back to tolerable, I'll finish up the swap.

Mach3 motor test

New control boxes

New electronics (before I scrapped the original box)