[racear*2865]

I have a mill style machine that I hope to semi automate the spindle. I have a stepper motor that I am lost own. I AM a newbie and hopefully request some help. The stepper motor is a 78 volt DC that is rated at 10.2 amps. It has 4 wires coming out of the endcap. From here I am lost and request help on a controller and driver. I would love to build these myself but if it is beyond my capabilty, then I would purchase if someone knows where. I'm still trying to figure out why a man at 60 years old wants to learn more. You would think 7 grandsons would be enough to learn. I realize that someone must take the time to help and I would appreciate that very much.
I am sorry to take up your time.
thanks
racear

[James Newton]

4 wires means a bipolar driver is required. I'm not sure which would be best for your application, but at least you can ignore any unipolar drivers.

[ckm]

I have a mill style machine that I hope to semi automate the spindle.

You might take a look at Homann Designs, they produce controllers for spindle speeds and direction. http://www.homanndesigns.com/ Peter Homann is often on this board helping people out with spindle things.

Although, I'm not entirely clear what you are trying to do... Are you trying to control the Z-axis movement or the actual spindle speed?

James Newton is correct, if you have a stepper, it's probably for the Z-axis (up and down) movement, in which case you will need a controller from companies like Gecko ( http://www.geckodrive.com/ ) or Xylotex ( http://www.xylotex.com/ ). They are fully ready to run, and they interface to the parallel port of a PC, on which you will run controller software (such as Mach3 http://www.machsupport.com/ ).

There may be a way to control these manually, without the PC, but I don't know how that might work.

Chris.
P.S. It's good to learn new stuff, keeps you from going senile or crazy, depending on your age.....

[racear*2865]

I want to control the movement of the spindle up and down. I would like to have the PC control as well as manually peck the spindle down. I am probably asking for too much but you must set your dreams high.
At my age there is no difference in senile and crazy. The lady of the house says I 'm senile but my daughters and my 7 grandsons say I'm crazy. Take your pick. They don't understand staying up until midnight researching this forum and trying to learn from you already know people and then going to work at 7. But I love this new knowledge. You people here on this forumn are fantastic in sharing your knowledge and having a want to help attitude. I wished I had stumbled on this forumn earlier.
thanks to all that share
racear

[ckm]

I want to control the movement of the spindle up and down. I would like to have the PC control as well as manually peck the spindle down. I am probably asking for too much but you must set your dreams high.

What you are trying to do is fairly easy. You need four things:

1. A motor - sounds like you already have a stepper
2. A mechanism for attaching the motor to the mill - this will move the spindle
3. A driver board - this will control the motor
4. A PC for controlling the driver board

There are a couple of other things you could use, such as a 'breakout' board (BoB), which take the plugs from the PC and converts them to screw terminals so they are easier to hookup to the driver board.

By far the easiest way to go is buy a kit that has motors and driver boards, that way they are all matched up and designed to work together.

You might check out Xylotex (see link above). If your mill does not have the motor you currently have attached to it, you'll need a kit for that. There are lots of people making them, and what kind of mill you have sorta dictates which manufacturer you'll use. If you have a generic Chinese mill that is sold at Harbor Freight/Grizzly/Enco (usually made by Sieg http://www.siegind.com/Products/blac...ng-machine.htm ), then there are a lot of choices:

CNCFusion - http://www.cncfusion.com/
KDNTool - http://www.kdntool.com/_sgg/m1_1.htm
There are plenty of other good ones, just keep poking around CNC zone and their names will pop up. If you have more $$$ that time, Syil ( http://www.syil.com.cn/ ) makes complete conversion kits for some mills.

If you have time, skill and patience Little Machine Shop sells plans for a DIY conversion - http://www.littlemachineshop.com/pro...2353&category=

As for the PC controlling the motor/driver, you'll need a fairly recent machine running Windows 2000, XP or Vista and software from Art of CNC called Mach3. It's pretty cheap, around $130, and will control one to six motor/drivers. It can be programmed interactively from the computer or you can load programs made elsewhere by a different set of software (CAD + CAM).

HTH,

Chris.

[racear*2865]

Chris
Thank you for your helpful inputs. The mill head is the spindle of a automotive guide a seat machine so there will be no kits made. It has a ball screw and nut. At the present it is a 5 threads per inch and requires to much force. I am converting to a 10 threads per inch and installing a pillow block bearing on one end so that I can attach a pulley for a belt drive of any ratio that i need. This also should help me generate more torgue downwards. So that gets me back to controller and drivers. I have the time and I was a mechnical engineer for 34 years. Just never got into electronics. I am a good machinists as I taught as many as 50 machinist apprentices at one time. I've been away grom it a while as my last few years has been hands off from a brain tumor. Finally decided doctors don't know sh-t and went about my business. So If you can give helpful suggestion. I'm ready and there are 8 hours to the nights.
again thanks to those that have and do help
racear

[ckm]

Chris
Thank you for your helpful inputs. The mill head is the spindle of a automotive guide a seat machine so there will be no kits made. ... So that gets me back to controller and drivers.

There are two routes to go here. The easiest is to buy a matched motor and driver from a company like Xylotex. You can also buy just the driver, but your motor is an unknown quantity. If you do that, Gecko drivers are probably better as they are more robust and versatile. Keep in mind that a new motor will probably be $25-$50 and will save lots of headaches.

I bought motors from Keling for my CNC conversion, and assembled a driver board kit from HobbyCNC ( http://www.hobbycnc.com/driverboards.php ), which I like because it's a driver and breakout board all in one.

So, to sum up, you will need the following:

1. Motor or resuse the one you have
2. Driver board
3. Breakout board
4. PC with software

Sources
--------
Motors - Keling (cheap, great service & selection)
Driver Boards - Xylotex, Gecko, HobbyCNC
Breakout Boards - CNC4pc, Cambell Designs, PMDX, CandCNC
PC Software - Art of CNC Mach3

Links
-----
Keling - http://www.kelinginc.net/
Xylotex - http://www.xylotex.com/
Gecko - http://www.geckodrive.com/
HobbyCNC - http://www.hobbycnc.com/
CNC4pc - http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/
Cambell Designs - http://www.campbelldesigns.com/
PMDX - http://www.pmdx.com/
CandCNC - http://www.candcnc.com/
Mach3 - http://www.machsupport.com/

There is also a thread discussing breakout boards here:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16935

[racear*2865]

Chris
I'm not necessarily locked in on the motor I have, it is I just happen to have it. I am trying to determine how much force it will take to move the spindle down into the work. As I roll the handle down I was surprised how much force it took, that is whay I am trying to get the force down..
I will research each and every site you provided so that I mite learn more. Knowledge is a wonderful thing ( I think)
thanks
If you think of more, please jot it down
racear

[ckm]

Just as a note, I have an X1 Micro Mill, the head weighs around 20lbs and the 260 oz. in. motor I had was not large enough to move it up. I upgraded to a 465 oz. in. and then put a 20lb lead counterweight.

That should give you some idea of the force required.

Chris.

[racear*2865]

Great idea on the counterweight. Never thought of that. Don't know if that will help with a ball screw and nut, but still a great idea.
racear

[racear*2865]

CKM aka Chris
Tried the Mach3 link and I missed something, but it sounds like the way to go
reed

[David_Web]

Could you post a pic of the mill and motor?
The size kind of determins what motor and driver is needed.

[ger21]

CKM aka Chris
Tried the Mach3 link and I missed something, but it sounds like the way to go
reed

try www.machsupport.com

[racear*2865]

David
will take pictures and post in the morning. Thanks for asking
reed

[racear*2865]

Ger21
That link did the trick
reed