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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Mikinimech > ANYONE OWN A MIKINI MECHATRONICS 1610L?
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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    35

    Re: ANYONE OWN A MIKINI MECHATRONICS 1610L?

    Quote Originally Posted by MichaelHenry View Post
    I think that they just quietly folded up some time ago. I don't own one myself, but the Mikini owners here seem to be a helpful lot if you have questions about your own Mikini.
    Looks like i may go with a tormach, or a used DT-1 Haas if i can find one.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    3063

    Re: ANYONE OWN A MIKINI MECHATRONICS 1610L?

    Well, I do have a Tormach mill and, recently, a lathe. There are lots of helpful owners over on the Tormach forum and probably the Haas forum as well.

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    2143

    Re: ANYONE OWN A MIKINI MECHATRONICS 1610L?

    Mikini is indeed out of business. The machine mechanicals it was based on have been revived by the original Chinese designer, and is selling under the SkyFire brand. You can find a LONG thread about the development of that machine in this forum. I believe he has now shipped several machines to the US market.
    CAD, CAM, Scanning, Modelling, Machining and more. http://www.mcpii.com/3dservices.html

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    12

    Re: Good Luck!

    I have a Mikini 1610. When I got it the coupler was loose on the x axis drive and also on the z axis drive. While fixing the z axis I looked at the top of the ball screw. It looked like someone had driven the ball screw into the bearing by using a hammer and cold chisel.
    I got this machine running and the spindle drive quit after very little use. I shipped back to Phil who said it was my fault and charged me $1000 to replace it even though it was still supposedly under warranty. Lately I was machining some wood and at the end of the program when the spindle stopped I heard a loud pop. A trace was burned through on the spindle drive board and also a transformer burned out. The spindle and drive are junk. It had very little torque at any speed.
    I am replacing it with a Hitachi VFD and a 1 HP Marathon 3 phase motor. I built an adapter plate for the new motor an bored out the old motor pulley, pressed in a plug and re-bored and keyed it to fit the new motor.
    I am using an Arduino to measure the pulse width modulated signal to the old drive and converting to a frequency to control the new motor speed. Also I built a little logic board to convert the FWD, REV signals to operate 2 relays connected to the VFD.
    I am using an 0-10VDC signal from the VFD to measure load. I convert 0-10VFC to 0-5VDC on the little board with a voltage divider and run that to the volt meter on the Mikini operator panel. I think the new motor will give me more power and torque at any speed compared to the DC version that came with the machine. I am limiting the overspeed on the motor to about 1800 RPM + 20%.
    I thought about using a permanent magnet motor, but was unable to find an economical method of control.
    I think this could have been a good mill and had successful sales if Mikini in CA would have done a better job of quality control, not blamed the customers for the faults of the machine and most importantly, found a better spindle drive.
    I would have bought a Tormach but at that time they did not have a machine with as much travel as the Mikini.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Posts
    316

    Re: Good Luck!

    donwhit123,

    I just finished overhauling my Mikini completely. The only things left in it are the steppers, stepper drives, and toroidal PS.

    If you need/want any OEM Mikini parts, please feel free to PM me. The spindle motor, drive, control panel, BOB, computer, ect. are all available and were working when pulled. I also have a C23 BOB from CNC4PC that's unused if you decide to gut all the OEM stuff.

    -Spumco

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Posts
    12

    Re: Good Luck!

    I finally milled some steel today with my modified spindle drive.
    I made some changes to the original design.
    I am now using an Arduino Mega board with 2 additional boards.
    1 x Mega protoshield for Arduino[ID:192] = $14.95
    1 x Relay Shield for Photon[ID:3051] = $30.00
    I soldered a connector onto the protoshield for ground, forward, reverse and 10 milli HZ pulse width modulated speed control (green, orange, red and purple).
    The protoshield piggy backs onto the Arduino. I do the logic in the Arduino for outputting signals to 2 relay shield relays which run the VFD in forward or reverse.
    I use the Arduino PulseIn function to measure the high pulse of the PWM signal and use that to control a timer to output a 5 volt square wave frequency.
    the square wave connects to an input pin of a SN7406 open collector hex inverter chip. The corresponding output pin gets pulled up to 24 volts from the Hitachi VFD.
    This 24 volt square wave connects to an input on the VFD which controls its drive frequency and thus the motor RPM.
    Also the VFD outputs a 0-10 VDC which can represent spindle load. I divide that voltage by 2 on the protoshield and connect the resulting 0-5 VDC to the meter on the Mikini control.
    I forgot to mention that I sharpen up the I/O signals to and from the Arduino using a schmitt trigger hex inverter (probably not necessary.)
    The drive motor is a 1 HP, 3 phase Marathon motor. Single phase power to the Hitachi VFD runs through a line reactor and output from the VFD runs through another line reactor connected to the motor. I also have braking resistors connected to the VFD.
    The end result is that the Mikini controls work exactly as before. Speed is controlled very exactly and power is adequate for the machine. I am limiting speeds to between 375 and 3000 RPM, so the speed read out on the Mikini display will not be correct from 200 to 375 RPM nor from 3000 to 5000 RPM.
    I forgot to mention I am using CNC Linux on a PC with a parallel port for running programs.

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