Old denford machine

Hi everyone,

I have an old Denford compact 1000 that I would like to get running again. I don't think there are any problems with the machine but I do need a driver board and control.

I was thinking of using a gecko g540 ( mostly because that is what I have access to) and run it on mach 4. I imagine this is relatively easy compared to what you guys normally do seeing as the hardware is already done.

Just wanted to throw this out there in case anyone has some experience with them.

 

The part I am unsure about is using a VFD. Right now there is a porter cable router in the machine - so I suppose I could just use a switch and manually turn it on every time. Do people hook up routers to VFD's and then to the control boards?

 

Makes sense. I am not super familiar with the geckodrive board - but is there a logic port for the spindle? Maybe drive it by relay?

 

That is another concern. I'd like to run the machine off of a modern laptop with a USB connection. But I've heard a lot of technical problems come up when converting from USB to parallel.

 

I see. I suppose a purpose-built machine would be easy to find a parallel port card or maybe even find a motherboard that has one on it.

 

Ok, good to know. I will look into this route.

 

Nice,

Is acorn just the software? Or do you have to use their board with it?
I'm trying to rebuild this machine for my school and ordering parts is typically a major bottleneck. The only supplier that has these types of parts that I have access to is digikey. They do carry the gecko drive boards - which is why I think I will have to use them.

The only other options I can find on there are a CNC control board from adafruit, and there is a company called trinamic that seems to have a lot of heavy duty stepper motor drives but seems to be more geared towards industrial.

 

I can get my hands on an older dell type box that is still usable and has a parallel port - so the geckodrive is probably fine. And really my only option is I mentioned only being able to order from digikey.

The second project is to get the sherline CNC lathe working as well - that will require some more research.

 

No I think I stumbled across it before, it seems like there are a few solutions / boards out there.

Since I am somewhat tied to the geckodrive parallel driver I may have to look into other parallel port control softwares.

 

David you may be on to something.

After the price of Mach 4 and the USB to parallel converter, I think it's about a wash.
If I were to spend the money on the acorn setup that would get me through the control software and then I could still order individual gecko stepper motor drivers - through my digikey supplier.

If I use the acorn CNC board, and individual gecko motor drivers. I would need to also buy a separate power supply for the motor drivers correct?

 

More I think about it, the acorn may be the way to go. It does look like the software interface is nice and I like that the board comes with so many relays and other things to control, vacuums, etc. And after accounting for the parallel to usb converter and the price of the software, I think they're about the same. I haven't really read into the pro version but I would be teaching high school students the basics on this machine, so I imagine we wouldn't need it at least for a while.

I think my stepper motors are rated at 2.1 amps so I think I would get this driver for each stepper.

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/mean-well-usa-inc/NDR-120-48/7705221

 

No, I haven't. But I just did and it looks perfect for my small CNC retrofit.

I'm trying to resurrect this old CNC for my classroom. There were a few problems getting it started and I don't have the software keys for the original denford software. After speaking with denford, it would be around 7 or 800 bucks to get the control software and their design software that will allow an STL to be input. The ordering system is so backwards at my school that I couldn't convince the board that this was a small company in the UK that made this specific machine and this was the only software provider, so I have figured out that it will be cheaper probably to retrofit it.

I knew I would come out of pocket for some of the cost because the only real supplier that I have the ability to order from is digi key. That's why I started to go down the gecko drive route because they will sell them.

But if I only have to cough up 220 bucks to get this thing running that would be great.

It even looks like they use a mean well power supply, which I think I could find on Digikey.

Thanks for the tip!

How is the open builds software?

 

Thanks Peter,

I just ordered the black box and the touch probe. I am sure I will be back with questions.