I've finally gotten around to doing some more work on the Orac. The steppers are working great. I'm using Gecko 201V's with the CNC4PC C11 BOB. I may upgrade these to a higher torque stepper in the near future. I got a Hitachi Inverter to run the spindle at driveswarehouse.com The spindle seems to p...

Thanks angel-tech. Do you know if I could just use a VFD with 120v 1ph input/220v 3ph output? I'd like to avoid 220/240 if at all possible...all of the other electronics will be running off 120 anyway. Would clear up some space in the cabinet too. Here's something I'm looking at now: https://www.eba...

Good afternoon, I have a few questions regarding the spindle. I've done some research to understand that I will need a VFD to control the speed of the spindle, along with an index pulse card (I think I will use this one from CNC4PC: https://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?products_id=129) ...

Good evening! Quick post before I head off to bed. Dug up some info on the steppers, serial number HY-200-3424-310 A8 step angle: 1,8° step angle accuracy %: 5 rated phase current A: 3,1 phase resistance Ω: 0,90 phase inductance mH: 2,9 holding torque unipolar* Ncm: 141 holding torque bipolar* Ncm: ...

Hi Dorro, Thanks for the offer, however I've already decided to empty out the cabinet to retrofit with new electronics. Also, as I'm located in the States, I'm sure posting it would cost a fortune! As stated, I removed the old electronics, including the brass panel in the bottom of the cabinet. I've...

No luck. Looks like the DIP switches only allow me to set the highest current at 2.0A which doesn't seem to be enough for the motors, unless the motors are the problem. Either way, I'm not totally against the idea of converting to Mach3, as it would be much more usable anyway. I'll be removing the e...

Thanks guys! After I have the time to try this, I'll let you know how it went.

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Hi, I'm hoping to use an Orac in its original state. It turns on and seems like it should work fine, however I believe the drivers are shot. I also happen to have two Parker SD2 drives leftover from a Starturn 4 conversion. I'm wondering, do you think it's possible to swap the drivers? The ones in t...

So things have been a bit slow going, but last night I got a decent amount done. I have the steppers and the Z axis home switch wired up to the Easy-CNC board. I'm running this machine with EMC, so last night I also spent a great deal of time configuring. I think I have the ball screw measurements c...

A quick update: So at the last minute I decided to go with the easy-cnc.com driver board and relay for the ease of rewiring things, as I'm not too skilled with that. Sadly the steppers on the machine were dead. The X axis was missing a lead (not sure why...?) and the Z just did not work. I tried wit...

I ordered the CNC4PC C11 BOB and will document my trials and tribulations, posting photos as I go along. Hopefully I will have it by tomorrow and have it wired up by the beginning of next week!

Hi Admin, thanks for all your help. I will try to interface with the new breakout board. The thought is still lingering though, is it possible to just connect a new ribbon cable with more pins than the existing one? You can see what I mean in the photo where the ribbon cable connects to a DB-9 plug ...

Come to think of it, would it just be easier/quicker to replace the breakout board with a DB-25 interface? It has those two SD2 drivers already, just need a way to interface with them I suppose? Has anyone done this before? This is the breakout board I am considering if this method is feasible: http...

Thanks again, looks like the relay should be fine to run the spindle. From the manufacturer's website: "Every relay can close electrical circuits at 125VAC@15A or 250VAC@10A as maximum"

Thanks for that info, Admin. What I meant with my first query was replace the DB-9 socket with a DB-25 socket. I've found that currently the DB-9 (on the rear of the machine, to interface with a computer) plugs into a A16-LPH 26 pin socket on the board and could be easily replaced with the same part...

Hi all, Sorry if this has been answered before, but I am trying to convert a Starturn 4 to EMC2 control as quickly as possible. I haven't got great electrical know-how so I'm not sure exactly what to do, and I think wiring a new breakout board/tracing wires from the existing electronics is beyond my...