Denford Micromill rebuild

All info relating to the Denford MicroMill and MicroTurn lathes and mills

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TinyWork
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue 15 May , 2018 19:53 pm

Denford Micromill rebuild

Post by TinyWork » Sat 02 Jun , 2018 12:01 pm

I'm updating the internal components of my Denford Micromill and thought it may be useful for anyone considering doing the same, plus I would very much like some help as I've not done anything like this before.

The machine was used in a school to cut mostly acrylics so has had very light use. I'll be using it to make small injection mould tool inserts from aluminium. This is the plate:
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And this is what it looked like before:
IMG_5596.JPG
IMG_5596.JPG (486.1 KiB) Viewed 7413 times
I stripped out the parts I wasn't keeping and changed the transformer to DIN rail mounted power supplies. For now I'll keep the spindle motor control board to get me up and running, but I'll be replacing this and the motor to a faster one later, as soon as I get some advice on what to buy. It now looks like this:
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IMG_5611.JPG (413.12 KiB) Viewed 7413 times
All high voltage wiring is complete and safe (I blew the house fuse on the first test because of a short!) so I'll now work on where and how I'm going to mount the motion controller and stepper controller, and how I connect these to the E-Stop, guard lock, key, fan (new), work light, power light and everything else. The basic wiring is quite logical, but everything listed above is way over my head and I'm hoping I can get some help here.

Thanks, Steve

TDIPower
CNC Guru
CNC Guru
Posts: 613
Joined: Tue 29 Apr , 2014 18:38 pm
Hardware/Software: Starturn 5 (sort of running, I will get this done!)
Lathe cam designer V1.11
Quickturn 2D Design
FANUC offline and online programs.
Microrouter Pro NS V5 (microstep)
VR2 and VR5
Boxford VMC260
Techsoft 2d Design tools V1 > V2
ProDesktop
Fusion 360
Deskproto

Re: Denford Micromill rebuild

Post by TDIPower » Sat 02 Jun , 2018 16:03 pm

Hi, where about are you?

What are you using for the new control? The original Denford control was quite interesting in the safety features as the software and mechanical linked to make it safe for the eduation environment. It will all depend on what your new control is and just how much you want to 'lock' things down.
If I remember correctly the original set up was,
power on, e-stop out, key switch on, door is able to open.
power on, e-stop out , key off, door locked.
power on, e-stop in, key on/off, door locked.

Power on, e-stop out, key switch on:-
door closed you could rapid move axis and turn spindle on
door open slow and jog move axis, spindle will not turn on.
Spindle running door locked.

There was also a timer on the door lock to ensure all had stopped moving before the door would open.

Im looking at converting an Old Starturn 5 to later Denford control, I might be intersted in your old PSUs if you are looking for a home for them, I need to work out what I need properly too.

Ill try and help out.


Pete

TinyWork
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue 15 May , 2018 19:53 pm

Re: Denford Micromill rebuild

Post by TinyWork » Sat 02 Jun , 2018 22:33 pm

Hello Pete, I'm on the south coast of the UK, near Brighton.

For motion control I have the Centroid Acorn and for stepper control I have a Leadshine MX3660. Both top quality and will allow for upgrades later if I want to get some better steppers for finer control. Plus with ethernet connectivity there's plenty of scope for driving computers. Eventually I'll also swap out the spindle driver for something more able to drive a 20-30k rpm spindle of around 1-1.5hp.

I'll be selling all the old electronics once I definitely what I want to keep and what I don't need. Hang tight on that but feel free to message me with your details. I have no idea what this stuff is worth.

Cheers, Steve

TDIPower
CNC Guru
CNC Guru
Posts: 613
Joined: Tue 29 Apr , 2014 18:38 pm
Hardware/Software: Starturn 5 (sort of running, I will get this done!)
Lathe cam designer V1.11
Quickturn 2D Design
FANUC offline and online programs.
Microrouter Pro NS V5 (microstep)
VR2 and VR5
Boxford VMC260
Techsoft 2d Design tools V1 > V2
ProDesktop
Fusion 360
Deskproto

Re: Denford Micromill rebuild

Post by TDIPower » Sun 03 Jun , 2018 19:43 pm

Hi, Quite a way from me (Barnsley) if you had been closer I wouldn't have minded popping to give a hand. Electronics used to be my thing as a day job until I changed direction.
Ill send you my details so you can give me a shout re the leftovers.

Pete

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