Denford Software & Machines

Hi,

I purchased a Denford Micromill 2000 from a school last year that powered up fine at the time. It has been in storage and I have finally got the time to get it up and running for low volume wooden and acrylic signage.

The issue is it seems to have lost power. When I power the machine up the door unlocks fine but I have no red light on the front but I do hear a click when I turn the key. I have checked the two fuses I can see (one on the main board and the other fuse ringed in one of the photos attached)

If anyone can point me in the right direction (the fuses tested ok with a multimeter) as to what else could be causing this. I will at some point be upgrading the machine but it would be nice to get it up and running in the meantime (I have all the software).

thanks in advance

Andy

Hi, You say you have lost power, what makes you say this? Power needs to be present for the door interlock, the Denstep board is showing L on the display and the LED is lit on the Spindle controller.

The Power light on the front of the machine could just be the bulb has failed (we had 2 machines from new at work and they failed within a year or so, doesn't stop the machine working)

You look to have corrosion on the board near the battery (some report issues when this happens)

I did check out the L code on the denstep, viewtopic.php?f=54&t=3167.

Hook it up to a PC and see what happens when you run VR milling.

Pete

I was looking at the corrosion and was concerned it may effect signals in that area which may include the comms. Likely the battery leaking but they can be replaced. I think the usual process in this case would be to remove all removable connectors in the area and the battery and carefully swab the area with swabs soaked in de-ionised water or distilled water to remove traces of the chemicals causing the corrosion and the corrosion products, as some items are surface mount running some water in that area towards the end of the board may help. Allow to dry slowly like in an airing cupboard, fit a new battery and test. I presume the battery is for non volatile storage back-up but I don't know for what.

Thanks for all the replies.

When hooked up with the cable that came with the machine VR milling cannot see the machine. I purchased a new Lindy cable https://www.lindy.co.uk//cables-adapter ... -p528/s670 with no avail. I dug out an old pc that runs windows xp and also tried but the V5 software still could not see the Denford (tried a few combinations of coms as instructed from the Denford help sheets but it made no difference.

I will try the suggestions with the possible battery corrosion although on close inspection it doesn't look too bad it is certainly worth a cleanup.

I will be looking to upgrade this machine (I have a TinyG v7 which I hope I can use).

If anyone can think of anything else worth trying I am open to ideas.

Andy

Remove the top board and clean up (i have been told you use white vinegar to neutralise battery leaks, need a chemist/scientist to clarify the whole acid/alkaline thing), the battery apparently is not used, the board is quite highly spec'd and has a lot of features not used by Denford.

Is the lead a specific one for the microrouter. One of the biggest issues I have seen with old machines is incorrect leads. The pinout may not be correct. There is a diagram somewhere on here that shows you how to make a lead from the PC direct to the Denstep board, this removes the internal lead and how that has been wired and the external lead and how that has been wired. I spent 4 days working out the wiring for a Boxford Mill not long ago. I had to trace the tracks on the control board back to ICs, look them up and work it out. Boxford had put +-10v DC on 2 pins normally used in RS232 for handshaking.

There is lots of information on here for various wiring's methods for the leads too, you just need to find the one that works (might not be the one that says it should too!

I have used the micromills in the past and know the RS232 lead on them is NOT the same as others. You could try swapping pin 2-3 over on the 25way in the machine. but it does depend on other things too, you might be lucky.

Pete

The RS 232 cable should be a direct pin to pin cable. http://www.lindy.co.uk/cables-adapters- ... emale-p528

I cant quite see what the Eprom version is. It needs to be version 2.0. or 2.1 which run the latest VR software.

Have you tried running Mintfinder to locate the board?

How do I find out which eprom? Is it on one of the boards somewhere?

The leads are correct in as much I purchased a new cable lindy cable as linked to in this thread and I have the original lindy cable that came with the machine. Mintfinder cannot find the machine either.

Thanks for all the help so far

Andy

Just cleaned the board up with distilled water and its now drying. Once I've let it dry for 24 hours ill give a quick clean with rubbing alcohol too. Regarding the battery, if its redundant on the board can I simply remove it or should I replace it?

As far as I know the battery can be removed.

The Eprom is in the last picture but is not clear. I presume it's a DENFORD 2.0 BETA which is the same as a 2.1 so should be fine.

If cover the P & P I can check it out in the office if that would help. Just send in the top card & the lead.

It does say Denford beta.

I will try the card again at the unit at the weekend and if it still gives the error then I will take you up on that kind offer!

Thanks

What ever was the result of this?