Denford Software & Machines

Hi!!

I´m a Portuguese student and i´m studying mechatronics. I´m on the final year of my graduation, so i need to do a final project.
Recently i've discovered an old denford starturn here in my school. I believe is a starturn 4.. Made in 1991..
My idea is to retrofit this lathe, so it can work with a windows interface instead of a DOS software (very old).
I've seen some videos on youtube about retrofited starturn lathe.

My questions are:

- Wich is the best way to retrofit this lathe?
- Can you show me photos, and schematics so that i can guide myself on the project?
- Can i control the lathe with mach3?
- What are the modifications that i need to do?

I will be very greatfull if someone can help me.

Best regards,

Daniel Oliveira

A starturn has been upgraded to mach before here:
viewtopic.php?t=452

There are lots of other people who have posted their upgrade experiences eg:
viewtopic.php?t=1780

Another forum to join also would be http://www.cnczone.com/forums/index.php as they have Mach related advice

good night..

Thanks for answer to my question, i really appreciate

well.. yesterday i saw that my starturn only says starturn, and not satarturn4... what is the major difference between these two lathes?
will be more difficult to make the retrofit?

best regards
Daniel Oliveira

We have some old leaflets here showing the 4 and 8:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=383

The electronics are probably not much different between them.
Not sure what drives are in the 4 but the 8 will have SD3 stepper drives which IMO should be kept unless your looking for microstepping and upgrading the motors.
The spindle drive will probably be very old and need replacing but if it works OK then it could be controlled from an analogue 0-10V source - just be careful though as it used a potentiometer for speed control and may not be referenced to GND to 10V but a higher voltage level (that's why the later Baldor speed control was electronically isolated from the rest of the electronics)

once again thanks for answer me

I think that with the information that you gave me i can start working on my lathe..

I will giving some news during the project, and post some photos

thanks

I will giving some news during the project, and post some photos

Yes please do - it really helps others when people take the time to post what they have done to upgrade an old machine.
This forum does not prune or archive old posts either, so any information will remain for years to come (fingers crossed)