Denford Software & Machines

Hey everyone, brief introduction. My name is Doug and I'm a proud new owner of a micromill. I'm currently a mechanical engineering student and my goal is to learn the ins and outs of multi-axis machining with the dendford in order to design and build a large scale router for making molds in the near future. I have a very basic understanding of electrical systems and circuit components as well as basic programming skills.

My CAD/CAM package is solidworks/camworks and I will be running the machine with Mach3. I'm currently trying to decide the best way to convert the micromill so that it will support this package. After a few days of google research it appears that some guys are able to replace one of the boards using a breakout board, a 96 pin connector and a few servo connectors and run the existing hardware this way. Others have or are saying to swap out most of the guts with a gecko g540 and with some tweaking run it that way.

What is the Best way to go about converting this mill? I'm taking on a steep learning curve in the shortest amount of time possible so please feel free to post any and all pieces of literature that you feel is relevant. All help is greatly appreciated.

Attached is a pic of the mill and steppers. Shortly I'll pull off the back panel and take a few pics of the hardware.

-Doug

Dear Doug,

I do not know about any specifics about converting your mill to Mach3, but have you tried looking at the CNCzone.com forum? They have many Mach3 CNC conversions and details from members about their conversions that might provide background information that may be useful to you, and guide you as to the work and parts required to achieve your aim.

I built a CNC controller from scratch, the PSU, Stepper electronics from kits and integrated boards from CNC4PC into an old PC running windows 2000 and Mach3 for a large flat bed wood router. Details were published in an issue of PC mart some years ago.

What you need to consider are the stepper motors max. voltage and working max.current. Then the PSU is better to be based on toroidal coil and sized to exceed the max working voltage of the stepper motors you have or intend to use. Mach 3 uses those parameters in the its setup procedure to control the steppers. The axis controllers have to be matched to the steppers and the PSU powering them for voltage and current. I do not know if any of this is any help but give me a PM if you think I can be of any help to you.

Kindest regards, John R.