Denford Quatro CNC Mill

[blakey235]

Hi Everone,

Just bought Denford Quatro, does anyone out there have, any drawings for machine electrics, operating manuals etc, or can pass any personal knowledge of using machine,
Regards Blakey

[Denford Admin]

As your the first person I know of who has one, then I'm not sure who can help.
I have some documents and will upload them into the Easimill section (seeing as it looks similar to that machine)

[blakey235]

Soon to buy my second quatro, do you know of anyone who has postprocessor for Edgecam to PNC

[Denford Admin]

Again it's not something I'm familiar with but I think the PNC was pretty basic so a simple G-Code, Fanuc 6M, ISO post would work OK with perhaps a little adjustment.

[blakey235]

Thanks for EdgeCam PNC3 postprocessor RAR file have opened file ok, but appears to be in machine code, does it have to be opened in EdgeCAM?

[angel-tech]

Hi Blakey, i would be interested in having a nose at this machine. I'm fairly local to you and could pop up to suit you.

[Denford Admin]

I've created a Quatro section and moved this post there.
Also found that there was also a manual hiding in the Easimill section if you hadn't already seen it ?

[blakey235]

Yes your welcome to have a look, I am printing second manual out now, already printed one before but lost zipfile, will be there Tuesday with my friend trying to establish communication to and form PNC, was hoping to get Edgecam milling post for PNC, but looks like I will end up doing my own, have done one for Anilam & Heidenhain, really just need a short programme to test upload to PNC, with control characters. mobile is 07887948902 machine is at Gellihirion Ind estate, top end of Treforest

[bikermickyc]

Hi Blakey and Denford tech just got a quatro too- seems good nick handwheels turn nice and smoothly not fired it up yet as not guaranteed to run at all! so praying no major holdups- - how did you set it up got the manuals off site and ready to go getting 3 phase box fitted next week- from main power in as ours is full at moment we want to cnc motorcycle accessories if possible so seems a good mid sized machine- came out of a RN training college no tooling etc do you have any info on suitable stuff-Mike

[angel-tech]

great to see another member of the quatro club, both of mine have been converted to single phase and Mach3 controller so i'm no help on the Fanuc side.

[bikermickyc]

Heres a pic- Mike

[bikermickyc]

heres main machine- Mike

[bikermickyc]

Hi whats involved in doing that - this has a heidenhain- seen ghecko drives boards and nema 32 what would you do? also single phase did you get inverter ? thanks Mike

[bikermickyc]

Hi Blakey we want to make motorcycle billet parts as buy a lot in USA and most suppliers we contact want huge batches making- and expensive did apprenticeship on manual bridgeports colchesters etc so CNC a new vball game- seen bobcad artcam edgecam all sorts got an apple mac and a pc- what do you reckon? thanks for any help-Mike

[angel-tech]

Hi whats involved in doing that - this has a heidenhain- seen ghecko drives boards and nema 32 what would you do? also single phase did you get inverter ? thanks Mike

my machines have stepper motors on each axis so interfacing mach3 was relatively easy, does your machine have servos or steppers?

[Denford Admin]

It looks like it's got Norwin DC servo drives.
The Heidenhain (TNC 155 or TNC355?) was definately a closed-loop position control, so there should be motor+tacho back to the drives and position encoder feedback to the control.
IMO any upgrade to Mach or similar would be pointless / a step backwards
I'd have a look at the control manuals:
viewtopic.php?p=3945
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2256
and have a play around with Dialogue programming and see how the machine performs.
There's a lot you can do on the control itself, with a little bit of programming. The heidenhain dialogue format was pretty easy to use once you got the hang of the keyboard input
Once you have the machine working and need to make more complicated stuff, most CAD/CAM programs will post output to Heidenhain Dialogue format - if not, the control will accept ISO G-code as well.

[bikermickyc]

Thanks for info will check all the manuals i downloaded from your site - they are a great help- I hope- i know a lot of top end nmachines use these controllers so seems a pity to rip it out and fit another- if it works- still not got 3 phase sorted from our main box so may be next week b4 i can power it up- Mike

[angel-tech]

it would be a shame to remove a good controller, especially as you've got 3 phase. Does your machine have a leadscrew for the main z axis or ballscrew.?

[bikermickyc]

Hi is the leadscrew a square thread like a lathe and a ball screw more rounded if so it is a square thread? sorry to be so thick about terminology- Mike

[bikermickyc]

Hi Sorry Z axis will have to check i meant x and y- it also is a lead screw type- is that good or bad? Mike