Go digital if you can, the Leadshine drives work very well and like others have said can be found cheap on eBay or aliexpress. Your motors will thank you and you will be happier.

Yes - Less heat on the motors less heat on the drivers and less headache to U !

My favourites
1. DMA860H
2. AM882
3. EM806

for motors if you have not bought any - try to get leadshine which can be paired with these drives.

Thanks for the information.
I jury rigged the board so it is usable until something else goes wrong.
I held off on the purchase for now.

What I need is a breakout board and stepper drivers.
The price keeps going up. :eek:

I cannot vouch for how much better the expensive drivers are but I have been running my machine most days for the past year using the M542 drivers in this kit http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391655745639 I had originally planned to get a much more expensive BOB but the one included in that kit has proved easy to set up and reliable so far. If it fails the same board is available for less than £10. It should not be relevant but i am using this setup with linuxcnc.

Some recent carvings.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...ltek1lM3FEUndB

Also a ships wheel.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...Y5SExDdHkwZ2lR

25.5" Diameter.
33" Spoke to spoke.

Engraved with a line from a poem by
John Edward Masefield.
It looks good, I will make another.
Not today though, the machine computer will not boot.:(

Al, your work is amazing, great stuff!

Thank you Tom.

What amazes me is the way the machine keeps plugging away
day after day.
Like me it is getting older and there are a few problems.

I made another wheel.
The boss has the opening line from the poem.
The rim has the names of some famous ships.
The photos are on the same link.
Also made an anchor.
So I have the wheel, cannons and an anchor.
What next, a porthole ?

Great work Al, you devotion & patience to great work shows well her too ;) !!
Out of interest....How many (roughly) hrs on :
Cad &cam ?
Machining all ?
Hand touching, sanding and assembling ?
Cheers ;0))

Cheers Robert.
The Indian head, about 6 hours on cad.
30 mins to rough out, 2 hours finishing.
Bandsaw and sand, about an hour.

Porthole, 1 cad, 1 to cut.
Bell,1/2 cad. 1 1/2 cut.

Ships wheel about 6 hours on machine.
Lots of sanding, sit in the sun with a beer while sanding:D
1 hour assembly
Varnish and sand.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for your reply Al,
it's always interesting to see how much it take one to achieves an intricate work assisted by a CNC process ( Cad, cam, machining )

Take care, later ;)

Some serious stuff happening on here at the moment.
Thought I might lighten things up a bit.

A friend of mine has a collection of big motorcycles.
He has just got a new house and he intends to have a man cave.
He asked me to make some stuff to hang on the walls.

Attached link to the outcome of his request.
I will get post better photos when it gets hung.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...ZERGpUd0xuUlBR

Great collection and finish.

VERY nice AL.....your really getting a PRO at carving ;)
Nice sharing these.
Later, R

Really impressive work, Al. Thanks for sharing.

Wow nice Al!

Year 4 report
 

Well Mechmaties,
Another year has passed.
#114 has turned 4 and I have turned 60.:eek:

Yet again my machine has kept me afloat.

The Gothic windows was a big project but very rewarding.

There was what I thought at the time a problem with the driver board.
I replaced it.
With hindsight I think the problem was elsewhere.

The Ships wheel was interesting,
It also proved how accurate the machine can cut.

Many thanks to mt friend Nick for the motorcycle work.
It resulted in work from other people when they saw the engines.

Just finished the change over to Linux today.
That topic is covered in another section.
It was not easy but I felt it was necessary.
I will post a PDF of the process when I get around to it.
It might help someone in the future.

What will year 5 bring ?

...;)

Al,

I look forward to the PDF discussing the process of converting from Windows and Mach to Linux.

PDF posted in the Cnc motion control software section.
Any questions, feel free to ask or send me a pm.:)

Awesome work!
 

Hello Al, its an awesome work, really inspired me here in the other side of world, your persistence and frequent strugle with rain and materials avialability its an example of endurance! Keep on moving, i´m 60 too and will start a build thanks to your amazing work! Thank You!:D:cool::)

Old rust,
I am not worthy.
Perhaps one day I may look upon your creation.
Enjoy the experience.:)

Hello all.
Just back after 5 months in Vietnam.
Missed my machine a lot.
I will reconnect the computer and machine later today and see if we can talk.

Good to see some new builds started and others progressing.
All the best.

C.r.e.
 

I have met an American a couple of times recently.
He saw active service with the Corps of Engineers in Vietnam.

I myself served with the Corps of Royal Engineers.

Our conversations prompted me to do something I have been thinking of
for the last 30 odd years.
Here is the result.

I don't know what the wood is.
It is a chair seat that has been in the wood pile for 12 years.
420mm diameter.

Funny where inspiration comes from.

Stunning work! Thanks for sharing. Always good to hear from you.

Nicely done Al....;)

Very nice

I took the plunge and ordered a spindle.
It arrived yesterday.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/WATER-COOLE...sid=m570.l1313.

If anyone has information about wiring can you point me in the direction.
I do not want the magic smoke to escape.
I found this.
A lot of reading to do.
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/cncwi...310-posts.html.

Thank you.

Writing is really not that bad. The settings and in VFD and mach can be. If you have questions, we will try to help. I didn't use that drive but others here have.

Thanks Paul.
A few questions.

Attached is the schematic for wiring.

It shows R,S and T for power in.
I have 220v single phase.
Does it matter which 2 I use and what about the polarity?

Same question for the motor terminals U,V and W.

I think I will be setting the speed via the dial on the inverter to start with.



Can I run the output cables from the inverter through a relay then from the relay to the spindle to turn off and on(M3,M5)

I can wire a plug and change a light bulb but a bit cautious doing anything else.
I got an energy chain, fitted and working.
My home made one was wearing out and starting to sag.
Improvements due.

The load leads (U, V, W) should not have a break in the line, the VFD needs to see the load for the bus. To properly active the drive you should use modbus to the vfd to set the speed and direction when M3 M4 is called through the RS485 port, however you can instead use contacts from your breakout board to close the run circuit on the VFD but your speed option will have to be manually controlled.