RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: retrofiting a max nc help

That being the case, you're sitting right dab in the middle of the rest of
us - your option is to build your own system starting at whatever level you
feel comfortable with.

I've got Sherline equipment, and I took the "expensive" alternative and
bought the motor coupling kit and motors from them. Those items were the
most expensive part of the conversion. Had I been willing to use single
ended motors, I could have cut about $120 from the conversion price by
buying surplus motors. (I know, lots of folks say that you don't need
handwheels once you convert; I'm glad that I had the wheels and their
calibrated rings during the debug phase)

If you're willing to build kits, look at Dan Mauch's Camtronics site for
either his 2 or 5 amp boards. I'm using the 2 amp system with my Sherline
and am happy with the results. It worked the first time after I assembled
it. I suspect that his 5 amp kit would go together as easily.

Or, if you don't want to tackle building a kit, you might try Gecko drives
or something similar.

In either case, you'll have to assemble a case, fuses, connectors, power
supply, etc.

As far as software is concerned, There are several DOS based systems
available for next to nothing. I'm using TurboCNC on an old 486DX2-50 based
Zenith notebook computer. Folks will mention EMC, which is a freebie that
runs on a Linux based PC. Quite frankly, I understand DOS and am not too
interested in playing with *nix right now. Plus, I doubt that *nix would run
happily on the computer that I had available.

And for software to generate your G-Code files, you can use Intellicad
(free) to generate DXF format drawing files and ACE converter (again, free)
from Yeager Automation to convert the drawing files into G-Code. Of course,
you'll have to edit the output of ACE to include feeds and any multiple
traces of the same path at different depths for pockets, etc.

I probably put about $600 into the whole system not including the price of
the computer, which was an obsolete notebook that got one of my kids through
all of the college term papers that she had to write.

-- Jerry

|-----Original Message-----
|From: zoomer199 [mailto:zoomer@...]
|Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 7:03 AM
|To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
|Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: retrofiting a max nc help
|
|
|Well after checking out those places you mentioned I am a little
|overwhelmed. There controls cost as much as I piad for my whole
|machine and add ons.:( Can you help with another solution?