Re: Busy Bee retrofit ?

Awesome! I'm going to go out and buy that mill, and get this thing
off the ground. I'm will go the same route as you, and use the
acme's for now, and then upgrade to ballscrews later. I will keep
everyone posted here about my progress and probably set up a site
with lots of pics.

Great advice, thanks alot for your help!

Peter

PS, I used to be a mac guy, back as far as the Mac Plus, I still own
a Mac Portable (gasp!). Those were the good 'ol days, when there
were no viruses, and photoshop came on floppies!

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, shyningnight@y... wrote:
>
> Hi!
> I'm a "newbie" at this too.. just designing my own retrofit for a
very simillar sized machine.
> I can let you know a few things I've found out...(and if anyone
with more experience
> contraedicts me, believe them.. like I said.. I'm new...).
>
> The NEMA refers to the frame size of the motor, and determines the
dimensions of the
> mounting holes.
> As for motor power in Oz-In; I'm a little confused about that
myself... But I've gathered
> that you CAN use as little as a 400 Oz-In motors for XY, but more
is better.
> I just bought three 680 Oz-In Stepper motors from Dan Mauch at
Camtronics (http://
> www.seanet.com/~dmauch/). He currently has a GREAT deal on a load
of motors he
> picked up from a distributor. I haven't been "stepper shopping"
very long, but his prices
> seemed REALLY REALLY good for the sizes he has.
>
> As for controllers;
> A LOT of posts here and on other boards recommend the Gecko drives
(http://
> www.geckodrive.com/). Camtronics also sells them.
> I've had my eye on a cheaper setup from Stepperworld.com, but I
think I'm going to
> chicken out and probably go with the Gecko's since they seem to be
thought pretty highly
> of. I KNOW there are other drivers too...
>
> If you want a "bolt on" retrofit "kit"...
> MicroKinetics advertises one, driver, motors, mounting hardware,
ball screws.. the whole
> deal. But it ain't no how cheap!!! I'm gonna stick to some make it
myself components.
> In the SHORT term, I'm going to use the Acme lead screws in my
mill, get it up and
> running, and turn out a few projects to 1) learn and 2) make
enough "hobby money" for
> the ball screws later.
>
> As for software, I've heard good things about Mach2 , but also
about TurboCNC.
> I'm kinda in the dark about that though... I'm a die-hard Mac user
(run a network of 150 of
> them), and learned how to write G-code all by myself way back
when...
> So I'm going to be starting pretty much from scratch with a PeeCee
and CAM software...
>
> Yes, all this stuff is possible. When I read about it all 10 years
ago, it was possible if you
> had a lot more money, and more electronic knowledge. NOW it's a lot
cheaper, and
> enough of the fine folks around forums like this have done it that
they can offer advice to
> us "dummies"...
>
> Hope this helps!
> Paul F.
>
> --- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "peterboutakis"
<peter@b...> wrote:
> > Hi, I am looking to retrofit a busy-bee milling machine:
> > http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture?
> > &NETID=0345350502040532429&NTITEM=B1976
> >
> > First off, would you guys recommend this machine to be a good
> > candidate for retrofit?
> >
> > If so, I was wondering where I could obtain parts for a quality
> > retrofit? I am assuming I would need quite powerful motors, a
> > capable controller, and some ballscrews etc.
> >
> > What size motors? I have been reading about oz/in and NEMA. It
is
> > all quite confusing, but I am under the impression that with the
> > right hardware this can all be accomplished.
> >
> > Is there a controller that is everyones favourite? A company
that
> > has knowledgable staff?
> >
> > I am assuming that the software to use is called Mach2 by
artofcnc.ca
> > is that correct?
> >
> > Thanks alot,
> > From Peter