Bagged an Ahha-ready CNC mill!
Posted by
Jon Anderson
on 2000-06-07 19:42:37 UTC
I was hoping someone here might have known something about that DigitCon
CNC stepper control, but went to look the machine over today, and
decided to buy it. Seller has an identical machine he's keeping.
Since the stepper drivers plug into a backplane and are not stand-alone,
I asked how much he'd credit me if I left him the control as spares for
his remaining machine, got $500 off. So, for $2500 I got a step-pulley
Bridgeporte clone (MillPort) with #30 spindle, ground ball screws, Z
drive, auto way lube, spray mist, auto spindle brake.
No data plates on motors, but they are 43 frame. There is a fellow that
services the controls, I'm going to call and see what specs I can get,
but I'll bet they can handle the 7 amps my Compumotor drivers will put
out. So, yank 3 Amp connectors, plug them into my drivers, diddle with
some parameters in Ahha, and I'm off and running! Oh, well, need to find
some tool holders, anyone have some used NMTB30 holders for sale let me
know.
The control was pretty interesting. Not a G-code, but a crude
conversational control. All moves are incremental from the end of the
last move, save for a home command that can be applied to any or all
axis. Will interpolate curves in XY, XZ, YZ planes, will do rectangular
and circular pockets, bolt hole circles, bolt hole grid arrays,
mirroring, and has radius comp. All that happened on about 6 small cards
in the refridgerator sized cabinet, each not much bigger than a full
length ISA card. Programs are manually entered, and have to be saved on
special data cassettes. Cassette drive is busted, that's a $450 item on
exchange.
All in all, I can't complain, would be hard pressed to buy a Z drive,
ball screws, and motors for $2500, let alone the labor to install it
all.
Jon
CNC stepper control, but went to look the machine over today, and
decided to buy it. Seller has an identical machine he's keeping.
Since the stepper drivers plug into a backplane and are not stand-alone,
I asked how much he'd credit me if I left him the control as spares for
his remaining machine, got $500 off. So, for $2500 I got a step-pulley
Bridgeporte clone (MillPort) with #30 spindle, ground ball screws, Z
drive, auto way lube, spray mist, auto spindle brake.
No data plates on motors, but they are 43 frame. There is a fellow that
services the controls, I'm going to call and see what specs I can get,
but I'll bet they can handle the 7 amps my Compumotor drivers will put
out. So, yank 3 Amp connectors, plug them into my drivers, diddle with
some parameters in Ahha, and I'm off and running! Oh, well, need to find
some tool holders, anyone have some used NMTB30 holders for sale let me
know.
The control was pretty interesting. Not a G-code, but a crude
conversational control. All moves are incremental from the end of the
last move, save for a home command that can be applied to any or all
axis. Will interpolate curves in XY, XZ, YZ planes, will do rectangular
and circular pockets, bolt hole circles, bolt hole grid arrays,
mirroring, and has radius comp. All that happened on about 6 small cards
in the refridgerator sized cabinet, each not much bigger than a full
length ISA card. Programs are manually entered, and have to be saved on
special data cassettes. Cassette drive is busted, that's a $450 item on
exchange.
All in all, I can't complain, would be hard pressed to buy a Z drive,
ball screws, and motors for $2500, let alone the labor to install it
all.
Jon