Re: Denford Orac retrofit

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "cnczky" <bzky@n...> wrote:

>
> I recently purchased a Denford orac cnc lathe. While it does work, it
> is a bear to program and operate. I want to upgrade the electonics to
> facilitate using Mach2 or EMC as a pc based controler. I would like

to

> use as much of the old electronics as possible.
> Has any body "been there and done that"?
>

I have a Denford Easimill and I have been involved with an early Orac
lathe. In both cases we left the power supplies and motor controllers
intact and replaced the stepper drivers with Geckos. In both cases the
40V stepper supply was good enough so there was no point in changing
it. Both machines have been driven with Turbo CNC and DeskCNC with no
problems. Denford support is cr*p. Quite simply they don't want to know
about old machines.

The general quality of engineering is good so it is worth the effort.
Our lathe was missing the toolchanger; if you have one then you are
lucky. Early machines used the BBC micro and later ones had a PC
interface (possibly serial). My mill also had a tape drive in it. If
anyone wants an old BBC micro I have one gathering dust...

David