Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Sherline Retrofit Wiring Info Needed.

Unfortunately, the ebay description does not give any hint at all about the
origin of the driver boards. Could you e-mail me a few pictures of the
boards? mailto:EjayHire@... (Top view and bottom view, with
close-ups of any text/connectors that appear on the boards)

From looking at the picture, here is what you've got.
The power supplies are at 12 0-clock in the picture. From the description,
they require 120VAC. Input power (From a wall jack) should connect to the
two leads that are hanging freely from the transformers (they look like
donuts wrapped in plastic). The other Leads from the transformer (Donut)
are already connected to Rectifiers (Little black boxes). These will get
very hot under load and will be damaged if they are not attached to a
heatsink. The Four Capacitors (Black tubes with stripes on the side) Will
probably have leads connected to them that will supply the output power. If
they aren't labelled, you can look at the capacitors and see which side is +
and which side is -. This type of Cap. is quite specific and will be
prominently labelled. (They explode if hooked up backwards.) The output
power connects to the driver boards.

(Interruption -- I don't see a fuse in this power supply. It's probably
worth Installing one. Two 75 cent fuses are a small price to pay to save a
$200 Refit kit)

The driver boards look like they are just the drivers, and don't' have the
motor controller. This is a rather small picture though, so I can't really
tell. If they do have the controller, then they will have inputs for power,
ground, step, and direction. If they are just the drivers, they will have
inputs for power, ground, and inputs for each motor winding. In either
case, there will be outputs for the different windings for the motors. From
experience, the little heatsinks on the power transistors (Dual Black
metal things with fins on the driver boards) are rather small. The
transistors will probably last longer if there is a fan inside the case
blowing across them.

Hookup suggestions:
The easiest way to hook a stepper system up is the parallel port. You will
want to opto-isolate the port from the steppers, and use Data Bits 1-6 for
the Step and Direction Pins of the X,Y, and Z axes. Bits 7 and 8 can be
connected to solid state relays and used for Coolant and Spindle on/off if
you wish. Three of the Parallel inputs should be connected to X,Z,and Z
home switches (magnetic Reed switches seem to be very accurate). The
remaining parallel port input should be wired to the e-stop circuit. The
E-stop circuit is wired in series, and all of the switches are normally
closed (NC). It should include Limit switches (Preferably lever type
microswitches) installed on X,y, and Z in both directions of travel
(total->6), and the e-stop button. The e-stop button should be red, on a
yellow base. Your software must be configured to watch the e-stop circuit
and turn everything off if it opens. Mine is E-stop is wired to the enable
pin of the stepper motor controller. If enable goes low, the controller
disables all of the stepper outputs. One day I'll get around to making it
turn off the Coolant and Spindle too.

If the driver boards do not include the stepper motor controllers, then they
can be easily assembled from STMicroelectronics L297 Stepper motor
controller Ic's. With this size motor, I do not recommend half-stepping
because of the loss in torque. (Come to think of it, I never recommend half
stepping!) If 1.8 degrees per step will not give you the resolution you
want, then small timing pulleys and belts can be used to Increase
resolution. If we knew the Pitch of your leadscrews/drivescrews, then we
could tell you the resolution.

Have you given any consideration to the software you want to use?
Emc, KellyCam, and stepster are Free, and all have their faults, nut seem to
work okay. I haven't used any commercial software, so I can't help you
there. One last note -- You want to have your computer on and the CAM
software open before powering on the drivers or interface board.
When a computer is booted, the Parallel port is in an unknown state. If the
Interface and drivers are on before the pc, Booting the pc might cause the
machine to attempt suicide. Another option is to !always! keep the e-stop
button depressed until you are ready to do work.

To finish this Project you will need:
A case, preferably metal, preferably with a built-in fan.
A Opto-isolated Parallel port interface and its' power supply.
Possibly 3 stepper motor controllers.
Mechanical parts to couple the motors to the Lathe/mill.
Extender cabling to allow the Controller/driver to be placed more than 6"
from the Machine.
Software to control it all.

All in all, It looks like a pretty good deal. It would take some work to
beat it at that price. I'm sorry if I told you a lot of things you already
know, but it's hard to know your level of experience with Machining or
electronics without asking, and there are a lot of things that could damage
YOU, Your PC, or Your Machine if they aren't done properly.

Good Luck,
EjayHire@...

----Original Message Follows----
From: Ratliffgrp@...
Reply-To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com
To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Sherine Retrofit Wiring Info Needed.
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 17:44:11 EDT

Hello to all in this great group!

I recently purchased a Sherline Retrofit kit from an auction on Ebay. See
<A

HREF="http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=362985850">eBay
item 362985850 (Ends Jun-30-00 12:02:54 PDT) - STEPPER
MOTORS-DRIVERS,SHERLINE-MAXNC UPGRADE</A>


I was wondering if anyone had any wiring pinouts for the driver boards for
this kit. I contacted the guy that I bought them from, but service after
the
sell is apparently not happening. I have only briefly been able to look at
the driver boards, but find them a bit confusing. Anyone got one of these
and can tell me how to wire up the driver boards?

Thanks!

David
Ratliffgrp@...

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