The Home Machinist!

Made some headway last night. Wired all of the motors and G540, mounted the motors on the machine and I was up and running. Made some test cuts with desk engrave staying under the 500 line limit. Only problem I had was my z axis was opposite. Quick search on google and I was able to find the switch on Mach 3. I am totally impressed with how this mahine cuts and the accuracy. Using one of the wizards in Mach I millboared a 1" hole with a 5/8 hss 2 flut endmill and it acutally came out pretty well. Measured with a vernier along the x was 1.001" and on the y was 1.000. Now I am sure the CMM would tell a bit better but for what I want to do with the machine this should be fine.
Now for the wiring clean-up and cutting a hole for the G540 in the original TMC-1000 case.
Question: When mounting the power supply in a case would you mount it on a rubber pad? May be some small jig legs?

Thanks

Kevin.

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BUILDING IT IS MORE FUN THAN BUYING IT

Outstanding. Gottal love the G540. Don't worry about the rubber pads for the power supply....
pictures!
Marty

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"Jack of all Trades, Master of None"

Did my first "real" project with the cnc mill. I did some 3d cutting for a name plaque for my Mom's cat. I burried it a few days ago. The design was done in Solidworks and the 3d milling was done with a product called freemill from Rhino. Program was with a 3/16 ball cutter and a 0.02 stepover and took about 40min. to complete. The software is very basic but did a great job considering its free. I will post a few pics when i can.

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BUILDING IT IS MORE FUN THAN BUYING IT

Hello! I have obtained this very same mill, and just loaded it onto the bench. same ol motors installed. but the spindle motor is a bit different. This is baby's first CNC project . Could you give more info one how much and what exactly you used on getting her running? The spindle circuit on the back looks the same but im missing that relay i think. Wish me luck!

Nice little machine. Especially if it uses R8 tooling. With R8 tooling, you could adapt Tormach TTS holders and have sort of a quick change tool holder set up.

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You can buy good parts, or you can buy cheap parts, but you can't buy good cheap parts.

Hi guys,
I looked at a couple of mills the other day, D&M 4 and TMC 1000.
Is it fair to say that bringing either up to date with a retrofit is approximatly $600.00 ish?
What would you say fair market value is for either? I want to give a fair offer.
Which is the best overall?

I was looking at a self built CNC router, but would prefer to do a retro fit for the first one.
Chips

I would say that's likely a fair estimate for the parts. Buy the Gecko G540 and don't look back. As for.the value of the machine. Well I suppose it depends on condition. If they are non functional $300ish?

I would say though that the D&M4 you will likely be able to leave the stepper motors and drivers and just use a breakout board like the C10 from CNC4PC.COM and save quite a bit of money and time. If the machine is complete, then it may be my first choice for an easier retrofit. I did a Lab-Volt 5300 lathe and I believe they were built by D&M. I was able to reuse the stepper drivers and stepper motors. Just ditch the PC104 control and replace with a breakout board. You can also control the DC spindle motor from Mach3 with a C6 spindle speed control from CNC4PC. Fun stuff....

Good luck
Marty

Marty

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"Jack of all Trades, Master of None"

Marty, thanks for the tips and ultra fast reply, it sure helps.

Chips

Let us know how it all shakes out for you. Here are a couple pictures of the Lab-Volt I converted:
https://picasaweb.google.com/marty.esca ... abvolt5300

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"Jack of all Trades, Master of None"

Chips,

Your about right for the cost to upgrade. I purchased almost everything from a company on the net Keling. They were good to deal with, no problems. I went with new steppers and a g540 and Mach 3. The TMC_1000 is a great little machine to get you started. I have done a great deal of parts on it and I have expert machinists complementing me on the finish. I paid 400 cdn for my machine from a local high school that was clearing out machine shop equipment. I wish I had more money at the time I would have bought everything they had.
Hope i'm not too late to the party, life is really busy.

Kevin

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BUILDING IT IS MORE FUN THAN BUYING IT

Hi Guys,
I am doing the project to help out the local school. They want to put one of the machines back in service if possible rather than sell at the moment.
I am picking up the D&M 4 machine on Friday, so should be able to get a look inside and see what we have in the next couple of weeks.
When I have got the covers off, I will post more.

Chips

Hi guys,
I have been able to get the D&M 4 machine running using all the original parts and computer.
The first problem is the battery on the old 386 computer is dead, but I managed to get around it for the moment.
The first order is to verify what is usable and what is not before putting hand in pocket.
After I had given it a clean and a bit of oil, I ran a simple program (original DOS program is ok but not standard G code).
Second problem: It looks to me like there is a problem with the steppers as it is loosing its place during movements.
I am imagining that it is missing steps and loosing its position.
I am going to remove the steppers one by one, and ensure there are no tight spots in the travel.
Also I am missing the Estop button.
Chips