Member postings for Barry Smith 4

Hi, you could also try replacing the battery, usually a cr24? on the main board. This should not stop the boot but you never know. Also look up a manual for the mainboard/bios and it will give you details on the beeps during boot and what they refer to.

Barry

Not sure if it's any help but if you use a 2d cad package I.e. free cad or Qcad and save as a DXF file it's ascii and you can extract the coordinates as a text string. I used to do this for geological mapping before GIS became available.

Barry

Hi many thanks for your detailed replies, I have gone down the route of using the 240v to 415v VFD/Inverter and running the motor as star. Interestingly the 215 to 415 inverter was of UK Amazon for £70 and is rated at 3HP. I notice the same model has gone up a lot, but for £70 I was prepared for it to break knowing that Amazon would step in and offer a refund.

That said its been working OK on the main 415v two speed motor that runs the std machine (an Aciera F3) on and off for the past two years. The only thing I typically changed in the programme setup is to increase the slow start and decrease the stop speed as this save blowing fuses and of course wired the remote up for control.

Cheers

Barry

For clarity I have 240V single phase in my workshop and have two options for running a 2 pole 375W motor.

The motor is capable of either running 415V star or 240V delta

(1) I have a spare 240V single phase to 240V VFD, and

(2) I have a spare 240V single phase to 415V VFD

My question was which of the two options (1 and 2 above) is optimal? From what has been said here and on the web there is little difference.

Thanks for replying

Barry

Hi I am fortunate to have a spare 240v single phase to 240v three phase and a 240v single phase to 440v three phase in my workshop. After buying a high speed milling head I need to use one or the other to power the motor which can be wired star or delta.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages with using 240v or 440v three phase on an induction motor (2 pole, 375W)?

Thanks

Barry

Some nice bar of different diameters or thick wall tube is also good for getting up a step or lip into the workshop. Worked well for my Bridgeport sized mills. If the head needs to be lifted I tend to use blocks of wood and the table to raise and lower.

In terms of levelling does anyone have any comments on mounting a mill / lathe on adjustable pads and using them to level the machine. There seems to be quite a choice out there these days.

Barry

Hi Clive I don't think my 240v blackstones will suit (large and 240v flow about 1.2l/hr). There plenty of choice on Aliexpress which I have found to be just as good as amazon/PayPal if you factor in the delivery time. Sometimes you get a bad part but that's also true with the other sites.

Good to see another biker on the site I have a Honda 600fx and Ducati ST3 and know what you mean by chains. Have you considered using a small air pump to pressurise an oil reservoir and then use a solenoid valve to control flow to the chain (I.e. turning on and off).

Barry

Hi if I recall correctly the sound card scopes are limited to 1v peak to peak. You could use a times 10 probe setting to reduce 10v to 1v peak to peak. I have used a similar setup with a usb soundcard (a couple of pounds on ebay) to build a gamma spectrometer which worked well recording low count rates worked well.

However, a usb scope (cheap) would be more flexible especially if you are experimenting with circuits etc and maybe a trigger input to help to capture transient signals. Pico scopes are very good, I have one of their top 4 channel models with logic analyser and waveform generator models, and taking up Roberts offer might be the easyest way forward. But sometimes a stand alone scope is better, I picked up one for £10 at the local army store.

Barry

Hi, Clive I have some dosing (diaphragm) pumps I picked up a few years ago. The run off 240v and are small but not micro. I've had a lot of experiance with peristaltic pumps and the ok for intermittent dosing. I did have some for aquarium use that you could set up one dose now and then on a timer. You might need to use viton rubber if the normal pump tubing reacts with your oils. Syringe pumps are good but you have to periodically refill them. Even with oil you might get the flow your after by using gravity from a reservoir like a medical drip. Have used this for chromatography when I did not have a peristaltic.

I will post a picture tommorrow.

Barry

Hi, I am sorry I can’t help you with the boards I have as they are single channel boards and probably even older than yours.

That said I agree with John H’s suggestion that in the long run you might be worth while converting over to Mach or Linux and getting new steppers, drives and controller. I personally would go with Gecko drives but there are plenty alternatives out there. The steppers used by Denford were good at the time but the newer motors tend to have more torque.

If you want to try and keep the original board I would check the diodes, L297 and L298N on the axis that’s causing problems. The easiest to check with a standard DMM would be pins 2 and 12 on the L297 (GND and +5V) and 9, 4 and 8 on the L298N (5V, 36V and GND) with the power on. Other things would need an oscilloscope. Other things you have checked by switching the motors over. To me it sounds like one of the sides on the L298N is not working right. Try putting the meter from each motor lead in turn to earth when the drive is energised and measure the voltages?

I hope this is of some help

Barry

Hi, I maybe able to help with a driver if I recall correctly they were digiplan?

If you can send a photo that would help.

Barry

Hi, I run a limited company with the same bank for the last 14 years then I was asked by the bank to fill in similar forms to you with the threat of closing my buisness account. You would think they should be chasing those that have committed fraud. They can see that I don't trade internationally from their records.

Barry

Item no 1 I would agree as a glass blowers torch. Rather like welding you would use different gas combinations for different glass. ie soda glass oxy-methane and quartz.oxy-hydrogen. According to my ancient book on glass blowing the torches were reffered to as blow pipes (as we're pipes you blew into). I did a course in my apprentaship as a lab technician. It was great fun and similar in some ways to gas welding. Occasionally unburnt gas would collect in the tube and ignite when you blew into the tube to work it making your cheak blow out!

Barry

Sorry I had a little laugh as when I saw this post I was writing a report on exposure to thorium in a prospective uranium mine I agree very much with what others have said and have to admit to using my tig rods to test my gamma spectrometer and dose meters out, along with a bag of potassium chloride and some uranium glazed pottery.

From a health perspective I would be more concerned with the other elements in the rods than the small amount of Th and that includes both the tungsten and rare earth elements that are being used to replace Th. So good practice would be to minimise inhalation of dust whatever the source whilst welding., tig or otherwise.

What's seen safe now maywell be proved wrong in the future, as I know from working with asbestos and Mercury as an apprentice.

Barry

Hi, I also replaced my Erskine box with a KB board and it's been working great ever since. I used a kbmg-212D (8331E). It's advisable to get a regenerative drive anti plugging if you want to be able to do a rapid forward/reverse.

The KB boards are much smaller than the Erskin which is nice. They also run off 230v/110v which means you don't have to use the transformer to supply it.

Radwell in the UK have a refurbished one going for £100 at the moment, they seem to be £200 new but come up on ebay now and then.

My advice would be to fully strip the motor as mine was full of black gunk, and replace the cables and switches. A new gasket also helps, you will also need to change the speed pot.

If you go down the kb route I can provide you with wiring details.

Barry

Steamdave, very nice and a good solution to part of my conundrum. Just need to look at getting the spindle speeds up.

Barry

You could try Steve Liliman at Premier Machine tools. He used to have a lorry but it got too expensive to run so he may know of someone local as he seems to be trading again. He's based in Blidworth near Nottingham.

A few months ago I was looking at moving a machine from Stroud to Notts but had to put on hold as I could not find anyone out side of proper machine movers at the cost involved.

Barry

Thanks all very useful. As always the requirements expand as thinking if I go down the speed increaser / self powered route I might include some milling with small end mills. So I need to steer away from chucks. I have seen some planetary speed increasers with two 10mm shafts for less than £40 but not sure re bearings and what the tir would be when fitted with an er chuck. Obviously the main gearbox would have to be located as per the hemingway kits model. Not too concerned re reversing as all my Mills are on vfds.

Barry

Thanks for these useful comments looking to be able to use in the range 3000 to 8000 for sub m3 holes in alloy and steel. I have been making do with my bridgeport with belt drive head but it does not like going more than 2,000 rpm, or at least my ears don't like it. Ideally a high speed head for my F3 Aceria would be nice, but almost impossible to find, hence deciding to look at alternatives solutions. I do like old iron, but just a little concerned wrt wear on the spindle bearings but I guess that means trying before buying, which is a good maxim.

Barry

Hi, does any have experience they can share on hi speed bench drills particularly modern (proxon) vs traditional Pollard/Herbert ie old proper drill presses. I will be using it to supliment my belt drive bridgeport which has, like me seen better days when used at high speed.

thanks

Barry