Warco minimill OR SIEG Super X2 OR none of them ?

Clive

I believe your capacitor is polyester (PE, also known as PET). A data sheet is on http://surgecomponents.com/admin/pdfs/SRMA.pdf, although I would regard this as a poor sheet, as it does not specify dielectric type as polyester (it does elsewhere on the site); also despite the drawing showing lead spacing, it does not give dimensions (at a guess, you will find yours is 0.4" between leads). Any parts from Farnell or Maplins etc with the required value and voltage rating that is capable of physically fitting would be fine. Higher voltage rating is again perfectly acceptable.

If you search for 'polyester capacitor 100nF 400V' on a well known auction site, you will find pictures that look remarkably similar to your component!

A polypropylene capacitor would be fine, and is a superior type in terms of high pulse current handling and other aspects; they would typically be somewhat larger but may well fit. A 275V AC Class X2 (used for fail-safe use in decoupling 240V mains) part would also be OK.

Hope this helps, and that you don't find further problems!

Martin

does anyone have a fix for the Y axis backlash? Its a nightmare when it pulls the cutter into the work!

Hi Clive,
I suspect the capacitor could be 275 volts AC rating. I agree it is 0.1 uf / 100 nF. You may find one in the mains input filter from an old PC power supply. (Or other switched mode power supply.)

Les.

Fizzy, that's why you don't climb mill and do lock the other axes.

Dear all thanks for your very helpful replies.

I now understand what I need and i have found a source at a reasonable price.

Before I try that though i am going to remove the motor recheck it over and make sure it will spin up under 12v.

Once I know the motor is still sound i will get the parts and try to fix the board.

Its worth spending a few quid to see if i can avoid a £350 alternative.

Particular thanks to Ketan of ARC for his unprompted , but welcome , and informative phone call.

Regards clive

Hi

Had a quick read through this subject and almost fell of my chair with Clive Farrar's comment

"Once I know the motor is still sound i will get the parts and try to fix the board.

Its worth spending a few quid to see if i can avoid a £350 alternative".

Is Dick Turpins progeny still alive and well in England.

A replacement controller is available Ex USA for $81.95 that will do the job.

http://www.surpluscenter.com/Electric-Motors/DC-Motors/Motor-Speed-Controllers/90-180-VDC-SPEED-CONTROL-W-POT-11-2269.axd

Set up to match the motor correctly this is an excellent alternative.

One of these is on my X2 mill and performs faultless at all times with a 1.25 hp motor.

Got rid of the noisy and fragile gear drive and fitted a "Poly Vee" Belt Drive.

Pics in my album

Eric

Hi Clive,
I think this is the correct schematic and other information on your speed control board. One other thing you could try as a rough test of the board is to connect a 40 or 60 watt 240 volt bulb (The old fashioned tungsten filament type bulb.) in place of the motor and see if the speed control changed the brightness of the bulb.

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 18/01/2015 18:08:55

Hi Les thanks for your continued support. I had found and downloaded that info and was about 80% sure it was the right stuff. You have now confirmed that for me, much appreciated.

I will try the bulb across it and see but I think it is totally dead at the moment.

Bearing In mind it is only a light machine, with I think a 350 w motor, if I go the inverter 3 phase route what would people recommend.

3/4 hp ( 560w ) or 1 hp (750w ) 1440 rpm. At only £16 more I'm tempted to go for the 1hp after all its like a throttle and you don't have to run it flat out all the time.

Regards Clive

Hi Clive,
I think one thing to consider is the weight of the motor and its physical size compared with the DC motor. I think it is unlikely that the capacitor C21 is the cause of the fault. (I have no solid evidence to support this.) I think you should try to identify weather the fault is the motor, the board or possibly the reversing switch before going the 3 phase motor / VFD route.

Les.

Clive,

I've repaired many of these controllers in the past .....

things to check if you have a Dvm....

R17, should read 15k and should have 22v at one end of it, if it hasn't then either the 22v Zener or C19 is shorted or the resistor is open circuit.

Check you have 12v at ZD2, if not then check the 1.5k resistor upstream of it...

Usually one or more of these components fail, giving rise to a dead board.

Beware, the 0v connection .....mains is everywhere....

Let me know if I can help...

Thank you all for your contributions to my problem .................

and the winner is Les.

I put a bulb across the motor feed and blow me I got a result. yet the motor would not run?

So i did a naughty and and stuck avo probes into the end of the live motor to touch the brush housings.

Voltage? yes but no running. Then the probe slipped touching the commutator and the damn thing spun over.

So no contact between the housing and the brush then the penny dropped. When i glued up the top cracked housing I also glued up the brass brush housings and must have insulated them.

Further investigation showed that I had pushed one below the surface of the bakelite housing and therefore it was not making contact. With a g cramp and bar i pushed it back into place and lo it all worked.

What a mucking fuppet I am .

So thanks to all for there help i am now almost sorted. The one remaining problem is the mains supply light.

It is blown and must have been what i heard go Phutt.

Its straight off the 230v supply and has a little resistor in its housing. Who can supply the necessary infor or alternative part info for me????

Thanks again and sorry it was a false trail but at least it saved me a bundle for now and having to work out how to fit the heavier alternatives.

Regards Clive

Edited By Clive Farrar on 20/01/2015 18:47:19

It will be a 90v neon with a 270k resistor in series....

might be easier to go to Maplins and buy a 240v panel lamp....

Just been looking at maplins John and at £1.09 I think that might be the job.

I can cut the old bulb off and fit spade connectors to go straight on the lamp.

cheers Clive

PS hows the flying going?

Clive,

sent you a message.....

Hi Guys,

A heavy slap on the wrist for me for writing on here when in a bad mood. After all there are perhaps loads of people using Clarke kit and manage a much better job of it than me, because of their experience and training one assumes.

I must thank all of those who offered advice it has given me new heart to crack on.

I am still convinced of changing the Mill though since it is restricted so much as to throat and travel...is that X ? The problem with the chuck is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many other prroblems it has which I can't see an answer to. Best not raise them here since that's tantamount to hijacking the thread.

Jesse.

I know this is an old thread but ive had the warco j12-300 version of the mini mill for several years ,ive not used it an awful lot but i now plan on using it a bit more regularly and im in the process of fitting the taper roller bearing to the spindle and redo the belt drive conversion i did years ago .(i did a quick coversion which looks pretty naff and i didnt put any belt adjustment on it.).

Well today when i looked in the control box for the first time. Its fitted with a KB electronics control board as some have previously mentioned(probably a KBIC as i have one in another machine). What i did notice is that the motor is supposedly 550watt. But the plug in horsepower resister on the board which most KB electronic board have is only rated at 1/4 -1/3 HP . Why???? Also the motor only has three leads which are coloured blue/brown /earth like a normal mains cable. So from this i deduce either wrongly or rightly thats its not a normal DC motor but a universal motor??? Is this right and why the low value HP resister.

I should explain that im not too savvy with electrics.

Thanks Mark

Mark,

First and foremost, the cable colours are of no significance.....the motor is a permag motor.....purely dc.....

Secondly the hp resistor marking is misleading.

Its value is based on the maximum current drawn by any load connected to the controller. The current setting pot is adjusted to accomodate a range of values to limit the safe working current of the controller.basically what happens, the motor is drawing say 2 amps as it drives a cutter, if the cutter becomes jammed, and the load current goes up, the controller reduces the power to the motor to prevent any further damage to either the motor or controller.....sort of an electronic fuse that is self re-setting....the adjustment of the pot is covered in the KB manual, but needs some test gear...

I wouldnt worry....but dont quote me...lol!

Still a little confused as i though the HP resister would be marked 3/4 at 550 watts .

Some machine tools are rates as input power, others as output power.

Just as with hifi amps, in some cases the difference can be significant in others not worth noticing.

Neil

It has been working without hiccups since i got it ,so i shouldnt worry about it, just thought a little strange.