new member / Novamill NS CNC 2006

Hey guys, I have experience with 3-D printers and electronics but never used a CNC mill. I am working on a project converting a 25hp outboard motor to electric. I need to fabricate a custom aluminum motor mount and parts to mate the shaft to the electric motor.

I found and bought a cheap NovaMill CNC machine (see pictures). Unfortunately I bought the CNC off an auction and was unaware it needed repair. The Y axis stepper was unmounted and sitting on the bed of the machine. It’s missing a pulley and I have been unable to find any information about the part.

It came with no software so I have been reading about replacing the controller board to update it. I have attached pictures of what is currently installed which looks like it has USB but I wanted to see if you guys could help me get a start on getting this thing running.

I appreciate your help thank you very much!

There are assembly drawings for the Novamill on the Denford Data website / forum .

The X axis drawing shows the motor pulley is 12 teeth & P/N ST1/209, the belt is an 80XL037 P/N BI 00632. The motor mounting plate is P/N RM1/401A

The Novamill page on the Denford Data site is here and the assembly drawings are the second entry in the "Announcements" section .

Denford are still in business, though I don't know if they still have parts for older machines - maybe worth a phone call, though. Maybe also be worth joining the forum & asking if anyone has the parts left over from a conversion.

HTH

Nigel B.

Congratulations on your Novamill! I've had one for a decade and love it. Mine came as just the machine with no electronics which was a blessing in disguise as I could build something a bit more modern. Denford still exist but from what I understand don't supply spares for older machines. The stepper mounting plate should be easy to make (especially when you have a CNC mill...), but I don't think there is provision for belt tension adjustment so dimensions of where the screw holes go is a bit critical. Could be measured off an existing plate (I could do that).

The Denfordata site should yield all the info you need on the pulley and belt. People there are very helpful but it can be a bit slow as not very active.

It looks like the previous owner was trying to install newer stepper motors but didn't finish - actually I haven't bothered to do that as the originals work well with more modern drivers. Almost certainly the pulleys are a standard profile so you just need a new one to fit the motor shaft with the right number of teeth, and a belt to match Several companies supply these, I tended to get mine from RS though haven't needed any for some time.

If you want to replace the controller (a good idea) then the options are Mach 3/4, LinuxCNC, UCCNC, and a few more. I wouldn't recommend Mach3 as it is out of support (though I use it). Mach4 is quite popular and is supported. M3 and M4 have a very active and helpful user forum. LinuxCNC is reputedly good but hard to configure. I haven't used UCCNC but probably have it in my future... They have a good support forum.

You need a motion controller and stepper drives. The MC converts data from the PC (running Mach etc) into pulses to drive stepper motors. Usually you need a "breakout board" (BoB) between the PC and MC basically to protect the PC from nasty stuff from the power electronics. In this day and age avoid a parallel port interface from the PC - only Mach3 and LinuxCNC support this and getting a suitable computer is increasingly difficult. Better options use USB or Ethernet. I used to use the parallel port but recently upgraded to USB using UC100 motion controllers from CNCDrive who also sell UCCNC. This plugs directly into the BoB where the parallel port cable used to go.

Several good sources of steppers and drives. I have used CNC4you (who also supply the UC100 in the UK); and also StepperOnline. CNC4you can sell you a ready-made box with everything you need but it's pricey. Other such things are available elsewhere, but I recommend you avoid the boards on eBay and AliExpress that have everything on a single PCB, people seem to have a lot of problems with those.  Often use the older TB6600 type driver ICs and if you blow one the whole board needs replacing.

You'll need a spindle motor controller - you may be able to disembed this from the electronics box, I think it's a Sprint type. Lots of sources of alternatives, a good make is KBE. If you want to control speed from the PC then watch out for mains isolation of the control input.

I managed to upgrade my Novamill to newer drives and built the driver box with everything for ~£200, also have converted a Super 7 to CNC, so made most of the usual mistakes on the way, happy to help answer questions.  Various photos of mine in my album.

Edited By John Haine on 23/08/2022 09:30:28

Edited By John Haine on 23/08/2022 09:31:52

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out. I cannot thank you enough. You have given me so much to research it will take me a while to come up with some substantial follow-up questions.