CNC refurbish

[Bryan Rocker]

Hey Fellow Creekers,

I will take possession of my 4'x4' cnc next week. It is definitely older. It has Applied motion 4034-324D stepper motors. 2 each on the X, one on the Y and Z. For sitting unused for awhile its not in horrible shape. The frame is outstanding, it is 3" box steel posts and 2 rows of horizontals with at least 4" mounting plate for a box aluminum upon which rests the guide tracks and the ball screws. Along with it come a pair of Porter Cable 75812 routers. I have several questions, pictures will follow once its in the garage....

Oh yea, the gantry is one piece of that box aluminum. i tried to move the router and it wouldn't budge in any direction.

1. Do I keep the steppers or replace them with larger ones?

2. Any good tips on extending the life of the routers? Some sort of a cooling jacket to keep the heat down? Or just upgrade to a liquid cooled spindle?

3. I did notice that the X steppers were wired together, not sure that correct

4. Budget, at least $1k or more available for parts replacement, the price of the machine is very good....

5. Who is going to stop by and help me move those 28 4x8 1 1/8" sheets of decking at 125lbs each.......

Bryan

PS the deck is a big piece or two of slotted aluminum, pretty beefy by itself.....:D

[John McClanahan]

I say get it running and use it for awhile. Keep the current steppers until they prove underpowered. Run with the router motor until one wears out. Then decide if you need to upgrade to a spindle. Each stepper motor should be powered by its own driver, but try it like you get it and see how it works.

John

[eugene thomas]

Biggest expense to come might be design softwear...

[John Coloccia]

I would agree and say leave it alone until you've actually run it. It will tell you what it needs. The two steppers wired together is fishy. Ask about that when you pick it up. Also, don't be tempted to put in bigger motors. Number one, you'll have to completely reevaluate the power supply and controller to see what it can handle, but even more importantly you may actually REDUCE your top speed! Generally speaking, the smallest stepper motors that gets the job done gives you the best performance.

[Phil Thien]

I would agree and say leave it alone until you've actually run it. It will tell you what it needs. The two steppers wired together is fishy. Ask about that when you pick it up. Also, don't be tempted to put in bigger motors. Number one, you'll have to completely reevaluate the power supply and controller to see what it can handle, but even more importantly you may actually REDUCE your top speed! Generally speaking, the smallest stepper motors that gets the job done gives you the best performance.

This is a good plan.

The two steppers on X may not be actually wired together. One of them may be a slave of the other, this can be accomplished with many controllers. I agree with finding out more on this, as well.

[Bryan Rocker]

Well its finally in the garage, went smoother than I anticipated. It comes with bobcad version 16, and more interestingly it has a bobcad/cam power supply/controller. It went in my trailer very easy since he had a crane right there, getting it out was problematic. Having said all that it is much more robust than I originally thought. The 1/2" aluminum plates with track in them for clamping are sitting on a full sheet of 3/8" aluminum. The cnc belonged to his father who passed away. I can't complain though, for $1K I couldn't even buy all the metal to make the table....The power supply is a 1998 era box but he did have it plugged in and its rock solid and the ball screws turn very easy....Now once my back quits hurting I will spend some more time on it.......

[Phil Thien]

Well its finally in the garage, went smoother than I anticipated. It comes with bobcad version 16, and more interestingly it has a bobcad/cam power supply/controller. It went in my trailer very easy since he had a crane right there, getting it out was problematic. Having said all that it is much more robust than I originally thought. The 1/2" aluminum plates with track in them for clamping are sitting on a full sheet of 3/8" aluminum. The cnc belonged to his father who passed away. I can't complain though, for $1K I couldn't even buy all the metal to make the table....The power supply is a 1998 era box but he did have it plugged in and its rock solid and the ball screws turn very easy....Now once my back quits hurting I will spend some more time on it.......

Post some pics if you get a chance.

[Bryan Rocker]

One last note or two, the ball screws are 5 tpi, its has limit switches on all axis, the only one not functioning is the the bottom Z, its broken. The X steppers are definately wired together and appear to have been that way a long time. One zerk fitting needs to be replaced. On the software side of the house, yes there is a small floppy disc with Bobcad 16.1, however, the CD contains Bobcad 20.1 and Bobart Pro and Bob mesher. Have some pics will get them loaded tomorrow night. I may pull apart each connector and redo them all, some of them look like they have some wires pulled out/broken. All in all I am very pleased with it, they previous owner even cleaned it off, even though it wasn't that bad.......

[John Coloccia]

Bottom Z limit if more or less useless, assuming of course there's a reasonable hardstop so nothing breaks or the thing doesn't fall off the rails. Personally, I wouldn't spend even a minute worrying about that. Many systems don't even have a negative Z limit. On my own machine, I didn't even bother installing the positive Z limit since I do a touch-off on everything anyway.

[Bryan Rocker]

Good evening all, a couple of minor updates, the controller is an Annaheim Automation, 600 watt, currently sells for $1,400 which is $400 more than I paid for the whole thing. Here are a few pics.

300167
CNC on the trailer after it arrived home.

300168

CNC controller info.

300169

CNC Controller

300170

300171
Me being happy after struggling to get this 1000lb beast off the trailer...

[james mcgrew]

That looks like a Bill Hog if i ever saw one !! Anehiem automation, win 98 if not dos Microsystems controller, did it come with the computer !

[Bryan Rocker]

No computer the only software it came with was bobcad 16.1, and 20.1 and 2 old books. Going to call them to see what software I can use to control it, will use Mach 3 if need be. Oddly enough I have an old win98 machine, not sure if works anymore!!