Help! Has anyone any information on the UK schools' mill from CONECT. I have been given one and replaced the stepper drivers and it works but I would like to know which company built the mill for CONECT.
Ian Hart

I've seen a number of lathes labeled under that brand name, and they just looked to be CNC converted Myford lathes of a pretty old style, and mounted in a steel enclosure. D&M was another brand name on some of the same units. Don't know how that ties in though. Hope that gives you a bit of a start at least.

Never seen a Conect mill however, don't know what it would look like or what maker it originally came from. Maybe if you post a pic someone will recognize it.

I will post a photo as soon as I have time and finished current task.

boxford made some of this stuff i think

Here is the machine, in all it's glory. Anyone recognise the manufacturer.

is that a servo motor driving the spindle..if so, how's it run? I have a small servo motor and would love to run have it run a little boley lathe, any ideas?

and is the plate on the conect mill a inf plate?

Thats a beautfil lathe you have there. And it also looks like a servo motor, but I don't know what type of encoder that is.

We have several boley lathes at work, and I just love seing those old machines doing their thing.

is that a servo motor driving the spindle..if so, how's it run? I have a small servo motor and would love to run have it run a little boley lathe, any ideas?



You didn't say what voltage it is? I would guess 60~80 v?
Otherwise for 90vdc, you can use one of the KB/Baldor scr drives, right off the 120vac line.
I would even suspect they will run at lower AC in if a step down transformer was used.
If much lower, get one of the AMC or Copley servo drives off ebay.
It appears not to have a tach, so it may not run as well in open loop as a velocity mode.
Al.

Hi
The motor is a DC motor. the rating plate says:- 130v, 37A, 4000rpm
:confused:
It's UK 230-240 volt AC

Hi
The motor is a DC motor. the rating plate says:- 130v, 37A, 4000rpm
:confused:
It's UK 230-240 volt AC

:confused: 130v at 37a is a 4kw (~6.5hp) motor? Sure its not 3.7A?
It sure doesn't look THAT big.
From the apparent size in the pic. I would think that 37a is the demagnetization point, not the stall torque current.
Al.

Hi

I keep checking the plate and it says 37A and the digit spacing doesn't appear to leave space for a missing decimal point. It is a SEM 'Ferrite Brushed DC Servomotor'.

hi Ian,

I have been searching the forum for threads on the conect minor mill and found yours. Did you find any more info? I am awaiting mine to be delivered at the moment but i am expecting to have to convert it to run off mach, it is coming without any pc/software you see. Have you had to do the same?
The only thing i have found so far is that the company maker is called Conect Numerical Controls Ltd. Thats all i have at the moment.
Mine does look the same as yours except it is in an enclosed box.

Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks
J.

Hi J.

I can't help with any further information regarding who manufactured the machine itself. Conect obviously went out of business a long time ago. However the machine itself is very well built and uses high quality components. I replaced all the electronics, including the spindle motor driver. I bought stepper drivers from ROUTOUT and a couple of new motors from ARC EURO TRADE. The wiring is very temporary at the moment and I think is causing interference problems. I intend to go to all twisted pair soon. The accuracy when running test routines is fantastic but when under load some odd discrepancies creep in. Mach3 is worth every penny with the add-on wizards!
Mine had a case when I got it but it made it heavy and inconvenient in my small workshop.

Keep in touch

Ian

Ian,
The drivers from routout have a known history of noise.

Connect was started by some guys local to me to convert machines to CNC.
They had talks with Myfords to get Myfords to supply a base machine and handle sales but Myfords declined as they couldn't see a future in CNC.
So they did it on their own, they bought a speed 10 from Myfords and threw away all the bits they didn't need.

They used various supplies over time and eventually it was sold out to an Irish company and then disappeared.

One of the starter member was Alan Timmins the clock maker who has recently died.

I did know who built the mill but the name escapes me, Ill have a think about it. It was Uk made as a manual machine.

[EDIT ] Just remembered it was made by Rishton.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/rishton/index.html

John S.

John

Many thanks, the machine I have appears closest in design to the 'Promill'. I am trying to discover what rating the gas-ram on the head should be. I believe it should be around 210 newtons. Any ideas?


Ian

Ian,

Thanks for getting back to me. Looking at yours stripped down it looks very much like a Denford Triac?
What sort of discrepancies have you experienced under load?

Jamie

John S,

As per my reply to ian, his machine and indeed hopefully the one i receive looks like the denford triac? Is this likely to be the same machine as this rishton machine?

Jamie

Hi Ian,

Just a thought, what taper is your machine, from the pics it looks like it has drive dogs as if it was a 30iso taper??
The machine I am waiting for has a 350x130 table (so the guy tells me), so this also looks the same as this rishton promill.
As these machines are round column instead of square do you find it causes any deflection problems?

Regards
Jamie

Hi

The spindle has a Coventry Toolholders collet system which uses various inserts all of which are available from them - at a price.
The working area on the bed of my machine is about 160 by 90mm.
The discrepancies are unexpected movements. The machine can quite happily work for hours and suddenly the bed or head experiences an unprogrammed movement. I hope it's electrical interference. Rewiring with twisted pair is planned before Christmas.

Ian

ian,

Does the collet system have a product name, I may as well spec some up as i assume i will have the same on my spindle (when it arrives). I have been trying to find cov's website, do they have one or can this collet system be bought over ebay?

Regards
J.

Hi
The address for the collet system is :
http://www.coventrytoolholders.co.uk
They sent a price list for the 'EASY CHANGE' parts list: approx. £70 per holder!
My machine's bed is approx. 350 by 130 so it may be the same machine.
Good Luck

Ian

Thanks for that ian.

I'll give you an update once i've received it, i'm sure i'll have various queries.

I'll check out the cov website in the mean time.

Thanks
J.

Yes but the website indicates that the basic tool holder is an adapter for R8, ISO or MT taper. So your spindle taper is probably one of those. If so you can reduce you cost from GBP70 to GBP7 per shot, all be it at less convenience with respect to quick change.

Just a thought
Phil


Hi

The spindle has a Coventry Toolholders collet system which uses various inserts all of which are available from them - at a price.
Ian

Phil

Thanks, all information is gratefully received.


Ian

Ian,

Is your taper an R8 or Morse taper? Phil is right the coventry system is purely a quick release adaptor, looks a good one at that though!..

J.

J.

Sorry, I don't know whether the machine has an R8 or Morse taper. I don't know how to remove the 'Easy Change' adapter to find out. There is no access to the top of the head for a drawbar though.

Ian

Ian,

Finally received my mill and it does seem to be the same machine as yours (all be it encased in a box with manual controls on the outer) and yes it seems to have the same quick release system. I've looked at it and there are flats on the spindle nose so I think I can remove it that way. I'll let you know how i get on.

On a separate note this machine does not have a parrallel port but like a vga monitor type socket on the back and as a result will power up but not budge on the manual controls. I assume it needs to be converted now to enable running off mach 3.

Who is the best contact to aid me in doing this? Routout?

And am i correct in assuming i will need a breakout board and new drivers?
Whoever I go with will need to provide me with step by step instructions/guidance as i am by no means an electronics expert so please advice on who will provde best support also appreciated..


p.s "boy its heavy"

Thanks
Jamie

J

I hope that your machine is as well built as mine! The electronics were all driven by a serial interface - so I threw the lot away. A friend helped wire up the new servo motor driver to provide manual control of the speed. The original is a PWM system (?). You can drive the motor (SEM DC servomotor on mine) from Mach3 but I haven't gone so far as to research the hardware needed to provide the +10 to -10v required. I bought ROUTOUT stepper drivers and Michael Gaylor has been fairly helpful. I'm told that the drivers are electrically noisy so I might have looked elsewhere if I'd known. The connection was fairly straight forward and I'm happy to share the XML file that Mach3 uses on mine for the setup of all the parameters.
I kept the E-Stop and ammeter just for completeness but dumped the case - a space issue.

Ian