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a dear friend of mine gave me a pair of desktop cnc mills and a bunch of controllers. i am not sure if the controllers work or not but one of the two machines is a sherline 5400 with the sherline steppers installed. most of this machine is new in box never used. but i don't know if the stepper controller is there. i found a cable that has a parallel port at one end along with a small fan and heat sink and what looks like a small controller. it has 4 ps2 plugs coming off the other side which look to connect to the steppers but im not sure because it doesn't look anything like the controllers I've seen before being as its only about 3"x3" square. ill try to get picks of the machine and controller tomorrow if i can so that i can figure out what i have here. it does have the hand wheels so if nothing else i can use it manually for now.
Congrats on the new toys. I cant imagine what the PS2 plugs are for but there is no standard when it comes to home hobbyists. I cant imagine a controller in a 3" X 3" box though a G540 is pretty small however you would still need a PS with it. Post up some pics!
That little box is the #8760 Sherline stepper controller. It's small, but big enough to run that little mill. The 4 plugs attach to the steppers using cables which should be there someplace. If they aren't, you can get them from Sherline. Their system also includes an EMC install disk which will convert your computer to a Linux box running EMC, which will load and execute your G-code files.
Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software
Have they changed the design of the 8760 ? The one I have looks nothing like the one shown on the site. Its the same size as the parallel plug but it has a fan on it. Ill snap a pic when I get home this afternoon and can play with it. I didn't receive any disks but I do have a few extra pc's lying around I could dedicate to this. Thanks for the help so far.
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well i got the mills out and had some fun. the sherline runs super smooth. i think the second mill is an older sherline but im not sure. i did get pix of everything tho.
i believe this is the controller for the sherline 5400 but im missing the cables.
the board says backtrack mfg on it i believe.
im not sure what this is? it looks too small to be a controller.
here they are! the one on the right is the sherline 5400 the one on the left. i dont know. i think it may be an old sherline but i cant tell.
i believe this is the controller for the black mill. the gentleman that gave it to me said its fried but i haven't opened it to look.
Last edited by NSR_CIVIC; 03-15-2012 at 09:53 PM.
They are both Sherlines. Spectralight was a company that seemed to specialize in eductional units based on the early Sherline machines. I believe they are still around and have some form of connectio with a company called Intellitek, but I could be wrong on that. My first pair of machines was that same mill and a companion lathe. I built a hobby cnc pro kit and used the modern Sherline stepper mounts that have opposing bearings to handle the thrust. The originals had a washer only.
Sweet. Do u know if I can run the motor on that one without the controler box? I figured I would use that one as a manual and use the newer one for the cnc. Seeing as I have 2 sets of the newer hand wheels for some reason.
I cleaned that little vice up and threw it on the newer machine and took some passes through the wax block that was in it and it cut like butter. The 3 flute HSS endmill looks almost brand new so atleast I have some tooling. I also found 2 different size jacobs chucks in the box. Both brand new in the wrapping
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Actually all Sherline parts are interchangeable. The controller if I remember correctly required a specific ISA card and it probably isnt worth the hassle. I reused my case and power supply when building my controller. It is a nice machine to use for very small items and or soft materials. Once you have a CNC machine, rarely would you need the manual one. You can do all your moves with a shuttle pro or the keyboard. The results are better, the feedrates more consistent etc.
I saw the neatest thing yesterday and had to come and post it.
A company in Clearwater/Largo Florida called Comtech Precision Machine Inc is now producing an ISO15 conversion kit for the Sherline 30100 headstock (standard mill head).
A brief discussion revealed that the shaft assembly will come in with a $200.00 to $250.00 price tag making it very affordable.
Over the weekend I'm gonna dig up my 5400 and get it ready to try one out as soon as they are available.
The "older" sherline you refer to is a specralight 0200 CNC mill for educational purposes that someone removed from it's enclosure/cabinet.
I have a couple of the enclosures/cabinets (acrylic intact) they came in with cables and stepper motors undamaged and attached I could be persuaded to part with if you want to put one in to keep the generated cutting mess to a minimum and it would plug into the spectralight control box and allow you to run it off the parallel port with a cable (you can make the cable - the ISA card is not required).
Also, I can swap you a 3-axis controller that runs these mills very well for your spectralight controller if you haven't butchered it yet.
I would be more then willing to swap u the spectralight controller for a 3axis one but I was told it was cooked. Ill open it up this weekend and see if it looks fried.
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what would i need to get to use the backtrack controller? i know i need cables but is there any special programs i need for it?
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