Need Help!- Spindle drive / motor on Series 2 Mk 1

[simonrafferty]

I recently converted my Bridgeport to Mach3 - and it has been fantastic! Unfortunately, this evening the Mentor II spindle drive died (lots of smoke!).

A used replacement looks like it will cost £1000 or more - so I'm not keen!

The mill has a DC motor with separate field windings. Does anyone know what voltage / current are applied to the field or armature windings? I'm wondering about building my own 4 quadrant controller for it - it's actually pretty easy using IGBT's.

If not, are there any single phase DC drives which will drive the original motor?

Failing that, what are my options for replacing the DC motor with a 3 phase motor + VFD?

I suppose if I'm really lucky, it will just be the rectifiers in the Mentor which have died - and may be straightforward for me to repair.

Thanks in advance,

Si