Boxford TCL 125

[gordonireland]

hi all
my first post,

i just purchased 125 tcl , it has 1mhz ribbon leaving lathe which enters i/0 - box 3000 [unilab 532.011 ]
it also has 15 pin analogue port ??

and 3 other user ports ribbon type a,b,c ???

this connects into acorn pc which has 3.5" floppy .

i have sofware for 5" floppy .

my problem is i have mach3 on new pc ,how can i connect this to lathe, can i wire this directly to new pc with printer port ot does it need i/o box .

any help woud be great .

[cjmerlincnc]

Hi, I have a TCL 160 and is working fine at the moment. But being nosy I looked inside to see how they are built.

Each axis driver has a step and direction pin.

You will need to purchase a breakout board (eg: CnC4Pc) which connects via a parrallel port cable from the breakout to your computer. then connect the step and direction pins (usually marked on the pcb) to the breakout board.

You will also need something to control the spindle motor. I suggest a digispeed as it will convert a pwm signal from Mach3 to 0-10v for your controller and give you an accurate speed for thread cutting. please note that in a previous post on this thread the correct spindle voltage mentioned only goes to 8v so you will have to configure mach3 to account for this.
You will also need to setup a spindle rpm counter to mach3. The Boxfords already have an optical sensor which you could wire to the breakout board with a little modification.

You will then have a machine that works far superior that when it was first built.

I dont advocate any manufacturers mentioned, just gives you an idea of what you will need to make the machine run with Mach3.

I hope this helps.

[gordonireland]

thanks allot
just ordered breakout board ,mach 3 looks so user friendly, i cant
wait to get it running.

[cjmerlincnc]

Hi, Yes Once you have learned how to set up Mach3 for a machine and it's all running fine, Mach3 is very easy to live with. I make quite a few of the same parts almost every day and it is so nice to be able to chuck billet, measure the z offset for Z zero and enter into Mach and press button away it goes churning out parts whilst i'm drinking tea, and staring at the magnificent view from my workshop window.

Most problems arise with the mechanics of the system like dodgy limit switches and inaccurate homing positions and more exotic items like toolchangers.

If you plan to retro a machine then use known good items or test each component before you fit it and your halfway there.

Lucky for you the Boxford already has reasonably good limit switches which I belive are magnetic, but you may want to add homing switches for better repeatability either optical or proximity sensors are best.

After I posted my last message, I thought that more explanation as to why I suggested using a digispeed type control for the spindle. My lathe is controlled by sending an 8 bit word from Mach3 using 8 outputs to a D/A converter and then I had to add changes to the macro to setup values for each 10 RPM increments.

The previous owner built it this way, and the trouble is I can't use constant surface speed and after reading up on why, it appears that Mach needs total control and this can only be achieved by the PWM feature Mach has.

I may be wrong but i've never got it to work with the system I have.


Good luck with the project.

[gordonireland]

hi all
sill waiting on breakout board for for 125 , would anyone have a the wiring ,for 32 ribbon it will save me tracing . or any other advice

,also waiting on 5"floppy drive to look at old software ,i wouldent mind only i bined a few last year .

still testing mach3 dam its good .
if i get it going i .. might .. sell old acorn+ software+io box3000 .

im thinking of scratch building a miller now .

[bbrreid]

Boxfords are on Youtube you might get a link from there

[glamoursfx1]

Did you every get round to sorting out the stuff for the BOXFORD TCL 125.
I am just thinking about taking guts out of working lathe TCL and upgrading to Mach3..
but would be interested in other options ?

Many Thanks Dave