Upgrading (2) D&M 5 CNC Lathes

[basch3]

Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum as well as the art CNC lathes. I have, thru my father-in-law, (2) D&M 5 lathes (He's a shop teacher at a high school that is getting rid of old equipment. They didn't know what to do with them, he offered them to me, so I eagerly took them). Anyway, thru this forum, I'm learning the options of what to do with them. I want to upgrade both to a good quality, usable CNC lathes, sell one and keep the other. Both are missing the controller card have no real usable software. I have idea's of what to do (for example, DeskCNC software w/contoller card, Gecko drives etc...), but looking for opinions. I want to be able to turn threads (it isn't a lathe unless you can turn threads). Thanks for any help you can give.

[Ron111]

Not sure what your lathes are, so post a couple of PICs. I did a cnc lathe conversion and also synchronized the spindle with mach 3 software. It's under the thread HF 9X20 to cnc in this section. You can see what I did and maybe it will give you some hints. Mach 3 makes it easy and they have a good threading wizard.

Welcome aboard, we look forward to your cnc conversion and if I can help, just let me know.
Ron

[basch3]

I've read good things about Mach 3. That was another option. I'll take a look at your post. Here are some pics:

[Cocotmm]

Basch,

I've got a D&M 5 that I've done just this to. I had it operating on the original software, but wanted to try out Mach 3 on it hoping that it would be easier to use. I installed a breakout board and wired to the original stepper drivers, which seems to work, at least under no load (I just buttoned it up about 2 hours ago, and I've been working on a trimmer trying to clean a muffler, so I haven't had time to try it yet under load. Tomorrow..). I put in a step-to-voltage board to control the spindle speed, no adjustment with the front knob, but I'm OK with that. The only problem I've run into , other than burning up the spindle control board, is that I can't control the spindle at the slow speeds required for threading. I'm using the single pulse-per-rev timing output and I think, though may be wrong, that the resolution isn't good enough to allow the PID control in Mach3 to work at anything below ~250 RPM. There is a multiple pulse-per-rev encoder on the motor output that I wired in, but I've got to go get the strobotach from work to figure out how many pulses per rev I get, as I can't see the wheel and I'm too lazy to pull the whole motor assembly out. I saw about 1 ms pulse length at 400 RPM, so I'm concerned that Mach3 won't be able to pick up the signal at higher RPMs. It needs ~200 us pulse length, which will max the spindle speed out at 2000 RPM. I would like to be able to switch between the two speed inputs based on speed, but I have no idea if this is possible. Sorry for the long, rambling post (I've got my whiskey long underwear on, its about 30 degrees here in Wisconsin) and good luck with getting yours running. Be sure and post if you have any questions, I'll help in any way I can. I'm still in process of getting mine up and useable, so maybe we can learn from each other. I think it should be a good little machine when I get it going, now I just have to come up with some projects....

Adam

[draftingrus]

There is a place in england that has some upgrade options for the D&M, Lab Volt and other machines of this type geared, (or at least sold) for educational units

http://doubleduck.com/DandM.html

http://www.desktopcnc.com/out_of_prod/old_labvolt.htm

http://www.eaziform.co.uk/phpwcms/index.php?welcome

Hope this helps

[aminear]

Basch3,

I took a look at the pictures you posted on this thread, it looks just like the one I modified but a different color. As soon as you get the pictures of the back side opened up and a shot of the left side opened up I should be able to tell if it is the same. The circuits are all TTL logic chips, some of them so old you can't get functional description or pinouts on but the inputs are readily identified by the wires going into the driver.

Where are you located? I am in Wyoming. Do you all the other hardware with the lathes? Toolpost, steadyrest, tailstock?

Arnie

[basch3]

Thanks everyone for posting comments...keep them coming. Here is a picture of the back opened up. I have been busy with other projects lately and haven't had time to work on the lathe (seems like that everytime I try). Anyway, I want to get started on it. If I have to buy drives, stepper motors, or anything, I want to identify them and get them. Thanks again for your help. BTW I am not in Wyoming. I'm in Wisconsin, near Milwaukee.

[aminear]

Basch,

I am not seeing the driver boards that I was expecting, do the wires on the largest board that are marked x & z axis go directly to the motors or another smaller board?

Arnie

[basch3]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you. Life is busy with three kids. Anyway, the x and z axis go directly to the motors from the larger board. Not sure what this means.

[aminear]

That is too bad, looks like you would be best off putting a couple of new drivers in, I wouldn't be able to identify how to inject your signal into the main board.

Arnie

[dougputt]

Hi

Just wondering how you made out with your lathe? I just picked one up and trying to convert to Mach 3