Light Madhine 1000 retrofit

[Norsksea]

My project is a Light Machine TMC 1000 CNC tabletop mill that I bought locally. This mill came out of a technical school and looks like it only cut plastics or wax. I bought it for the steel. I am replacing the original drive motors with double-shafted stepper motors so I can add some handles. The wiring harness for the steppers, limit switches and 1hp DC motor with working variable speed control are in good shape. I bought a replacement E-stop button and new cog belts for the steppers and spindle motor.
I just bought 3 Gecko 202 drives from their August sale to run the stepper motors.
My next step is to put together the power supply and parallel port breakout board from Campbell designs. I have been going though old posts here and found a lot of good information. Bob Campbell also has a PDF that has helped me with transformer and capacitor sizes.
I have an old Hughes aircraft aluminum server box that I am going to use for the control panel. The next step is to layout all the parts, I found some pictures here on this forum that are giving me some ideas too.
Here is a picture of the TMC 1000 that I am retrofitting. I will update the pictures as I go.
Thanks for all information I found here.
Frank

[Halfnutz]

That looks like a MAXNC 10CL. Whatever it is its a very nice mini mill. Not cheap when new I bet. Nice machine from the looks of it. The more info you share the better. Congratulations, welcome aboard, and keep us all posted on your progress, with lots of pics.

(The above opinions are the authors and do not represent those of CNCZone or its management.)

[Norsksea]

Here is a link for Light Machines.
http://www.lightmachines.com/product...000-page1.html
Intelitek is the new company that I ordered the parts from.
http://www.intelitek.com/products/pr...=1&pid=2&did=3
Frank

[BigChevMan]

Originally Posted by Norsksea My project is a Light Machine TMC 1000 CNC tabletop mill that I bought locally. This mill came out of a technical school and looks like it only cut plastics or wax. I bought it for the steel. I am replacing the original drive motors with double-shafted stepper motors so I can add some handles. The wiring harness for the steppers, limit switches and 1hp DC motor with working variable speed control are in good shape. I bought a replacement E-stop button and new cog belts for the steppers and spindle motor. I just bought 3 Gecko 202 drives from their August sale to run the stepper motors. My next step is to put together the power supply and parallel port breakout board from Campbell designs. I have been going though old posts here and found a lot of good information. Bob Campbell also has a PDF that has helped me with transformer and capacitor sizes. I have an old Hughes aircraft aluminum server box that I am going to use for the control panel. The next step is to layout all the parts, I found some pictures here on this forum that are giving me some ideas too. Here is a picture of the TMC 1000 that I am retrofitting. I will update the pictures as I go. Thanks for all information I found here. Frank

It's a nice machine. I learned on one back in high school. I wish I had it today. I did mostly aluminum stuff on it..cut like a champ.

[research]

One of the schools I work for has the MaxNC 10s (old ones) and they are not worth much. The other school is trying to get a light machine 1000. I have used it and it works fine, but its old software. I made the parts in AutoCAD as DXF. Then converted to g codes. Than milled them.

What are your plans for upgrading to newer XP based software or do you have any? I assume you would need new drivers and software (new controller?) to just use the CAD or Inventor files (STL~etc.).

[Norsksea]

I am going to use Mach 3 with Win2000 through the parallel port. I have the Campbell design breakout board and Gecko 202's to run the steppers. I have Alebre design 3d software, Meshcam with Cutviewer and Sheetcam for 2d. I have yet to put together the power supply and control panel. I made the table to give me a better idea on how I am going to mount the control panel. The table is measures 26L x 36W x 38H. I made it out of 2-1/2 square tubing 1/8th inch wall. It is 38 inches tall so when I have the mill finished and working I will be able to stand comfortably. I found the metal tubing and a 1/16th thick stainless steel top with bend side at a metal scrap yard. The table legs have 2-1/4 round pipe welded into the legs with solid aluminum machined feet. With just the top on it is extremely rigid and solid when I try to shake it by hand. With the mill on it I don't think there will be any vibration problem. I also found a stainless steel electrical control box that I modified to use as the control panel. I think I am going to mount the control box under the table as the top drawer and add more drawers under it for tooling and storage.

[research]

Hmm...this could work well for us. I am sorry to ask so many questions, but its been left to me to figure something out with a shoe string budget (or no real budget) and I don't know a lot about CNC yet.

My boss loves the prolight machine even though the software is so old (me too). To update through intellitek is very expensive (if you can get them to answer anything). We are going through that now with a scorbot thats malfunctioning.

The table is not a problem at all. My father works in a steel fabrication shop.

I just downloaded the Mach 3 (is that a trail version or real?) The gecko 202s are not that expensive. I have not found anything about the Campbell design breakout board yet, but I will keep looking.

We teach AutoCAD 2006 (2D & 3D) as well as Inventor here, so hopefully whatever CAM software we get will work with those file types. Ok....just did some light reading. The meshcam will work with the 3D (STL files) and the sheetcam will work with the 2D (DXF). Neither are terribly expensive.

They don't typically post prices in here, but would you mind giving me a ballpark guestimate of how much it might cost to get the machine set up and running? Since its possible, I will talk to him and see if he can go ahead and get the mill. It works well.

Thanks for you help so far,
Brian

[Norsksea]

I love this machine when I first saw it. It used R8 collets had a working 1hp DC motor with controller and so hi-tech looking compared to my Bridgeport.
Intellitek said to upgrade the control panel was $2000 forand $1500 for a PCI card that would go into a desktop computer. I'm not even sure if a PCI slot is still used for XP pentium 4 anymore. I didn't even ask what their software would cost.
I think with all hardware components was under $1000 which includes I did get 4 new cog belts and I a E-Stop button from Intellitek and Mach3 licence.
On Bab Campells web site he has some tutorials on power supplies and search old posts here will give you all the information you will need to build a newer Mach3 control system to use.
Mach 3 is the full version but limited to 1000 lines of code. (I think).
Email me with your phone number if I can be of any help.
Frank

[research]

I agree. Its a very nice machine. The one he wants to get is working just fine (I have used it for demos several timesto take CAD files and machine parts). Its just really old software. He got those same approximate costs from intellitek, but they didn't seem to interested in helping further. (We are trying to get info on the robot right now)

As far as I know...everything works fine and I would not have to replace any of the main parts of the machine itself. I will look at the site tomorrow and see what I can read. This is all new to me. So around $1000 for what you have now (including the mach3). Did that include the meshcam and sheetcam too?

That leaves the controller and power supply still then? Thats a ton cheaper than the other way.

I can't thank you enough for your help. This is falling into place perfectly for what he wanted me to try to figure out.

Thanks,
Brian

EDIT: PM sent to you

[RotarySMP]

TurboCNC is also a great control software. Not a pretty as MACH 3, but runs on any Pentium 1 under Microsofts last stable OS.

[Norsksea]

No Meshcam, Sheetcam and Alibre Design were not included because they are so software. I included Mach3 because it runs the Hardware.
This is my first CNC project my TNC 1000 did not come with the original computer, software and control panel. I bought a 9-pin and 15-pin panel mounted connectors to use with existing wiring to motors, limit switches and E-stop.
I did get Intelitek to give me the pin assignments for the 9-pin and 15-pin cable connectors.

The $1000 includes the following
Power supply parts (transformer and capacitors etc…)
Double-shafted stepper motors.
(3) 202 Gecko drives
Campbell designs parallel port breakout board.
4 cog belts and E-stop button from Intelitek
Mach 3 license
Misc.parts (fan, heatsinks, connectors and wiring)

[research]

This is going to sound dumb to those of you who understand all of this, but.....

The one we are looking at is a functioning machine. It has the controller and everything there functions. I remembered it being a dos based software, but it is a win 95 based (whatever it is). Would I need a new power supply, steppers, stepper controllers, and board?

In general....what I am trying to ask is: Can I use whats there and just upgrade the software/compter? We have some win 98 and 2000 machines around if XP won't work.

I downloaded the 60 day trial of meshcam and it looks almost exactly like some of the demo software a salesman is trying to sell us with his machine. I loved how it took my STL files and machined parts.

Again, sorry to be such a pest, but this is a wonderful place to learn.