Need Help!- Stepper motor to simple power feed?

[machining fool]

I have an old Bandit control on a Bridgeport, and I am tired of buying cards that blow up at 400.oo a shot, so I want to convert these steppers X and Y, to simple variable speed feed. Has anyone done it? If so, I would appreciate some help, Bob.

[johnmac]

Bob, I'm not a machinist, but I will give you some problems I think I see.

If you use gearmotors, you may not be able to hand feed while the motor is coupled. If you have a hand wheel at the motor, it may take a lot of cranking due to the gear reduction. If the gearmotors don't have brakes, you may have trouble not overshooting the stop point.

Sounds like you need stepper drivers with a built in controller that lets you run the motors without external control. Then you could have push button switches for direction control.

I used to service machines that worked this way. It had slow and fast buttons and rocker direction switches.

Just my thoughts.

John

[machining fool]

Originally Posted by johnmac Bob, I'm not a machinist, but I will give you some problems I think I see. If you use gearmotors, you may not be able to hand feed while the motor is coupled. If you have a hand wheel at the motor, it may take a lot of cranking due to the gear reduction. If the gearmotors don't have brakes, you may have trouble not overshooting the stop point. Sounds like you need stepper drivers with a built in controller that lets you run the motors without external control. Then you could have push button switches for direction control. I used to service machines that worked this way. It had slow and fast buttons and rocker direction switches. Just my thoughts. John

Hi, this is Machining Fool. Thanks for your reply. I am using this machine as a manual machine with little cranking force. One of the members sent a schematic of a circuit to convert, but I am having a little trouble understanding the circuit, but I think I will try to make it. Thanks.