Need Help!- Journeyman 325 tree mill retrofit

[ramsey321]

Help Please! I am planning on retrofittng my Journeyman 325 tree mill that I just purchased and I am looking for someone who has already retrofited a J325. Can anyone point me to someone who has been down this road? Any help would be greatly appriciated. Thanks

[lavrgs]

There are several people on this site that have retrofitted mills and Tree 325 specifically. I bught a 325 cheap and decided my best approach was to remove all existing electronics and replace them. With my machine 70% of the work involved cleaning and cleaning them some more cleaning. Mechanically the machine was in good shape and looked to have been well maintained. new belts, no binding on the axes etc.
The basics of the retrofit came down to buying a computer, power supply, servo drives, spindle drive and controller software. I sold the existing electronics for about the same money as the replacement. You have to realize that patience is required. The spindle drive I got costs $1400 brand new but I was able to get mine for $325 on eBay. Although it was an "interesting" deal because I think the seller realized he sold it too cheap, but too late.
I can be more specific in listing the components I used but you must first decide how much you want to spend and have cash ready to go - realize that you will need more than you thought. Then decide if you will fix existing components or replace. Check all motors for operation because if they need to be replaced they will be one of the biggest expenses.
Because of my limited budget I stayed away from "pre-built" retrofits like MachMotion or Centroid kits because I could buy the components and go through the pain of integrating for much less. Ajax is a good source for these items but doing lots of research on the web will get you all kinds of info.

HTH

Bill

[ramsey321]

Thanks for the reply. My J325 was running when I bought it so I was thinking of using the Dynapath controller with the RS 232 port to import programs and to drip feed it long programs. It isnt under power at my place yet, I still need to purchase a 10 hp CNC rotary Phase Converter but I thought I would look into the retrofit before I go out and buy one. I would like to keep the cost of the retrofit down as much as possible by using my existing Baldor servor motors but I dont want to sacrifice any of the current performance. I have a call into Ajax but I havent talked to them yet. What would you recomend? Thanks

[lavrgs]

The Baldor motors seem to be very robust. The only problems I've heard about are related to coolant dripping on the y axis motor. I recommend using them.

In my set up the one thing I may change is using Viper drives rather than Geckos to use the full power/speed of the motors. But with that said I couldn't recommend Geckos service highly enough - Mariss, Geckos owner, is truly outstanding in that he takes to time to walk you through your problems. Being the head honcho does not mean his suit never gets dirty.

The need for a 10hp RPC would only be if you wanted to run several other pieces of equipment. 7.5hp is plenty for a couple pieces as long as they aren't started at the same time. But having the excess capacity never hurts.

The only problem with the Dynapath is that it would be very expensive to fix. If it works use it, I've heard nothing but good things about them. In my case it didn't work and the thought of sending it our to get looked at for $500 did not seem like money well spent to me when I could buy 3 geckos, a power supply and breakout board for that.

[ramsey321]

So did you use the Baldor servo motors on your retrofit? If so can you give me a detailed list of items you purchased for your retrofit. Did you go with the Mach 3 setup? If you wouldnt mine me giving you a call send me a private message with your number. Thanks again for your help.