New to me Tree 325

[ions82]

Which controller do you have? I would disconnect the existing supply and connect the proper voltages to the terminal strip (I'm making a big assumption) and the monitor will get its supply from the card cage.

I made the same big assumption! I wired the new power supplies up to the terminal strip, and the control fired right up. However, it wouldn't run properly. There are a number of wires that run between the control and the power module, and most of them do not go through the terminal strip. I spent a LOT of time finding out which wires carry voltage to/from the control. I started by tracing back circuits from the LED indicator panel. Although I managed to figure out which wires carry which voltages, I didn't bother trying to wire in any sort of jumpers. I came to the conclusion that I am putting in WAY too much effort into a control that will likely give me more problems in the future. As soon as I had good clean regulated power running the control, something else would probably take a crap.

Anyway, I am pretty much set on the idea of a retrofit. I now have to learn everything about them and figure out what all I will need. I'm sure it won't be easy, but I should end up with a machine that is far more reliable and serviceable. It should be relatively affordable, too. Parts & Smarts wants something like $850 for HALF of the original power supply (which is a POS to begin with). If I can retain the servo motors and spindle drive on my machine, it shouldn't cost much to retrofit to Mach3 (just a lot of time and frustration.)

So, what's the scoop on your Tree? Have you been able to make any progress with it?

[lavrgs]

I've had a lot of people recommend Parts and Smarts but they seem to be better for people with working shops that need to keep their equipment up and running. They are out of touch with the home shop people on a BUDGET. They were surprised when I told them I could take my home computer load Mach 3 and get rid of the Dynapath for less than it would cost for them to "look" at my Delta 20. Pretty much the same story with Servo Dynamics... 3 geckos for $350 SD just looks at my boards for $250 ...hmm no freakin' brainer... I sell my dynapath and SD unit for parts and make money for the retrofit...modern stuff or 20+ year old stuff. Don't get me wrong that old stuff is industrial quality and when it works, people seem to love it, but I have no previous experience with it and if I'm going to learn something I want it to be something closer to what I'm already familiar with.

This weekends update - All 3 servo motors work!!! I got to see the table and quill move...very exciting.
Mostly cleaning...base was ugly, old cutting fluid, chips etc, drained the sump of all the old coolant...eek what a mess...removed the coolant pump.

Cleaned and repaired the mister.

Cleaned the Bijur oiler. The manual pump seems stuck and I am not getting any oil to flow with the electric pump. I can move the manual pump just a bit to get some oil flowing. How far should the handle travel?

Removed computer & VFD. Servos will be coming out and all items are available for sale. I will probably want to keep the Servo power supply and I would just as soon not break things down to board level...but make me a "reasonable offer...
The VFD almost feel out the door when the machine arrived. It was damaged in shipping, the plastic structure that holds it to the cabinet broke. I assume it doesn't work but you may get lucky.
The computer definately doesn't work but I do get some activity on the screen. I found a broken 6MHz oscillator and replaced it, a broken 3.xxxx oscillator and have parts on the way. There are some broken traces under the 6 Mhz oscillator and I will repair those in one last ditch effort to make the computer work. buy it now for $250 or $500 if I get it to work

I have 5 Servo Dynamics SD1525-10 servo boards in unknown condition although one looks brand new. I would like to find out if they work so if someone could throw them into a machine to test them I would be willing to pay a small fee.

Well I've got some more to do tonight.

Geckos should be here early this week Campbell Design breakout board has arrived I'd like to see the machine working by the end of June...any bets?

Bill

[ions82]

Hey, Bill!

I sure am glad that you've decided to undertake your retrofit at this time. I only recently decided to retrofit my old Journeyman 330. The mechanical systems on this mill are fantastic. It's just the crappy control that needs to go.

Anyway, I will be watching your progress very closely as I am not the most experienced fellow when it comes to electronics. You had mentioned something about broken oscillators. I don't even know what the hell an oscillator is (let alone how to tell if one is broken). I am still trying to understand what all I will need for a retrofit. In learning about servo drives, I've found myself leaning toward the Granite drives. They seem to be very nice units that get nothing but good reviews. I think they may be a little more expensive, but it will still be a hell of a lot cheaper than trying to buy parts for the old Dino-path.

It sounds like you've got a pretty good handle on how to go about retrofitting your mill. I would be highly surprised if you can get it running by the end of June. I figured it would take me a good year or so to get mine online. The servos and controls don't seem to be too terribly complicated. The spindle control is where I suspect I will run into trouble. My mill has a two-speed geared head (as I believe most Trees do). I assume that the shifting would need to be tied into the control, as well. I think that it may be a pneumatic mechanism that does the shifting. Do you have some ideas on how to deal with shifting?

You had also mentioned something about the servo power supply. Will you be keeping that along with the original servos? I assumed that I would want to keep the original DC servos as replacing them would require a lot of work (and maybe a fair amount of expense). Is the power supply you speak of part of the control? My mill has a pre-Delta control, and I believe the power supply for the servos was included in the "power module" that fits into the right side of the control cabinet. I bought three power supplies in an effort to replace the original junk. I've been wondering if I might be able to use them in the retrofit.

Anyway, thank you for posting your progress. I'm sure your experience will be a HUGE help to me as I try to follow in your footsteps. I will probably be bugging you and asking you to put things into layman's terms. I've gotta be honest, though. I'm skeptical that you'll have that thing making chips by the end of the month. Prove me wrong! Seriously, though. Thank you for posting your progress on the project.

[lavrgs]

I decided on Geckos G320 because they are common and cheap!!! Also being well supported and a company that seems to care about its customers. I briefly considered Rutex but got a feeling they have seen some hard times. By no means are the Geckos the best but for quick turn, nice package and simple install they will do for now.
I know nothing about geared heads for the spindle my motor goes from 1800-8000 and is considered a 6000 RPM unit...spindle learning far from complete....I need to get a new spindle drive...check my rant on the other thread...
There are a couple power supplies in the main cabinet. One is for the "computer" - in my case a Delta 20 The other for the Servos. - it's supposed to put out 72VDC. Both are part of their respective modules. Everything sorta checked out ok except I think something needs to drive the power supply to get the juice out for the servos. I get the proper voltages from the Delta unit and +/- 15 at the servo cards J4 (?) but no joy at the motors. The servo supply has a HUGE capacitor and sits close to the xyz axis boards.

I know Michael Moore who sometimes visits here and can also be found on Practicle Machinist. He has gone through a complete retrofit to his J325 and I am learning a lot from him. I also work with a bunch of techies that have been very helpful in bounding my project and have been through retrofits.
I have been very frustrated with what people charge to fix old CR*P and can see that those days will soon be over when people find out its cheaper to replace than repair by about 60-80% IMHAHO.

So my objective to to get the controls working get the machine repainted and cutting parts by the end of June...I don't feel its overly optimistic but I DO tend to be a HYPER- optimist...

Mr ions where are you located? I'm in Oregon land of sunshine...actually it's been really nice for a surprisingly long stint...

[lavrgs]

Here's an update on recent activity. Last week I removed all the electronics and removed the cabinets. Tonight I cleaned them in preparation for painting. I still need to do the same to the mill but there's a few hours of removing stuff in order to clean and pressure wash. Then masking, priming, painting; that should happen this weekend. I used a product called Oil Eater to remove the greasy crap that was on the cabinets and it seemed to do an excellent job. I'm going to ttry it on my motorcycles... Costco used to sell it but now only carries it online, so I have 6 more gallons coming...I would highly recommend wearing gloves...my hands have been completely degreased...
I ended up getting a new power supply because my existing power supply put out 100VDC which is too much for the Gecko G320s. I received the jog wheel I ordered - Contour Designs Shuttle Express. This is a video editing wheel that was recommended by a friend and for the price I couldn't resist.
I will be connecting the servos in the next few days to test them and get them set up for Mach3.
I just ordered a spindle drive that is a bit of a risk buy but it is a CT Emerson drive that I have reasonable confidence that it will do the job. That completed the last of the must have system electronics and now its a matter of getting stuff moving.
I have been selling my old controls on ebay and there must be people out there looking for non-working parts to buy, fix and sell at ridiculous prices. My non-working computer, spindle drive and servos have netted me $900...more than 2X what I paid for the mill...is there a gloat icon?

[elnerdo]

i'm not sure how far you're planning on going with the disassembly but if you have alot of motivation, consider pulling the knee off. when i rebuilt my machine i discovered that the lubrication ways machined into the knee were loaded with grit,grime,congealed lube etc. the design of the lube system in the knee doesn't allow for the lube to migrate out so it seems to have settled at the bottom of the passageway and formed a solid with whatever swarf it could pick up along the way. my machine didn't have chip covers on it which may have had something to do with the grime.

there was also literally about 15 lb of chips in the knee itself.

for paint, i used rustoleum 9100 two part epoxy with a roll on brush which i've been happy with so far. the roller was one of the white finishing brushes they sell at home depot which made for a nice paint-over-cast iron look.

[lavrgs]

I looked at the knee and I'm guessing it's a pretty involved operation to get it off...In mine there is a hole underneath where I can see some chips but it looks like the head needs to come off to get the knee off...
I'm going to replace all the oiler orifices as soon as I figure out what I need...

As of today I have servo control. I set up the x axis with one of the Geckos and after a short chat with the tech support folks at Gecko I went home added a wire and now the servos lock!!!

I spent a lot of time cleaning the mill this past weekend and am getting close to being ready to paint. With any luck my spindle drive arrives this week and THEN... lookout complete control..... The rebuilding process can begin...looks like my goal of being ready the end of June will be a bit off and July is pretty busy...riding my motorcycle to Canada during early July - lots of fun but I'm going to be thinking about all the stuff I could be doing to get the mill ready.

[Hemiracer]

Here's an update on recent activity. Last week I removed all the electronics and removed the cabinets.

Bill,
Do you have an amount for the shipping for the Dynapath control? I'll send payment as soon as you get that info to me.

Thanks.
Roger

[lavrgs]

Roger,
I'll try and and box it up and weigh it this week. Keyword TRY...I'm heading out of town on Thursday and have a lot to do to get ready...

Bill

[lavrgs]

This weekends activity finally included painting... I am so tired of cleaning...it was about a three week process to get this beast ready and I am glad it's over...well the knee and cabinets still need the grey shot but the cleaning part took soooo long and I'm glad that's behind me.

[ViperTX]

You might contact Dan Mauch at camtronics-cnc.com, awhile back he was retrofitting a Tree.

So, he may be some help, plus he sells CNC electronics kits, in case you decide to retrofit.

Paul

[KIMFAB]

That looks like a Glentek amp module. Has it been sold? If not what do you want for it?