Desktop CNC Pros step on in

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

Friend of mine got this in some equipment that he purchased.
This isn't his ball and game, but asked me if I could make heads or tails out of it

It looks like a build-it-yourself-kit kind a deal.
The only think that I can find that looks the same is off of alibaba

Some of the components are still just sitting in the boxes, not screwed down

It looks like the remote pendant is a Imach III, yet the 3's I google are not the same pennant

I guess I am trying to figure out what else would be needed to make it run

It does have chips under the spindle like it has ran before

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

 

[Jscwerve]

What does the controller look like? It will probably operate like any 3D printer with some simple slicer software. Is there a spot on the controller for an SD card?

 

[kf4zht]

Needs the controller. Maybe a motor driver (looks like maybe DC)

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

pics added

I thought that they were attached already, oops

 

[Donk]

At a guess it's a chinese 3040 of some description possibly with an upgraded/custom controller. Those pendants alone aren't the cheapest

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

At a guess it's a chinese 3040 of some description possibly with an upgraded/custom controller. Those pendants alone aren't the cheapest

This is the part that is throwing me off
The pendant. seems legit
the extrusions seem legit

the control box seems either home made or modified

I guess I was hoping that someone knew exactly what this thing started as

 

[dntsdad]

I only have FAcebook for hobby groups and CNC is one of them. No friends or anything

There are some guys on there that know their shit that may be able to help.

Thats all I got.

 

[Wolfe_Man]

That hand pendant runs with the mach 3 software
Newfangled Solutions Mach3

I'm going to bet you need to drip feed it from the PC running mach3, no standalone operations. I do similar for my CnC plasma table.

Sorry no help on the other electronics.

 

[bunk]

Ive deal with low end cnc crap, well the popular pos crap aka centroid. I will never deal with low end cnc crap ever again.

Just warning ya.

 

[Donk]

This is the part that is throwing me off
The pendant. seems legit
the extrusions seem legit

the control box seems either home made or modified

I guess I was hoping that someone knew exactly what this thing started as

The main thing that will hinder use is getting the correct software. Have you tried googling the numbers on top the microcontroller? Might give you an idea what it is. Or just hook it up to a PC with Grbl and see what it does.

 

[bgaidan]

Get some more closeup pics of the individual boards in the box....especially any names or part numbers printed on them.

Like others said, it probably ran with mach 3. Without the original computer with the config on it, you'll have to reconfigure and calibrate everything again. I've never done it but supposedly it's easy enough and there are plenty of tutorials to walk you through it.

One thing to note - mach 3 needs a parallel port so you'll need a relatively older pc or spring for a $120 motion controler that will convert usb to parallel that works with mach. Or, if you're buying mach, just jump up to mach 4....and hope it works with the hardware you already have.


I will say that the assembly itself looks a little more stout than your average chinese ones. Assuming those vertical supports are solid aluminum.....most of the shitty ones are wood and/or plastic.

 

[kf4zht]

I think I see a USB port on the red board in the controller. Probably a motion controller and looks like it has a ribbon over to the stepper board and then steppers

Also looks like you have a power supply and 2 complete(ish) controllers. Then a box that looks like a spindle drive

Someone appears to have done a good bit of work to use about the shittiest spindle they could find. Looks like one of the ones that nothing more than a DC motor with an adapter to ER. The frame looks sort of chinese kit but also heavier duty than most.

Start getting board PNs or labels. The one with the knobs and buttons all in line appears to be closer to RTR - the other one has loose boards. But it appears to have one driver board for all steppers, the other has separate. Whoever built it may have been trying to get more out of the steppers

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

I will get some pictures of the controller boxes

 

[srf]

There's too many control cabinets there...

The taller one with the multi color buttons - this one looks complete. The red board is a UC-300ETH with a 5LPT breakout board. It is a motion controller compatible with Mach3 or UCCNC via ethernet. The 3 smaller boxes at the back are the stepper drivers. I don't recognize them but there are tons of chinese ones on ebay and such that seem to work just fine for most people. The silver box next to them is the stepper motor power supply. I have no idea what the green board is though, this part doesn't make sense to me because the UC-300 is entirely capable of running those stepper drivers and the spindle without that board in the middle. Are there any numbers on it?

The shorter box with the colored buttons has yet another UC-300 in it (you only need one), another different green board, and another power supply. I don't see any stepper drivers in there though and I don't see enough IO on that green board to connect three steppers so I don't know what the purpose of this cabinet is but it doesn't look like it actually belongs with this mill

The other box, maybe something to do with the spindle control? All I really see is power supplies/regulation in it...

At any rate if it didn't come with a PC you're going to have to trace all the wiring back to the motion controller and create a new config for it with mach3 or uccnc. But all the parts are there.

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

There's too many control cabinets there...

The taller one with the multi color buttons - this one looks complete. The red board is a UC-300ETH with a 5LPT breakout board. It is a motion controller compatible with Mach3 or UCCNC via ethernet. The 3 smaller boxes at the back are the stepper drivers. I don't recognize them but there are tons of chinese ones on ebay and such that seem to work just fine for most people. The silver box next to them is the stepper motor power supply. I have no idea what the green board is though, this part doesn't make sense to me because the UC-300 is entirely capable of running those stepper drivers and the spindle without that board in the middle. Are there any numbers on it?

The shorter box with the colored buttons has yet another UC-300 in it (you only need one), another different green board, and another power supply. I don't see any stepper drivers in there though and I don't see enough IO on that green board to connect three steppers so I don't know what the purpose of this cabinet is but it doesn't look like it actually belongs with this mill

The other box, maybe something to do with the spindle control? All I really see is power supplies/regulation in it...

At any rate if it didn't come with a PC you're going to have to trace all the wiring back to the motion controller and create a new config for it with mach3 or uccnc. But all the parts are there.

The thought of extra control boxes didn't even cross my mind
face palm