D&M 4 Mill Help

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bbouska
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D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by bbouska »

Hello everybody, first time poster looking for help.

I got my hands on a d&m 4 vertical mill and I have no software for it as I believe this ran on DOS, I would like to try and get this mill running on mach3 or something pretty common and I was wondering if there is anybody out there who has successfully converted one of these mills or something similar. After doing some internet research, I have found few resources, but this forum had the most recent activity for this topic. I have attached pictures of my mill and curious if anybody had any suggestions to get it running. This is my first personal cnc mill and just getting this mill running is a major victory for me. I have plugged it in and everything on the control panel lights up and the heat sinks don't get overly hot, that's about all I've toyed with it so far. Thanks in advance, Brandon
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Rex
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Rex »

Brandon
I am converting a LabVolt mill which is Sherline based with d&m stepper drivers. I have a thread going in this forum

Btw you should post higher res photos
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Harold_V
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Harold_V »

Rex wrote:Btw you should post higher res photos
Yep! They're too small to be of much use.

Brandon,
While we don't encourage oversized pictures, it's a good idea to make them at least 800 x 600 pixels, and larger if you care to, up to 1024 x 768. Anything larger than 1024 x 1024 will be rejected by the software. The board automatically creates a thumbnail from the acceptable large pictures, which is displayed in your post. If a reader desires to see more detail, it can be clicked for a larger display.

File size is important, too. A 1024 x 768 picture with a file size of under 500 kb is actually quite good, and we discourage those which are larger, when there's no particular reason for them to be. I've shrunk file size on some to well under 100 kb and still had reasonable detail.

Welcome to the board.

Harold
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
Marty_Escarcega
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Marty_Escarcega »

Yup, follow Rex's thread.
Do you have experience doing such a conversion?
Basic Electrical/Electronics skills?
"Jack of all Trades, Master of None"
bbouska
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by bbouska »

Yeah, I have pretty basic knowledge of electronics. So Rex is replacing a breakout board on his mill and using the original drivers? The only question I have really is would changing the breakout board/ spindle control(or adding the gecko 540 or c11 from cnc4pc) do the trick to get this mill functioning if all the other electronics are solid? I can continue this conversation on Rex's thread if any other questions arise.
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Rex
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Rex »

It might depend on the spindle motor board.
What does yours have - make and model?
Chips
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Chips »

Hi Brandon,
I completed a D&M4 conversion recently using the Soundlogic board, original drives, original power supply and original spindle speed control. I did not use the CNC to control the spindle speed, just turn it on and off.
The D&M4 is a very light duty machine and chances are you will run the max RPM most of the time. I received some information from another formum that suggested just hooking the spindle control to a variable pot would be the easiest and most usefull. I basically just turned a dial to speed up the spindle when necessary and had an on/off override switch.
I used Mach 3 for the CNC control software. In addition, I added limit switches and re installed the guard switches etc.
Please post another higher resolution image of the stepper control boards and the spindle control board (the big one on the bottom left).
My biggest challenge was connecting the stepper drives to the sound logic card. The rest of it was just time consuming install of new wire and switches etc.
What are you going to use the machine for when completed?
Regards
Steve
bbouska
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by bbouska »

Here is a handful of photos I took and these are the best i could get to upload. As this is my first mill, i just want to get my feet wet and just do some engraving with it until i can get a bigger one and a better knowledge of home cnc machines. The controller has D&M Computing Controller M4+4-1 stamped on it and the spindle board has ASP-7 Stamped on it. the three drivers i believe are clear enough in the photos, but let me know and i will get numbers off of them too. Steve, I am very interested in photos of your mill completed and maybe a link to the soundlogic board. If you need to email photos that do not upload without reducing the quality, my email is below.

Brandon
bouska83@gmail.com
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Rex
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Rex »

Chips wrote: I completed a D&M4 conversion recently using the Soundlogic board, original drives, original power supply and original spindle speed control. (portion snipped)
My biggest challenge was connecting the stepper drives to the sound logic card. The rest of it was just time consuming install of new wire and switches etc.
Steve
Steve, what driver boards does yours have?

Did you determine which wires were direction and step?
Chips
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Chips »

Hi Rex,
Sorry for the delay in replying.
The drivers are the originals from the D&M4.
I got the step and direction from someone else who had used the same breakout board.

Regards
Steve
Chips
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by Chips »

Brandon,
Your photos look like a different original layout to mine. The spindle driver is a different one as well but looks like the same functions and wiring.
How is the project coming along?
Steve
systemslave
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Re: D&M 4 Mill Help

Post by systemslave »

I have rebuilt an identical D&M 4 mill. Let me know if you still have questions about it.
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