[MrBean_pm]

Hey Digits,
Pics on the weekend,even though it will only be of a few servos and drives and other thingos

But progress will be rather quick from hereon in....i have also ordered the Mesa 5I25 and 7I77 kit, just a bit concerned about bandwidth for the std parallel port, hey, i guess for this built, if i have to justify anything, i will :lol:

Keep you posted.

Cheers,
Beano

[Windscreen]

I'll be watching this thread with much interest. I'm in process of importing a BF46 to the USA, but it is currently hung up in customs. I hope they don't hold it for ransom for too much money, as I hear manual inspections can cost big $$ (the container has been x-rayed so far).

I'm also going with DMM AC drives like Mr. Bean did, 750 W on all three axes. My initial attempt will be with a 2:1 belt ratio, all controlled with a Dynomotion Kflop. Once (if?) the mill finally arrives, I'll start my own build thread.

So until then, carry on, and lead the way!

-Steve

[MrBean_pm]

Good luck with yours, I hope it clears customs soon!

Be prepared to manhandle it to get it in position in its final resting place though, it is a monster! Please keep us posted, there are very few builds of this machine around.

Cheers,
Beano

[Kiwi 007]

Hello Everyone,
After a very busy spell at work, a new regional role and all the pressure that goes with it, I finally managed to get my Mill uncrated, on its pedestal, (temporarily) DRO'ed, and even cut a few chips with it.

But, as I don't have much time at my disposal for my hobbys, whatever little time I have, it needs to be used efficiently, so this conversion will proceed - of course, any old excuse to do this would suffice, but time-management is as good as any :lol:

I finally made the decision to go with AC Servos and drives from DMM-Tech, they are with TNT in Australia and will be delivered on Monday, yeay - sad that I am flying out to Bangkok on tuesday though for the weeke again, but such is life, at least now the components are coming in. Refer to the attachment for the list....

I have also purchased a wallmount Rittal 500mm (h) x 400mm (w) x 210mm (d) cabinet to house the computer, drives, as well as a 15" panel mount display and industrial keyboard - this will be the control center. I do have a variety of industrial SBC computers to choose from, all Commell-based motherboards, i.e LV-677, LS-373, LS-573, LE-570E, oreven Pico-ITX, but no need for that..... These are all coming with std RS-232 and RS-485 ports, as well as an onboard LVDS interface to connect the correct LCD without a controller directly to the motherboard....to make for a small footprint very powerful setup.

I will naturally finish the cabinet and controls-side first, before dabbling into the mechanical side - I am an automation guy after all, hehe.

@ Kiwi 007: If you read this, can you let me know where in NZ you got your ballscrews from, are they 20mm or 25mm?

I got my ballscrews from the dealer that sold me my mill, do you want me to see if he can source a set for you??

@ Madwelder: I will go and check your buildlog too, thanx for linking.

Cheers,
Beano

See highlights above

[MrBean_pm]

Hey Kiwi,
Would be obliged if you can do, please Mate, I see you replied in your thread too, thanx!

Otherwise I can give them a bel and see if they can help me. Can you recall the pricing on yours?

Cheers,
Beano

[MrBean_pm]

Hey Guys,
A few pics to show it actualy exsists



and the DRO I have fitted.....



and the actual machine itself - it doesn't look like it from the photo, but it stands at ~2.2M tall on its stand - it is a big bench mill, as mentioned earlier...



Here a few pics of the 2x 750W DMM Tech motors and DYN3-H drives - I went down this path as now I do not need external PSU's for the drives, they are powered directly from 220V AC....



and



and drives........





and



and them all sitting nice and cosy together...



I do have a Mesanet 5I25 and 7I77 controller card and breakout board too, I will not be using the original DMM Tech breakout board....I will post pics of that when I take the Camera to the garage - to chilly out there now.

Cheers,
Beano

[80gus]

What Oz are you drives rated to mate?

[MrBean_pm]

Hey Mate, they are rated at 0,750kW or pretty close to 1HP - at the rated rpm of 1,200 it would be ~ 845 oz-in.....

[digits]

Hey Mate, they are rated at 0,750kW or pretty close to 1HP - at the rated rpm of 1,200 it would be ~ 845 oz-in.....

Nice set of bits you have there Having 3-HP in the axes sounds a bit insane though - well, done!

[MrBean_pm]

Cheers digits, hopefully I can get the mechanical bits sorted with Kiwi007's help

[digits]

Have you managed to make any more progress? I've seen a BF46 in the metal myself now, and I'm very interested to know how well they CNC...

[Zenji]

Envy! Steppers for me.

[MrBean_pm]

Unfortunately not much progress, professional life exceedingly busy, barely at home during the weeks anymore.

I am most likely going to keep this as a manual mill only, and order a CNC setup from Skyfire (www.skyfirecnc.com) I will use my motors and controllers, but the machine will be CNC ready, with linear ways and other goodies. It was designed as a CNC machine from the ground up, pretty impressive specs, I should have done this back then, pity they were not available then. I will opt for the SMV-2.

A big worklog here, if you are interested.

I will anyway keep you posted on what I will do with the BF46, been operating it in manual mode for my small projects.

Cheers,
Beano

[gcofieldd]

Unfortunately not much progress, professional life exceedingly busy, barely at home during the weeks anymore.

I am most likely going to keep this as a manual mill only, and order a CNC setup from Skyfire (www.skyfirecnc.com) I will use my motors and controllers, but the machine will be CNC ready, with linear ways and other goodies. It was designed as a CNC machine from the ground up, pretty impressive specs, I should have done this back then, pity they were not available then. I will opt for the SMV-2.

A big worklog here, if you are interested.

I will anyway keep you posted on what I will do with the BF46, been operating it in manual mode for my small projects.

Cheers,
Beano

If I were you, I would wait for Skyfire to deliver a machine first. If you do buy from him go through PayPal.

[Tkamsker]

PayPal onliy helps to some Extend it didnt for me ...

[MrBean_pm]

Thanx for the feedback, guys, appreciated!

I think the first machine has shipped, will await feedback and go from there It is a significant investment for a hobbyist, I need to make sure this will answer my needs.

Will keep you all posted.

Cheers,
Beano

[Rickstar]

Thanx for the feedback, guys, appreciated!

I think the first machine has shipped, will await feedback and go from there It is a significant investment for a hobbyist, I need to make sure this will answer my needs.

Will keep you all posted.

Cheers,
Beano

Hi,

Just wondering if you have the dimensions for the ball-screws. I have a BF46 I would like to start converting, and thought the best place to start would be the ball-screws.

Cheers
Rick

[Tkamsker]

You Camp büy a kit for that als far as i Know


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[MrBean_pm]

@Thomas: Yes, good advice, I am aware of the kit available for the BF46.

After observing the issues around SkyFireCNC, which includes long delays from order to delivery, partial deliveries, I decided to continue with the BF46.

I have it already, it is a nice solid machine, and would lend itself very well to a CNC conversion. I will visit a local shop who is able to get me a standard Optimum Factory CNC conversion kit, ok, not the whole kit, but the ballscrews, as well as motor mounts. In any event, this will no longer be a big deal, I have all the bearing numbers available now, and can actually design my own solution with HiWin screws.....I might even do custom bearing blocks, no biggie - I will do the design and have them machined somewhere, as have no access to machining equipment.

So, all mechanical bits will have to be outsourced, no hassles - anyone knows someone that can machine the bearing blocks from my CAD files, I will be appreciated.

Onto the electronics: I will run LinuxCNC, and it is already installed on a pretty decent Lex Twister 963A setup. Latencies are ok, and the MESA PCI 5i25 is setup and recognized in the CNC app....

I have a 7i77 that will connect to the 5i25, and this will be the interface to the drive controllers. As you might recall from earlier, I sourced 3x DMMTech DYN3 drive controllers, as well as 3x 750W servos. I will not use the controllers anymore, I have instead opted to go with controllers I know pretty well, 3x Argon controllers from Granite Devices. I will also replace the 14-bit encoders on the 750W servos with quadrature encoders, so it can be used with the Argon and 7i77 board.

I will sell the DMMTech sevos.

I already have a nice enclosure for it all, as well as a 24V PSU to supply the electronics, and a few isolators etc....thus this part will go rather quick.

I should make rapid progress with the control-side of things, I know this project was up and down for a long time, but things will start to move along now.

I will keep you all posted.

Cheers,
Beano

[Tkamsker]

If You live in Europa we can do the Parts for You Thomas


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