[jimjovan]

I recently purchased a ScanTek Micromill 2000 (basically a Denford with different labels) off ebay for $350 shipped.

Its a small, enclosed, CNC mill used mainly for education and training. The mill is a Sherline with Vexta PK266-E2.0A, 180 oz-in. steppers in a nice enclosure.

However, there was no software for it. The driver board is a Smartstep/3 by Optimized Control of Bristol England. It uses a serial port and the MINT programming language. They were bought out by Baldor and MINT has become a very popular language for motion control (so I've read). However, I can't seem to find any CAM software that can create a g-code file translated to this language.

I figure I have two solutions:

Plan A: Find software compatible with this drive to solve the problem.

Plan b: Replace the driver board with a board from hobbycnc. The motors are rated at 1.4A and 5.1 volts with 180 oz-in holding torque. I would think it should work ok.

I would really like to stick to plan A and keep the stock board and wiring (it looks so nice and neat). I was hoping someone out there might know a bit about Baldor's MiNT language or software compatible with it.

I would like to get this little mill running so I can learn more about programming.

I also have an Enco mill/drill I am trying to convert to CNC. If I went with plan B, I would probably buy Mach II and use it for both machines.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim