Denford Software & Machines

Hello everyone. This is my first post and the first of many questions no doubt after I bought my Denford Easymill 3 last weekend.

The machine is a 3 phase 1984 model with a belt driven spindle driven by a 3 phase motor. If I connect the machine up to an inverter, will it work ok? The coolant pump is also 3 phase.

I ask because I had heard somewhere that cnc circuitry may not function correctly if it isn't fed by a "true 3 phase" supply i.e from an inverter.

The model number is TDS/E/M/CNC,
Serial number is EM12104 H.
Control voltage is 24 volts,
Main motor is 1hp, 0.75 kw, 3 phase.
Wiring diagrams are shown as A3.200011/50 and
A3.200030/39

I'm looking to get the machine up and running initially before I eventually convert it to Mach 3, single phase and update the electronics. As I'm also getting a 3 phase lathe for my home workshop I don't mind buying an inverter that I can swap between the two.

Thanks,
Andy.

a rotary inverter may do the job ok, but if this is the machine that came from south wales i can verify that it should be in good working order. Allthough it has a 3 phase supply running it, most of the electronics are single phase, and a mach3 conversion is pretty straight forward.

Thanks for that Angel-tech. Yes, it is the machine that came from South Wales.

So if most of the electronics are single phase what could I (or an appropriatley qualified electrician) do. Would I be correct in thinking that I could separate the cnc side of the electronics and plug it into a 240v supply, then run the motors (main and coolant) through the inverter?

I've got to say I'm chuffed to bits with it and looking forward to get it going. Any info on the components I should get for the Mach 3 conversion would be very welcome!

i've sent you a pm.

i've sent you a pm.

Please post any progress on the conversion...too often people come on asking questions and getting what they need from the forum, but then disappear without letting anyone else know how they got on...what worked, what didn't, what problems they encountered etc..

Denford Admin wrote:

i've sent you a pm.

Please post any progress on the conversion...too often people come on asking questions and getting what they need from the forum, but then disappear without letting anyone else know how they got on...what worked, what didn't, what problems they encountered etc..

Yep, will do.

Thanks

Attached are some photos of the machine with info plates and some of its insides.

I've got the same exact machine, also running Mach3 since the original firmware on the EPROM's deteriorated over time. Denford apparently hasn't saved any of the old firmware?! Had to replace a bunch of perfectly good boards in an almost-new machine. There is no reason to replace the drives, the original drives and power supply are perfectly fine, I did my conversion about 8 years ago and it's still running very strong. All you really need are a couple of breakout boards and a vfd for the spindle and one for the coolant. The original spindle motor is quite good too, I run mine from 10-180Hz NO problem. Denford really screwed the spindle lube though, they added a tap off the reservior to feed the Z-axis leadscrew. On mine ALL of the spindle oil went to the leadscrew and none to the spindle. Fried two bearings before I figured out what was going on.

cheers,
c

Hey Vandal, thanks for your post.

You say your machine is the same and you run the spindle motor through an inverter. Is your spindle motor the same as the one in the pictures? I'm trying to work out if the motor on my machine is dual voltage so I can run it from an inverter like yourself. The name plate shows 440 and not 220. If you could confirm this I'd be greatful.

My motor looks identical to the one in the photos. Pretty sure that the dataplate on my motor and on the mill are both marked 220v instead of 440v, I'll confirm when I get home tonight.

cheers,
c

Thanks Vandal.
I've noticed the time of your post, do you work nights or are you based somewhere west of the UK? I'm thinking that if your in the States your supply voltage may be different to ours so the inrternals of motor might be different to suit that voltage. If I understand correctly, 3 phase is 220 volts in the States while it is 440 volts in the UK.

Sorry this is so late, I just checked and yes, both the motor and the mill are marked 220v on my machine. I'm in the US, 3-phase here is available in 220 or 440v, but not in my home shop. My mill gets 240v 1-phase from a dryer circuit, and I've got two VFD's to make it 3-phase, one for the spindle motor and one for the coolant pump. I'm still using the original CD20 stepper drives etc.

cheers,
c

Hi ,
I was interested in your conversion. being a mechanical man. a lot of electronic talk goes over my head. So any info you post can be very usefull. Your machine is exactly the same as mine. Are you up and running ?