Starmill software

Post by **Denford Admin** » Mon 01 Jun , 2009 15:06 pm

This board has a Demint eprom. Doesnt that require it to use VR Milling?

erm yes !

It must have been upgraded since 1988 to use VR Milling v2

Knate1981 · Post by **Knate1981** » Mon 01 Jun , 2009 15:21 pm

I contacted Denford in the US and I would have to buy the VR Mill 5 software since VR Mill 2 is outdated. Can the Denstep board be fitted with the EsMint eprom to use the DOS software? The price of the VR software is a little steep for a "rich" American, especially since the cost of a mill and lathe software is more than I paid for the machines.

Post by **Denford Admin** » Mon 01 Jun , 2009 15:41 pm

That should work, see this post:

viewtopic.php?t=211&highlight=mint161+hex

Knate1981 · Post by **Knate1981** » Mon 01 Jun , 2009 15:58 pm

Would anyone have a Esmint Eprom?

Post by **Denford Admin** » Mon 01 Jun , 2009 16:02 pm

In the UK, when a machine is upgraded from DOS, we leave the old EPROM with the customer...

Knate1981 · Post by **Knate1981** » Mon 15 Jun , 2009 8:26 am

I replaced the stepper driver and still doesn't work. The LCD will not light up. What do I need to check to find out what is wrong?

Post by **Denford Admin** » Mon 15 Jun , 2009 8:58 am

the bottom board contains the power supply for the top daughter board - you need to check around that area.
You will have 24-30v AC or DC going to pins 4 & 5 for the Logic power (see viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2126) start from there.
Follow it then to find out why there is no 5V to the top board electronics

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Mon 15 Jun , 2009 11:16 am

Would anyone have a Esmint Eprom?

Yes I have several "MINT 3.28 v1.6b1/s-jd5" eproms. ( I belive these were the latest version that worked with the Dos software)

Knate1981 · Post by **Knate1981** » Tue 16 Jun , 2009 4:15 am

I checked the board and I couldnt find out where it wasnt getting 5V. Well since I had two machines with Denstep boards I wanted to see if I could switch the boards between machines. The Starturn was working fine, had a red 8 after powering up and wanted to see if it would work in the Starmill. The Starmill did not light up the LCD from the Starturn.

I also tried the Starmill board that I replaced the stepper driver on, in the Starturn. The LCD did light up, with .L and before the 8 came on the stepper driver blows out again. I put the Starturn's board back in it and now it will not do anything.

So what would cause the stepper drive blow out again on the Starmill board? Did something else go out on both machines to cause the boards not to work?

Post by **Denford Admin** » Tue 16 Jun , 2009 8:30 am

It sounds like a fuse has gone on both machines now, which supplies power to the logic and drives (pins 1,2 4 and 5)

I would guess there is another problem on the bottom (or top) board which is blowing the stepper driver - you can rule out it being a stepper motor problem or wiring at least, because it still blew when fitted in the other machine (?)
Hopefully your Starturn board will still work when you find the fuse... as for the Starmill, either have a very close inspection of all the chips, tracks and components, if you don't see anything obvious it might be time to find someone who could repair it.
Good luck!

Knate1981 · Post by **Knate1981** » Tue 16 Jun , 2009 9:16 am

I did swap the Denstep, top board, from the mill to the lathe and it worked. So there must be something on the bottom board wrong. Is there a wiring schematic for the starmill with the updated denstep?

Post by **Denford Admin** » Tue 16 Jun , 2009 14:19 pm

I'm not sure if there will be any specific drawings for an upgraded Starmill, its something that would have been done by a technician from the US office or maybe by a Denford agent.

These are the early version of Novamill diagrams, and should be similar to a Starmill upgrade:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2137

Denford Software & Machines

Denford Software & Machines

Starmill software

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