New triac PC project

All info relating to the Denford Triac series of CNC milling machines

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Choco
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat 09 Jan , 2021 23:51 pm

New triac PC project

Post by Choco » Sat 16 Jan , 2021 10:57 am

Hello from Ireland. I recently picked up this Denford Triac PC. The previous owner started dissembling and inspecting it. Looks like everything is there. Ball screws are free table looks in good condition etc.
My plan is to run it on Linuxcnc. I want to try and use the existing electronics and have been going through conversions done on this forum to Mach3.

Iv ordered a BOB from AliExpress and also ordered some transistors to build the little circuit to drive the original drivers.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_BPDS2P[/url]
Looking at the board it looks like it has a PWM and analog 0-10v spindle output. Will this drive the original spindle board?

Also the tools in the pic are they the easychange tools??

Denford tutor console came with it also I think they are a basic serial so would be easy enough to get working down the line.

Any tips or help would be great. This is going to be an on going project .

John
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Choco
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat 09 Jan , 2021 23:51 pm

Re: New triac PC project

Post by Choco » Sat 30 Jul , 2022 10:43 am

Axis control, spindle control , and balluf Namur homing sensors .

https://youtube.com/shorts/gTI93IFkSJ4?feature=share

https://youtu.be/jz_jHis239Y

DavidB
CNC Expert
CNC Expert
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue 19 Oct , 2010 16:06 pm
Hardware/Software: Triac, Orac

Re: New triac PC project

Post by DavidB » Sat 30 Jul , 2022 19:15 pm

I'm doing this as well at the moment and like you am intending to use the original drives, sensors and motors and use LinuxCNC. It's taken a while but today finished all the material prep for the stand so now have to weld all the bits together next week and get it painted and the Triac on top, fortunately the Triac came as a runner so it's all together so once in place the rest of the conversion should move along more quickly.

The tools you have are the Coventry Easychange tooling which is the same as I have.

Regarding the BOB I had a look and it locked my browser so I'm not going back but the main thing to be aware of is whether the 0-10V is isolated or not many cheap ones aren't, it really needs to be isolated as that input on the spindle card floats around mains voltage so if not isolated it can result in dangerous voltages elsewhere in the circuitry. I'm using a C11G BOB and that has an isolated PWM to 0-10V output for that very reason.

The tutor keyboard is serial, I've connected it to the PC in the past and had characters come up on a terminal screen when keys were pressed.

Choco
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat 09 Jan , 2021 23:51 pm

Re: New triac PC project

Post by Choco » Sun 31 Jul , 2022 10:03 am

Yep not isolated, I used this little board to isolate it

https://amzn.eu/d/doKiPh3

I have nearly everything working now just needs tuning. Axis, spindle, oil pump, coolant pump, limits and homing sensors. All denford original boards using a cheap Chinese Bob.
I have an emco pc turn 55 to retrofit after this. I'll be trying out one of those Chinese mach3 breakout boards (ec500) with Linuxcnc.

DavidB
CNC Expert
CNC Expert
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue 19 Oct , 2010 16:06 pm
Hardware/Software: Triac, Orac

Re: New triac PC project

Post by DavidB » Mon 01 Aug , 2022 20:00 pm

Great work, it seems you have a very good idea of what you're doing. I hadn't run into those 0-10V isolators before but knew that sort of thing would be useful. What did you do for the Namur proximity sensors? I've traced out the Denford circuit which is quite simple and works but also wondered about using a comparator. The Namur sensors are run off 12V in the Triac where 8.2V is the normal supply and a 1k ohm load resistance used but I did find a page online, no longer there, which gave a load resistance of 1.8k ohm for 12V supply.

Choco
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat 09 Jan , 2021 23:51 pm

Re: New triac PC project

Post by Choco » Tue 02 Aug , 2022 10:53 am

Yes, they are feed by a 12v supply. Iv left the Denford control board installed and just tapped into the numar sensor wiring. You could take out the board and feed them with 12v and experiment with different ohm resistors(1k up). They sit at about 8.2v when there is no metal and about 11.8-12v when triggered. I wasn't to sure if the Comparator would be accurate. But it seems to be repeatable at .001 - .002(further testing needed) . its important that you get the velocity fast enough to trigger the comparator relay when homing, too slow and it will be in a rapid on/off state when it comes close. i can send on my INI and Hal files if you like.

DavidB
CNC Expert
CNC Expert
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue 19 Oct , 2010 16:06 pm
Hardware/Software: Triac, Orac

Re: New triac PC project

Post by DavidB » Tue 02 Aug , 2022 17:47 pm

Choco,

I'd be interested to see the files, maybe send as a private message, thanks.

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