Boxford TCL 160

[Saracen]

I've recently purchased the Boxford TCL 160 from Bartell of this parish:



and intend to convert it using a Planet-CNC Mk2/4 board which came with a previous router purchase.

The lathe arrived on Tuesday, sitting on a mini pallet and wrapped in about 20 quids worth of bubble wrap, so survived the trip intact.

A quick play in manual mode confirmed that everything works as expected.

I'm planning on using as much of the electronics as possible, so today I removed the link cable between the processor board and the driver board and made a quick and dirty connection of the step/dir/gnd connections from the Mk2/4 to each of the step/dir connections for the X, Z and ATC motors and all worked perfectly.

I'm a little stumped as to how to connect the motor drive to the Mk2/4 but once I've disentangled more of the cabling I should see what's required.

The overall plan is to remove the processor board and fit an ITX motherboard in its place, with the driver board still sitting at the top of the mounting legs, so that it's in the draft of the cooling fan. That way it remains a stand alone unit, with just a monitor to wall mount and probably a wireless keyboard and mouse.

I also need to connect up some opto-isolators between the homing switches and the Mk2/4, and work out a wiring plan for the various safety switches.

Adrian.

[Saracen]

Turns out the machine I have is not the one in the picture above, but probably the one behind it.

Note to self - the X and Z homing sensors appear to be NPN, so will need to configure the opto-isolators accordingly.

Adrian.

[Saracen]

I've ordered the Planet-CNC Output Control board, in order to generate the 0-10V signal to control the speed of the lathe spindle, but the Mitsubishi inverter which is fitted to this lathe uses two separate signals to control the direction.

From the Mitsubishi manual:

STF - Forward start input signal - Motor starts rotating in forward direction when STF and P24 are short circuited. Stops when opened.

STR - Reverse start input signal - Motor starts rotating in reverse direction when STR and P29 are short-circuited. Stops when opened.

There are relays for this purpose on the driver card already, but I presume I need to generate two separate outputs from which ever Mk2/4 output pin I designate for the purpose of spindle direction ?

The lathe needs to rotate in both directions as the turret holds the cutting tools behind the work piece, so turning etc happens in reverse, but drill bits require the spindle to rotate in the forward direction as per a normal lathe.

I guess I could just buy a good range of left handed drills ...

Adrian.

[Saracen]

A quick bit of boolean logic algebra proves that a single 74C00N Quad NAND gate chip will allow me to make one NAND gate and one AND gate, and hence generate two separate opposing logic HIGH signals from the single LOW/HIGH output of the Mk2/4 board. Have ordered the required chips and header boards from eBay, which can also be used to the two opto-isolator boards for the proximity switches.

Adrian.

[m_c]

Are you sure those tools are the correct way up to be on centre?
.
Normally rear mounted tools are upside down, so they still cut the spindle rotating clockwise, and I would of thought something aimed at training would follow that convention.

[Saracen]

Yup. All the Tutorials in the programming manual talk about running the spindle in reverse for turning and forwards for drilling.

Adrian.

[Len-Tikular]

Hi Adrian,
I have just received my Boxford TCL160. I switched it on and from the panel can move both axis, rotate the turret and spin the chuck both fwd and reverse so that's a good sign. The jaws don't open and close even although there are buttons on the panel.
I have purchased the manuals which should arrive tomorrow. These have all the wiring diagrams I believe so if you are in need of any let me know.
I plan also to convert to Mach3 operation so I sure could use some help, any schematics or drawings that you might have and would like to share I would be grateful for.
I would be really grateful for any help you can give.

Best regards

George

[Saracen]

Hi George.

The jaws require a pneumatic system to operate, so if your lathe has that system fitted, you would need to attach a compressor. Mine has a manual chuck, so I've not looked into that.

The only drawings I have came from a copy of one of the manuals, so you should have that now.

I'm using a Planet-CNC Mk2/4 board to control the original stepper drivers etc, wired up to the original homing and limit switches. It has very limited inputs, so this does mean you lose the use of a lot of the front panel buttons, but I have managed to get the jogging ones connected again.

I'm having problems with the Planet-CNC software, as I think it's designed mainly for routers rather than lathes, so I'm also looking at the Eding controller, in case the Planet-CNC one falls through. Both of these use their own software, so I've not investigated Mach3 for this machine.

Adrian.

[Len-Tikular]

Many thanks for the reply Adrian,
No air on my TCL160(1994) so manual only for the chuck.
I have a limit switch on the body of the cabinet which is activated by a rod on the Z Axis. Clearly this serves to prevent the tool post clouting the chuck. (Good idea)
I read somewhere that depressing both Left & Right feed together that the machine should execute a 'Homing' action.
This didn't work for me unless I misunderstood the methodology. Any Ideas ?
Should there also be a Limit /Homing switch for the X axis ?
I purchased a spare set of boards which were removed from a non turret machine together with a Small format Motherboard SBC-GX1 complete with compact flash with Software 4.3.1 installed.
I wonder whether this software can be upgraded to V5 or even 6. Any ideas on this ?
The PC motherboard I'm told was fitted inside a TCL160 ? There is no such board in mine. Did earlier machines have a PC inside ???
For the moment, I will try and get the native software running and see exactly what the machine is capable of doing.
I will then convert it as you have done so if you have any schematics of your arrangement or any pictures that you'd care to share I would be very grateful.
Meanwhile
Best regards

George (Oldham Lancs)

[Saracen]

Does your TCL have three or four flexible conduits running from the back of the cabinet ?

If it only has three then it is probably not fitted with homing switches.

I don't believe the PC motherboard fits inside the case. There is a CPU board in there but that's just to read the various switches, take the control input from the serial port and generate pulses for the stpper drivers.

I believe Boxford will sell you a copy of the current software if you let them know the serial number of your lathe. From memory it was about £500 to purchase. I'm doing my own thing now so am not pursuing that route.

Adrian.