Adding stepper motor control to Myford VMB milling machine with wider uses

[cales2021]

I grew tired of winding the Z axis up and down on my Myford VMB mill so decided to take the plunge and add stepper motor control. This was not intended to give a full CNC capability but just to add a stepper to each axis and save my arm muscles. The result is an ability to select an axis, select a direction and vary the speed. There is an input for limit switches and emergency stop. Control is via a single Arduino Pro Mini and uses 74LS125 quad state buffers to select the appropriate stepper driver. The write up on the link below describes the process and includes the bill of materials, circuit and block diagram and Arduino code. While focussed on the installation on my VMB, the electronics could be used to convert any manual mill axis to stepper control with appropriate mechanical mounting of the steppers.




https://www.altrish.co.uk/2020/11/09...lling-machine/

The circuit board was designed in Fusion 360 Electrical module as a double sided board (top side ground plain and tracking on the lower side). The artwork was CNC milled on a Tormach 440.