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.

[cales2021]

Following on from my post about the stepper project I have ordered in some production PCBs for the controller circuitry. If anyone would like one please contact me for details.

[tonyfoale]

Following on from my post about the stepper project I have ordered in some production PCBs for the controller circuitry. If anyone would like one please contact me for details.

I offered that with my project
Ball screw and electronic lathe conversion
and I had two takers before I ordered the PCBs. Since then I have had 100 people asking for them. Such is life.

[cales2021]

Thanks for posting Tony.

I agree it is a gamble, do you order and how many ...
The price from PCBWay drops dramatically once you get into 10s and the freight gets better amortised with the higher number.

I ordered some sample sintered tool steel chuck keys for the TML 3001 chuck used on the Cowells ME90 lathe from PCBWay.
They have been sat on my desk for a few months so I put them on EBay this week and already had sales.
In the small quantity these were not low cost.
Should I order more I wonder ?
Perennial debate.

Alan