Lathe CNC conversion

Yes, these are stepper motors that came off of my Tormach 1100 CNC when I did an upgrade to the newest motion system. I could contact Tormach and get the information on them.
 
I would control these with the old computer system that has the control software still installed on it. I also upgraded to the Path Pilot controller with the upgrade.
 
Lynarnold said:
I would control these with the old computer system that has the control software still installed on it. I also upgraded to the Path Pilot controller with the upgrade.
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OK Cool. Then all you need is the stepper drives and whatever motion control interface they have between the computer and the stepper drives
 
Thank you for your help! I will, more than likely have more questions and I will post them when they arise.
 
Not sure where you are as far as knowing what is needed for the hardware to set up so I will post this eBay ad with a picture showing the components.

Not that you would buy this.

You already have the steppers that are in the picture.

You need the stepper drivers as seen in the right side of the picture, the breakout box in the middle, and a power supply. It has a remote controller which is not needed but nice to have but a rotary encoder hard wired is better.

If you have an older computer with a parallel port that is helpful because many of the systems use the parallel port but better buying a new one to get a USB based breakout board.

www.ebay.com

【USA】3 Axis Nema23 stepper motor 3A/425oz.in+ Driver USBCNC Board Controller Kit | eBay

【USA】3 Axis Nema23 stepper motor 3A/425oz. 1 x CD include English user manual and usbcnc software. 4 Axis USBCNC breakout board. This interface board is based on USBCNC MK1 and just use in our provide softwareand function, can not support update the firmware and use other versions of the...
www.ebay.com
 
My only concern is that Tormach (at least in some of their models) went with polyphase steppers that are not compatible with most off the shelf bi-polar stepper drives. I think they did that for better motion control performance at a mid range cost to servos.
 
The Tormach steppers look like are valuable and more than needed for the lathe conversion. Could sell those to pay for a complete setup and move to servos for the lathe.

Then on to motor mounts and spindle encoder for the lathe
 
Didn't the upgrade kit come with new drivers for the new steppers? When I upgraded my Series II machine to Series III, I got both new steppers and drivers. Either way, stepper drivers are pretty common and you can use a PC with Mach 4 or Linux CNC to control them on a lathe.
 
cjtoombs said:
Didn't the upgrade kit come with new drivers for the new steppers? When I upgraded my Series II machine to Series III, I got both new steppers and drivers. Either way, stepper drivers are pretty common and you can use a PC with Mach 4 or Linux CNC to control them on a lathe.
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I still have the old controller for these stepper motors. I did the upgrade because there was a problem with one of the old drivers. So, I decided to do the upgrade instead of just replacing the bad driver.
 
Cadillac STS said:
The Tormach steppers look like are valuable and more than needed for the lathe conversion. Could sell those to pay for a complete setup and move to servos for the lathe.

Then on to motor mounts and spindle encoder for the lathe
Click to expand...
I did not know that. Good to know. Thank you!
 
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