Equipment/Boxford CNC Mill

CNC Mill
Model	Boxford 190VMC
Sub-category	CNC
Status	Good working order
Training requirement	yes
ACnode	Yes
Owner	DeanForbes, tgreer
Origin	Donation
Location	Basement, Robotics/CNC area
Maintainers	=CNC Team, Robotics, Metalbashers

Specs

• 8 spindle speeds 350 to 3500 rpm
• Rapid traverse rate at 100% 2000mm/min (78"/min)
• Axis travel
  • X(longitudinal) 225mm (8.9")
  • Y(cross) 150mm (5.9")
  • Z(vertical) 140mm(5.5")
• System resolution 0.005mm
• Table dimensions 410 x 130mm(16.1" x 5.1")
• Spindle to table 202mm (7.9")
• Centre line of spindle to column 130mm (5.1")
• Table to column 5 to 130mm (0.2" x 5.1")
• Tee slots 2 x 10mm

Updates

• 13-Oct-2015 : System is now up and running using BCNC on Ubuntu
• 15-May-2015 : Dean, Phil et all doing conversion to Mach3 capable machine which will involve minimal retrofiting of mill and use of a PC
• 24-SEP-2014 : Mill works with V5 of the boxford software, need to enter administration mode in the graphical screen by pressing F10
• 12-JUL-2014 : Connector is DB25 and almost certainly serial. It appears there is an internal g-code interpreter.
• 10-JUL-2014 : Mill arrived, mechanics and electrics work, has a 25W serial port out the back, need to research how to interface.

ToDo

• Chip removal / coolant (compressed air or liquid pump)
• Finalise training

More info

• 

  Boxford 1st, 2nd axis modification

• 

  Boxford GS-D200S Stepper Drive pinout

• 

  Boxford hack #4

• 

  Boxford hack #5

• (Mailing list post)
• http://www.glostertooling.co.uk/backup/download/Engineers%20tool%20catalogue.pdf look at page 8 the dimensions match at first glance
• http://wiki.xtronics.com/index.php/Tapers_and_Chuck_keys
• Spindle taper is a Coventry quick-change ref Or possibly EasyChange. maker examples

• Reliable Manual source (cheaper would be nice)
• Possible manual source
• V5 Programming Manual
• Photos by Russ

Boxford are said to be unhelpful regarding support and will only talk to educational users. However, they do publish spares lists and software updates.

• Spare parts
• Software

Needed

• Coolant / chip removal system - those chips build up fast! Either a suds pump or (quiet?) compressor/non fogging mist will be needed as the interlock prevents manual removal of chips during a program.
• ER type collect can be had from Gloster Tooling a price has not been obtained yet the, model is EC EM16 035 on page 8 @ http://www.glostertooling.co.uk/backup/download/Engineers%20tool%20catalogue.pdf

Not needed

• People who take it apart and leave it in pieces
• Experimenting carelessly. Consider it in the same light as the laser cutter, the robot arm etc. : if you want to work on it, join the official maintainers group and cooperate.

Troubleshooting

• The cutter appears to spin off-centre
  • When slotting in the collet make sure to put it the right way in as it's got a notch which will only go in fully when aligned

Generating g-code from your designs

There are a lot of different options for preparing a g-code file which can be loaded onto the CNC to cut a design. Some examples include;

2D Packages

• MakerCam (Free, runs in a browser via Flash) http://www.makercam.com/makercam.swf
• Cambam (LHS has a license, installed on the Robotics CAD/CAM laptop) http://www.cambam.info/

3D Packages

• Autodesk Fusion 360 (Free for hobbyists and students, Windows / OSX) http://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/fusion-360/overview

When using Fusion 360, in order to post to the Hackspace CNC machines, the "Generic EMC2" post-processor should be selected when finally saving the g-code file. LinuxCNC recognises the "ngc" file extension although any extension can be used.

Training

Training will be run on a rolling basis with the other CNC systems and announced on the main Mailing List. You will get most out of the training and find using the machine easier if you take a look at one of the recommended packages above (or your own choice of package, we will try to accomodate).