Indymill CNC Controller -tests and the final choice- and WHY

To get the best possible CNC driver / firmware setup, in combination with the CAD and CAM programs that are required, I tested the following setups with the Indymill hardware:

I have a setup running on the CMC Indymill with Duet wifi BUT I just can’t get enough current to my Nema23 stepper motors.

Therefore, I made the final choice to also test OPENCNC: https://blog.altholtmann.com/open-cnc-shield/

I am building this together as you can see in the below pictures, where the driver boards will be replaced with 6600 pro drivers.

In this post, some other possible choices are presented:

1) Reprap 3.3 & the Duet2wifi. STL’s are made with OpenScad and then converted either online or with Estlcam to Gcode (.nc files). The Gcode is then uploaded via Duet webinterface and run on the local reprap driver board. Not chosen by me beacause it proved impossible to run a gcode stream online from the PC to the USB interface of the Duet2wifi board. It is, however, possible to attach a serial handwheel to the Duet2wifi and manually control the CNC setup. And dual axis squaring is also easily made possible. Actually, the Duet reprap CNC setup is very mature and customizable. I still have this setup as backup and by switching the connectors from the Indymill over, I can easily switch to this setup. Some advantages of this setup are a.o. the webinterface and the ease of having an automatic squaring gantry on the 2 Y axes with individual endstops. I also learned that Estlcam can generate Gcode that I can then send via the webinterface to the Indymill CNC machine which works very well. (I make my designs in Openscad and save this as .STL files. Estlcam can then convert these .stl files to .nc files…, using the machine configuration to get the code properly generated for the Indymill’s dimensions and hardware settings)

2) GRBL, Estlcam & Openscad, Marlin & GT2560 (A) board; This is also working out of the box and emulates a GRBL driver board. The main reason to NOT use this is the fact that the GT2560 board just has not got enough pins available onboard for things like a handwheel and other outputs for accessories. The second thing that prevents me from going this way is the fact that it proved impossible to have a functional LCD attached that shows things like position, speed, status et cetera.

3) Mach3, FreeCad & USB CNC ‘barebone’ . This is actually a very solid and reliable solution BUT I could not get it to do any way of squaring my dual Y axis setup. Still investigating this…

4) GRBL, Estlcam & Openscad & MKS DLCV2.1 board with TFT 3.5 “; Also for this setup: No option for squaring the dual Y axis setup. But- this is a very neat solution for smaller machines. or larger, if you use external drivers. The nice option of this setup is the 3.5 inch LCD that also comes preconfigured for CNC. I use this for my small 3018 CNC.

5) GRBL, Estlcam& Openscad & Mega2560 & RAMPS 1.6 shield.

DUET2WIFI clone Mellow FLY-CDY-V2

MACH-3 with a generic USB-CNC converter

I also have an original USB Mach3 interface with a. o. a handwheel unit. This works very straight forward but needs a PC to keep a stream of Gcode commands running to the USB controller. I am not very fond of this solution since a little mishap will destroy your objects that is being carved. But- this appears to work very well for many people so I have set this up after I had the FLY-CDY-V2 with the reprap 3.3 and the Duet webinterface running, to get to know the differences. I must admit it works straight forward without any problem. I decided to have this setup available next to the GRBL Mega2560/GRBL shield solution. The thing that keeps me from the USB-CNC solution is primarily the fact that this setup cannot auto-square my dual Y axis gantry. The Mega 2560/GRBL shield solution does this squaring very well.

GRBL with MKS-DLCV2.1 and the TFT screen

And- the most in use hobbyist solution: The GRBL boards like the above shown setup from MKS. I have this running on my old 3018 CNC milling machine and it always works well. This particular setup utilizes the preconfigured KMS DLC 2.1 board and the preconfigured MKS TFT for CNC. All is very neat and since the drivers can be adde externally as well as interanlly, it is possible to drive real high currents if you want that. These boards don’t do sensorless homing and usually put the 2 Y steppers in serial. This means that you will never be sure that they are well aligned.

RAMPS shield for Arduino UNO and Mega2560 (and DUE?)

Still to discover: ESP-based CNC board 6-axis on Openbuilds is very promising!

14 November 202125 March 2023

OpenCNC hardware driver board with 2x Arduino Mega mini controller and wifi controller box

This is the link to the board, user manual et cetera by Timo Altholtmann.

I bought 2 kits with all hardware for 2 driver boards and 2 wifi remote control units from Timo in November 2021.

Will update here how this progresses, as I intend to use this on either one of my 2 CNC routers AND on my Minimill.

7 November 202123 April 2023

Minimill CNC conversion WMD16LV Z-axis adapter for NEMA23 direct drive

While I was making my CNC adapter plates with teethed wheels and belts, I discovered that not much exists that is ready to use for these conversions.

DOWNLOAD:

MINIMILL_BF16L CNC_Z_adapter direct drive 2022_07_25_V1_5-jantec.nl

I am therefore also making direct drive adapter parts, to try this out.

This is the third piece I make for direct drive, for the Z-axis.

This pice is fairly simple: First a good fit is needed to mount the adapter to the top of the Z-column, and the holes for the 4 bolts need to be acactly correct. Also, the same for the leadscrew hole of the bearing holder.

Then, on top of this, the Nema23 holder/mounting is projected. Including all needed boltholes, nutholes and a side hole for tightening the coupler.

The leadscrew has an outside part for the handwheel we will use for CNC that is 10mm, and some thread 10mm for Z. The thread is needed to be bolting the angular bearings (not meant for side torque) with some torque to the bearing holder.

If you do direct drive, you need a special coupler that can be split in 2. Then, you first mount one part on the leadscrew with some rings between the mill and the coupler part so that the nut can be placed in the coupler. If the thread is too long, grind some off.

Then, put the rubber (with centerhole) back in the coupler’s mounted part and push the other part in the rubber, so the coupler is complete.

Then, mount the printed adapter with already mounted Nema23 motor on the Y-axis and push the Nema shaft in the coupler. Use the adapter’s right hand side working window to torque the connector on the Nema shaft and you’re done!

Should you want to have a handwheel as well, this is possible but you will have to buy a stepper with an axis that is both at the front as the rear. (this is called ‘double shaft’ but is actually a longer shaft, obviously.]

GOTO the X-axis Direct Drive adapter

GOTO the Y-axis Direct Drive adapter

7 November 202123 April 2023

Minimill CNC conversion WMD16LV X-axis adapter for NEMA23 direct drive

While I was making my CNC adapter plates with teethed wheels and belts, I discovered that not much exists that is ready to use for these conversions.

DOWNLOAD:

MINIMILL_BF16L CNC_X_adapter direct drive 2022_07_25_V1_5-jantec.nl

I am therefore also making direct drive adapter parts, to try this out.

This is the second piece I make for direct drive, for the X-axis.

The leadscrew has an outside part for the handwheel we will use for CNC that is 10mm, and some thread 8mm. The thread is needed to be bolting the angular bearings (not meant for side torque) with some torque to the bearing holder.

Then, put the rubber (with centerhole) back in the coupler’s mounted part and push the other part in the rubber, so the coupler is complete.

GOTO the Direct Drive Y-axis adapter

GOTO the Direct Drive Z-axis adapter

DOWNLOAD the latest version of the STL printfiles

Please donate $1 to my paypal account if you use (parts of) my developed materials so I can continue to share nice stuff for you to download

5 November 202123 April 2023

Minimill CNC conversion WMD16LV Y-axis adapter for NEMA23 direct drive

While I was making my CNC adapter plates with teethed wheels and belts, I discovered that not much exists that is ready to use for these conversions.

DOWNLOAD:

MINIMILL_BF16L CNC_Y_adapter direct 2022_07_25_V1_5-jantec.nl

I am therefore also making direct drive adapter parts, to try this out.

This is the first one, starting with the most difficult one. The rest will be added soon.

Version 1.2 which is 15 mm shorter and much more robust:

If you do direct drive, you need a special coupler that can be split in 2. Then, you first mount one part on the leadscrew with some rings between the mill and the coupler part so that the nut can be place in the coupler. If the thread is too long, grind some off.

Then, put the rubber (with centerhole) back in the coupler’s mounted part and push the other part in the rubber, so the coupler is complete.

Should you want to have a handwheel as well, you will have to buy a stepper with an axis that is both at the front as the rear. (this is called ‘double shaft’ but is actually a longer shaft, obviously.

OR- my latest design works a bit different: first put a couple of 10mm rings on the leadscrew’s 10mm axle, and then screw a threaded RVS tube with an outer diameter of 12mm, 25 mm long and internal 8mm thread on the axle. This goed into a 12 to 8mm coupler and this coupler connects to a NEMA23 stepper motor with an 8 mm axis. It does get a bit lengthy but it works very well. Just threadlock the RVS threaded tube to the leadscrew’s 8mm threaded end and it will run OK!

This is the last version, based on the above setup:

GOTO the Dirext Drive X-adapter

GOTO the Direct Drive Z-adapter

DOWNLOAD the latest version of the STL printfiles

Please donate $1 to my paypal account if you use (parts of) my developed materials so I can continue to share nice stuff for you to download

31 October 202123 April 2023

CNC conversion of my Toolmania WBM16LV (TM BF 16) mill with NEMA23 steppers, 3dprinted adapters, teethed wheels and teethed belts

Before My Toolmania WBM16LV milling machine was delivered I already had plans to convert it to a CNC milling machine.

I do have some experience with 3d printing, and I have 2 CNC routers up and running, like the Indymill. So, the conversion of this mill will not be difficult in the Technical sense. But- making the perfect designs for the adapter plates of the Y- and X- axes proved to be a lot more work than I expected.

The column cutter is already equipped with glass scales with digital readout. Furthermore, there is a gas spring mounted on the Z-column so that not all the weight is in the way when moving back and forth. Also an automatic lubrication system for the slides of X, Y and Z-axis will be mounted.)

DOWNLOAD ALL MY CNC TEETHED ADAPTER DESIGNS as .STL files

The electronics will become OpenCNC + wifi + wireless controlbox. I received the kit and will put it together the coming weeks. For now I am going to set the mill up with my all-in one USB-CNC-MDK2 board. I use this for all of my routers and mills to get it set up in first instance since it is very simple and sturdy. And- you can run it instantaniously without any PC or programming, just with the handwheel or from SD card. And from the laptop, of course.

GOTO the X axis CNC adapter

GOTO the Y axis CNC adapter

GOTO the Z axis CNC adapter

DOWNLOAD MY CNC ADAPTER DESIGNS as .STL files

LATEST NEWS:

After this all worked well, I also made designs for NEMA direct drive adapters on my Toolmania MiniMill:

Above: Direct drive adapter for the Z-axis

left top the Z-axis adapter, right the X axis adapter and at the bottom the Y-axis adapter

What makes it tricky is the choice to make: Will I replace the spindles with ball bearing spindles or not? Not for the time being, first let’s make everything on CNC and then I’ll see how it performs.

30 October 20218 August 2022

Minimill CNC conversion Toolmania WMD16LV endstops

2021-10-30: When converting (or upgrading, depends on your P.O.V.) a mill to CNC, it is absolutely necessary to have end stops on all ends. Except the low-end of the Z-axis, an end stop at the Z-axis low end is practically impossible.

On the Z-axis low end another solution has been established by using a Z-stop from the milling toolbit on a fixed X-Y position, OR by testing with the toolbit in place on the matrerial by sight or electronically.

I bought a Z-position sensor for this, which is nothing more than an electrically insulated round pod with a flexible brass top. It is with one wire connected to the Mach3- motherboard as Z-probe and triggers when the tooltip touches the top of the Z pod’s brass top. Therefore, this trigger is defined as ACTIVE when it is conected to Ground. Since the mill will be grounded and thus also the tooltip is always connected to ground. You MUST ground the mill, by the way. Also for your safety.

Leaves us with the 5 enstops for which I have bought the thinnest available inductive sensors. These are M6 size round and about 8 cm long. These sensors require power, ground and since they are NPN type sensors which means Normally OPEN when NOT active, they will ground the output pin when activated at reaching the the stop position. To activate these inductive sensors, a carbon- containing metal would be best to use and bring the sensor close. The trigger moment depends on the connected power voltage. The higher the voltage, the more sensitive the sensor becomes.

I will use 12 Volts or 24 Volts, I will experience a bit with these settings.

On the net I was unable to find any plug and play sensor holders for my mill, so I developed these holders again from scratch in OpenScad.

Fortunately, I have a lot of starting material in OpenScad from my previous projects.

The X axis left:

The X axis right hand side:

The Y axis front:

The Y axis rear:

The Z-axis top:

28 October 20213 July 2022

Minimill CNC conversion WMD16LV Z-axis adapter for NEMA23 and M3 teethed belt

New version V3 after the second fit:

The mount on the Z-column needed to get UP so the NEMA23 teethed wheel gets at the same level as the wheel that is mounted on the leadscrew.

Required hardware:

3d printed Z-axis adapter
Nema23 stepper 76 mm length with enough torque, 8mm axle diameter
48teeth M3 teethed wheel of 11mm width, 10mm hole with collar for the leadscrew
24 teeth M3 teethed wheel 11mm width , 8mm hole with collar for the Nema23 stepper motor
new M6 40mm length bolts flathead for the top connection to the Z column
4 bolts and nuts M5 to mount the Nema 23 stepper
teethed belt 300mm M3 (100 teeth) 9 or 10mm

OR, use the 72 teethed wheel on the leadscrew and get a larger length belt of (I estimate) 330-350 mm

OR.. another way to mount the Nema23stepper is at the rear of the Z column, BUT I don’t want it to stick out at the rear, that’s why I decided to mount the stepper at the left of the Z-column…

This is the 72 teeth 11 mm width teethed wheel that I will probably use for the final mount at the Z-axes. But not with this bracket at the rear. Unfortunately this bracket does not easily fit at the left or right side of the Z-column. I might make a fitting piece to mount it at the left, though. We’ll see how good the 3d printed parts will perform and if needed the Z-axis will be the easiest to use a standard bracket for mounting the stepper motor as shown above.

GOTO the X axis adapter

GOTO the Y axis adapter

DOWNLOAD THE CNC ADAPTER DESIGNS as STL

Please donate $1 to my paypal account if you use (parts of) my developed materials so I can continue to share nice stuff for you to download

27 October 202123 April 2023

Minimill CNC conversion WMD16LV X-axis adapter for NEMA23 and M3 teethed belt

NEW VERSION with debree screen:

You can 3dprint the entire bottom and debree screen with the risers for the stepper motor at once, as I did in red ABS at 270 degrees C

For this setup you need

1 piece Nema23 56 length stepper motor with 6.35 mm axis
1 piece 12-teethed M3 wheel with collar, hole dia 6.35 mm, 11 mm width
1 piece 24-teethed M3 wheel with NO collar, hole dia 10 mm, 11 mm width
Teethed M3 belt , 9 mm wide and length 255 or 275 mm (need to check this)
3d printed parts
M8 rings and nut

Here the connection is shown onto the X-axis/ leadscrew bearing holder with 2 M6 bolts.

And front lid:

And the Milling design for the base plate for CNC machining in aluminium should you prefer this.

The 3D print file for the debree cover and the stepper motor risers, to be placed on the aluminium milled base plate:

GOTO the Y axis adapter

GOTO the Z axis adapter

DOWNLOAD THE CNC ADAPTER DESIGNS as STL

Please donate $1 to my paypal account if you use (parts of) my developed materials so I can continue to share nice stuff for you to download

26 October 20213 July 2022

Minimill CNC conversion WMD16LV Y-axis 3d printed adapter for NEMA23 and M3 teethed belt

The design for the Y-axis mounting plate for the Nema23 stepper is shown below and can be 3dprinted or, as I will do after the printed part proves to fit well, CNC it in aluminium on my CNC Indymill router.

The Y-axis adapter proved to be the most difficult design. It took me 15 trial prints before I got everyting fully optimized. And I also wanted to have a debree screen with a removable lid, which took some energy to test this. Also, the belt has to have a clean route where it sits between the wheel.

The physical data for this setup:

Nema23 stepper motor
3d printed parts: a: Baseplate inclusing risers for motormount and shield; b: lid
Teethed wheel for the Nema23 8mm axle: 10mm wide, 24 teeth M3 with chest
Teethed wheel for the leadscrew 10mm axle: 10mm wide: 48 teeth M3 with chest, machined on the teethed inside 9mm depth with a width of 33 mm diameter to fit the chest of the leadscrew bearing holder
The fitting belt is 9mm wide, 300 mm long and has 100 teeth (M3)

GOTO the MiniMill’s X-axis CNC Nema23 mounting plate

GOTO the MiniMill’s Z-axis CNC Nema23 mounting plate

FINAL DESIGN: