The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Rebirth of a Denford MIRAC CNC Lathe
David Jupp:
Andrew - I presume you've already found the information on the Mirac on the Denford forum.
awemawson:
David I have and I haven't - I cannot identify the exact machine nor can I find a suitable circuit diagram - there seems to be a myriad of Mirac models :bang:
This one has an LCB3 control board but seems to differ from ones on Denfords site - they share one invertor for the spindle drive and the tool turret motor for example whereas this one has one dedicated to the spindle and another for the turret. Also I've not yet found one where the PC is slotted into the side of the machine.
A bit of progress today. I decided to see if I could get the original controller to work, so blew a century of muck out of the keyboard and monitor and plugged it all together. After checking for no stray wires I plugged it in and was AMAZED to find it booted up after what must have been a decade of sleeping :clap:
The various Mirac screens can be brought up but at the moment I can't move any axis or spin any motors other than the coolant pump as I cannot get it out of eStop. I need to 'knife and fork' my way through the eStop chain - I've done a bit but I need to go and prepare supper as we have guests this evening.
Pete.:
That's a surprise. I would expect to be getting all sorts of BIOS errors. Very encouraging Andrew.
awemawson:
Yes I was rather taken aback :clap:
The PC must have been changed at some time as there are socket converters in line with the keyboard from PS2 to DIN and 25 way to 9 way on the serial port. it looks like the PC sends commands to the Denford LCB3 card over the serial port as the parallel port on the PC is unused.
I suspect that if I can overcome this eStop issue the controller might actually work. I'm tempted as a diagnostic aid to hard wire the eStop relay permanently 'on' for testing purposes. Then if the controller drives the axis and spindle it's worth spending time to bottom the issue.
Pete.:
If you need to replace any door/safety/limit switches I have a box full of nice Telemechanique limit switches I salvaged off a machine. Fully IP resistant and with one NC/one NO contact in each.
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