MAXNC
Makers Local 256 (https://256.makerslocal.org/) owns at some point got two MAXNC mills. One was a MAXNC15 with a closed Loop control system and the other had an open Loop control system. They came with a 4th axis and a lathe chuck. The the company MAXNC is now defunct. The main problem with running these machines was that they used an unusual control system compared to typical stepper driven desktop CNC machines. Apparently it used a quadrature system. I have no idea what that means or how it is different. They use normal stepper motors.
Contents
[hide]Status
Its working. For those that know what they are doing.
Running the Machine with Mach3
For minimum cost I want to get it running with the MACNC controller. This means using either the MAXNC software, or using Mach3 which has two special modes for compatibility with MaxNC control systems. I couldn't find the original MAXNC software that would have shipped with the machines. And I am familiar with Mach3, so it was an easy decision.
this link has a configuration file: https://www.cnczone.com/forums/benchtop-machines/254426-cnc.html
Wiring a stepper cable
Before I got the original control system working with Mach3 Bradley wanted to replace it with a Geckodrive.
- https://www.geckodrive.com/g540-4-axis-digital-stepper-drive.html
- https://www.geckodrive.com/support/g540-rev-8.html
I'm okay with this option but I would prefer to use something expandable to 5 axis, because I am strongly considering buying a 5th axis. Replacing the control system with something more conventional would require the stepper cables to be rewired. The steppers are 8 wires. Four wire systems are much more common. Most cheap DIY CNC stuff uses 4 wires and so does that Geckodrive in particular. I rewiring a stepper cable to test if the Geckodrive will work with the steppers the machine came with. Bradley has agreed to take the stepper and the new cable to his place of employment to test on a Geckodrive they have there. Bradley swore upon his honor that he would complete this quest. Yet still I wait. The following are my notes I write wile figuring out how to do the wiring.
The steppers the MAXNC came with Powermax 11 Model P22NRXG-LNN-NS-00 steppers
- https://www.kollmorgen.com/en-us/products/motors/stepper/powermax-m-and-p-series/
- https://www.kollmorgen.com/sites/default/files/public_downloads/Nema_P2_Stepper_System_TB.pdf
- http://www.portalnaukowy.edu.pl/allegro/powermax22.pdf
Motor Pins Pin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 internal connect 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 (The pins that had connectivity) ohm 17.8 17.5 17.7 17.4 Color blue black orange black black red black yellow
Cable motor side (indexing from arrow) pin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 connected 1 6 2 6 6 3 6 4
Cable driver side (indexing from arrow) 1 2 3 4 5 6 - - - - no connector - blue orange red yellow black
9 pin serial port connection 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 case red yellow blue gray black orange purple brown green White
Here is how to wire it from 8 pin to 4 pin (with serial Connection) Stepper side 2 and 5 get tied together and terminated 4 and 7 get tied together and terminated
Motor Pin | letter | Serial Pin 1 blue | +A | 9 green 6 red | -A | 8 brown 3 orange | +B | 7 purple 8 yellow | -B | 6 orange
Apparently the Serial pins 1-5 gets a resistor put between them. Or at least that what it looks like from the Geckodrive documentation.
But what about the second Mill
I plan to turn that shit to a CNC lathe.
Reference Material
Here are some links to where I found information about MAXNC The following are pages from the original company that are available on the internet archive (http://web.archive.org/)
This another page available on the internet archive (http://web.archive.org/)
Here are some other pages
- https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/MaxNCMill
- https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAECourses/Raisbeck/cnc_equip.htm#maxnc
- https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAECourses/Raisbeck/images/resources/cnc/MAXNCmanual.pdf
- This is not the original manual, but something written as an introductory overview for student at Purdue.
YouTuber "Josh AQ" has made many videos about his MaxNC mill
