Boxford 190 VMC

Screwdriver · Tuesday at 3:14 PM

LOL. That's cheating!

What are you going to do with the other one? And what are you doing with any of the conversion stuff you may/may not have acquired?

indy4x · Tuesday at 8:14 PM

Yeah, I know, I was dithering about placing a bid, decided if no one else had placed a bid I'd just throw 1 in right at the end hoping that someone would outbid me!

I haven't actually bought any bits for the conversion, I have stuff saved in various baskets ready to push the button then the 260 came along

Done some more research on the 260 and it is slightly more heavy duty than the 190 so probably keeping it and putting the 190 up for sale

I still have the Boxford 160TCL lathe to convert and in my head it would make sense to have the same components in both machines

Additionally, the 260 has a monitor attached to the PC that runs it (its a mini PC inside the rear enclosure)

I don't have the space for the monitor, going to have to relocate the mist system as space is so tight. Once I've got used to it I'm probably going to go down the FluidNC route on the 260 and run it via a laptop across my wireless network, same for the 160 lathe

indy4x · Tuesday at 8:16 PM

@Screwdriver On the plus side, I now have a working machine so transposing what they've done to convert it should be very similar with what you need to do on your 190

Screwdriver · Tuesday at 8:21 PM

What, you mean do all that headscratching myself? Hell no. I was just going to copy you! :laughing:

Unfortunately I also have a similar Boxford and some other random CNC I bought off here (which didn't survive being thrown around in the back of a trailer) so I dare not just buy another good one.
It's not as if I really need one anyway!

indy4x · Friday at 8:34 AM

@Screwdriver
@Bolsover

The 260 is going to get some tweaks and a FluidNC conversion. What I do to the 260 will apply to your 190 with some minor tweaks to the config

Still looking at YT vids on Boxfords, this one is fairly recent and explains nicely whats needed. It is a Boxford CNC router not a mill but no real difference in the process. It still has X Y Z axis and a spindle motor. He also dives into some of the FluidNC configuration as well

Screwdriver · Friday at 10:19 AM

I miss-spoke; the other spare machine is a Denford. Same thing (iirc), different badge. So Boxford, Denford and a mystery machine.

Actually, come to think of it, there's a Roland engraver around here too somewhere.

indy4x · Saturday at 11:25 PM

Started putting the 190 back together tonight and gave it a bit if a clean. Really surprised how nice the flaking is on the ways

Also had a stab at getting the head to traverse upwards and after checking some of the connectors and giving them a clean I now have manual control of all 3 axis

Feeling flushed with success, thought I'd try the auto tool changer. Partial success, pressing the tool changer button, the head traversed up, spindle rotated and locked into position, carousel moved across and head lowered to the carousel and then attempted to eject the tool holder.

Thats as far as it got, I only had 20psi left in the compressor so probably not enough pressure to do the ejection. Given it was now 22:30 and I'm working with the garage door open, pretty sure the neighbours wouldn't be too happy with the compressor starting up so packed up for the night

Picture of the tool changer waiting for the tool to be ejected