Tree Journeyman 425 mill - Acorn, ETHER1616 and DMM DYN4

[slodat]

Successfully completed control installation on a 1990 vintage Tree Journeyman 425 milling machine. It originally came with Baldor DC servos, Dynapath Delta 20 control, Yaskawa spindle motor and vfd, and in general is a very nice candidate for a controls upgrade. They are well built machines that were well equipped when new. The DMM NEMA 42 A15 1.3kW servos bolted in place of the existing servos without incident. I am powering the machine from single phase 240v, so I had to upsize the spindle drive to accommodate that. I went with a Hitachi SJ-P1 vfd. I'm quite happy with the entire range of products used in my conversion. All of the original auxiliaries are working as they were previously - lube pump and level switch, all axis + and - switches, drawbar control, spindle cooling fan, etc. I installed a Fog Buster system and decommissioned the existing flood coolant pump.

I added an off delay timer for the spindle motor fan and several interposing relays that are driven from the Acorn/EHTER1616 output relays. I bought nearly everything from Centroid, DMM and Automation Direct. All control wiring is 18awg MTW from Automation Direct.

The day I bought the mill when I was picking it up:






Before photos showing what I started with:







I wanted to keep the original machine look and feel. I made a new panel to fit the existing control console enclosure.







The end result:










All told, including the small amount I paid for the machine, I have less than what the most stripped down Tormach 1100 would cost and I have a MUCH more capable machine all around. I am very happy with the base machine itself and the machine as a whole now that it is up and running. I'm happy to help if this is something you are considering. I did a build thread for the machine that shows a bit more of the process and some of the things I encountered along the way. This is my second Acorn machine and I'm already looking for a lathe to retrofit.

[martyscncgarage]

Congratulations on the build! Nice work. Persistence paid off for you.
Post a video clip of it chewing away at metal some time!
Marty

[cnckeith]

Nice!! thanks for posting.