Light Machine Corp. Benchman XTr (retrofit)

justbyfaith,

That is not a parallel port, it is the interface to the rotary 4th axis.
The can bus is connected via J10 on the motherboard.

I have attached the block diagram for your machine.
I have the schematic of your motherboard, but it is not in .pdf format.
It will take me a bit to convert it.

But this should get you started.

Let me know if you have specific questions.

On my 1999 VMC 4000 the spindle drive quit working today There is a fault light on the board. Is there a troubleshooting flow chart for this machine? The control thinks the spindle is running but it's not.

My experience with the 4000 machines is pretty limited. If you can tell me the make and model of your spindle drive, I may be able to point you in the right direction. There is no troubleshooting flow-chart for this machine that I am aware of.

Hi Steve, Id be interested in some of your parts if you still have them. I'll send you a pm

Thanks for getting back to me. Adam @NH CNC repaired the drive but I've got to get with him to sort out the spindle rpm issues now. With a 5K spindle command it's running at 2382 and isn't running well at low speeds. It's a Minarik drive and I have photos if it would help but there are no specs on the board that I can find.

Hello folks,

My name is Jose, and I have just acquired a Benchman XT with 7500rpm Spindle and 20 Tool ATC. The machine is complete with PC and all necessary software CDs and floppy discs. I’m interested in purchasing tool holders for the machine if anyone has extras that they’d like to sell me.

Regards,
Jose

Hello everyone,

Amazing thread here. This is my first post on this thread and website. I am amazed by the information on here.
I am reaching out to the group with my dilemma.
I've purchased a Benchman MX not to long ago.
It has some surface rust, but other than that, the machine looks great. The electronic seem to have never been touched, or damaged. The issue lies there. I do not have access to 240V the the machine needs (however I can have an electrician install it if necessary). The machines did not come with a computer or PCI board.
My questions are:
Is there a way to retro fit the machine by using most electrical components that are present?
Is there someway to step down the needed voltage to 120 v?
Is the software and machine capabilities worth paying $1K+ for the pci card to run this machine (as well as the electricians work)?

I'd hate to rip everything out and have to change the servos, spindle motor, and motherboard, but if there is no other way, than that can be done.

Hopefully someone read this post. It'd be awesome to get opinions.
I've posted some photos of mostly everything, If anyone needs more picture I can do so.
I also have a Prolight 1000 with ATC system, and solenoid valve all running on original hardware and software incase anyone needs photos of any boards or wiring.

Thank you all for your time,

Awesome find!
If you still have the machine, I would love to see it. Maybe some photos.
I am not sure of the tool holders. Wouldn't modern tool holders work for this machine?

That is a pretty nice machine. It will run on your 240 line (think dryer or oven power) and it will run on 208 (2 of the 3 phases of 208 3-phase), it will not suffer precision, only the max performance will be slightly lower than true 240. Converting this machine to 120V presents a myriad of issues, with the major one being the spindle power. It is technically possible to change the other circuitry to 120V, but that may be a larger engineering task than desired. You would still need an electrician to give you a 120V circuit that will handle 30A minimum. Let me know if you need further assistance.