Update / Setting Goals

Update:

I've taken the last week of my winter break to tear down the machine. Truth be told, since it came home over a year ago, not a lot has been accomplished. There's been quite a few reasons for this, but it really comes down to my garage being an unusable mess, and my schedule not allowing for it.  Leading up to this week, I've spent hours cleaning out the garage, replacing insulation, putting up drywall, organizing, and most importantly, adding a pellet stove to get me through the winter.

That's allowed me to spend the past 10 days focused on the machine (in between holiday festivities with the family, of course). So far, I've managed to:

• Gut all the wiring and pneumatics
• Remove drive motors, motor drivers and belts
• Clean and degrease the Z and X axis bellows
• 3D model new components
• Mount the new control terminal stand
• Clean the machine

Cleaning happens to be the worst part of this - a bit of a mixed blessing. The previous customer used the machine for cutting acrylic with oil, so the all the moving components are well preserved a coating of acrylic dust and thick oil sludge. The downside is that I need to clean that crap off nearly every surface in the machine... Not fun. 

The oil has also messed with plastics and adhesives, like the wire management conduit and the velcro that holds the bellows in place, so there will be a bit of work to correct that, but a small price to pay overall for the condition the machine is in. 

Planning:

Now that you know a little bit about how the Danntron came to be, it's a perfect time to discuss what the intentions are for this machine. 

I've heard time and again that it's very easy to let the budget for a machine build go through the roof, and for the schedule to go out the window in turn. To some extent, I will not be immune to this, but I want to mitigate it as much as possible. And it starts with figuring out exactly what this machine is intended to do. 

First and foremost, Danntron will no longer be a Datron, in the most literal sense, since it will no longer have any Datron control components. 

I have received a lot of questions on Instagram about why I'm going this route, versus finding the missing components and bringing it back into factory spec. The answer is easy: Cost and Time.

The M4 went out of production in the early 2000's, and was supported for about 15 year before becoming obsolete. In the absolute best case, I would need to find thousands of dollars worth of obscure components from 3rd parties in the US or overseas, and painfully piece the machine back together to bring it to early 2000's capabilities. The worst case would be having to purchase the components directly from Datron, if they are even available. For a machine that will only serve my personal needs, this is not a task I'm going to sign up for. 

Luckily, I'm doing this rebuild at just the right time. With options like Masso and Acorn for machine controls, ClearPath servos from Teknic, and an abundance of helpful folks in the Instamachinist community, it's a safe choice to start fresh. 

So, with that being said, the only limitations now are my abilities, and my budget. Here's the short list of what I am aiming to achieve with the Danntron:

• High RPM spindle - at least 20k RPM max, preferably 30k.
• Tool change capable - Minimum stations: 6
• Tool and workpiece touch probe
• Similar performance to the original (more details to come)

Those goals are a little vague for now. I'm still in research mode for everything I will need, how much it will cost, and what I can afford. I may take things in steps if necessary, like starting with a Chinese spindle without ATC, in order to keep things progressing. 

Time frame wise, I would love to see things progress as such:

• Q1: 3 axis CNC control
• Q2: Spindle operational, running through programs
• Q3: Electronics self contained and enclosure finished
• Q4: ATC operational, machine fully functional

We'll see how things progress - I will keep you in the loop!

Danntron: An Origin Story

Welcome to the abyss. 

I was warned going into this that it was A. Not going to be easy, and B. Not going to be cheap. 

I'm doing it anyway. But why?

If you're reading this, you're probably already following me on Instagram, and for that I say thanks! A tremendous part of why I'm doing this is because of the fantastic Instamachinist community, and the massive collective wealth of knowledge that flows from it. 

If you're not familiar with my Instagram page, then I'm not even totally certain how you got here, but let me give you an abridged history of my life in manufacturing: After 7 years in automotive repair, I was lucky enough to discover CNC machining as a means of changing careers and expanding my possibilities. I started with DATRON (www.datron.com) as a Service Administrator back in February 2013. Thanks to a lot of enthusiasm, I made my way to a Service Technician, and then to an Application Engineering a few months later. 

In my 7+ years at DATRON, I learned everything I know about manufacturing, programming, machining. I worked on all sorts of materials, meeting all sorts of interesting customers, and visiting places all over the globe. It is an experience that forever changed the course of my life, and was integral to my next step: starting with KERN Precision (www.kernprecision.com) as their East Coast Sales Manager. That brings me to today: now working with KERN for 5 months, and looking forward to what 2021 will bring.

But, that doesn't really get to the meat of it, does it? 

My time in manufacturing has been enlightening in so many ways, but in the end, my experiences were always there to serve the customer. Subsequently, I rarely ever made anything for myself on a DATRON. So when the opportunity to own my DATRON came about, I jumped at it. 

I will tell the entire history of this machine some other time, but for now, how it came to me: This M4 came from a former DATRON customer in New England, who had received it in the acquisition of a competitor. The M4 was very well suited to their application (detailed mold/die work), however, the operators never really grew fond of the DATRON control, and let the machine fall into a state of disrepair. 

This came to a boiling point when one day, DATRON was approached by the customer in regards to taking the machine of their hands. The bad news for the customer, is that DATRON did not want it, and for good reason: built in 2002, the M4 was a "1st generation" DATRON, utilizing the earliest architecture of DATRON CNC control components. That's a long way of saying, it was obsolete. Even if DATRON took it back and rebuilt it from spare parts, it's service life from there on would be basically non-existent. 

To make things worse: with the decision to unload the M4, the seller followed their company policy and disposed of the control PC. However, instead of throwing away just the PC, they chucked the entire operating terminal, which contained the spindle converter among other electronic necessities. 

Even though this should have been a big red flag for me, I am apparently colorblind.

After a bit of back-and-forth over the price, the M4 came home in the back of a friend's pickup truck. 

And this basically brings us to today: The M4 has been sitting in my garage for the past year, waiting for me to make the first move. But that time is now, and for anyone who's interested, I will be glad to share the story along the way.

If you read this, leave a comment below - I'm just curious to see who is going to hold me accountable. 😅