The control panel and computer support box contains a Motion Control power supply and three stepper motor drivers in the lower section. Air circulation holes for cooling are provided in the back panel. It does not seem to get too hot even when run for long periods. In the upper section is a pulse generation circuit board, which can supply a variable pulse stream for manual control of the stepper motors. For the circuit info for the board I am indebted to a very good article in Model Engineers Workshop No 118 by David Haythomthwaite.rnSwitches on the front panel select which stepper motor is in use and its speed and direction for manual control, photo 28. Photo 29 shows the neat internal wiring. The switches can also be set for computer only control of the stepper motor or motors. The main motor is also controlled at this panel via an inverter. Placing the control panel and computer at the tailstock end seems quite convenient and positions the operator away from the cutting operations. You may notice that the main pulley does not have a guard. I did consider making one but it is very convenient to be able to handle the pulley for many small tasks and I think the guard would be more often open than closed.
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