I love my Pro Series machine and probably won’t be upgrading to the Elite/Masso any time soon. What are the chances there is ever a Z Brake upgrade for the BB controlled machines? I have a macro that parks my machine in the back center and a 2nd macro to park my spindle on a styrofoam pad but it would be nice to not have to worry about my spindle lowering on to my table any time the machine it powered off. It isn’t a problem most of the time but sometimes it would be nice to not have to remove my bit when shutting down my machine in the middle of a project.
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Sorry I didn’t see this earlier. I replaced the Z axis motor with one from Steppers on line that has a built in brake. While I built a special circuit board that monitors both phases going to the stepper and if one cuts out it applies the brake you can simply set up a SSR to one of the outputs on the breakout board. That’s how I had it set up originally. When the controller is powered off it opens the switch that turns off a power supply that feeds the brake. WHen the controller is powered up it closes the switch. That turns on the 24v power supply that then disengages the brake. You will have to install a connector on the stepper though. I used different type of connector (6 pin) and shielded wire so everything plays well together inside my drag chain. I did have to replace the coupler between the stepper and lead screw because the stepper had a different diameter shaft.
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