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  1. #21
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sooty View Post
    I have converted a few denford machines (in the easy way) but the triac will be a different beastie with the atc. i will probably need to use an ethernet controller with all the inputs that will be required for the ATC, my normal breakout boards dont have nearly enough. Have wanted to get one for a while but cant justify the spend at the moment.
    The ATC isn't that much of a problem. At the basic level, it's just 4 inputs and 3 outputs.
    The far bigger problem are the home sensors, as for most controllers you need to change them to newer NPN/PNP type, but I'm sure if you know a bit electronics, you could make up an interface board to convert the NAMUR signal to something more usable.
    Plus you need a controller capable of handling the 24V logic, unless you want to drop all the controls to 5V (I really wouldn't recommend that option!).
    And just for good measure the carousel index sensor is 5V (I swapped mine to a 24V version).
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

  2. #22
    Chaz's Avatar
    Lives in Ickenham, West London, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 1,600. Received thanks 110 times, giving thanks to others 69 times.
    Quote Originally Posted by m_c View Post
    The ATC isn't that much of a problem. At the basic level, it's just 4 inputs and 3 outputs.
    The far bigger problem are the home sensors, as for most controllers you need to change them to newer NPN/PNP type, but I'm sure if you know a bit electronics, you could make up an interface board to convert the NAMUR signal to something more usable.
    Plus you need a controller capable of handling the 24V logic, unless you want to drop all the controls to 5V (I really wouldn't recommend that option!).
    And just for good measure the carousel index sensor is 5V (I swapped mine to a 24V version).
    My contacts are all normal mechanical ones, I wonder why they are different.

    For my ATC, I dont count anything. I worked out that 1 revolution of the wheel takes exactly 1 second, so I just pulse as long as is needed. Not perfect but its never let me down.

  3. #23
    i am not quite that far into my learning but i gather you are talking about proximity sensors and not the microswitches the atc is currently using? Is the servo and Stepper version different? i have the stepper version.

    I havent looked into the carousel system, does that use an inductive style switch?

  4. #24
    Chaz's Avatar
    Lives in Ickenham, West London, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 1,600. Received thanks 110 times, giving thanks to others 69 times.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sooty View Post
    i am not quite that far into my learning but i gather you are talking about proximity sensors and not the microswitches the atc is currently using? Is the servo and Stepper version different? i have the stepper version.

    I havent looked into the carousel system, does that use an inductive style switch?
    Sorry, yes, my limit switches for X Y Z are all mechnical type. The same for the ATC movement in and out. What is inductive (ive not been able to get it to work) is the counting element of the ATC carousel itself.

  5. #25
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    The limits are mechanical, but all the home sensors are a NAMUR type. The current Denford guys have no idea why NAMUR output sensors were used. They would of made sense to somebody at the time, but they also used a very compact size, which are expensive to replace.

    Chaz, what sensors do you use to home your machine?
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

  6. #26
    Chaz's Avatar
    Lives in Ickenham, West London, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 1,600. Received thanks 110 times, giving thanks to others 69 times.
    Quote Originally Posted by m_c View Post
    The limits are mechanical, but all the home sensors are a NAMUR type. The current Denford guys have no idea why NAMUR output sensors were used. They would of made sense to somebody at the time, but they also used a very compact size, which are expensive to replace.

    Chaz, what sensors do you use to home your machine?
    Mine has normal plunge type mechanical ones. Normal electrical contacts, NC etc. Nothing fancy.

  7. #27
    looks like i have the same mechanical switches. possibly the difference in year of manufacture?

  8. #28
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    I'm going to guess that because Chaz's is a (later?) servo machine, with what would of been a pretty much totally different controller, they used different switches.

    Sooty, are you sure there's not proximity sensors?
    On the X, you have to either remove the front panel of the table, or unbolt the switch mounting panel from the cross slide, and the home sensor is at the right hand end of the panel.
    On the Y, you have to move the table pretty much fully back, and if you lift the bellows, the prox sensor is at near the front right corner pointing straight up.
    On the Z, you have to fully lower the head/spindle, and with the motor cover removed, the prox sensor is mounted inwards of the right dovetail, and should be visible just above the head/spindle casting.

    The carousel has a single inductive sensor that pulses on each rotation of the Geneva mechanism, which has to rotate twice to move between tools. This is probably the most problematic part of the ATC, as you need some form of verification that the correct tool position is set on initial power up, and if the tool is currently in the spindle or not. Mach does have the option of persistent DROs, but I've got an absolute encoder which I'm going to add so I don't need to manually check tool numbers.
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

  9. #29
    Chaz's Avatar
    Lives in Ickenham, West London, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Weeks Ago Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 1,600. Received thanks 110 times, giving thanks to others 69 times.
    Quote Originally Posted by m_c View Post
    I'm going to guess that because Chaz's is a (later?) servo machine, with what would of been a pretty much totally different controller, they used different switches.

    Sooty, are you sure there's not proximity sensors?
    On the X, you have to either remove the front panel of the table, or unbolt the switch mounting panel from the cross slide, and the home sensor is at the right hand end of the panel.
    On the Y, you have to move the table pretty much fully back, and if you lift the bellows, the prox sensor is at near the front right corner pointing straight up.
    On the Z, you have to fully lower the head/spindle, and with the motor cover removed, the prox sensor is mounted inwards of the right dovetail, and should be visible just above the head/spindle casting.

    The carousel has a single inductive sensor that pulses on each rotation of the Geneva mechanism, which has to rotate twice to move between tools. This is probably the most problematic part of the ATC, as you need some form of verification that the correct tool position is set on initial power up, and if the tool is currently in the spindle or not. Mach does have the option of persistent DROs, but I've got an absolute encoder which I'm going to add so I don't need to manually check tool numbers.
    I find its fairly easy to just update mach 3 with correct tool at the start. Not sure how you would code around that issue. Suppose it could be done but a pain.

  10. #30
    m_c's Avatar
    Lives in East Lothian, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 3 Days Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 2,908. Received thanks 360 times, giving thanks to others 8 times.
    Quote Originally Posted by Chaz View Post
    I find its fairly easy to just update mach 3 with correct tool at the start. Not sure how you would code around that issue. Suppose it could be done but a pain.
    I've been spoiled by my lathe though, I turn it on, hit Init and Home, and it's good to run. I'm aiming to achieve the same with the mill.

    It's running the extra wires that's going to be the hard part, as I'd like to keep everything pluggable. My current plan is to use the original display/control panel cable/connector shell, but I need to go through the Harting catalogue to see if that will be doable with their modular options to squeeze more terminals in the connector.
    Avoiding the rubbish customer service from AluminiumWarehouse since July '13.

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