New CNC Mill on the horizon

[njhussey]

You and me both, I thought it was in the manual till I saw it there....

[JAZZCNC]

thanks for the reply, I know they have to be connected to the controller and I am settled on the CS labs CSMIO IPM board which I am sure has a facility for connection of these I am just not sure where they are meant to be connected to on this. Is it a digital in or out? .......

Which motion controller you use doesn't matter. All you are doing is using a Output to turn the drive Enable signal on or off.
What matters is the Software Mach in this case has an enable output option for each axis which turns on or off when software is reset or E-stopped. You Assign this enable option to any output pin or pins you choose.
Often you'll just use 1 output and use this to trun a relay on or off which in turn sets all the enables on each drive.

[fvfdrums]

Thanks Dean

So am I right in thinking that the default on these drives is enabled? unless instructed otherwise as in the manual for the DM it says these are not usually connected, I have seen many wiring diagrams now where they are and I fully intend to just a little confused as to why they would say not normally connected

basically will the drive still work if these are not connected I think is a simpler way of putting this!

[JAZZCNC]

basically will the drive still work if these are not connected I think is a simpler way of putting this!

Yes they will work fine if not connected. Yes and No to default being Enabled. To understand better how the Enable feature works some understanding of the feature will help.
The Drive signal inputs by Default are enabled and when you use the enable feature what your actually doing is turning them off.
One of the main reasons to use the enable feature is so the Motor stays powered up. The enable signal just disables the drive inputs
and leaves motor under holding torque.

This is fine for Say limit triggers for when other axis need holding Ie Z axis and when leaving machine for any length of time when Mach is not Re-set so motors or axis can't accidentaly moved. But Not when in E-stop situation when really power should be removed from the drives.

[fvfdrums]

Dean thanks, I am putting a fully latched safety circuit on the machine just could not get a good grasp of how the enable worked so thanks for that!

[fvfdrums]

So whilst getting along with the electronics circuits I am going to start to fashion some machine guards to protect both me from the machine screws (I have a tendancy to get too close to the machinery - through no fault of my own) and also to stop flying chips and debris getting into the screws.

Whilst at that I want to run some ally channel so I can have the E chain run along side the guards, what size chain do people generally use for the various bits of the machine?

I can see at the moment I am likely to have:

z axis - spindle main cable, z axis limit and home switch and water pipes for spindle, z axis motor cable

y axis - All the above plus the y axis motor, y axis limit and home switch

x axis - all the above plus the x axis motor wire, x axis limit and home switch

Any suggestions on size?

I can get hold of up to about 50 x 20 from a local supplier but its pretty pricey p/m

[njhussey]

It's generally a good idea to separate power from signal cables but that would mean 2 lots of e-chain...

[routercnc]

I'd agree with separating power from signals
My machine has echain down either side of the X axis carrying each type.
The machine before this one has some of them together and tripped out quite a lot. The new one is much better but the long Z home cable occasionally still causes a trip.
I must point out that the previous machine and the current machine both use cables direct from the BOB so they end up being long especially Z. How much of this can be improved / removed further by using relays etc I will soon find out because that will be of my electrical upgrade in progress.
Back to your question. I started with 50mm or so but these are quite bulky so latest machine has something like 20-25mm width and is much more compact whilst still taking the cables. Helped by splitting runs down each side as mentioned.

[fvfdrums]

Right,

I am about a week away from getting the control box wired up so I am just ordering some parts last min.

The PSU I have ordered is http://www.airlinktransformers.com/c...nge/CM0625225/

I wanted to check if these parts are going to work ok with this coil.

Bridge Rec:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KBPC3502-B...item35e3aaabd5

Capacitor:http://uk.farnell.com/vishay-bc-comp...uctSubstitutes

I know Rapid do a cheaper one as do Farnell however they have indicated it probably won't be back in stock for a good 10 days which is too long for whats planned in the diary!

If I am a mile out please let me know :)

[Clive S]

Those bits are fine. But as you know the cap is a bit (lot) expensive. ..Clive