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I wouldn't swing on anything if it were my mill!
if you remove the casing/cover around the spindle you will probably see a spindle motor connected to the atc spindle via a belt - that's how denford normally do it.
above the atc spindle is a powered drawbar, you need to remove the powered drawbar and then hit the end of the atc spindle with a hammer to release a tool.
all the powered draw bar down is push down on the sprung tip of the spindle atc
The manual toolchange VMCs have no pneumatics, instead you get a big lever on the side of the head for releasing the tool. I'm assuming underneath the cover, it's the same spindle/drawbar/spring stack as an ATC version, it's just using a lever instead of a pneumatic actuator.Quote:
Originally Posted by andy_con
Provided the lever is compressing the spring stack correctly, then all it's likely needing is somebody to pull the lever, while somebody taps the toolholder to give it a bit helping hand to pop it out.
I'd certainly be trying that before going to the extent of stripping of the spring stack and drawbar.
I had another go yesterday and all that was needed was a more confident pull on the lever, no need for further stripping or hammers.:thumsup:
In between doing 'other stuff' in my shed I had a look under the bellows on the y axis and under the guard on the z.
Not much to see under the bellows although the linear bearings and ball screw don't look obviously knackered.
Attachment 20427
This is the x axis stepper motor,
Attachment 20426
Its smaller than the z axis stepper. I'm guessing its a NEMA17.
I'm going to google the numbers on the sticker (3100422k) to see if it throws up any clues.
Finally I've had a look at the spindle motor wiring.
Attachment 20428
My guess is that the heavy gauge wires are power feed. I'm not sue what the pairs of red/blue wires are for. The top pair both have yellow tags labelled 'T'. As far as I can make out the bottom pair has a red tag labelled 22 on the blue wire and a black tag labelled 11 on the red wire. The bottom pair are connected together by a short jumper on the other side of the block.
Have you downloaded the wiring diagrams from the Denford forum?
My guess would be one pair is a tacho feedback, and the other a thermal cutout (probably the ones that have been looped). If there's a model number on the spindle motor, you should be able to find a datasheet.
Also, check to see what wire numbers end up at the spindle driver, as that would give you a good idea, as only the power (probably via a relay or two), and tacho feedback will go to the driver. The thermal cutout would form part of the e-stop loop.
I have downloaded the wiring diagrams, and based on what I've seen so far I think this http://www.denfordata.com/bb/download/file.php?id=2528 is the right one for my machine.
I'm waiting for a m10 eye bolt I ordered from ebay (I ordered two but they only had one) which I am hoping will make lifting the thing a bit easier, then I can get into the guts of the electronics.
At the moment my plan is to replace the motion controller with either Linux CNC or something arduino based, but before I do I would like to establish if the steppers and drivers are functional. Is there an easy way to test the drivers and steppers without a motion controller?
It would depend what controller is fitted. I'd hazard a guess that it will be the later USB NextMove controller, but I've got no idea if it'll use the all in one daughter board like the smaller mills used, or if they'll of used separate drivers.
Either way, it would be a case of working out what the step/dir pins are, and patching into them, while also making sure power and enables have been connected correctly.
Making a bit more progress.
Eyebolt didn't work out, it fouls the casting and cant be screwed in. Resorted to using a crowbar on the legs of the stand and got it moved enough to get the backplate off.
Managed to get some photos of the main components. I'm guessing this is the main motion controller board.
Attachment 20528
Power distribution (????)
Attachment 20529
Stepper drivers
Attachment 20530
The stepper drivers appear to be labelled XLT50-S which should help me identify the wiring diagram to use.
My plan is to replace the motion controller with this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EU-Stock-4...MAAOSwjDZYde-j
According to some documentation I have found online (http://www.parker.com/parkerimages/e...ive_manual.pdf ) the driver design is at least 14 years old, on the basis of this i'm going to investigate the options for replacing the drivers with something more up to date, any recommendations?
After spending hours on google I decided to go for Leadshine EM806 drivers from Zapp.... just placed the order.
EM806s are good drives. Did you order a programming lead, as it makes setting them up easier?
You'll need to study the wiring diagrams to work out what the power board does. I think some of the later Triacs used something similar, and some of the relays are used as interlocks, to ensure critical things weren't solely controlled by the controlled.
The top board is the later controller. Smaller machines used the in built stepper drivers in the lower board. If everything was still connected, you could possibly try powering it up and see what shows up on the 7 segment display. It would give an indication of if there was anything major wrong with the original controller.