5 axis BoB spindle control help needed

[Noddy]

Thanks Rob, I'll give that a go and report back - it's Nanny and Granddad have the kids day today, so won't be able to check until tomorrow, I'll be too knackered to look later lol.

Cheers,
Jim

[cropwell]

it's Nanny and Granddad have the kids day today, so won't be able to check until tomorrow, I'll be too knackered to look later lol.

~Know the feeling !

[Noddy]

Well, I'm kind of getting there. I can control the speed from the board now, but I can't turn the spindle on/off. If I change the VFD settings to start the spindle from the front panel, it works.

There are three possible settings for the spindle on/off control;

0 = front panel control
1 = analogue terminal control (which it should be to control via Mach3 from the info I have)
2 = communication control

I've tried all three with no luck with switching the spindle on/off in Mach3, this kind of defeats the object of the exercise if I can only control the speed.

I have checked continuity of the cable, which is fine. I can hear the relay on the BoB operating, and the relay LED lights up on the board when it's energised. I have 24v and USB 5V supply to the board, and have checked both Voltages (24.06V and 4.94V), which are fine. The spindle speed pins are putting out 0 - 9.6V depending upon the speed setting, and the speed of the spindle rises and falls in line with the voltage/speed setting within Mach3 as expected.

Can't think of sod all else - any ideas??

Edited to add; my machine came with a four pin plug on the VFD, but only three core cable was used from the control box to the spindle. I changed this to four core to add the earth wire, and soldered a wire from the earth pin in the spindle and earthed it. I also added an earth wire from the earth pin on the VFD to the earth pin on the back of the spindle socket on the control board.

[komatias]

The spindle speed pins are putting out 0 - 0.6V depending upon the speed setting, and the speed of the spindle rises and falls in line with the voltage/speed setting within Mach3 as expected.

Should that not be 0-10V?

[Noddy]

Sorry, yes -typo, I meant to type 9.6V

[isolt]

Noddy how did you get the speed control working on this board?
Mine turns on and off via the relay OK but I can't figure out how to get 0-10V out of it?

Thanks

[Chaz]

Might be worth considering RS485 two wire solution for the VFD. That is the way mine works, same BOB as yours.

[isolt]

Thanks for the fast reply Chaz!
I didn't realise RS485 was an option. Are you running a separate cable from your PC for this?
I'd like to just have a single cable if possible, but I'll look into it more if I can't get this working.

I've set it up as shown in the manual with a potentiometer making a voltage divider. It works well which means I've got my VFD set up correctly to accept a -10V input.


I don't understand how to get a 10V signal from the BOB though.

I'm not measuring any voltage across the two "0-10V Spindle Speed Output Connector Inverter" pins.
Do I need to feed it 10V from the VFD? Is the PWM port involved some how?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Chaz]

Ye, i didnt wire mine but from the PC it goes via a cheap USB to RS485 dongle thing. Two wires to the drive, that's it. You then use either Matty Zee or one other dudes Mach3 plugin to make it work.

The BOB isnt used at all in this method.