Game on!

[Voicecoil]

Finally got the control box wired up late last night. It turned out to be much more of a PITA than anticipated, and wasn't helped by paying work/Christmas/New Year getting in the way. Anyway here it is:

Here's the little clipper/clamp thing I was talking about, seems to work OK on the bench, clips the charging waveform to the HT reservoir cap at 45.5V at high mains/off load conditions and clamps stepper back-EMF at 49V.:Whist making it I realised I could add a cap and make it do soft start as well.


If I find myself doing another machine, I'll likely do things a bit differently, having a small "sort out" box mounted on the machine to minimise the wiring, also I'll put the closed loop stepper drivers on the machine as well - that way the step/direction signals can be easily run on some small multi-twisted pair cable on e.g. M12 connectors.

[ericks]

I just completed a panel. Was going to offer it for sale but decided to use it on my own machine. The way i do the ventilation/cooling is filter on side bottom and fan on side top opposite side. Been doing it this way in control panels for many years...no issues. Separation between "noisy" and low voltage devices and wiring is also very important, that way noise related issues would be greatly eliminated :)
As you can see i used plugs for all the external devices cause this was a plug and play unit for sale. Same as you i used the AXBB-E and although it works good the way they designed it makes wiring a bit complicated....i am currently working on a better solution for that. Another thing i am working on is to make wiring to the sensor plugs easier and faster. Just thought this might give you some ideas for your next one :)

[Voicecoil]

I just completed a panel. Was going to offer it for sale but decided to use it on my own machine. The way i do the ventilation/cooling is filter on side bottom and fan on side top opposite side.

Ahhh, so you're using your fan in sucking mode I guess?? Mine's blowing into the enclosure, but the airflow route must be similar. I always tend to go for blowing into the enclosure in equipment I've designed in the past as it's marginally better dust-wise to have the enclosure slightly pressurised, though with a well sealed box like these control enclosures it won't make any difference at all.

Same as you i used the AXBB-E and although it works good the way they designed it makes wiring a bit complicated....i am currently working on a better solution for that. Another thing i am working on is to make wiring to the sensor plugs easier and faster. Just thought this might give you some ideas for your next one :)

Aye, the enormous number of screw terminals is a PITA - if I were making even just a few units I'd lay out my own breakout PCB with onboard connectors and interface to something like the UC400ETH via some flat cables.

[ericks]

Good job by the way!!

[Voicecoil]

Good job by the way!!

Cheers! it was quite a job cramming it all into a 380x380x200 box, but having had one kindly donated by Nealieboyee it was worth the effort.

[ericks]

Yes i basically suck the rising heat out of the box. Busy making a breakout board/terminal board/plc for the axbb-e. Problem is my spare time is limited atm. I found the connections to the stepper drives an issue due to the lack of 5V0 terminals on the AXBB-E. But i still like the unit :)

[Voicecoil]

So I've finally got all axes working. Next job was to square up the gantry; first I got it roughly right by eye and some shoving/using the Y motors independently, then fine trimmed it with the eccentric bushings on the carriage plates using a fine DTI and a large square left by my late father. It's true to about 10u now

[Neale]

Does the software/motion controller you are using support proper gantry homing/squaring? I'm wondering because you talk about mechanical adjustments but I assume you will still be at the mercy of the homing routine at the start of any cutting session?

[paulus.v]

Does the software/motion controller you are using support proper gantry homing/squaring? I'm wondering because you talk about mechanical adjustments but I assume you will still be at the mercy of the homing routine at the start of any cutting session?

What do you mean by proper gantry squaring?
Both Mach3 and UCCNC have a good working gantry squaring routine. At homing both axes will move together until one axis will reach the home sensor, then that axis will stop and the other will continue until it will also reach its home sensor. After this, both axes will move back off the sensors and the homing/squaring is finished..
I think it is also possible , with a macro, to add an offset distance between the sensors if it is difficult to adjust the sensors distance for the gantry squaring.

[Voicecoil]

What do you mean by proper gantry squaring?
Both Mach3 and UCCNC have a good working gantry squaring routine. At homing both axes will move together until one axis will reach the home sensor, then that axis will stop and the other will continue until it will also reach its home sensor. After this, both axes will move back off the sensors and the homing/squaring is finished..
I think it is also possible , with a macro, to add an offset distance between the sensors if it is difficult to adjust the sensors distance for the gantry squaring.

Cheers for that Paulus - you've saved me digging through the UCCNC manual to find out if it does it!