The illusive Boxford 260vmc

[irving2008]

Revised panel layout. (Thanks for pointing the errors out Irving)

Is this whats called, evolution...

No No its vorsprung dork technique

Rick

lol

Why not use the one jog wheel for all up/down inc spindle speed?

How will you change jog rate?

You seem to have lost your 'feed' requirement. I'd use the one display to show spindle speed, axis steps and/or step rate, and selected feed speed

BTW, in case you hadn't picked up on it, the e-stop to MACH3 is just a repeater input to tell it e-stop has been activated, the e-stop itself should release a main contactor and kill all motion not relying on software.... this is normally a self latching relay

[Ricardoco]

lol

Why not use the one jog wheel for all up/down inc spindle speed?

How will you change jog rate?

You seem to have lost your 'feed' requirement. I'd use the one display to show spindle speed, axis steps and/or step rate, and selected feed speed

BTW, in case you hadn't picked up on it, the e-stop to MACH3 is just a repeater input to tell it e-stop has been activated, the e-stop itself should release a main contactor and kill all motion not relying on software.... this is normally a self latching relay

Using the contour shuttle express i have 5 buttons and a fast jog and slow jog available so the feed is not off the table just not on the layout yet..

My mental capacity is less than yours so, i only suggest things that i have some chance of achieving, you have no idea how helpfull you have been already..

Rick...or is it Fick... lol

[Ricardoco]

BTW, in case you hadn't picked up on it, the e-stop to MACH3 is just a repeater input to tell it e-stop has been activated, the e-stop itself should release a main contactor and kill all motion not relying on software.... this is normally a self latching relay

I did look at the wiring suggestions in the mach manual some time ago, but as of begining this project i hadnt given it much thought, i just knew there had to be one.

[Ricardoco]

That reminded me about inputs, so ive just had a look at the plugins page on the artsoft site and they have some neat gadgets on there, that will give you all the inputs you've ever needed not to mention outputs, Pokeys, and the TC-Emulator Board to name just two.... so if we get stuck there is light at the end of the tunnel, mind you maybe someone else has more knowlege of these gadgets and would care to enlighten us of their experiences.

Rick

[Ricardoco]

Started to get the basic wiring done.



First job was to identify the step and direction pins on the SD3 Drives using the SD3 manual. Once that had been done I fitted the transistors and resistors which addressed the fact that the SD3 drives use 12v logic and I will be using a 5v logic system.
With those two things completed, ive mounted the boards i have so far.

Ive begun to wire things in..

With the help of a post by Irving I was able to wire things to the default settings in MACH.
.............
Stepper axis wiring completed!



Motor speed interface to be wired between Lenze 534 and BOB



Motor speed interface has its own power supply (0-27vdc LM317T based board)
** remember not to wire the output up to anything untill you have set the voltage.**
Onward..

Rick

[Ricardoco]

Whilst reading the Lenze 534 manual ive come across another requirement....

If a reverse motor direction is required a simple polarity change is required using one of the contactors, however the motor motion must stop before the reverse direction is activated, I will need to incorperate a timer to allow for the motor to come to a standstill before the reverse is activated, I can tune the time once I know how long that takes, I could also introduce electrodynamic braking to reduce the changeover time, I will have to investigate all that before I complete a reverse control but that will be a secondary to getting it moving in a forward direction first...

Rick

[irving2008]

Whilst reading the Lenze 534 manual ive come across another requirement....

If a reverse motor direction is required a simple polarity change is required using one of the contactors, however the motor motion must stop before the reverse direction is activated, I will need to incorperate a timer to allow for the motor to come to a standstill before the reverse is activated, I can tune the time once I know how long that takes, I could also introduce electrodynamic braking to reduce the changeover time, I will have to investigate all that before I complete a reverse control but that will be a secondary to getting it moving in a forward direction first...

Rick

Other than CNC controlled tapping, why would you want to change spindle direction? My mill's cutter always rotates in the same direction, there is no reversing facility as standard, probably becuase every cutter I have ever seen (and I know thats not many) cuts in the sme direction. Granted I will be able to reverse the motor from the (yet to be fitted) VFD, but I feel there is an inherent risk in being able to reverse the spindle direction without some interlock.

[Ricardoco]

Other than CNC controlled tapping, why would you want to change spindle direction? My mill's cutter always rotates in the same direction, there is no reversing facility as standard, probably becuase every cutter I have ever seen (and I know thats not many) cuts in the sme direction. Granted I will be able to reverse the motor from the (yet to be fitted) VFD, but I feel there is an inherent risk in being able to reverse the spindle direction without some interlock.

As i said the reverse will be a secondary consideration, and an interlock as you state would be the safe way to go, but i Will be considering it, as it is something that the original control panel had.
When I got the machine the computer side of things had a few problems. To be able to fire up the machine and test ALL.. the functions was what sold it to me, I liked the fact i could just get it home and start milling. Without some sort of manual control I would have been taking a real big chance with quite a lot of money im sure you will agree.. and although I suspect as you have suggested this may be a function that i will not often use, the fact that the Z axis can be tilted through 90deg means I am more likely to use that function with the head tilted.

The real fact of the matter is that I wish to retain all of the functionality of the original machine so it is something I have to consider, and may be of use to someone else, should I ever sell the machine (not likely, but still), not to mention the fact that other people reading this thread may find the reverse interlock system usefull.

Rick

[John S]

Don't bother,
Use a M04 P 2.0 command in your speed change code inside Mach after the M05 or M01 commands.
this will stop the motor, wait two seconds then carry on with the code.

It can be hard coded into the post processor so it's there but out of mind.

Also pays to use the same command after the M03 start up to give the motor chance to spool up before any cutting takes place.

[Ricardoco]

Don't bother,
Use a M04 P 2.0 command in your speed change code inside Mach after the M05 or M01 commands.
this will stop the motor, wait two seconds then carry on with the code.

It can be hard coded into the post processor so it's there but out of mind.

Also pays to use the same command after the M03 start up to give the motor chance to spool up before any cutting takes place.

Ahh yes but that wont help when im not using Mach
but thanks for the post processor hint, done and forgotten is what i like :)