retrofit Boxford vmc mill 260 Info needed on Yaskawa contactor relay and VFD choices

[JAZZCNC]

Ok well please don't think I'm being OFF or clever with you but getting the terms correct is very important when trying to help.

Regards the Spindle then you need either a BOB with analog or PWM 0-10v speed control OUTPUT built into it. Or a separate Analog 0-10v speed control that uses an Axis Output like DIYCNC SpindleV4 board. The term VFD refers to Variable frequency drive and is differant animal.

The Gemini is converting AC into DC and doing the controlling so you just need to feed it a reference voltage for the speed, eithier thru Analog 0-10v control or manual Rotary Pot.(potentiometer)
Yaskawa Contactor is just a switch in affect controlled with a lower voltage from another source, most likely an output from the motion control board or BOB which again will most likely control a 24v source which turns the contactor ON/OFF.?

[Roboteernat]

Ok well please don't think I'm being OFF or clever with you but getting the terms correct is very important when trying to help.

Regards the Spindle then you need either a BOB with analog or PWM 0-10v speed control OUTPUT built into it. Or a separate Analog 0-10v speed control that uses an Axis Output like DIYCNC SpindleV4 board. The term VFD refers to Variable frequency drive and is differant animal.

The Gemini is converting AC into DC and doing the controlling so you just need to feed it a reference voltage for the speed, eithier thru Analog 0-10v control or manual Rotary Pot.(potentiometer)
Yaskawa Contactor is just a switch in affect controlled with a lower voltage from another source, most likely an output from the motion control board or BOB which again will most likely control a 24v source which t

thank you, no I don't think that, It is very helpful if in get the right terms.
sounds like it is the spindle v4 I need, so will order one of them, just wanted to confirm if that was what other people thought.

the yaskawa contractor switches poles to give forward and reverse direction on the spindle, so I can just use the relay on the BoB to switch the contactor into the on standard direction drive, all my controls will be done that way as I don't have reverse cutting tools nor the software side to specify direction change unless mach3 does this and I havnt seen it, but cambam wouldn't output the code anyway.

a little background on me, I have 2 cnc mills and several 3d printers, and studied masters in robotics so I am looking at this from a ground of understanding. And a mechanical a ginger as a job.

the original electronics did have a series of 4 relays which is wired into the contactor and is used to select forward or reverse in the contactor so I will investigate the power lines. And try to draw the diagram.

sadly that's at work and I'm home suffering a bout of food poisoning so I guess it will have to wait! But for now spindlev4 is going on order!

thank you

nat

[JAZZCNC]

all my controls will be done that way as I don't have reverse cutting tools nor the software side to specify direction change unless mach3 does this and I havnt seen it, but cambam wouldn't output the code anyway.

You obviously Don't control spindle thru software with your other 2 Cnc machines then.? . . . To reverse spindle direction thru software use M4 G-code command, M3 is Clockwise M4 Anti Clockwise M5 spindle Stop.

When you get your V4 spindle board you'll need to set Mach3 up in (ports&pins/spindle Setup) for turning ON/OFF Output for Direction in relation to each Commnand. Ie M3= Output #1
You'll Also have to set up the Output # to a Output pin on your BOB. This is done in (ports&pins/Output signals). Often this is relay on the BOB which is assigned an Output Pin.

[Roboteernat]

I don't that's true, I have a small aluminium cnc mill with seperate spindle on off, and a converted Bridgeport mill with cnc retrofit.
the pin setup will be easy for me as I have done that before, but with reverse I'm not going to be doing any climbing so direction is something I can add later if needs. Thanks for the info on the spindle control tho

[JAZZCNC]

but with reverse I'm not going to be doing any climbing so direction is something I can add later if needs.

If your talking about Climb milling then you don't reverse spindle anyway. Reverse is mostly used for things like tapping etc or special use cutters.

[Roboteernat]

So, i have taken the yaskawa apart to determin the wiring for this thing, and it looks like its just needs to be connected to live for the opposing side to actuate. Therefore i am wiring up my spindle controller and will see how it goes! I need to install MACH3 onto a new pc as the old one keeps crashing now so that will be a job for tomorrow! This will allow me to have directional control, but not manual speed control from the unit - only through mach3. It would be interesting to fit the speed feedback sensor into the system, but unsure if i can atm...

[Roboteernat]

It seems that the issues have gone away now.

I have bought a spindlev4 board to control my spindle, then powered up my BOB with a PSU, and blew the microcontroller on the BOB handheld controller. The spindle board is fine as wasnt connected.

I then bought a new BOB which comes with the spindle output control and relay so im just going to fit that instead.
The Yaskawa relay will be bipassed for the time being (or maybe not depending on if i want to use it in the end). I am wiring in the new BOB and tested it.

Another thing i knew but forgot to remember was that mach3 doesnt like 64 bit machines, nor vista running 64bit, so a few days of tinkering and it was just the PC!
windows 7 32bit now installed and all running ok on a test motor.

Progress will be reported on in my blog, which i will link here when i have done it (although im sure i should rename this post to reflect it as a boxford 260 vmc retrofit)