Hi Guys,

I have started work on my first "real" machine project. The plan is to keep as much of the original stuff as i can (mostly to keep the cost down) and get this up and running. Of course i am under no illusions here, i realise that I am in the deep end of the pool!

My current plan (please feel free to wade in and any suggestions/thoughts/advice is appreciated) is to get the spindle to run from a VFD inverter. The original driver for the motor is "fried" and i think it is the capacitors that have blown.

I have limited power available to to garage and it is single phase (oh, how i wish i had access to a decent three phase supply) but it seems logical to go in this direction first. I am going with a 7.5kW vfd which i can control with a potentiometer to start with then switch to PWM through a digital to analogue converter to supply a control voltage for the driver/controller.

Next up would be to get the existing drives to run from the single phase supply (seperate circuit from the VFD).

Eventually, i will be looking to upgrade the control system to something more up to date and will probably swap out the drivers for the axis. Hopefully I can keep the axis motors and, maybe, swap out the encoders when i update the drivers.

I have managed to get the controller to power up and the screen is lighting up and it would appear that it is functioning as expected (in german though).

My first problem is getting the drives to "jog" but i am having problems already here! I have power in and out of the primary transformer but it isn't making it to the next main transformer (T2 in the circuit schematic) I seem to have no power coming into the control switches on the side of the monitor and i am scratching my head to find the problem. Any of you had a problem like this? I have checked continuity on the main fuses and the next smaller fuses and they all seem fine but the lamps don't seem to light the main switches at all. Likewise there appears to be no power making it to the drivers for the axis at all. the test points are showing pretty much no voltage at all.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry for the long post but i hope it helps to see what i am aiming for before I really start ripping into this lovely old machine!

Cheers,

Mort