1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion

[jrslick22]

What an awesome project log, thank you very much for sharing, you have inspired me to get cracking with my machine.

I am going to attempt to hook my vsd up to mach using RS485 like you have, i have brought a USB to RS485 converter. Can you please explain the maths behind setting the  Max ADC count to 10000? any other info you have on making this happen would be appreciated.

Keep up the good work.

First off, Modbus in Mach3 ROCKS (they should sell it as an add on for $50.00)  

We are lucky that our BP412 has a 6000 RPM 10Hp Fanuc Spindle Motor.  The down side is it will take a LOT of power to just to run the Spindle and finding a VFD to run a 10Hp motor with single phase input power might be a challenge.  

We ended up using a SpeedStar PC-75 (yes the means 7.5Hp), they make a 10Hp one, but the power input requirements for 10Hp is 220VAC at 72Amps, even the 7.5HP has a max power draw of 54Amps (I only have 50Amps dedicated for the Machine, hoping to keep up under 40Amps).  Also the Spindle Motor is rated at 200VAC, so the VFD Parameters were adjusted to limit the output voltage to 200VDC.  This thing is a monster, as shown in the picture.

The VFD support 485 Modbus, so can set the target frequency and monitor the current speed and power draw of the spindle in real time and display it on our Mach3 Screen!  Getting the Mach3 Modbus working was fairly easy after watching the videos, but getting the VFD Speed integrated into the Mach3 system  was guess work i.e. “M6 T1 S3000” (Note: for now I only running the Spindle at a MAX of 3000 during this testing phase, we’ll crank it up as my confidence grows in the system)  The key things to get it integrated, is to the Max Speed in Pulley to 3000 RPMs and the MAX ADC Count (for our VFD, that means MAX output frequency 100.00Hz = 3000 RPMs)

Here is a test video of Mach3 Controlling the VFD while Monitoring Speed and Motor Amperage:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QUB8hFWrnfw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6&amp;border=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/QUB8hFWrnfw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6&amp;border=1</a>

Below are Pictures of the VFD, Motor Plate and Mach3 Config Screens

[JHChoppers]

What an awesome project log, thank you very much for sharing, you have inspired me to get cracking with my machine.

I am going to attempt to hook my vsd up to mach using RS485 like you have, i have brought a USB to RS485 converter. Can you please explain the maths behind setting the  Max ADC count to 10000? any other info you have on making this happen would be appreciated.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks!  The RS485 trick is easy, make sure you watch the ModBus videos first.  The only thing I can tell you, is set the max pully speed to your max RPM.   Then set the frequency to reach the max RPM in the ModBus setup.  Mach3 will convert and send out the the frequency required for the target RPM. 

I did find that some RPMs were not working, not sure if its a Mach3, ModBus or VFD issue.  It was only on frequencies that had a rounding up that I had a problem with (ie 75Hz worked, 75.3Hz worked, but 75.6Hz would NOT)  To work around this, I added a check to the spindleSpeed.m1s macro to check for this rounding error and adjust the output frequency up until the math was correct (maybe 1 or 2 RPMs more)

Thanks,
JH

[JHChoppers]

Hi JH looks really nice! Do you spray the paint on or use a roller?

Would have stuck to the flexi metal y axis cover which hangs over the turcite coated brackets though. I've found the rubber type can snag on the table front during x axis moves and also sag onto the ball screw when the swarf starts building up!!

John
 

We used oil based paint, brush and roller.  The heavy oil based stuff 'flows' out nice hiding the brush and roller marks

The ball screws are covered with metal plates so the rubber can not sag onto them, the rubber only covers the ways and plate covers.  Its think and works well for us.

Thanks,
JH

[JHChoppers]

Paint and Graphics update !!!  With the covers on, we created some graphics with Roland CX24.  All we need new glass and coolant.

Enjoy the pixs....

The mill is as clean as it every will be again,

JH

[SteinarN]

What is all the square push buttons? Is it duplication of the buttons on Mach3?

[cnc-it]

The paint looks great, really like the pendant!

John

[JHChoppers]

What is all the square push buttons? Is it duplication of the buttons on Mach3?

Some are duplicates and some are not.  Mainly the things that we will use all the time.

Thanks
JH

[JHChoppers]

Got the coolant tank patch up, cleaned up and painted.  I have 2 pumps, going to try the smaller one first.

Thanks,
JH

[Hood]

Small pump should be plenty I would think. Nice looking Mori there

Hood

[JHChoppers]

Small pump should be plenty I would think. Nice looking Mori there

Hood

Thanks!  Thats the SL1 to Mach3 Project I have planned for Spring 2011.   Can't wait to did into that beast!

JH