Machsupport Forum

Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: brmachineshop on March 26, 2011, 11:41:19 AM

Title: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 26, 2011, 11:41:19 AM
i have a supermax ycm40 3 axis knee mill. it currently has an anilam crusader m series controller that keeps going down.  so we are converting it to mach3. i have ordered dugong drives and a breakout board.  hoping to find help with how to hook it up and get it tuned in. then hopefully find some work.....   mine is a new startup and hoping to be self employed asap.  my direct email is BrMachineShop@yahoo.com.  hoping to network and meet lots of people here.. thanks
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Hood on March 26, 2011, 11:43:38 AM
Good to see you made it here Brad.
Any specific questions you have just post and I am sure you will get as much help as you need :)
Hood
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 26, 2011, 11:53:57 AM
Thank you Hood.  All of your help has been great and was a big part of why I have chosen to use mach3.
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Hood on March 26, 2011, 11:57:59 AM
Well hope you are still saying that when you get it done ;D

Hood
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 26, 2011, 12:04:24 PM
As well as it seems to have worked for a lot of people I'm sure it will do very good for my startup. Didn't you say you run mach3 on several of your machines? :)
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Hood on March 26, 2011, 12:17:11 PM
Hell no I wouldnt use that Mach3 crap ;D






Yes   I do really, two mills, a big lathe and a coil winding machine.

Hood
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 26, 2011, 12:41:13 PM
Glad you have a lathe. My next project ( if mill goes good and I get some work ) is probably going to be a cnc lathe or enclosed vmc 
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Hood on March 26, 2011, 12:52:17 PM
Good, the more lathe users the better as there are a few niggly things that I keep getting promised will be fixed , they will one day, but too many router/mill guys that they always take priority.
Hood
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 26, 2011, 10:50:25 PM
Still not sure on a few things.  And its possible I am overthinking things ( I am bad about that ) do I hook up the c10 breakout board to the cpu, then hook up three drives to c10, then hook up servos and scales to drives, and limits and stop to c10?   Do I use existing power supplies or anything else on existing controls? Thanks
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Jackal on March 27, 2011, 12:04:09 AM
Brad,

Glad to see you here. Sounds like you are on the right track. The online manual CNC4PC has will show the connections. You can go ahead and print that out and start studying it.

 For myself, I do better if I download any manual and print a copy that be underlined, notes made, and dirty fingerprints. Then you  can go back and print another if needed. ;D

Here is the C10 wiring guide:

http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C10R10_WG.pdf (http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C10R10_WG.pdf)

The latest C10 manual:

http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C10R10_USER_MANUAL_V2.pdf (http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C10R10_USER_MANUAL_V2.pdf)


Other examples at the bottom of this page:

http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=45 (http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?cPath=33&products_id=45)

There is a sample XML file, also. It has the basic setup in it. Works sort of like a template and you might have to change a few of the settings to suit your particular machine. It is supposed to be easier than starting from scratch.  At least we will know what kind of  character should go in to the box.

Hood, or some of the other guys can probably tell us the easiest way to put the XML file into Mach. It may be drag & drop with auto configure????

We are at the right place. It will be next week before Arturo will have all 3 of my drives. He shipped 2 on Friday. You must have bought your first and he ran out. (LOL) ;D

I can hardly wait.

Mine will go slower becasue  of picture taking, etc. There isn't much info with pics on these Hurco retrofits out on the web. I haven't seen any detailed about the Dugong drives.

Maybe my hack & butcher job will help someone by showing them what not to do. ;)

JAckal
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 27, 2011, 12:09:06 AM
Haha. Thanks for the links.  I will print those out tomorrow and start going over them.  Mine have not came in yet. My business partner may have forgotten to even order them yet ( will have to check on that tomorrow ) but I ordered the c10 thursday and maybe it will be here monday. I'm anxious, nervous, and excited to get the machine making chips again.
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Hood on March 27, 2011, 03:03:50 AM
I think Jackal may have answered you with the links but yes you do more or less as you said. The power for the motors/drives will need to come from a power supply that you have to provide. As you already have one for the original amps (drives) then it should be fine, just double check the voltage of it before you hook it to the drives but if I recall it should be well within the voltage the Dugongs can accept.

As fior Jackals question about the xml, if you are supplied an xml then its just a case of pasting or dropping into the main Mach3 folder, you can then use the Mach3 Loader icon to start Mach and then in the list you will see the name of the xml you just copied to the folder, click on that and it will start that profile.

Hood
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 27, 2011, 10:03:42 AM
Thanks. Shouldn't be all that bad to hook everything up then. :)
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Hood on March 27, 2011, 10:08:56 AM
Should be easy enough for most things :)
Is your spindle manual control at the moment or is it controlled via CNC?
Hood
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 27, 2011, 10:11:13 AM
It has the variable speed wheel like bridgeports right now.  Planning on buying another c10 or a c11 later on and adding a variable speed drive.
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Hood on March 27, 2011, 10:22:37 AM
I am not keen on VFD control from my own experience as low down torque was missing. I have heard that using an Inverter duty motor helps a lot but not gone that route as I fitted servos instead.
 One thing that I had thought about doing was fitting a stepper motor instead of the  air motor/wheel and that may be something to think about as it should be fairly easy to set up and writing a spindlespeed macro would be relatively straight forward (even for me ;D )
Only problem I would see is you would have to have the motor running as you adjusted the speed as I think the stepper would stall if the speed was being reduced, certainly harder to turn the hand wheel if the motor is not running. Also may have to "home" the stepper on each start up of your machine, but something to think about.

Hood
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 27, 2011, 10:25:50 AM
Thanks.  I will definitely look into that
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: Jackal on March 27, 2011, 12:31:56 PM
Mine has a small motor 1/10 hp???? that turns the handle on the  side of the head for speed change. There is a sensor on the spindle that sends the info back jto a control card to tell it the rpm.  It has a +/- override switch on the front of the head.

 I will try to hook it up where the override switch will adjust rpm's once Mach turns on the spindle in fwd or reverse.

High/low range will be manually selected for now.

JAckal
Title: Re: new to mach3
Post by: brmachineshop on March 27, 2011, 01:36:26 PM
The variable speed adjustment on mine has never worked. Really can only adjust high or low gear. When I had it initially checked out the guy said it would cost as much for him to fix it as it would to convert to a variable drive so that's on the list for once things are making money :)