Messages

1

dspMC/IP Motion Controller / Re: Lagun knee mill with scales build using DSPMC

« on: November 17, 2011, 05:26:44 PM »

Thanks for the response mrprecise44. Glad to hear a relatively long lasting success with this controller.

For the Tach question, I have no reason to omit these signals to the drives, I was just wondering if the DSPMC or Mach was looking for this as well.

I still am not sure if my scales ( anilam A-10 ) have this reference mark or not, I guess I'll just have to wait till its all hooked up and see.

On the Reference switches...Does the machine actually need to move to a home or a limit or a index pulse to be able to zero an axis? I never need to know this position as all my work is either a one-off or I locate off a fixed edge. I really hope I can just power things up and zero all the axis when I dial in my 0,0.

For tuning your motors, did you leave them coupled to the screws or remove them? In tuning things in the past it makes a lot of difference if the load changes much, at least from what I have seen.

Thanks again.

2

dspMC/IP Motion Controller / Lagun knee mill with scales build using DSPMC

« on: November 10, 2011, 03:15:12 PM »

I have just recently started a retrofit control for an older anilam crusader M system that was on an Lagun FTV2 knee mill. It’s a larger machine that is in good shape mechanically with great looking ways and ball screws and has always been very accurate ( motor flange interpolated bosses and pockets easily within .001) but the controller was getting pretty flakey. It would go to snow on the screen from time to time and require a re-boot, sometimes more, to get going and this started getting more frequent. I tried many of the fixes I have read about for this issue ( battery, re-seating the boards and even chips, etc) but nothing seemed to do the trick. So, out it came! I have seen this on the horizon for a while and have been doing much research on a solid and viable solution for the last couple of years and finally settled on the DSP/MC-M (7762M) from Vital systems and Mach 3. I needed to have closed loop for the servos and this looks like the most reliable and versatile unit for this and several upcoming machines.

While I have done a new cnc control system before ( local group in Seattle – Actek) , I have never used Mach or this controller. I have gone through the manuals for both and while I am sure I will sort things out as I start getting things talking to each other, there are some hazy spots where I am not sure which is looking for what. I am using this project as a learning curve/test bed for several very large stone working bridge saws/machining systems that have much more complexity that this does. So, as I go through this you might see some ridiculous or over the top issues or requests which look strange for a knee mill, but this is so I can get some practice on something that won’t destroy itself or a multi-ton art piece if I screw something up.

Right now I am working on the E-Stop contactor and the main power runs. In the attached ( if I can attach it) drawing, I am latching the relay with the reset switch which is making the E-Stop contact closed to the DSP/MC through the 7535 board. Once configured within Mach is this all I need to do? Does Mach output an E-stop signal that would need to dump this relay? Does the DSP/MC trigger any sort of an E-stop signal say in case of a loss of communication with Mach or the PC?

In another bit of a twist, the machine is running glass scales. The motors have tach’s on them, but from what I have read these are now not used? In the original configuration they were routed directly back to the old drives ( ServoDynamics/Fenner). The question now is can I use the scales as the only feedback to the DSP/MC? I seem to recall reading this is possible but may require some more time spent tuning the motors to avoid excess hunting or over-shooting. Anyone have experience or suggestions on this?

Thanks much.