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« on: December 05, 2007, 01:09:38 PM »
What do you find to be the hardest part, longest part, figure out part on doing a RetroFit of a Mill, lathe, router.....
Today, I have a problem.
I started researching this retrofit of my CNC mill about 2 months ago. First, it was try to fix what is there.
IF anyone here can give me insight to what is wrong with my mill today, I will happily pay you $100 at least with paypal or MO, and even more if we have long conversations by phone or emails... Why do I want to fix what is there? I have a WebbMatic 800. Its interface is Fanuc 0M-A with Siemens drives, and Siemens DC brush motors... My problem is in the Siemens drives. I have a fault at V1 and V4, and this is causing the 401 Alarm : VRDY not ready.... I have voltage to the Siemens drive. So it is not a fuse or transformer issue.
Now to the orginal topic... So, I set out to get a PC based CNC conversion. I have read about these for several years, and being a networking computer guy, I loved the idea of using a PC based interface. However, I did not understand what a Fanuc controller really was either, except some special PC mother board with deciated tasks. Now I understand this hardware a little better today. I like my Fanuc interface, but being a 0M-A, it is extremely limited on what it can do. However, my projects are not even complicated and this can accomplish what I want to do today.
I still read and read.. 1000's of hours in reading all the various forums. Watching Galil videos, ordering Centroids, AjaxCNC videos, Camsoft, and anything else I could find on information. They all talk about each piece just enough to make you want it really bad, but they want you to buy from them, and get all that great tech support.
So, I purchased a Galil DMC1880, and DMC1740. I have the interconnect 1900 and the 2900. Purchased some AMC drives that can handle DC motors up to 190v... Ok, how to wiring.. I cannot find anything about my Siemens motors. They are General Numeric branded, but I have been told they are Siemens. The encoders on the back have about 8 pins. There are 2 DC power wires, and then 2 other wires in that same junction box that are really small. I have been told they might be brake wires.
I wanted to use these motors. The cost of motors for my mill is at least $800 per motor, and most want closer to $1000 per motor.. If I had schmatics to these motors, I think I could figure out how to wire them to the AMC drives.
BUT... today, I decided that if I can fix the Mill like it is, I want to build a CNC plasma table and install all the stuff I have purchased to do this. I already have a Miller plasma cutter. My hand is not steady enough to cut nice straight lines, so I can just build a X Y with a manual Z and connect my plasma head to that. I am enjoying to learn this PC based stuff, but I really need my mill running today. The motor issue is killing me however with the cost of what it takes to run this large mill.
thanks for any helping coming........
So, what is your story out there about what was hard to find / do / learn?
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