Messages

71

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: May 03, 2008, 03:41:01 AM »

Ah, thanks, that is good to know that the machine is capable of those kind of speeds. I will play with the kernel speed when I have the rest of it working. I will also post some new pics when the wiring looks a bit tidier!

72

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: May 02, 2008, 05:48:07 PM »

I have now got the steppers running on the 203v's and am busy trying to set up MACH3.

I calculate the steps per mm to be 1000 which gives me a max speed of 1500 mm/min, MACH3 does not let me go any faster than that using 25khz kernel, should I change the kernel speed? The motors haven't started to complain about the speed yet?

Something doesn't seem right though, I am not used to being able to max out the speed before the steppers start to complain!
The only one which complained a bit was the turret!
What speeds should I expect to get from this little machine?

Thanks
Simon

73

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 190VMC

« on: April 26, 2008, 05:17:43 PM »

Some pics...

74

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 190VMC

« on: April 26, 2008, 03:19:07 PM »

See if you can get in touch with Graham Waterworth, he his very familiar with the machine.

tmsmith

Many thanks for the pointer...  Graham has kindly contacted me already about the VMC and has been most helpful.
I will post some pics here later today hopefully to give people an idea of the machine.

Thanks
Simon

75

General Mach Discussion / Boxford 190VMC

« on: April 23, 2008, 01:35:18 PM »

I have just taken delivery of a Boxford 190VMC with automaic toolchanger, it is a 1995 machine and looks like it is PC controlled, but I cannot swear to that. It appears to be fully working and manually jogs, spindle runs etc.

I have no information with the machine except for a "student lesson manual" which is about as much use as a chocolate teapot for the conversion of it!

Does anybody have any information please. I really need anything anybody can throw at me from wiring diagrams, user manual, where to buy the toolholders etc.

Many Thanks
Simon

76

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: April 23, 2008, 06:57:11 AM »

Attached are my current 2 options for the relays... I can't decide which is better...
The first one uses the original contactor and 2 new relays, the second, just 2 new relays.

Can anyone see any benefits to either? The only benefit I can see at the moment to using the original contactor is it frees up a set of relay contacts to use for a pair of direction LED's or to connect to the speed controller enable line which was just bridged in the original.

77

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: April 23, 2008, 05:10:04 AM »

Ian

"Does MACH3 turn the M3 & M4 output off again? I think I only need a 24v pulse to pull the changeover relay one way or the other."

As I understand it M3, M4, M5 are individually persistant on the assigned parallel port output pins, so say your G code sends M5 to stop the spindle, it stays stopped (active)untill an M4 or M3 is sent.

So does M5 need a sepparate pin? or does M5 turn off the M3 and M4 pins?
Thanks
Simon

78

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: April 22, 2008, 03:20:35 PM »

Jim,

I first thought it might be something to do with braking as the original motor seemed to stop quite quickly and never really coasted as it does at the moment. However it appears to be temperature cut off for the motor and is confirmed on the wiring diagram as it is shown as connected to the e-stop/guard circuit which is where the wires went on my machine.

Thanks
Simon

79

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: April 21, 2008, 05:59:06 PM »

Ian,

Typically the wiring diagram is not the same as my machine! I spent this evening tracing the diagram to look at the relays only to look at the board and find that there aren't enough relays on it! It is very close, I must just have a different revision of the board.

The speed controller might have been "tweaked" by boxford to make the range 0-8v even though it ouputs a 10v reference. It would explain why it hunts when I put anything over 8v in it as it will be trying to overspeed (if that is a word!)

I think I have worked out the relay... It is a mechanically latched 4 pole switch. Energise A1-A2 and it switches one way, Energise B1-B2 and it switches the other way. It is used to cross over the speed controller output to change the direction. I just need to feed 24v into either the A1 or B1 terminals to get the direction change, hopefully this should be trivial with the CNC4PC board.
Does MACH3 turn the M3 & M4 output off again? I think I only need a 24v pulse to pull the changeover relay one way or the other.

80

General Mach Discussion / Re: Boxford 160TCL

« on: April 21, 2008, 03:15:18 PM »

Dietmar,

Cool, thanks for the reply. Last night I got a copy of the wiring diagram of the 160TCL thanks to a kind gentleman who is retrofitting a 125TCL but for some reason has the 160 manual! The diagram indeed confirms that the two yellow wires are a thermal cutoff for the spindle. I may well wire it in as it is there but will leave it disconnected until everything else is working.

I will try controlling the spindle with relays first and report here how I get on. The wiring diagram shows how the relays on the existing board work so I will try and replicate those first. The guy I got the manual off had problems trying to control the spindle using a CNC4PC breakout board which doesn't inspire confidence but I have ordered it now so will try it when it arrives.

Typically, now that I have the wiring diagram it doesn't look that hard to wire in the original controller but as the Geckos have arrived, I may as well use them now!
Also, interestingly, the boxford 190VMC mill seems to use the same controller as it is shown in the manual as used for both and that is my next project after the lathe is finished!

Simon