Messages

31

General Mach Discussion / Re: RoboTool CVM-1 upgrade

« on: January 01, 2013, 09:38:50 PM »

Very similar list to what I ended up with. I would strongly suggest going with a new power supply for the servos. I see you're going to upgrade the encoders...good call. Make sure the ones of have selected are at lleast 1000ppr Quads (preferably 1500-2000ppr). The units on your existing servos are 500ppr resolvers. Yuck. What will you be doing for spindle control? Just driving a contactor for on/off? I too would like a spindle tach input (spindle index pulse) at some point...could be very helpful to know what speed I'm actually running, especially with dual variables of VFD and manually adjustable belt drive in the head.

 I would seriously consider just buying bulk Cat5 cable and a bunch of RJ45 ends along with a crimp tool. Every one of my cables in both the mill and the new lathe are custom...I can't imagine trying to make a clean install with pre-made cables.

Looking good so far. I was running my mill today making parts for a client and was hitting 0.000 tolerance on a slew of circular holes. For an old machine with new controls, it does just fine.

Looking forward to tracking your progress. You know how to find me if you have any more questions.

SG

32

General Mach Discussion / Mach Turn Index Pulse and IPR question

« on: January 01, 2013, 09:07:20 PM »

 Good evening,

I've just finished a control retrofit on an old Crusader Anilam CNC lathe. It has turned out very nice and I'm almost finished working through the bugs. My experience with Mach Turn is very limited and it appears to be far more buggy than Mill has been in years. This evening I was doing a bit of testing with G95 and IPR feed rates. It seemed to be working fine (I have a spindle index pulse which seems to be working with good stability) and then my VFD cut out due to an unrelated issue. I would assume that as the spindle index slowed to a stop as a result of the faulted VFD, the feed rate would also go to 0. This isn't what happened. The feed rate continued along happy as usual, both through the completion of that particular move, and then right on through to the end of the program (I was cutting air, so I let it continue running with the spindle stopped). I find this rather disturbing. Is the IPR just based on the programmed "S1500" and not looking at the index pulse? I haven't messed around with CSS yet, but if this thing isn't reading the actual index pulse than I suspect it won't work as I had hoped. I'm interested to know whether this is a problem others have experiences or whether maybe I'm doing something wrong....?? I do have the "Use Spindle Feedback in Sync Modes" checked.

Thanks

SG

33

General Mach Discussion / Re: RoboTool CVM-1 upgrade

« on: November 29, 2012, 08:21:07 AM »

 Well I don't know if the motors which I've been working with were original to the machine or not...I think they are but I guess you never know with a 25 year old machine. 250W is very small...I woudln't have expected to do much more than its doing now. As for the old control....that thing is dated so I wouldn't really consider reusing it unless you're into electronics are are always up to a challenge. I would be extremely interested to hear what motors this machine you're looking at has....maybe even some pictures?

34

General Mach Discussion / Re: RoboTool CVM-1 upgrade

« on: November 29, 2012, 08:06:37 AM »

 The only thing I kept from the original system was the motors, and I'm regretting that now since they are quite small (250W). I can rapid at 80ipm reliably when the machine is warm and that is about it. Before long I suspect it will drive me over the edge and I'll upgrade the motors to 750W. Beyond that, I didn't even keep the NEMA cabinet, but that was mostly due to my own personal packaging requirements within my shop space. You'll need a breakout board, servo amps, power supplies (servo and logic), circuit protection, contactors, VFD for the spindle (assuming you don't have 3 phase available or want variable control of spindle speed via the controller). I went with mostly CNC4PC stuff since I like the way Arturo Duncan has packaged everything. I also went with Dugong drives which I am thrilled with.

Just FYI, the auto way lube pump and coolant pump are both 120/1 VAC so you'll need to accomodate relays for those within your control as well.

Aside from the motors, I really like the machine and have been putting it to work lately. The footprint is very small for the available table travel and the head/spindle is both extremely rigid and quite powerful. My next immediate project on the machine is going to be some chip/coolant guarding on the table and a chip tray below.

Best of luck.

35

G-Code, CAD, and CAM discussions / FeatureCAM to Mach3 Turn Post Processor

« on: November 27, 2012, 07:11:52 PM »

 All,

I am just finishing my first CNC lathe conversion after completing a number of successful mill retrofits. I have been progrmaming with Featurecam V11 all along and now realize that some of the critical aspects of the post processor won't carry over between mill and turn. I know there is a post processor online for free download but it is created on a newer version and it won't load for me. Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.

SG

36

General Mach Discussion / Re: RoboTool CVM-1 upgrade

« on: October 08, 2012, 05:03:56 PM »

 I just finished a complete retrofit on a 1985 RoboTool mill originally fitted with CVM-1 controls. It came out well but was a complete rewire job. I ended up ditching the original NEMA box in favor of 2 saddle boxes, primarily due to floor constraints within my shop. I used the original motors but threw out the resolvers in favor of quadrature encoders. Everything else in the control is new. Power supply, communication boards, amps, relays for the way lube, coolant pump, and spindle brake. All new. I spent less than a grand on the iron with good screws and motors, sold the original control to somebody who wanted it as a spare to get half my original investment back, and then have no more than $2k into the retrofit. The machine is not screaming fast because the original servo motors are small, but I can manage 80ipm in the X, 90ipm in the Y, and 100 IPM in the Z which is good enough for my needs. My new servo amps could handle more motor, and I might upgrade to something a bit larger in the X and Y eventually. For now, the machine is quiet, accurate to 0.001 repeatably, and is going to make me a boat load of money. For relatively short money I don't think you could do much better. The base machine iron on the old RoboTool is a good design and I get 36" of travel in the X, 15" in the Y, and 5" in the Z. Good luck.

37

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help For a Frozen Northerner...Mach3 Won't Talk

« on: November 17, 2006, 06:35:27 AM »

 Well...it all came together last night. It was great to see Brian again, and he whipped me into shape in a hurry. We found TONS of noise in my controller cabinet with his oscilliscope which is causing lots of ghost signals...so I need to work on re-wiring a few parts of the box. After it was decided that some serious measures were needed on that end, we temporarily disabled the limits and homes and went to town having fun with the control of the machine. Holy Crap. The old Bridgeport was doing things that they never intended when she was buit...and at a speed which would have broken a finger if it got in the way of the flailing hand wheels. All I can say is "I have seen the light"...Muchos Gracias to my old friend Brian for all of the help and inspiration.

Spence

38

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help For a Frozen Northerner...Mach3 Won't Talk

« on: November 16, 2006, 02:45:19 PM »

 All of my limits and home switches are working in that they light up the screen LED's when they are activated. I have all 6 limits OP'd together, so if one trips, they all trip. This is set to active high, as the trigering of the switches opens the ground and allows just under 5V to go to the pin. The home switches each have their own pin, and they also are set at active high for the same reason....triggering the switch sends the pin to 5V. I still have 3 yellow screen LED's lit up on the diagnostics screen with the pseudo DB25 style layout (talking with Brett last night, this may be a feature of the newest download only). I need to find out why the computer (or controller) is considering the top 3 LH pins as engaged. I went to school with Brian Barker, and he lives right down the road, so I've promised him some fine ale if he can come over and straighten me out...

Spence

39

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help For a Frozen Northerner...Mach3 Won't Talk

« on: November 16, 2006, 08:48:19 AM »

 I'll start knocking off possibilities one by one....its just a matter of time now. I'm not sure what the debounce setting is....what should it be? What does it do?

Spence

40

General Mach Discussion / Re: Help For a Frozen Northerner...Mach3 Won't Talk

« on: November 16, 2006, 06:26:54 AM »

 I found myself much closer last night after a phone discussion with Brett (thanks again!). My initial trials were with what I thought was a straight thru DB-25 cable. I think it actually wasn't straight through, because when I took a second cable (which was purchased from an electronics shop, and not a computer shop), everything started to wake up. I was able to get all limit and home switches to function. I also got the motors to do their thing, but only after disabling the limit switches. Without disabling the limits, I couldn't reset the Mach 3 e-stop...the message kept saying I had limits triggered, when I didn't. Any ideas on this one?

Spence