Topics

31

General Mach Discussion / Mach Controls On/Off of spindle, not speed?

« on: December 31, 2009, 10:37:30 PM »

Hello, I've got a mill I'm building using a smooth stepper, C23 BOB, Hitachi X200 VFD.  I've gotten the spindle to turn on and off just fine, but when I set the VFD to get speed from the control terminals, instead of the potentiometer on the front of the VFD, it only spins about 10% of full.  I can have Mach control the on/off, and then use the potentiometer by hand each time, just thought, there would be a way for Mach3 to control on off, and the speed.  Am I off my rocker?  I haven't found a setting that will work for this.

Do others use Mach 3 just to control on/off, and they do the speed by hand too?

Barry

32

General Mach Discussion / VFD/Spindle wiring Mach3

« on: December 06, 2009, 11:48:06 PM »

I was looking at the manual for the G23 board I'm using and it said to treat the spindle exactly like you would for a stepper motor.  I'm unsure about that.  It seems to me that all my Port 1 outputs are taken, and the outputs to the VFD aren't on Port 2.

I'm wiring up as a sink source according to:

http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C23R2toVFD.pdf

Anybody have an incling about this?  How do you normally wire up your spindle?  I'm understand it's a set it and forget it after your done, but I'm still at the 'set it' part;)

Barry

33

General Mach Discussion / ground wiring question

« on: December 06, 2009, 11:40:23 PM »

Hey folks, I've got a question concerning ground wires.  I've got a power supply that has 3 outputs.  One 65v, one 5v, and one 12v.  I'm using all of them in my build, and I'm grounding each of them separately.  An engineer friend of mine suggested that I should really link all the grounding wires together, so they aren't floating relative to each other.  Does that make sense to you all?  I was worried that it would make my control box blow up in my face.  Anyway, let me know...

Barry

34

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Final Build

« on: November 18, 2009, 12:21:19 AM »

Hey folks, I'm starting a new thread to show the final build from start to finish.  Tonight is only a little bit.  The plates are in, so here's a pict of them.  Also I started to assemble what I could onto the gantry.  It's so very cool to see it coming together just like the model;)





I'll add to this thread as I make progress.  I plan on having the whole thing put together by the end of next week.

Barry

35

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / clean wiring no more

« on: November 17, 2009, 01:17:07 AM »

Hey folks, I just wired up all the limit switches for X+/X-, Y+/Y-, Z+/Z- and Door Open.  After looking at the box afterward, it made me miss the cleanliness I had before.  I might have to rewire once everything is built, just to make it look prettier.  Still though, I thought you guys might like to see my progress.

This is wiring for 6 axis, with a shared signal for the X axis for twin motors driving that axis.  So that's 7 gecko drives, all individually shielded with fuses, a smooth stepper, C23 breakout board, E-Stop, 7 limit switches, and spindle with speed control.

Am I missing something super important?  Because I think I'm planning on starting with this to do the cutting.



Barry

36

General Mach Discussion / trouble with spindle speed

« on: November 15, 2009, 10:00:10 PM »

Hello, I'm having a difficult time controlling spindle speed in Mach 3.  The Hz it should be running at full power is 300Hz, but when Mach 3 triggers it, it's only going about 20Hz (using the display function on the VFD).  I'm using a C23 breakout board from CNC4PC, and an X200 VFD.  I have it wired in power sink mode, according to their diagram here:

[urlhttp://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C23R2toVFD.pdf][/url]

It looks like everything is running okay, except for teh speed of the spindle.  Is there a setting within Mach to set the spindle Hz?  I tried motor tuning of the spindle, but that seems to do nothing.  Any guidance would be appreciated.

Barry

37

General Mach Discussion / VFD recommendations

« on: November 08, 2009, 12:09:00 AM »

Hey folks, I'm having the devil of a time getting this HSD VFD to work.  HSD can't even seem to be able to send me the right manual for it.  They keep insisting that the manual they sent from SERCO will work even though the codes on the panel are all different.  Gotta love their support.  Btw, I don't recommend buying anything from HSD their support is so sucky.

What do you guys recommend for a VFD.  In all likelyhood, I'm going to have to replace this one with one that will work.

I'd need single to 3 phase, 220 volt, 6.9 Amp, 2HP.  I hope that is descriptive enough;)

Barry

38

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / custom machining plates

« on: November 02, 2009, 11:32:17 PM »

Wow, it's been difficult to get my plates machined.  I've noticed that being a small customer, the machine shops are treating you like they are doing you a favor, rather than a regular customer.  It's been over a week and two separate shops have yet to give me a quote.  Do you guys go through this too?  Anybody feel like cutting some 1/2", 3/4" and 5mm and 6mm plates?

Barry

39

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / more stupid questions bits and end mills.

« on: October 29, 2009, 07:09:22 PM »

Let me preface by saying I'm a newbie at this, so I expect to get struck with a book, but still let me ask.  Now that I've got the chuck/collet thing in order, the next step is getting a collection of cutting tools.  Can you guys recommend what to use to cut mainly hardwood, but sometimes soft metal like aluminum and brass?  Can you use a brass bit for wood?  Do you need both a roughing bit, and a finishing bit for each collet size?

Here is where I plan on ordering, not sure if you guys have seen their site yet.  The prices seem decent and great selection:

http://stegmantoolcompany.thomasnet.com/category/special-cutting-tools?

Barry

40

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / chuck and collet ordering....

« on: October 28, 2009, 01:58:56 PM »

Hey folks, it's time for me to order a chuck and collet set.  Do you have any recommendations?  My spindle is ER25, max RPM of 18000, and it's 2 HP.  I'll be primarily cutting wood and light metal, precision sculpture out of both mediums.  The design of my mill is in the link below, so maybe that helps with a recommendation?  This part of the decision seems confusing to me, there are so many options.