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Messages - joeaverage

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1831
Hi,
my interest is in Mach4 given that all development ceased on Mach3 six years ago.

The standout controller for Mach4 is the Ethernet SmoothStepper ($180USD) having the most complete realtime support features
of ALL Mach4 controllers EXCEPTING closed loop analogue support, if that is required the the Hicon Integra by Vital Systems
is the pick of the bunch. With the analogue activations it is $1200USD. You pay a real premium for analogue servo support.

Craig

1832
Mach4 Plugins / Re: Galil plugin compatibility
« on: December 29, 2019, 07:37:00 PM »
Hi,
an example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ECMA-C10807RS-ASD-A2-0721-L-DELTA-A2-750w-3000rpm-AC-servo-motor-driver-kit/172283162086?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

$508USD excluding shipping, I got my B2's for $500 including 3 day DHL to New Zealand. The more I see the more I rue not doing my homework
and getting the A2's from the get go. Not that I've got, or really need linear scales.....but I so like the 'latest and greatest!'

Craig

1833
Mach4 Plugins / Re: Galil plugin compatibility
« on: December 29, 2019, 07:30:50 PM »
Hi,
controllers that close a feedback loop with linear encoders are a fairly rare breed and going the way of the dinosuar.

There are three such controllers that have a Mach4 plugin, Gallil, Hicon Integra by Vital Systems, and CSMIO/A by CSLabs.
CSLabs had an excellent reputation for build quality and support with Mach3 but their Mach4 support is patchy/lacking. Given the
price I find it hard to recommend.

The reason feedback capable controllers are fading away is that servos/servodrives are ever smarter and the servodrive alone closes
the loop.

If you argue that an AC servo cannot enclose a linear scale in a feedback loop only its own encoder....you might have been right a while ago.
Current AC servos from all the leading manfacturers have 'load sensing' in addition to the normal rotary encoder.

For example the Delta A2 series servos. The servos are fitted with 20 bit incremental encoders but can in addition be fed from an external
position sensor, eg a linear scale attached to the load (axis). The previous Delta model, the B2 series has a 17 bit incremental encoder and
did not have load sensing, I bought 3 750W B2 series servos recently....they are fantastic. I did not realise at the time that I could have had
the additional load sensing capability for an extra $50 each. The 750W B2's cost me $500USD each whereas the A2 series would cost about $550USD
each.

If you want to include linear scales in your feedback loop consider load sensing servos. You would use the ESS as you do now but the servo would close
not only on the rotary encoder but the linear scale as well....the best of all possible worlds!

Craig

1834
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: MACH 4 Offset in z axis seems to be off
« on: December 29, 2019, 12:57:14 PM »
Hi,
have a look at the Offsets tab.

Craig

1835
Hi,

Quote
I felt confused when found 3nos of DB26 ports are available on ESS board, is it possible to use them separately for controlling 3 different machines

In general no. There is one only motion controller thread with the FPGA, the brains of the board. The three ports mean however
you can have up to 51 inputs/outputs to that one machine and/or accessories like pendants and control panels.

Mach3 can only have one instance running at a time.

Mach4 was always intended to be able to have multiple instances. At this time while that capacity is there it is not
developed. There is a version (Mach4Expert) that can have multiple instances, up to six, and thus a machine or machines
could have up to 36 coordinated axes and 36 out-of-band axes. Six streams of Gcode run simultaneously with special
synchronization macros to communicate between threads. Pretty damned clever!

Craig

1836
Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Need the mcTHC.lua file
« on: December 29, 2019, 02:29:02 AM »
Hi,
yes, you, me and every man and his dog want the source code. I rather think NFS know this full well
and retain the intellectual property....wouldn't you?

Craig

1837
General Mach Discussion / Re: Altivar 320 VFD + ESS Smoothstepper + Mach4
« on: December 27, 2019, 02:55:08 PM »
Hi,
I just bought four Delta B2 series AC servos and I had been trying to program them by button pushing...it is
possible but you make so many mistakes. I had to buy a specialist cable, in the event I bought a genuine the
Delta accessory. It has made life SO MUCH easier, aside from all the tuning aids built in.

When VFDs come from the factory they are usually set up for 50Hz or 60Hz motors being the industry standard use for
VFDs. If you hook up your 400 Hz spindle WITHOUT programming the correct parameters first you will blow either
the spindle or the VFD or both!

What most people fail to realize is that a VFD is essentially a voltage to frequency converter.The control voltage is 0-10V.
The output voltage will vary as the frequency changes, this is called the V/F curve. With the VFD as setup from the factory
if you apply 10V input the out put will be 60Hz at full voltage namely 230VAC three phase. Your spindle will hate that,
its supposed to get full 230VAC three phase but at 400Hz, if you apply full voltage at only 60Hz the current will be through
the roof, the coils inside the spindle will be horribly magnetically saturated and BAD things will happen.

Amongst the programming parameters are the max frequency, most users find that and set it to 400Hz but don't realize
that there are other parameters that set the voltage at intermediate frequencies.

Lets take a really simple example. If your spindle is rated at 230VAC at 400 Hz then at 200 Hz you would apply half the voltage,
namely 115VAC, at 40Hz you would apply 1/10 of full voltage namely 23VAC. This is a simple linear V/F curve.
There are rather more sophisticated V/F curves but provided you get the idea that the output voltage must drop as the
frequency lowers then you will have no run-away currents and bad things won't happen.

Craig

1838
General Mach Discussion / Re: Altivar 320 VFD + ESS Smoothstepper + Mach4
« on: December 27, 2019, 02:12:58 PM »
Hi,
HY have always done their own thing, so some of what you learnt with the HY will have to be unlearnt for
the Altivar. Incidentally once you do learn you will find ALL the leading manufacturers excluding HY do very VERY
similar things.

On the Altivar there is a whole bunch of logic level inputs DI1, DI2, etc. They are digital inputs. You need to program
the VFD to tell it want you want each input to mean. For instance I see on the HY you have one FWD and one REV
input, you must program the Altivar to do the same.

Most market leading manufacturers have software meant to reside on your PC  and connected to your VFD by  a serial
cable to program the EPROM in the VFD. Does your device have it? If it does get it set up, programming by button pushing
is possible but an exercise in frustration.

Craig

1839
General Mach Discussion / Re: Altivar 320 VFD + ESS Smoothstepper + Mach4
« on: December 27, 2019, 01:29:12 PM »
Hi,
I think the quality is very good, streets ahead of HY and it will work on single phase but needs to be derated
somewhat. That's not a problem, even if you derated by a third it would still output 5 kW, way more than your
spindle will absorb.

Note you could restore the rating by adding  more DC link capacitance but why bother?

I'm also glad to see that you have a line reactor, most hobbyists don't bother only then to find they have trouble
blowing supply fuses and all sorts of bother with EMI in their machine.

Craig

1840
General Mach Discussion / Re: Altivar 320 VFD + ESS Smoothstepper + Mach4
« on: December 25, 2019, 09:54:25 PM »
Hi,
four phases?

If you mean four phases at 900 apart...yes that might work...but for the fact the VFD has only
three input terminals. Tell me more about your 'four phases'.
 
A 2.2kW VFD without line reactors will draw about 25A from a single phase supply. Your 7.5 kW VFD would draw
close to 100A! Even with a line reactor it would still draw something like 60A. Does your domestic supply
have that sort of juice? I doubt it.

Of course you only have a 2.2kW spindle and so those currents might never eventuate. What is likely to happen is that
a sudden increase in load will draw significant current which will in turn cause the input voltage to drop and the VFD will
fault 'Under Voltage'.

This also overlooks the problem that there is insufficient DC link capacitance in a device meant for three phase input
but run on single phase.

VFDs intended to run on single phase, that is 2.2kW and less, tend to have multiple large capacitors for DC link smoothing.
A three phase device has less capacitance because it would be charged at three times the rate by comparison
to a single phase unit.

I notice that the terminations of your VFD allow access to the DC link. I would guess that is so your can fit an external
(kick anus) brake resistor. You could use that termination to attach a capacitance bank. You would still have to give
some consideration to in-rush current and you'd be foolhardy to overlook some means of discharging them when the
VFD is depowered.

Is there a reason that you selected such a large VFD?. I can understand wanting to replace the failed HY unit with something
better, and even somewhat larger so that it 'loafs' along but you have gone over the top and now face difficulties in
trying to use it.

If it is new would the supplier swap it for a 2.2kW-3kW unit? Ideally you would look for a VFD that is rated for single phase
input, that is have the larger DC link capacitors with appropriate in-rush protection and discharge mechanism.

Craig

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