Messages

1611

General Mach Discussion / Re: Physical buttons for plasma

« on: June 05, 2016, 11:30:34 AM »

Looking nice there Hood, very satisfying when that feeler gauge slips under the tip every time

1612

General Mach Discussion / Re: Z axis will not go up

« on: June 05, 2016, 10:37:23 AM »

Re-home all axes and try again

1613

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 03, 2016, 03:29:51 PM »

Yes i like to wire that way anyway, makes things much easier to trace issues later on when the external stuff comes in on a terminal strip, one by one, no hidden loops etc.

I would like to think that once homing and safe-limits is up and running the only time the hard limits would be it is after a runaway drive and I've not heard of that yet;)

1614

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 03, 2016, 01:17:33 PM »

you'll need a limit override switch,

Hmm, thinking on the drive home  , I can see one reason when that would be needed - if the soft-limits fail and the Z axis rams the head right up or down - there is no hand wheel on the Z axis so no way to get it back down again, although I could simply reach up and spin the pulley by hand.

But apart from that, if the X or Y axis runs off the end then they can be rewound before pressing reset?

An E-stop loop would not be bypassed by the limits override so thats ok.

1615

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 03, 2016, 10:51:09 AM »

Ooh, good point re the override switch, forgot about that one

No real reason for the multiple ESR, just  the way it evolved, will alter that one.

No harm in having the drives on multiple contacts, its a common style of contactor so no need to combine.

1616

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 03, 2016, 06:48:10 AM »

Rough draft of power wiring and e-stop circuit...

1617

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 03, 2016, 03:41:12 AM »

Hmm, bench-top tests seem to look promising - with a home switch offset of 50mm, when i do a ref-all it moves to the switch, stops, moves off, then reverses 50mm. I think that is just what it needs ?

If the switch is already closed when ref-all is called, it just backs off slowly until it opens - nice, BUT the switch trigger MUST be continuous and not just a passing trigger so a long switch cam will be needed there.

Limits??

1618

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 03, 2016, 03:30:16 AM »

Sorted it out

Just use an output in Mach for each profile - active low, no other use. It comes on as soon as Mach loads and stays on regardless of reset state etc - this output can then control the respective contactor for the VFD needed for that profile.

The supplies will also go through the E-Stop system but this means that the whole startup is now just a matter of clicking on the correct Mach profile

Now, lets look at the Z axis...

I am intending to bolt the aux spindle onto the main quill shaft, this means that my Z travel will be reduced but not drastically i think.

It also means I need two Z home positions - can I use ONE Z home switch at the lower position and use the Z home-offset to tell the system where the home is respective to the profile in use??

Questions-

If i have one home switch in the lower position and the head is already above that switch, what happens when i ref-all??

Is there a smart fix for Z upper limit switch or do I have to try and fit TWO limits switches in at the top??

Getting there

1619

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 02, 2016, 07:47:58 AM »

I don't need to mess with switching homes/vfd signals etc - the wonderful CSMIO has so much I/O that i can connect both systems at once and use the different Mach profiles to do the control. It has two 0-10v outputs for the spindle motors, most of the functions can be duplicated, just the Z-home switch, 0-10v and the Run Fwd need their own outputs.

Nice.

Also, as we don't need to switch control lines now, I think the spindle VFD required can be controlled via its own output using the HV output in CSMIO and a small contactor/relay combo.

Even nicer

So startup will be just a matter of choosing the right shortcut for Mach to launch and let the machine get on with the settings while i fit or remove the high-speed spindle.

One little hiccup to my smoothness here is that the spindle needs to be parked in a position low enough to enable the aux spindle to be fitted before OR it means starting one profile then lowering the spindle then closing and starting the aux profile - not as smooth;)

1620

General Mach Discussion / Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?

« on: June 02, 2016, 06:43:13 AM »

Seems not, no mention of charge pump in manual

Any other options?

It really needs some sort of interlocked changeover.