Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: which 2 wires to hook board to Variable Frequency Drive

« on: November 11, 2014, 08:34:49 PM »

If you are lucky, the following should work and if it doesn't, it won't hurt anything.
Connect the DCM to COM (Drive Interface: 10V ground)
Connect S1 to V1 (Drive Interface: 0 to 10V output)  - Should be as simple as this.
The slide switches and lack of other wiring indicate that the VFD is set up to receive a 0-10 V input. The VFD does not seem to have the options of 4-20mA OR pulse/direction signaling.  DCM is commonly referred to as 0V (or signal ground) in Chinese electronics (in my experience)
If you have a voltmeter to test the 0-10V output from the Motion Card, it would be good knowledge to have.
BTW, I believe that the Spindle Input would only be necessary if you have a closed-loop (system controlled/monitored) high accuracy spindle control set up. If you don't need to do this, I wouldn't at this time.
Good luck, it should go OK. I don't have the manual for this VFD but mine is somewhat close in many aspects. Since the are differences, and assuming it worked before, the parameters and such should all be adequate for your needs.
BTW, if the spindle runs backwards, reverse any 2 of the 3 motor leads.

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: which 2 wires to hook board to Variable Frequency Drive

« on: November 11, 2014, 03:59:58 PM »

I'm pretty sure I can help you on this. Plase send a picture of the terminal blocks where the wires are connected and a front view of the LED display as well. I think I can get what you need from there and maybe an owners manual if it is what I think it is.

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: which 2 wires to hook board to Variable Frequency Drive

« on: November 11, 2014, 06:55:22 AM »

What model of VFD do you have? Depending on how your VFD is configured (usually with a parameter setting) the terminals will be different.
Most likely you will have 1 of the 3 following inputs across 2-wires: 0-10 V, 4-20 mA or a PWM. The pin out on the new board seems straight forward but your success all depends on how the the VFD is set up to receive signals from your controller.

4

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: November 11, 2014, 01:55:36 AM »

Thanks for the speedy reply and the excellent functional help.
Things are working better and now I get to determine if I need to reestablish a new origin on my engraving or use the offset function of Mach 3. I will try to figure out the offset things and if someone replies first - way cool !

I'm an electrical automation engineer by trade and have been contracting for more than 27 years. I'm also an inventor who is planning to make a new invention using my router as soon as we get anything to successfully come off of it.

I am looking at possibly getting a laser to make some additional parts as I need a flame finish on acrylic with some very tight radii that I cannot get either of from a router. The material will be 1/2" thick but I cannot find anywhere as to what wattage of laser I will need.

Brad

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Text engraving wizard save

« on: November 10, 2014, 05:43:22 AM »

I just signed up, searched for and answer to my introduction posting and found this on my first search WOW.
I solved th problem by changing from Absolute to Incremental.

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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: New people welcome !! Come in here and introduce your self!

« on: November 10, 2014, 05:26:50 AM »

Hello, My name is Brad and I am starting an engraving business with my 19 yr old son. He is interested in being an engineer like his old man and I thought this could be an excellent way to help him get his hands (and clothes) a bit dirty and some experience in understanding machines and code. I think he's going to do great when he can run his first piece and actually see a design become a reality.

I bought BobCAD ART and that seemed to do the trick nicely. When we generated the G-Code and loaded it on the Mach 3 (current download version), his Lamborghini engraving looked great in the display.  << The problem we are having is that when we loaded the G-Code on the Mach 3 (same version) attached to the router/engraver, the display showed a series of circles. I installed Mach 3 onto another PC and then loaded the G-Code on that PC. Squiggly lines and no Lambo.
So far, if we look at the nc file with eith of his 2 PCs (with no parallel ports), we get a good display but on my 3 PCs, squiggly lines and circles that are trash.

OK, what's up and what am I doing wrong?

Please help if you can.
Brad