Messages

51

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 15, 2017, 02:24:44 PM »

Thanks Craig for the loop information... the spindle is brand new and has less than 2 hours of actual running time.

I guess if I installed a new ground rod some distance from the house and then if after grounding the spindle to the rod, and then of the lathe didn't turn on by itself anymore, then we would have fixed the situation.  So I will try your suggestions.  But an earth ground loop at this point seems unlikely as the rod is grounding to the whole earth which would seem to offer much less resistance than the loop... you disagree??? bob

52

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 15, 2017, 12:34:59 PM »

Rich HI

I took your radio idea to locate the heavier sources of noise in the system.  The inverter itself produced very little static on the radio.  The control box of course produced a lot of noise, but nothing produce static as much as the spindle itself... it was very strong around the junction where the shielded cable inserts into the built in plug on the spindle motor.  The shielded cable itself had no static along its length.  I purchased an 8 foot copper grounding rod and will drive it into the ground today or tomorrow and then "earthground" the spindle, control box, the base is alumn., and anything else I can ground it to--as you suggested.

53

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 15, 2017, 12:27:47 PM »

Tweakie, thank you for the suggestion, I need to order things better.  when I first started I knew nothing about cnc electronics, so of course I am making all the typical beginners mistakes...so its been quite a learning curve and it continues.

54

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 14, 2017, 12:28:35 PM »

Chaoticone Hi,

The stepper driver is right next to all the other drivers.  See attached photo.  There is three feet distance from the inverter to the box that houses the stepper drivers and power supplies.  But usually its five feet as its stored under the work table.

I will go into mach 3 and check your other suggestions...

bob

55

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 14, 2017, 11:25:43 AM »

Hey Guys,  thank you again for the suggestion above... I will slowly work through this.

bob

56

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 14, 2017, 03:16:28 AM »

As I mentioned earlier, that the 4th axis lathe which is controlled by mach 3, comes on when the spindle spins up even though the spindle is independent of mach 3 and is manually turned on when it is being used.  
 
Now I tried an experiment earlier.  I disconnected the power cable from the inverter to the spindle at the spindle end of the cable... then turned on inverter... the lathe still would come on!
If I reconnnected the cable to the spindle end and disconnected it from the inverter end, and turned the inverter on—then the 4th axis lathe (a-axis) does not come on.  So I figured it had to be the cable itself as it was not shielded and so I felt that was the problem.  So I bought a shielded cable and put that on... that worked for an hour and then the problem re-occurred.  So this time I did the same procedure of disconnecting the cable at one end and then the other... and the 4th axis lathe did not spin up either way... so that’s an improvement... but if I connect the spindle, and turn the spindle on, the the lathe activates and starts grinding along.  Does this trigger any thoughts about what might actually be happening?

57

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 13, 2017, 10:15:03 PM »

I spoke too soon... Earlier today I put in the shielded cable and it worked beautifully...  no turning of the 4th axis lathe when the spindle came on.

Later this evening I came in and decided to run it again before I tried to cut some stuff... but upon spindle spin up, the lathe started turning???

Now when the lathe comes on under these conditions, I notice that it is trying to turn both directions at the same time.  Does this trigger any ideas in anyones mind?

All thoughts appreciated... bob

58

General Mach Discussion / Re: A-axis rotary lathe question for Mach 3

« on: November 13, 2017, 06:11:46 PM »

Rich hi... solved the vfd issue by installing a new shielded cable... problem solved.... so I will work on your lessons now.   bob

59

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 13, 2017, 06:08:43 PM »

I want to thank everyone who responded to my issue with the vfd interference... I replaced the cable from the inverter to the spindle motor and with a shield cable and that solved the problem immediately... so thank you very much... bob

60

General Mach Discussion / Re: Alright fellow campers...a frankenstein moment!!

« on: November 12, 2017, 08:25:40 PM »

Has anyone out there had a similar issue...