I like the little red head. 

Brett

Yes Brett, I have heard that you do, well as long as they have implants

Hood

 

Brett

No real progress yet as that will have to wait until I get the controller. I did however buy a Yaskawa spindle motor/drive/transformer that I thought may do for the Chiron, its 6000rpm like the original. It is a big motor and is too big to fit between the cylinders but I reckoned I could modify them and make it fit. I then looked at the weight of the motor and thats when I saw this was not going to be a good idea
 It is 90Kg. the original motor is 20Kg and the one I was going to use was about the same.
 It is actually about the same physical size as the big servo I have on the big lathes spindle but even that is only 57Kg.
I am not sure what I will do, I have a few options.

I can keep this as a spare for the big lathe, its a bit down on torque but should be enough.

I can put it on the manual lathe (I fitted a servo to it to bypass the noisy headstock) and then put the motor from it on the Chiron.

I could fit it to the manual lathe, put the motor from it on the Beaver and put the motor on the Beaver on the Chiron.

I also have a motor drive I had bought a while ago planning to use it for the manual lathe but although it was bigger it just faulted out with over current, not sure if it is a drive issue or motor issue but also wondering if it was a config issue as it uses a personality module. I have just compared the hex file from the module to one I just generated in the software and there are differences. Only thing is it is a hassle to get the other motor removed and this one all wired and fitted to the manual lathe only to find its the same. I could fit this to the Beaver and see if it looks ok on that but again its a bit of a hassle if its not right.

I will have to decide at some point but at least I have a few options
Hood

Hood looking at your Automation Direct D06 plc and wondering if it is possible to fit one to my Beaver vc35. My Sestep 400 PLC has gone down and its going to cost a fortune to get an exchange for another which could also go down any time as these are very old and no one seems to know how to repair them!

The sestep has two 30 pin plugs for inputs and two 30 pin plugs for outputs. I have the full input and outputs list for the machine so I can trace each pin on the sestep to an input or output on the machine.

The 30 pin plugs come off the interface board which takes signals from the Fanuc control and sends them to the sestep. Signals then go back from the sestep to the interface board which then outputs to relays and solenoids etc

Could I connect  upto an Automation Direct plc by using female plug sockets attached to the 4 off  30 pin male ones I have now and take wires from the back of these plugs to the a/d plc input and output terminals?

Then write a new ladder for the plc?

My friend has the Boxford vmc that you fitted an Automation Direct D06 to, that gave me the idea!

John.

Ask Mark if he knows anyone that can fix the Sestep. I was though a while back helping him swap some boards from one to another to get a machine running and I know he was in contact with someone about repairing them. Think it was may have been Servotek but not sure.

Regards the DLO6, yes you could use one I would think but you would need extra modules. Are all of the 30 pins in each connector used?
Hood

According to my Beaver manual the sestep will do up to 48 inputs and 48 outputs. I've counted approx 94 pins being used on the list in the manual.

As long as I know I can use a modern PLC that would be worth looking at..I'm on my 3rd sestep in 4 years and spares are getting hard to find not to mention the cost!

Plus when they do pack in its usually half way through a tool change!

Might try Servotek to get it running again then work on a new plc for the future.

Presumably I will need to know the voltage and current of the signals coming from the interface board to the sestep and the same for the outputs from sestep back to the interface board..?

Thanks, John.

You can have up to 4 expansion modules in the DL06 PLC.
You can get input module of up to 16 point and outputs also of 16 point but they are sink/source outputs. If you need relay outputs then you only get a max of 8 per expansion module.
 You can get different versions of the DL06 PLC, mine is DC 12-24V Inputs and relay outputs. Each set of 4 inputs share a common but you can have each bank of 4 inputs set as sink or source. Likewise for the relay outputs, they to share a common between 4 relays.

Hood

That sounds good, maybe a different model a/d plc might be better to get more i/o though.

Most of the i/o seems to be involved with the tool changer air solenoids and checking the states of proximity sensors on the tool changer arm, the power draw bar position and the spindle orientation. Plus there is spindle drive enable, spindle drive ready, emergency stop relay, low lube pressure, low air pressure and tool number digital readout to name a few!

Input plug 1 seems to deal with T word and M words.

The interface board puts out 24v I think but will need to check that.

Are the extra modules expensive or can they be found on ebay?

John.

You will get the prices here.
http://lamondeautomation.co.uk/acatalog/DL06_discrete_IO.html

Dont see many on eBay.
If you know someone in the USA that could buy for you and send across then its a lot cheaper, assuming of course customs dont grab you, which is quite rare now.
Hood

What controller is on your VC35?
If it`s a Heidenhain it will not be as simple as writing a new plc programme for a new plc.