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Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« on: December 05, 2012, 09:09:35 PM »
I have a small homier 7x12 lathe which i converted a couple years back to a cnc. I purchased the stepper motors along with the break out board in a kit called FET-3 Dynamo from stepperworld.com The machine works great but over time i wanted to add a variable spindle speed board. So i purchased an index pulse card along with a C6 variable speed control board from cnc4pc.com The index card i wired up fine and that works without any problems, however I'm stumped on installing the C6 board. I've included the wiring schematic from cnc4pc.com website. I'm lost as to where i connect the relay from the C6 board to my lathe(fc250j) toggle switch . In their instructions they say that "The Direction Relay is added in series with the existing Direction Switch (SW3)." Anyone wire this before? I also included a schematic from my lathe that shows a more simple picture of the relay that's in the "forward/off/reverse switch". Also my other problem is do I have enough room to connect everything to my main board? What happens if I don't? I attached a picture of my main board maybe someone can point out where i can connect the c6 board to.

http://cnc4pc.com/Tech_Docs/C6toFC250_110V.pdf

http://littlemachineshop.com/reference/drawings/WiringDiagram2506.pdf

Re: Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2012, 11:54:28 AM »
Hey Mikey,

Looks like nobody here's been there & done what you're asking about...bummer!  Maybe over on CNC Zone somebody has?

The only thing I can add is that with the CNC4PC C11 (has the same speed circuit your C6 does) I installed on my lathe (with KBIC-120 speed control) I had a terrible time understanding Arturo's instuctions.    I killed one KB speed control and vaporized a track on the C11 before realizing I couldn't properly understand the isolation issue with the C11/KB interface.  I had to get a KBSI-240D signal isolator board to put between the C11 and the speed control to get it to work and it works great now.

Have you contacted Arturo via email with your question?  He responded to mine very quickly; I'm just too weak electronically to understand what he was trying to tell me.  ZING! right over my head.
Milton from Tennessee ya'll.
Re: Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2012, 12:21:14 PM »
Thank you for the response. Who exactly is Arturo? Do you have his email address? I wrote an email to tetralite since that's the name i saw at the bottom of the schematic. I soon got a response saying that email was not in service. I almost feel that this c6 board is more of a pain than it would be helping me.
Re: Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2012, 01:23:47 PM »
Arturo Duncan is the proprietor/designer of CNC4PC products.  You can email him at aduncanATcnc4pcDOTcom

I have several of his products and am happy with them.  Being an old guy with more mechanical than electronic experience, I have trouble understanding electronic stuff in general and struggled a lot getting the speed control to work.  It wasn't a fault with the product, just my understanding of a couple key points.

There is a yahoo group for CNC4PC products as well so you might be able to join there & get some help.  I feel sure your C6 will do what you need but be careful before powering it up.
Milton from Tennessee ya'll.
Re: Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2012, 02:02:41 PM »
Well thank you , ill write him an email today and see what happens. I'll keep you posted

Offline mc

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Re: Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2012, 06:55:11 PM »
That C6 manual is scarce on the bits of info that are really needed, like what pin works what relay.

The FC250 wiring diagram you've linked to shows the use of an additional DPDT (Double Pole Double Throw) relay to change direction, along with a DPDT switch to select manual or CNC speed control, but will still rely on you having the main switch set to forward for the spindle to actually power up. One thing I notice with that set-up, is the spindle power board would be on while changing direction, which has me wondering if that would be healthy for the power board.

Do you still want to keep manual control?
If not, I'd be inclined to bypass the direction switch, add a DPDT relay to control direction via one of the relays on the C6, and use the other C6 relay to enable the spindle power board.
Re: Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2012, 02:33:20 PM »
Hi MC, i would really like to keep the manual control feature since i do a lot of "one-Jobbers" that i can fully machine in the time it would take for me to even write the program and set it up. ha ha I just don't understand why they made that schematic so complicated to the average person. Hopefully Arturo will have some good answers for me when he emails me back. As of right now i have my entire machine along with cnc electronics in pieces waiting on a sense of direction. I'm still not sure on if I have enough room on my Main board to wire the C6 to. The schematic says it uses step/dir signals, can I just use the "y" axis ports since their not being used?

Offline mc

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Re: Need help wiring my cnc lathe please
« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2012, 07:02:01 PM »
In that case you'll need to add in the additional DPDT relay and switch so you can switch between Manual/Computer, however my concern is the spindle board being continually powered on.

By the looks of the FET board layout, it doesn't have anyway of directly outputting step/dir for the y axis, as it's a combined BOB/stepper driver board. A workaround/bodge would be tracing what pins are driving the PIC chip from the computer input, and if the PIC is in a removable socket, remove the PIC and using a bit suitable wire, wedge it into the socket and use that to connect to the C6. It does mean you'll be relying on the optoisolators built into the C6 to protect the computer.