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Author Topic: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer  (Read 35348 times)

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Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #30 on: October 13, 2013, 02:23:41 PM »
Yes I was really impressed with how well it functioned, it looked every bit like it was designed to use all of those components, very much UNLIKE my gantry project that used stepper kits.  Feedback, acceleration without skipping, and running at reasonable speeds for a machine of that size, it was definitely not like my machine at all...

When I am selecting motor drives what do I need to pay attention to?  The A-M-C drives are definitely a bit more spendy than I was hoping for on my test machine but if there is nothing comparable I might just have to bit the bullet.

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Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #31 on: October 13, 2013, 04:54:28 PM »
If you are wanting to use the IP-A then you will need a drive that accepts analogue signals. I dont think there are any of the lower end drives normally associated with Mach that can accept that, they are all  Step/Dir as far as I am aware.
 If you keep a watch out on eBay you will likely find some drives suitable, what you need to look for are ones that have the voltage and current capacity of the motors you want to use.
 I am not sure what kind of cost the AMC drives are as I have never bought any but if they are relatively expensive it may be better looking at complete AC Servo motors and drives. They are not that cheap either but you can often pick up nice ones for a reasonable price on eBay and often there are Samsung Fara drives and motors in the 750W to 1Kw range on eBay from Korea.
Hood
Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #32 on: October 14, 2013, 11:18:42 AM »
I will check eBay, I am also talking to someone at Zapp Automation.
I contacted MachMotion just to see what a complete kit would run and they said that the Fanuc motors might use some sort of proprietary encoder that might not interface with aftermarket drivers, is that true?  And if it was couldn't I just replace the encoders-the ones I have are old school anyways and with the updated processing power in the CSMIO I should be able to run higher resolution encoders anyways.

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Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #33 on: October 14, 2013, 01:48:47 PM »
Are you in the UK?

Some Fanucs do indeed have propitiatory  encoders but I think that is more modern AC servos but couldnt be 100% certain.
The motors I have on the Chiron are  Sine Cosine encoders and I have the output from the drive interpolated to, if I recall, 35,000 pulses per rev and that is just a walk in the park for the CSMIO.

Hood
Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #34 on: October 14, 2013, 02:05:18 PM »
I have new concerns after reviewing the wiring diagrams.  The motor encoders go straight from the motor to the "master PCB," I was under the impression that the drives usually handled the encoder feedback, but if these motors need to communicate with the PCB I have pretty limited options:

Repair the stock control PCB and drives, downside is I'm unsure what does and doesn't work and this looks like it would be a nightmare.

Replace the motor drives (with A-M-C) at $400+/- per axis, the easiest method if I can just rip out the stock garbage and plop new drives in, downside to this is that once the motors croak I'm stuck with drives that run motors I haven't had much luck finding replacements for.

Replace the motors and drives (Zapp Automation 1.3kW) at $1000+/- per axis, most expensive upfront and is pretty much my original plan.
Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #35 on: October 14, 2013, 02:18:04 PM »
Can I just put new encoders on the existing motors, and the replacement drives will handle whatever feedback that provides?
The different AMC drives support different types of feedback depending on the model, Tachometer, Incremental, Halls or +/-10VDC Position.

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Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #36 on: October 14, 2013, 04:40:45 PM »
That is normal regarding encoders going to the control on DC brushed setups.
They will likely have a tach for speed reference and that is fed back to the amplifier (drive) . The encoders are used by the control (Fanuc in your case ) so that they know the position and can send +/-10v signals to the amps to move the motors. So if changing to CSMIO/IP-A you would have a similar setup but the encoders would hook to the CSMIO.

There are some Samsung 1.5Kw motors and drives on eBay at the moment, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALLEN-BRADLEY-1-5KW-SERVO-PACK-CSD3-DRIVER-SAMSUNG-MOTOR-3-AXIS-CNC-ROUTER-/281178207322?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417786f45a
They are 3 phase input however so maybe you only have single phase?

Hood

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Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #37 on: October 14, 2013, 04:56:58 PM »
I am about to move and the new space will likely be getting a phase converter.
So I should still be able to get away with running the stock drives and the stock servos if need be, as the encoder feedback will go through CSMIO, and the drives pretty much just tell the motor how fast to spin and which direction?
But if I went with AMC drives the encoder would feed into the drive?  The cheap one (still $500) says it can run using a tachometer.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2013, 05:01:37 PM by evanse89 »

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Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #38 on: October 14, 2013, 05:15:52 PM »
Yes if you used the stock amps  you would just use the encoders for the CSMIO, the Tach on the motors would go to the amps as they do now.


If you went AMC drives then you could choose whether just to get ones with tach feedback or you could choose encoder feedback and then you would take the encoder output from the drives to the CSMIO.


Hood

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Re: Machanical Automatic Tool Changer
« Reply #39 on: October 14, 2013, 05:17:54 PM »
Your motors do have a Tach I assume?
Hood