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Author Topic: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?  (Read 269090 times)

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Offline Hood

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #350 on: July 27, 2016, 07:29:27 AM »
Had the Chiron running for 4hrs solid this morning  and had the window open and I have not seen any red numbers at all.

Just wondering if the output from your drives themselves are weak or noisy?
Have you scoped them directly at the drive to see what they look like?

Hood

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #351 on: July 27, 2016, 07:33:19 AM »
No not yet, but as they appear to be stable now, i think it may be coming from the initial start-up.

I will play some more and check the numbers but if they don't increment any more, i will be happy i think.

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #352 on: July 27, 2016, 01:17:04 PM »
Odd - the error numbers tonight were exactly the same as yesterday - x73,y60,z56 and did not change at all while i was messing about so they are perfectly stable now and i am happy. Where the errors initially come from i don't know - maybe starting up the CSMIO with the drives turned off ??

Anyway the cable fixed it :)

Fault inputs - on the drives the outputs are opto-couplers with common ground so i guess sinking outputs.
I need to connect these to the input on the CSMIO, do i connect the input+ to 24v and the input- to the drive output?

I think thats correct.

Offline Hood

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #353 on: July 27, 2016, 05:52:51 PM »
Sounds right for the Inputs,

Regarding the errors, it could well be because the drives are not on. My drives power stage can be off but the logic side is on whenever the IP-A is on and thus the IP-A always sees the encoders.
Do your drives not have a 24v supply for the logic side so that if supplied it will be on and only after you put mains to the drives the power side will be on?


Hood

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #354 on: July 28, 2016, 02:18:28 AM »
They do have a 24v connection but i think its only used for the I/O connections possibly, it is on with the CSMIO so its not that anyway.

I'll keep an eye on it but i think its pretty good now, at least the numbers do not change once the system is running.

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #355 on: July 28, 2016, 03:24:23 AM »
Ok, control cabinets....

Using cardboard templates, I have worked out a reasonable layout and the size needs to be about 650mm wide, 850mm tall and 280mm deep.

Compared to the actual size of a Bridgeport this is a very big cabinet.

Should i mount it on the side, sticking out to the rear of the machine, go for floor-standing independent unit, wall mount it?

Whats a good idea here?

It will be steel, plasma cut and welded up i think - cheapest option.

Offline Hood

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #356 on: July 28, 2016, 07:31:04 AM »
Does the display only light up when mains is applied? All drives I have had  have standby power, sometime mains, sometimes 24v and sometimes 5v.

Regarding the cabinet, I would not go for wall mounted. Free standing would not be my preferred option either but if room is limited then it may be the best compromise. However for me the cabinet attached to the mill is the best option as it means if the machine is ever moved the cabinet goes with it.

Usually the cabinets are either on the side or the back or sometimes both. On my CNC Bridgeport (that I no longer have) originally there were two cabinets, one at the side and one at the back. The modern drives etc allowed me to do away with the back cabinet. The Beaver mill had a massive cabinet on the back, over 1.5m high and 1.5m wide and 400mm to 500mm deep, I hauled that off and made an alu one  less than half the size and mounted to the side, in fact it was nearer 1/4 size.

Hood

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #357 on: July 28, 2016, 07:36:54 AM »
HI Hood,

Yes the displays only come on with the mains.

Will go for mounted option then.

PC is a bit of a PITA, I was going  to mount the guts inside the floating keyboard station but having had the lid off today to fit an SSD, I see the CPU has a heatsink thats about 6" x 4" with a 120mm fan mounted on front!

Thats going to make the pendant a bit big and clunky so I might just sling the PC complete into the bottom of the main cabinet and extend the Video/USB up to the pendant. Makes replacing the PC simpler too, and the pendant very slim now.

Offline Hood

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #358 on: July 28, 2016, 08:21:13 AM »
Get yourself a mini ITX mobo with integrated CPU and passive cooling ;)
Something like this
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_55221.html

Hood

Offline Davek0974

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Re: Bridgeport Knee Mill Conversion?
« Reply #359 on: July 28, 2016, 09:37:23 AM »
ah boy, more money ;)

its a good price though, have asked for a package price with ram, psu and mb to see if its worth it.