Hi there
is there any UK members who have upgraded a Boxford 300 VMC with auto tool changer ? If there is can you contact me and give me some help and advice with the toolchanger , it is both electric and air operated which I would like to keep if possible , I have breakout boards and modbus boards etc the only thing I need is help and advice
thanks
Alan

Can you tell us a bit about the operation of the changer? If you could run through its sequence I am sure you could get a hand in getting things running.

Hood

Hi Hood
thanks for the quick reply , the tool change carousel is rotated by a 240 volt motor which in turn operates a reduction gearbox and has a friction clutch fitted to the output shaft which is connected to the tool change carousel , then the air operates two slides one which moves the carousel horizontally to the spindle and another that lifts the carousel vertically when machine is turned on , also when the machine is setup to run a program the carousel automatically goes to the number one tool this done via a sensor which can determine each of the six tools there is another little sensor that locks the carousel in position at tool change operation so that it cannot move I think thats it I hope that makes sense to you
Alan

OK sounds like it should be easy enough to do especially if you have a PLC. You said you had ModBUS boards, what exactly do you mean by that?
 Any idea if the position switch is just a load of limits or is it a multi position switch? Either way how many outputs does it have? Also presume the air is operated by electric solenoids?


Hood

Hi Hood
yes it does have a PLC and several solenoids which are air operated , the boards that I have all come from CNC4PC  they are as follows ( C11 multifunction breakout board , M1 ModIO serial driver , M11 /M12 boards ) I also have a Homann design ModIO controller , if you go onto www.cnc4pc.com you can see the all the boards there , the position switch looks like a proximity sensor just above the tool carousel there is whatlooks like a star shape piece of metal it has six points and six gaps and the sensor detects  the metal from the gaps , hope that makes sense
Alan

Hi Hood
the solenoids are electric not as I said air operated , also one thing I forgot was that the toolchanger works bi-directional at the moment again I do not know if that would be possible to keep that feature or not , I do have the wiring diagram of the PLC board etc here if that is of any help
thanks
Alan

Hi Alan, sorry didnt get back sooner, been a busy morning at the workshop today, too many customers needing work done LOL
 Yes wiring diag would be good, should be possible to keep the bi directional feature.
 Dont know anything about the CNC4PC stuff as I have never used it, also although I have a modIO in the pendant I am making I havent had time to mess with it either. So far my only experience of ModBUS is serial with a D0-06 PLC.
 Need to find out how the turret homes, your description of the starred metal and the prox sounds like it gives a tool in  position signal but not actually which tool its on. Hopefully the drawings will clear things up a bit, not promising anything but I will have a look and help you out as much as I can in between these bleeding customers

 I will PM you my email address if you want to email the drawings.

Hood