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New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
After having a bunch of studdering issues and losing position with my stepper motors I decided to fix it with 750w DMM servos. Along with a host of other upgrades.
First I had to upgrade the power distribution panel
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Then I had to build the servo control cabinet
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I mounted it to the side of the Mikini
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I had to drill and tap for more armored conduit runs
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I then mounted the motors (having to do some cutting on the way covers since the servos are longer)
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Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
I designed some new way cover extensions and am having them made from stainless steel
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Then I rearranged the rear cabinet after removing the stepper drivers
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I replaced the three proximity switches on the X axis that all quit working (because they are the only ones mounted upside down, need to seal them with silicone to keep coolant out)
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Built a new Rex84 Ver2.0 to get the drive fault working for fear of the powerful servos breaking stuff if the spindle stalls
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Made some mods to Mach3 with brains to get the servo drive faults to trigger an e-stop
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Ultimately this was again a seamless upgrade as all of the Mikini front panel controls work exactly the same as before, as well as the Mach3 controls.
8 Attachment(s)
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Made a bunch of changes and upgrades to the Mach screen set I use. Most notably a rapid feed override, distance to go DRO, G90/G91 toggle, and work offset toggle.
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Made a drawer slide system to more easily slide out the coolant tank for access
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Before and after pics of scraping the crappy peeling paint and repainting it (still ongoing). I also replaced all of the armored conduit and fittings (which were falling apart)
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Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Awesome. Nice job on the overhaul.
Especially as I have 4x DMM 750's waiting to get stuffed in my 1610L pretty shortly. I'm upgrading the controller & spindle (againg) at the same time so it'll be a total retrofit.
The blue coils at the top of your electrical enclosure... line reactors? You find them necessary, or are just going by the 'optional' in the DMM manual and seemed like a good idea?
Also, the green breakout boards for the servos... source? They look handy.
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
spumco
Awesome. Nice job on the overhaul.
Especially as I have 4x DMM 750's waiting to get stuffed in my 1610L pretty shortly. I'm upgrading the controller & spindle (againg) at the same time so it'll be a total retrofit.
The blue coils at the top of your electrical enclosure... line reactors? You find them necessary, or are just going by the 'optional' in the DMM manual and seemed like a good idea?
Also, the green breakout boards for the servos... source? They look handy.
Thanks! Nice! What spindle are you upgrading too? BT30? What controller?
Yes those are line reactors, I spoke with DMM throughout the entire build process and they recommended line reactors.
I have two breakout board types I'm using there. One type are 2x8 pin header breakout boards so I can use the the same cables that connected to the previous stepper drivers to the Mikini front panel. The other type are just DB25 breakout boards. I found them both on Amazon. I think I just found the cheapest ones. I also bought some DIN rail mounts so I could just mount them to DIN rails. I actually have the DMM breakout board but was unable to get the Mikini DIR signals to work correctly to change the motor direction. So ultimately I just built my own breakout using four DB25 breakout boards.
DB25 breakout boards: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
2x8 pin header breakout boards: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Extra DIN rail mounts (if needed): https://www.amazon.com/Sysly-Mountin...9S7KDRD1VX8KZN
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Thanks for the details. DMM gave me a good diagram to connect to my BOB - they're good folks to deal with.
Spindle is a 10k BT30 bought from Skyfire. I have to pull the head and bore it out as it's 90mm vs the 80mm R8 that's in there now. I'm tired of TTS pullout, and I want an ATC.
Spindle motor is a Parker servo with one of their Gemini drives. Ebay find, pretty cheap - biggest servo they make that stil runs on single phase 220v. I have a BlackMax induction motor on there now and it's fine, but way too heavy and large.
Since I'm pulling the head, I also plan to pull the column and experiment with epoxy granite fill, but more importantly I'm adding a plate to the back of the column to box it in. If there's one bad mechanical design it's the open-back column. Floppy as a noodle - boxing it with some 1/4" or 3/8" plate should stiffen things up quite a bit.
And while the column is off I may try to reverse the Z-ball screw and stick the Z servo on top. Mine is a fairly early model with no opening in the base - if I don't reverse the ballscrew I'll have to cut a hole through the base so the DMM can hang down lower.
I'm currently running UCCNC, having gutted the electronics a couple years ago. Original steppers, drive and toroid remain, but that's it. New version will still use UCCNC, but with way more I/O and a 24V-only control system. No more 5/12/24 mess in the same machine.
And thanks for the tip on the DB25 boards.
Source for the line reactors? Those look pretty compact & tidy.
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Nice a BT30 will be my next upgrade if I don't jump to a new machine by then. I also have a 2hp Black Max spindle motor and wish it had a tad more power. If I upgrade that may be with a 3-4 hp servo.
I've also thought about the epoxy granite fill. On the next round of maintenance I may completely disassemble the machine and have everything powder coated and I may do the epoxy granite fill.
The cast iron base is fairly easy to cut through with a hole saw and a sawzall. I had to do that in a few places to get things to fit.
The line reactors I just found on ebay. They are quite big and heavy and rated for 12A each.
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Thanks, I'll start trolling for reactors. Yours just look smaller than most of the footed ones I've mounted for various VFD projects.
I've only stalled my 2hp spindle once with a really aggressive cut in aluminum. More HP would be nice, but the flexing and chatter from the column flopping around is driving me crazy. The rails and screws that came on these machines are amazingly accurate (for what it is), but the open-back column is a noodle.
And I suspect the base where the column mounts may also be flexing a bit locally where the bolt holes are. We'll see once I fill it up and box it in.
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
spumco
Thanks, I'll start trolling for reactors. Yours just look smaller than most of the footed ones I've mounted for various VFD projects.
I've only stalled my 2hp spindle once with a really aggressive cut in aluminum. More HP would be nice, but the flexing and chatter from the column flopping around is driving me crazy. The rails and screws that came on these machines are amazingly accurate (for what it is), but the open-back column is a noodle.
And I suspect the base where the column mounts may also be flexing a bit locally where the bolt holes are. We'll see once I fill it up and box it in.
Can you give me as much info as you can about your BT30 spindle upgrade and PDB please? I've been cutting a lot lately and my R8 spindle get blazing hot now, like too hot to touch for more than a second or so. When I turn it by hand it's starting to feel rough. Probably going to have to replace that too soon.
Thanks!
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
I bought a BT30-90 spindle from Skyfire along with their PDB. PDB is a 2-stage matched to the spindle belleville stack. You can see both of them on their web site.
I tried working with the US distributor but he was a total flake - stopped returning my emails. I'm like "Hi, I have many American Dollars for you. Please answer one question, and I'll give them to you." cricket, cricket...
Wound up using the Canadian distributor - very nice guy - but I got hammered in customs and shipping 'cause he had to ship to Canukistan and then to the US. Just email Skyfire. They'll sell directly to you. No issues with delivery or so forth when they forgot to include the PDB mount - they also made me a custom 36T pulley for about $50. If you do buy something from them, make a big shopping list. The spindle is going to go freight and take a while, so you might as well get tool holders and anything else you think is sexy.
An alternative would be same thing from Alibaba or Aliexpress. There are a number of vendors offering BT-30 spindles - some seem crappy, some are using the Skyfire photos, and I believe Skyfire has a store on there as well. There are also air over hydraulic PDB's for very cheap.
This is not an insignificant upgrade. The spindle mounting hole will need to be bored from 80mm to 90mm, and the bolt pattern is different.
In addition, Skyfire has changed the head casting from the original Mikini. Close examination of Skyfire Instagram photos shows the head casting is now taller, has a thick circular boss on the bottom where the spindle mounts, and the top is open. Also there is a wide flange on the top where the 130mm (I'm guessing) servo spindle motor sits. They are using a thick plate on the top of the head casting to box everything in instead of the Mikini arrangement. That plate acts as a mount for the motor and PDB.
Minimum to accomplish using a 90mm Parker servo:
1. 3/4" plate on the bottom to drop the spindle down and reinforce the head casting where the spindle mounts. This will bolt to the casting and the spindle bolts will clamp through it to the casting.
2. Top plate, about 3/8" thick. Raises the PDB and motor so the motor shaft and spindle pulley are about the same height.
3. Motor sub-plate.
I still haven't figured out how to take the head off the column. I think I have to un-do the ball screw and slide it off as there's no access to the flanged rail trucks from the front.
Just to make it clear, I haven't done this upgrade yet. I figure my mill will be down for quite some time and I have a few thigns to make before wheeling it in to the ICU.
First thing to do is see if you can find a spindle that's the same length as the R8. If not, go to the Skyfire instagram page and look at some of the construction photos. Pay close attention to the details of the head - you'll see what I'm talking about.
I have some tentative models of the adapter bits if you're interested.
Re: New upgrades to the ole Mikini. Servos!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
spumco
I bought a BT30-90 spindle from Skyfire along with their PDB. PDB is a 2-stage matched to the spindle belleville stack. You can see both of them on their web site.
I tried working with the US distributor but he was a total flake - stopped returning my emails. I'm like "Hi, I have many American Dollars for you. Please answer one question, and I'll give them to you." cricket, cricket...
Wound up using the Canadian distributor - very nice guy - but I got hammered in customs and shipping 'cause he had to ship to Canukistan and then to the US. Just email Skyfire. They'll sell directly to you. No issues with delivery or so forth when they forgot to include the PDB mount - they also made me a custom 36T pulley for about $50. If you do buy something from them, make a big shopping list. The spindle is going to go freight and take a while, so you might as well get tool holders and anything else you think is sexy.
An alternative would be same thing from Alibaba or Aliexpress. There are a number of vendors offering BT-30 spindles - some seem crappy, some are using the Skyfire photos, and I believe Skyfire has a store on there as well. There are also air over hydraulic PDB's for very cheap.
This is not an insignificant upgrade. The spindle mounting hole will need to be bored from 80mm to 90mm, and the bolt pattern is different.
In addition, Skyfire has changed the head casting from the original Mikini. Close examination of Skyfire Instagram photos shows the head casting is now taller, has a thick circular boss on the bottom where the spindle mounts, and the top is open. Also there is a wide flange on the top where the 130mm (I'm guessing) servo spindle motor sits. They are using a thick plate on the top of the head casting to box everything in instead of the Mikini arrangement. That plate acts as a mount for the motor and PDB.
Minimum to accomplish using a 90mm Parker servo:
1. 3/4" plate on the bottom to drop the spindle down and reinforce the head casting where the spindle mounts. This will bolt to the casting and the spindle bolts will clamp through it to the casting.
2. Top plate, about 3/8" thick. Raises the PDB and motor so the motor shaft and spindle pulley are about the same height.
3. Motor sub-plate.
I still haven't figured out how to take the head off the column. I think I have to un-do the ball screw and slide it off as there's no access to the flanged rail trucks from the front.
Just to make it clear, I haven't done this upgrade yet. I figure my mill will be down for quite some time and I have a few thigns to make before wheeling it in to the ICU.
First thing to do is see if you can find a spindle that's the same length as the R8. If not, go to the Skyfire instagram page and look at some of the construction photos. Pay close attention to the details of the head - you'll see what I'm talking about.
I have some tentative models of the adapter bits if you're interested.
Thanks a lot man! I figured it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. Would you mind giving me a ball park cost for what you got from Skyfire. As much money as I've constantly poured into this machine I would have been better off selling it and getting something else. I'm on the fence about the spindle but if it needs to be replaced then it just does. The questions is am I gaining anything by going with BT30 over just replacing the R8 cartridge. For what it's worth I have grown to hate R8 and would kill for a shorter tool with pull studs and a PDB. I'm wondering if their 12T ATC could be retrofitted to the Mikini? Probably have to do surgery on the enclosure.
BTW, so far the servo motor upgrade is turning out to be a game changer over the steppers!